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Salary manager

Would you find this app useful?

  • Total voters
    9
  • Poll closed .
E

Evolutionnext

Newbie
Hey there...

I don't have the skills or budget to take care of developing the following app, but maybe someone out there is inspired by my ideas and needs for a specific app and creates it in hope of reselling it on the market (where I will of course be a very happy customer).

The problem to be solved is, that I have trouble managing my salary effectively. I dont get round to sitting down once a month and calculating my expenditures and surplus etc. I would also like to save money for specific items or holidays, which is of course not so easy if you are unaware of all the money coming in and going out.

To solve this problem I thought of an app to help me manage this effectively. It has to have a widget interface on a home screen to enable me to update any payments on the fly while paying at a cash register (the biggest problem with money managing apps). It also has to automatically register my salary, monthly rent etc. without me setting everything up at the beginning of every month.

I have designed a widget-layout ides and attached it to this post.

The following functions should be available:

  • Monthly salary income: You can set the salary amount and date and it is registered automatically every month.
  • Monthly payments: You can set fixed payments (Rent etc.) that go out every month
  • Set Categories: You can create categories in which expenditures or incomes can be registered
  • Set budget: You can set monthly budget per category
  • Set Piggy bank: Set a piggy bank, that keeps all the surplus money from the previous month. Having expenditures that are higher than income takes money from the piggy bank.
  • Save money for an item: The option to pay money into an "account" that has a predefined price. When enough was donated, you can buy the item or go on holiday etc.

Widget interface: (see attachment)

Any constructive criticism or development-financing-strategy etc. is of course welcome.

Well then.. I hope some bored developer is inspired by some of my concepts and that I will one day finally be able to effectively save for that
 

Attachments

  • Money manager widget.jpg
    Money manager widget.jpg
    63.2 KB · Views: 117
As we speak I am 50% done with the app. I am a little surprised on how much we think alike. I will update you when its done. Cheers
 
Thats great!

And if we both think alike, there surely will be others thinking the same. Soulds like good potential for a profitable app.

I'm allways available for beta testing and constructive criticism if you want some.. ;)

ceo@novogenia.com

Loking forward to the app.

Regards,

Daniel
 
Sounds to me like this could be the app I am looking for as well. The one thing I would add is budget rollover. Maybe the app could still pull excess at the end of the month into the "piggy bank" but if I knew that I only spent $20 of my allotted $40 for whatever category, I'd like to be able to spend $60 the next month without it looking like I went over budget.
 
That's a good point.

One would have to be able to subtract from the piggy bank as well to make a purchase for something.

So.. klick on piggy bank.... Subtract
 
Sounds good to me.
In the previous budgeting app I used on my iphone, I just set savings up as a budget category and "expensed" money to the account. If I didn't have enough at the end of the month I'd do a refund to the savings account and transfer that money back to my checking. A bit of a hassle but it worked.
 
Hey again... I refinde my idea of a menu and user control a bit.. maybe itinspires you or an constructive discussion.

See attachmants
 

Attachments

  • Editing income.JPG
    Editing income.JPG
    78.1 KB · Views: 101
  • Buying sthg from piggy bank money.JPG
    Buying sthg from piggy bank money.JPG
    80.2 KB · Views: 107
  • donating piggy bank money to item saving account.JPG
    donating piggy bank money to item saving account.JPG
    121.2 KB · Views: 103
  • Menu.JPG
    Menu.JPG
    54.3 KB · Views: 56
  • Saving money for an item.JPG
    Saving money for an item.JPG
    78 KB · Views: 51
  • Spending food money.JPG
    Spending food money.JPG
    77.6 KB · Views: 58
I like it. Looks simple enough. The only thing I would add, and I don't know what the plan is really, is that I really liked being able to say what account I was taking the money from. Like if I bought groceries at the store, I could say how much and that I paid with my mastercard. And a spot for notes would be cool. I could say what I bought...for reference.
If I knew anything about coding, I'd make my own. But I don't. :(
 
I see where this would come in handy (registering specific purchases) if you have and take the time to use the feature... I was even considerin a "capture photograph of the receipt" option... but I was worried that it would become too complex to be used consistently. My criterium was to be able to enter the purchase with one hand while the debit card register is preparing to accept my card. Thats about 3-5 seconds.

If I had to open a new window, type in some text what it is for... choose what bank (piggy or income) to take the money from etc... it woud take too long. With this app.. when you dont use it once while making a purchase.. it is useless for the rest of the month.

That is why I thought about the buttons adding 100, 50 10 or 1 Euros to the textfield. One-finger control in 3 seconds.... in my oppinion abslutely essential!
 
Hello everyone,
I was developing this idea and I really thought its a great idea. I have a working prototype with an implementation of progress bars, SQLLite and Shared preferences that works as described in the text above. After working on it saturday I saw an Application "Mint.com" for android or android mint. I dont see a point of my app after that. It cannot only do all the things that are mentioned here but pretty much can manage your bank accounts ( I dont know how secure it is) but I felt demoralized and I dont see a point to continue development. Thank you
 
Mint.com is the problem here. I don't want an app that will sync with all my banks. And mint.com doesn't even work with my banks. So pretty much everyone out there that could make an app won't because of mint and meanwhile those of us who bank with the little guys are screwed because it doesn't work.
 
Hey again...

Damn.. that's true. Mint seems like this kind of thing. The only problem for me (besides your effort for nothing) is that it doesnt seem to be avaliable in europe.. cantfind it in the market and when I use the barcode on the website Mint.com it says it doesnt find the app. Does this mean its not available overseas?

;( Still left without a proper money manager.....
 
This sounds like a great project idea. I just finished working on my latest app (FlashCards under Kieran Nichols in the market if interested) and am looking for a new idea that is worth my time. I feel like this application if done right would be used a lot. If you all would like I can start working on this and maybe get some beta testers?
 
I would love to beta test it for you. Just please be sure that it can handle multiple accounts. I like to keep my money in multiple banks and use multiple credit cards. It's probably the most difficult system possible, but it works.
 
Ok yea that looks like what everyone is talking about, I can kind of use that as a reference as to what features to add. I personally would find this app pretty helpful so I am really looking forward to starting to work on this. I will get to work on this tonight probably haha. I will definitely be posting questions on here asking you guys questions about what you want exactly as I go.
 
;) Great someone is still up for the development...

I thought about the useability question a bit more and thought of an idea of how to mage updating expenses in a category even faster... maybe it is an inspiration....

it enables you to update a category with just 1 Klick instead of the 6 Klicks it had taken previously. Jou just tap on the category you wish to update and drag your finger to the right to make a counter go up... or left to reduce the amount again. Once you let go the change is applied.

I think this would make the "one-handed-entry into my phone while paying the cashier with my other hand" even faster.
 

Attachments

  • android money manager.jpg
    android money manager.jpg
    79.4 KB · Views: 62
I will keep you guys updated as I go and get your ideas involved as much as possible. I like the idea of the drag to update a category as well.
 
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