I think Summary has really good intentions and I like the iterative approach to find the best solution. My feedback at this point:
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Provide the options to use ‘Breakdown’ or ‘Summary’. There is something intrinsically intuitive about Breakdown by category of your spending over a calendar month.
(note: this was always hamstrung on Android as the category cards were so large you had to scroll to see all the spending in one month, and lost the ability to see all categories at a glance) -
‘Summary’ integration with targets/Budgets is too anal. I’m sure some people want to set a target/budget for the amount on groceries to the nearest £5, and want notifications when they are spending too fast on groceries. This is not for me. Setting a budget or target does something to the psyche, where it occupies too much headspace. (‘Don’t go over budget for the month’, ‘slow down spending’, ‘Is my target set at the right value?’ ‘check your spending on x/y/z is on target’)
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I feel I am missing out on insight into how I am spending compared to my normal spending patterns. (because I do not use Budgets/Targets, for the reason above)
Back in the day there was a ‘comparison to average’. This showed a ‘passive’ indication each day if you were spending more or less than normal.
If this were reintroduced per spending category, it would require no decisions by the user like Targets/Budget does, but would provide a ‘nudge’ to users who are spending more or less than they usually are.
e.g. you have spent on average £200 pcm on groceries in the last 6 months. (£6.66 per day). Each day if you don’t spend anything on groceries, your comparison to average would decrease by £6.66. Say at the end of the week, you spend £40, then your comparison to average would go from -£50.00 to -£10.00. Neat!
‘Comparison to average’ provides subtle indication on your spending, with no user decisions required to set a budget which requires managing. Comparison to average need to be revisited.