Not sure what to add next: what would you want in a personal finance app?

For as long as I can remember, financial clarity has been a problem for me. I’d reach the end of the month wondering where all my money had gone, how much I’d managed to save (if anything), and feeling frustrated that I had no real overview of my finances.

It’s always been stuck in the back of my mind, this need to know how much I’m actually spending every month, where the money is going, and how much I’m really saving.

As my career progressed and I switched jobs, that lack of clarity became even more obvious. I was often unsure what I was truly earning, especially with bonuses and variable pay. Looking back, I even made a few poor salary negotiations simply because I underestimated my actual yearly income.

So I decided to start looking for solutions and tools that could help. But there was one thing I knew from the start: I didn’t want to connect any app directly to my bank accounts. I just don’t trust them enough for that. Instead, I wanted something where I could download my bank statements, clean them up, and import them manually. (Of course, as a good engineer, I wrote a little Python script to clean the CSVs for me 😄.)

The problem was that every existing app I tried felt too heavy, too cluttered, too much. I just wanted something simple, something that could quickly tell me how much I earn, how much I spend, and how much I save. Nothing more.

So I decided to build it.

I called it Ledgerino: a small, personal digital ledger. It gives me a clear view of how much money is coming in each year, how much is going out, and what my actual savings rate is. The first time I ran my data through it, I realized I’d been about to undersell myself again on a job switch. Just knowing the real number was already a win.

It’s also been surprising to see where my money is going. One of the first things I noticed was how much I was spending on my second phone SIM. Do I really need it? Probably not.

Now I have a little routine: once a month, I download my bank statements, merge them together, upload them to Ledgerino, quickly categorize everything, and instantly get a snapshot of what my situation is. I can see how much I earned, how much I spent, how much I saved; and even what my actual salary will look like at the end of the year. I finally feel like I’m not in the dark anymore.

But now I’m stuck at a crossroads. Part of me loves how simple it is. The other part wants to keep building, add richer charts, deeper insights, maybe more detailed reports.

So I wanted to ask you, Indie Hackers:

What would you want to see in a personal finance app? What kinds of reports or dashboards actually help you change your habits, or make you want to stick with it?

Thanks for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts. 🙏