Lunch Money
Productivity
personal budgeting
SHOW HN2019
229points
132comments
#162of 2,195 in 2019
Top 8%of 2019 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
17 positive, 30 neutral or asking, 6 mixed, 19 critical, out of 72 comments about the project. Thread score -0.00.
Idea: 6 for, 4 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 8 againstExecution: 1 for, 4 againstDesign: 4 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Course-correction budgeting concept
From 1 comment
This looks fantastic! I've used Mint to track my expenses and this looks way better (especially the course correction concept.) The biggest issue that comes up when entering…
rcconf on HN
Multi-currency and split/grouped transactions features
From 2 comments
This is exactly what I want. Like many others, I have my own personal solution, which I used for the last 3 years. But it's far from "complete" and lacks many convenient features…
_def on HNI was halfway through building something like this just for msyelf. My main issues with existing options are: 1. Mint and others always seem to automatically count transferring…
fjp on HN
Objections
Bank connection via Plaid requires entering bank credentials, which is a privacy concern
From 2 comments
I really like where this is going. It looks like a much more polished version of my own personal solution for this problem. The one thing I really dislike is the way transactions…
ryandvm on HNThis looks fantastic! I've used Mint to track my expenses and this looks way better (especially the course correction concept.) The biggest issue that comes up when entering…
rcconf on HN
Only US and Canadian banks supported through Plaid
From 2 comments
Congratulations on graduating college and good luck with the upcoming move! We currently use Plaid to connect to bank accounts which unfortunately only supports US/Canadian…
jnfr on HNThank you so much!! 1. Right now I'm using Plaid to connect to bank accounts which currently only supports US and Canada-based banks (but even then, some banks are not supported…
jnfr on HN
Hosted service handling sensitive financial data raises security concerns
From 3 comments
$3 per month or $29 per year for now. Why should I use a service hosted by someone else for something this important? Not only will I (besides losing money) have to worry about…
solarkraft on HNThis looks great, but is there any writeup on how the security for it works? Are things encrypted at rest? Has there been any auditing?
vorpalhex on HNThis looks great but a couple of things: 1) You should be defining a strict CSP and a few other headers given that this deals with financial information:…
tomschlick on HN
Not envelope-based, so YNAB users are not the target
From 2 comments
It looks pretty, but unfortunately I found budgeting methods that are not envelope based (such as YNAB where every dollar is assigned a job) are not adequate. After adopting the…
nightski on HNYNAB user here - this looks great and I love new tools :) but what differentiates this from YNAB besides non-envelope budgeting method? also nice - the ability for a…
isaacaggrey on HN
Requests
CSV import of transactions
From 3 comments
I really like where this is going. It looks like a much more polished version of my own personal solution for this problem. The one thing I really dislike is the way transactions…
ryandvm on HNThis is exactly what I want. Like many others, I have my own personal solution, which I used for the last 3 years. But it's far from "complete" and lacks many convenient features…
_def on HNKudos. You've gone and done something a lot of us only plan to do but never get around to. I have a few questions though. 1. Does this work for everyone around the world? 2. How…
chopraaa on HN
Upcoming expenses feature
From 2 comments
You nailed it here. I've been waiting for something like this - Mint etc. don't give me enough functionality in terms of forecasting, seeing a trend and helping me to modify my…
dfsegoat on HNThanks for the feedback! Upcoming expenses is a great idea, and was an original feature from my own budgeting spreadsheet but has not made it as a feature yet on Lunch Money.…
jnfr on HN
Offline desktop use
From 1 comment
I'm on the phone right now, it's not clear in the bit of the site I can see. But is it possible to run it on the desktop, entirely offline?
aflag on HN
Exposing and manually overriding currency rates
From 1 comment
These are really great questions, thanks for asking! 1. Every transaction is stored in its original currency. The conversion to your primary currency happens on demand. 2. We…
jnfr on HN
Edit history for collaboration
From 1 comment
I would say Lunch Money is totally different from YNAB. We tried to rethink most aspects of budgeting and came up with our own philosophy of how to best approach it. My target…
jnfr on HN
Questions
How security and user data are protected, and whether there has been auditing
From 2 comments
This looks fantastic! I've used Mint to track my expenses and this looks way better (especially the course correction concept.) The biggest issue that comes up when entering…
rcconf on HNThis looks great, but is there any writeup on how the security for it works? Are things encrypted at rest? Has there been any auditing?
vorpalhex on HN
How transaction data is imported
From 2 comments
This looks really cool! I'm not sure if I wanna register myself on this service yet so I haven't seen a lot of it but I'm curious: How is my transaction data imported? Are there…
t0astbread on HNNice work! Looks great and easy to use. What do you use to get transaction history?
ko3us on HN
Whether it works outside the US and Canada
From 1 comment
Kudos. You've gone and done something a lot of us only plan to do but never get around to. I have a few questions though. 1. Does this work for everyone around the world? 2. How…
chopraaa on HN
What differentiates it from YNAB and Pocketsmith
From 2 comments
YNAB user here - this looks great and I love new tools :) but what differentiates this from YNAB besides non-envelope budgeting method? also nice - the ability for a…
isaacaggrey on HNI'm a huge fan of Pocketsmith. Highly recommend it: https://www.pocketsmith.com Why should I switch to this?
te_chris on HN
Alternatives named
YNAB
From 2 comments
YNAB user here - this looks great and I love new tools :) but what differentiates this from YNAB besides non-envelope budgeting method? also nice - the ability for a…
isaacaggrey on HNIt looks pretty, but unfortunately I found budgeting methods that are not envelope based (such as YNAB where every dollar is assigned a job) are not adequate. After adopting the…
nightski on HN
Mint
From 2 comments
This looks fantastic! I've used Mint to track my expenses and this looks way better (especially the course correction concept.) The biggest issue that comes up when entering…
rcconf on HNI was halfway through building something like this just for msyelf. My main issues with existing options are: 1. Mint and others always seem to automatically count transferring…
fjp on HN
Pocketsmith
From 1 comment
I'm a huge fan of Pocketsmith. Highly recommend it: https://www.pocketsmith.com Why should I switch to this?
te_chris on HN