Stop sleepwalking through your finances— make every dollar intentional.

Here's exactly what happens when you connect your bank account:

When you give us permission to connect with your bank account, we communicate with Stripe through encrypted, private channels to receive the following information:

• Institution name
• Account name
• Last 4 digits of your account number
• Account type (Checking/Savings/Credit Card)
• Last 3 months of transactions

Coming soon: We'll also request your account balance so we can provide budget-to-bank reconciliation, letting you know when your actual balance differs from what your budget shows.

Some banks clearly display the exact permissions we request, which we love:
1. Transactions
2. Account Balance

What we never see:
• Your username and password (Stripe processes this directly with you)
• Your full bank account number

How we protect your data:

Once we receive your information, we secure it behind multiple layers of protection:

Infrastructure Security:
• Firewalls and private encrypted communication
• Non-public access with alerts and monitoring
• Bad intent detection with automatic blocking
• Zero-day vulnerability protection through custom infrastructure design
• Encryption at rest

Application Security:
• IP limits and 404 limits
• User input validation and escaping
• Encrypted password storage
• Stronger password policies
• 2-Factor Authentication (coming soon)

Security Testing:
• Library scanning for known errors
• Static code analysis for security issues
• Active bug bounty program with responsible disclosure process
• OWASP ZAP automated penetration testing (planned)

Complete data control: When you delete your account, we truly delete everything. No hidden retention, no backup copies.

Personal guarantee: This is the same budgeting app I use for my own family's finances. I've aligned my security interests directly with yours.

We believe you deserve to know exactly how your data is handled, not just trust vague promises.

I've been using zero-based budgeting for 10 years and have helped others manage budgets ranging from $55k to $210k annually, so I have a unique perspective on why this centuries-old method works so well.

This technique is so powerful that when my family faced 16 months of unemployment, our zero-based budgeting - both the savings it helped us build and the spending discipline it brought during that crisis - kept us afloat when others might have lost everything.

Zero-based budgeting isn't my approach - it's been around for centuries and is very popular for managing household income in countries like Japan even today. The magic in why your finances improve is in the zero-based methodology itself, and you can get a better idea of this in the "What is zero based budgeting" section above if you haven't done so already.

What our app does really well is bring additional conveniences and features that does not exist elsewhere.

For example, we are the only app that makes you write your own automation rules to categorize your transactions, and send you emails about exactly what your rules performed to keep you in the loop.

We also offer master templates that protect your plan from monthly chaos - no other budgeting app offers this level of planning stability (currently in development).

We're also working on bringing fun and gamification to budgeting, which I'm incredibly excited about - but unfortunately we're not there yet.

Mint isn't really comparable since it's not zero-based budgeting - it just tells you what you spent in hindsight. We focus on zero-based budgeting because that's where the real power is in helping you control your spending habits.

YNAB and EveryDollar are excellent apps that we've personally used for years, and they both deserve respect. We're doing some things differently in terms of features:

1. Master templating - protect your budgets from monthly chaos
2. User-created rules for automated transaction allocations - this is a convenience feature that's the middle ground between automation AND staying on top of your budget (not letting it disappear into nothing)
3. All activity gets logged in the budget ledger with date and time stamps so when you go back to do research you know exactly when something happened. We're also adding a notes section so you can leave notes for your future self.

I like to think we're raising the bar for budgeting apps by including these features.

Our other core value is that as a small business, we're willing to be more experimental and have a bit more fun. For example, we might do some unconventional things when it comes to gamification of budgets.

We're not going to drive a hard sale here - feel free to check us out if you're interested in seeing something different! It's free for 7 days without a credit card, so you can just try it out and delete it if it doesn't work for you.

Most budgets don't fail because of lack of discipline - they fail because you hit a problem you can't solve, it persists, and you eventually give up. You're more likely to succeed with us because you have free access to a financial coach via email and phone calls to help solve these specific problems.

For example, some people struggle when their partner doesn't budget and maintains their own spending habits - this absolutely kills the other partner's motivation and budget. In this situation, we help you figure out where things are going wrong, first individually with you, then with your partner if needed.

Another common issue: "I can't keep my grocery budget in check even though I'm giving it a reasonable amount." We dig deep into your specific situation by asking tons of questions to understand the full context. Do you cook from home? Do you prefer frozen meals? Why don't you cook from home - are you exhausted after 12-hour workdays? Is it realistic to expect yourself to cook after such long days? Would meal planning work better? What types of foods should you focus on? Can you take advantage of bulk discounts?

We refuse to let you struggle with unsolved problems. All you have to do is reach out using the email address in your welcome message, and we'll work through whatever is blocking your success.

I totally hear this fear - let me work through this with you.

You don't need to be good at math because this is simpler than you think. First of all, you don't need to do any mental arithmetic - just use the calculator on your phone. Usually you'll just be adding and subtracting values at most. It's very rare that you have to use multiplication or division.

If you get stuck in a specific situation - for example, if you're trying to figure out whether a bulk purchase is actually saving you money and get stuck with the math - just reach out using the email address at the bottom of your welcome email. We'll help you better understand your situation (it's free). We'll first ask questions to understand your specific circumstances, then help you work through whatever you're trying to figure out.

The goal isn't to make you a math expert - it's to help you take control of your money using simple tools and having support when you need it.

Yes it does, and actually irregular income makes budgeting MORE important because you need to plan for the valleys, not just the peaks.

The core value you get is still the same, just with a little additional complexity to manage. You'll still plan how much you need to spend in each aspect of your life AND see how much your true spending for each aspect is. This is the fundamental benefit you get whether your income varies or not.

There are many solutions you can deploy for irregular income:

• You can have a buffer bucket - during abundant months you put money in like charging a battery, then take it out during lean months
• You can let a bucket go negative for a month or two if you know income is coming soon
• You can plan to spend only the minimum you'll ever receive, then use any extra income to better prepare for future months

Feel free to reach out using the email address at the bottom of your welcome email and let us understand your specific situation. We can help problem-solve with you for absolutely free. We bring both experience and insights from helping other freelancers in similar situations, so we can share what's worked for others facing the same challenges.

This is totally fine and normal - I've had to create multiple budgets as well. Feel free to just create a new budget and delete the old one. Most of the time there's a path to recover the old budget, so feel free to reach out using the email at the bottom of your welcome email. We can not only help you recover your problem budget but probably also help you understand how to prevent it in the future. This is exactly why we offer free coaching support.

Yes, we allow each budget to include up to 3 credit cards. We know some people have more than this and are amazed they can sustain the energy to manage all those cards. We're not convinced you're getting real value beyond 3 cards, so we limit it there to help keep your budget manageable.

We also believe each budget should only have 1 checking account - it gets confusing tracking movements between multiple accounts. You can create multiple budgets with us if needed, but only 1 checking account per budget keeps things clear and manageable.

We offer multiple support channels to match your needs and budget:

Free Support:
• Email support via the address in your welcome email - questions go directly to the founder for personalized responses within 24 hours.
• AI chatbot (bottom right of your screen) trained on both app features and budgeting questions - can also connect you to a human when needed

Premium Support:
• Direct 1-on-1 coaching sessions ($60/hour via Google Meets) where we listen deeply to your situation and provide personalized solutions

Go to settings and click "delete my account." After 2 additional verification steps, we'll delete your account completely.

Your account will be permanently deleted with no hidden retention - it's physically no longer possible to recover your account or data. You'll receive an account deletion confirmation email with the exact date, time, and actions we took during the deletion process.