Alternatives
Products that do what I spent 2 years building a personal finance simulator does
Hey everyone! After another year of building as a solo dev on nights and weekends, I'm back with an update on this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31083093. TL;DR - ProjectionLab (https://projectionlab.com) is a privacy-friendly personal finance planning tool where you can create financial plans that go beyond the standard online retirement calculators. And by popular request, it now supports self-hosting for Lifetime users! Something I'm grateful for is that our community here on HN is the difference between PL existing and not. There was actually a time…
- 1IB
2022 · projectionlab.com
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- 3IS
Hey everyone! I'm back with an update on this post [0]. Last year, I quit my corporate job and went full-time on ProjectionLab, the long-term financial planning app I've been building for the past 4 years, which some of you may recognize. The decision to go all-in felt like a huge leap. But it was the right call, and it's been a good year. And without the HN community, it would not have happened. As I mentioned last time [0], the feedback on my original Show HN is THE reason I'm still here working on this. I'm really grateful for that. And I hope the way I’ve grown PL -- staying bootstrapped…
2024 · projectionlab.com
- 4IM
2021 · projectifi.io
- 5WP
Thank you for your comments, just some context: - The app is a simple desktop application that works on macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu. - I developed this app for my own needs. Getting tired of SaaS app subscriptions and privacy concerns. - For now, the activities are logged manually or imported from a CSV file. No integration with Plaid or other platforms. - No monetization is planned for now (only a "buy me a coffee" if you use and appreciate the app).
2024 · wealthfolio.app
- 6WI
Everyone’s chasing AI hype. I built a Google Sheet and it quietly took off. In 2020, I made it to track my own finances for income, expenses, savings, yearly summaries etc. I shared it once on Reddit, forgot about it for a year… When I checked back, it had over 130k views and I was honestly stoked! No launch. No funding. No AI. Just a spreadsheet people actually stick with and find useful. I finally gave it a proper home: write-it-down.com Now, more than 2,300 people use it. It’s intentionally boring and that’s why it works. People don’t always need AI. They just need something that actually…
Oct 2025 · write-it-down.com
- 7IQ
Quick background: I used to code. Studied it in school, wrote some projects, but eventually convinced myself I wasn't cut out for it. Too slow, too many bugs, imposter syndrome — the usual story. So I pivoted, ended up as an investment associate at an early-stage angel fund, and haven't written real code in years. Fast forward to now. I'm a Buffett nerd — big believer in compound interest as a mental model for life. I run compound interest calculations constantly. Not because I need to, but because watching numbers grow over 30-40 years keeps me patient when markets get wild. It's basically…
Jan 2026 · calquio.com
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Intelligent portfolio management for self-directed investors
2022
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- 10MS
For years, I have struggled to understand my cash flow and save for the future. In addition to that, my wife has many credit cards and accounts that complicate matters. I am building a tool that connects all our accounts, helps us create a budget, and tracks and adjusts expenses on the fly. I am also sprinkling some AI magic on it for financial suggestions. I am looking for feedback on the implementation. More importantly, I am looking for more beta testers to improve the product.
2023 · financemadelovely.com
- 11IB
A few years ago, I started managing my finances using Google Sheets. It worked fine for a while, but then I hit some limitations. As my financial planning needs grew more complex, I found myself struggling with tracking assets and forecasting future financial scenarios. Thus, I started to work in my spare time on building FinancialAha: https://www.financialaha.com - a financial planning app designed to do everything my spreadsheets couldn’t. It is completely free and I intend to add some paid features later on as listed on the pricing page, but I want to keep it free for people…
2024
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- 13YP
Care to share a screenshot and the 'killer feature' of any of your personal, self-built productivity tools? eg. I made my own calendar and money-tracker last year - there are no other users, it makes no money, I have no plans to make it public, but it holds my life together :) http://i.imgur.com/h2keJDg.png GREAT BECAUSE... it tells me how much I'm going to get paid this month. Absolutely no ulterior motive here (ie. I'm not canvassing opinions for a productivity app startup or anything), just interested.
2013
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The AI wealth dashboard for self-directed HNW households
Jul 2026 · formationmoney.com
- 16AF
Most retirement calculators either oversimplify things or ask you to link your accounts so they can make money off your data. I wanted something that actually helped me see if I was on track without handing over a bank login, so I built RetireNumber. It's a privacy-first retirement planner. You type in your own numbers. No account linking, no selling your data, no VC. Just me and a subscription. The engine does real math: Monte Carlo with 1,000 runs, historical backtesting to 1928 using Shiller's Yale data, tax-aware withdrawal strategies, and scenario comparison so you can try different…
Feb 2026 · retirenumber.com
- 17AM
Hi HN, Today I'm launching the Net Worth Tracker by Flow Finance, a beautiful and minimalist Excel template that allows individuals to track their assets, liabilities, income, and spending on a monthly basis. The focus of this template is understanding long-term trends in the incoming and outgoing expenses for an individual—always with a focus on maximising insights while minimising user inputs. This project was created because the alternatives, frankly, are completely overwhelming. A friend of mine introduced me to the FIRE Movement and, after doing deep dives through Reddit, I tried to…
2023 · getflow.finance
- 18PI
Hey HN! I'm Alex, one of the co-founders at Global Predictions. We are officially launching PortfolioPilot today! Since starting the company 2 years ago, we’ve been working tirelessly to build a personal portfolio management platform that empowers everyday people to feel more confident investing. We focused on aggregating your entire net worth, evaluating across a set of standardized metrics, and offering suggestions based on our commercial-grade Macro Insights & Recommendation Engine. We started by building a product we wanted to use and iterated and refined based on early user feedback. We…
2022
- 19CM
I thought I could make a personal finance app that was simpler, smarter and more privacy-focused than Monarch, YNAB and Copilot. I believe I have, but today that's up to you. While the classic story of using a variety of "analog" tools to manage money does apply to me, the main pillars that pushed me to build Cadence Money were: - Pay for the level of syncing that's used including none - No built-in AI - Fully cross-platform including mobile browsers - Passkeys available day one - Proper Canadian support - No ads even for a book After seven years at 1Password as a Lead PM, I can safely say…
Jul 2026 · cadencemoney.com
- 20PF
Hey guys, I am trying to do something different, Fintech + AI. I feel there is a complete abundance of Fintech AI tools in the B2B Saas space but not so much done for the consumer space. So I started working on project-hermes, it's a personal financial advisor designed to understand your bank statements and credit reports with ease and intelligence. What makes Project Hermes unique? 1. AI-powered insights: Get smart, tailored advice on your financial health. 2. Easy to use: Just upload your documents and let Hermes do the rest! 3. Secure and private: Your data's safety is our top priority.…
2024 · project-hermes-ai.vercel.app
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- 221R
Hi HN, We’re a small team working on 13Radar.com, which we launched about two weeks ago after 4 months of development. I’m the founder, and together with the team we’re building a platform that tracks hedge fund portfolios in real-time based on SEC Form 13F filings. AI has been a major helper in our workflow. For a single webpage, we often consult multiple AI systems in parallel, generating different versions and comparing them side by side before deciding on the final design or implementation. More than 60% of the research, design, and coding involved AI assistance. For UI design we used…
Nov 2025 · 13radar.com
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Build investor-ready 5-year forecasts in minutes.
Jul 2026 · yourfinancialmodel.com
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