As alluded to elsewhere, I’m not full Monzo right now. Never say never about going back, but I thought I’d share what I’ve discovered to replace Trends - an open source project called Actual Budget
It’s a super cool (at least I think it is) open source app that tracks accounts and does budgeting. It does that envelope budgeting thing that folk seem to like as well as normal, or what Actual calls ‘tracked’, budgeting. But I’m mostly using it to store years and years of backdate and to create my own reports. It’s basically like a souped up version of Trends. The clincher for me was that it can use Go Cardless to sync data using open banking - and Go Cardless doesn’t charge for small volumes of open banking transactions each month.
This is what my reports screen looks like (it’s pretty customisable):
(The two dotted line graphs are average spends each month - it’s the first of the month so you can’t see the solid tracking line that shows whether you’re above or below average. I’ve got it set up to show if I’m above or below spending and above/below savings).
Tthe transactions look a bit like this (not my screen because too much to redact):
There’s no mobile app, but there is a responsive web view. It’s not quite there yet for everyday consumption imo (it’s a bit slow and you can’t have a combined accounts feed yet) but it shows lots of promise. I host it on PikaPods which costs me under a quid a month, but I’m flirting with the idea of self hosting.
Anyway, that’s one of the things I’m using now. Anyone else on the Actual train? Or any other solutions folk are using instead?
P.S. I’m waiting for Revels to dust off a topic from 2018 where Actual is mentioned in passing. I think I probably found it from on here, but my search skills weren’t up to the task…
I used to go to the nth degree of analysis using all sorts of offline/online services and weened myself off them over time to concentrate on the tools available in the app. While they’re certainly not complete, or for everyone, I find I can trust the figures and it saves me a TON of time cross-referencing data points.
So while I love a good service, I won’t be trying to add additional services to my current level of financial ops.
I was the same. But after Monzo messed up my backdata (there’s a topic about it somewhere) and I got seduced by T212’s cashback but no open data connection, Trends lost its lustre sadly.
I’m very here for improvements to Trends, but sadly I think I’m in power use mode having outgrown the solution for the masses.
That said, whilst not perfect Trends is the best mass market product out there.
I’m still a bit meh on Chase. Just been using them because JPM has been happy to fund decent savings and cashback rates. Nationwide is nice, solid, a mutual and has good support.
I’d still be with Monzo if they fixed their customer support. And, you know, properly supported paid for features.
I don’t know if that’s totally a safe assumption though. I had accounts back with Starling and Monzo after the initial period so it would be safe to assume this message would ring true. I got told up to 11 months in I’d be able to apply and was even given a date.
And then one day evidently the message CS were told to day changed, and it just went to “we might let people back but there’s no timescale”.
Anyway I’m not actually bothered now, HSBC does me fine and Numbers does the additional detail needed.
I’ll have to take a look at this, it looks interesting. While I liked the visual appear of trends in Monzo, I always struggled with it and after an unfortunate issue with Monzo over Christmas, I don’t want to use them any longer.
I currently use a spreadsheet for all my budgeting. It’s not that detailed and doesn’t show me what I’ve spent on my cards but I know where my bills are and if I need to budget for holidays or expenses.
I’m using Actual Budget too, and it’s so good . Whilst there’s no app through the various app stores, you can install the website to use it as an app on your phone. The mobile version isn’t quite as fully featured as the desktop view, but it does what I need (allows me to check and update my budget on the go) and is improving rapidly.
I love that it’s open-source, and that it’s free if I self-host the server (which I already had set up for home automation purposes).
I don’t actually use the reports much yet, but use the Budget almost daily and have set up the templates to make sure my money goes where it’s most needed. I also find the Schedules really useful to see what’s coming up.
Has anyone using Actual Budget managed to get Pots to sync? I’ve connected my Monzo account with Gocardless fine and all the Pots appeared in the list but they all show as 0 balance and don’t seem to sync correctly. The main account itself is syncing fine
I’ve just set up Actual Budget on my server and currently playing with it to see if it suits my way of tracking and budgeting.
So far so good, but linking my Nationwide Credit Card results in mayhem, as it sees the available balance as a credit balance (as if it were a current account with that amount of money in it), which of course messes everything up.
It handles Monzo Flex correctly though.
I also tried linking Monzo current account but the pots mess put me off. I’ll just have to see if it’s good as a manual solution.
I’ve set up rules to manage movements in and out of pots. Works quite well, although I don’t use pots that much because they way they’ve implemented savings pots.
I have been using YNAB for the longest time, however the yearly subscription is starting to get a bit much and actual budget does look like a very nice alternative. Has anyone else here made the leap from YNAB to Actual?
app. While they’re certainly not complete, or for everyone, I find I can trust the figures and it saves me a TON of time cross-referencing data points.
