Q: How is my data protected?

We don't use bank connections or financial data aggregators. All your data is manually entered, meaning we have no access to your real bank accounts or transactions. We require a working email for account recovery, but feel free to use a privacy-focused alias (SimpleLogin, Firefox Relay, etc.). Your display name is purely cosmetic. For more details, see our Privacy Policy .

Question 1

What is Boring Money?

Accepted Answer

Boring Money is a cash flow-focused budgeting app. Unlike traditional apps that track account balances, we focus on what matters: your income, expenses, and savings rate. The goal is to help you understand where your money goes and build wealth over time.

Question 2

Cash flow vs account tracking: what is the difference?

Accepted Answer

Account tracking apps focus on syncing your bank accounts and showing you balances. They answer "how much money is in each account?" but often create busywork: reconciling transactions, fixing sync errors, and categorizing imports. Cash flow tracking focuses on the money flowing in and out. We answer "how much did I earn, how much did I spend, and what&#x27;s left?" This is what actually determines your financial health. We chose cash flow because: It&#x27;s what matters - knowing you have €500 in checking and €1,200 in savings doesn&#x27;t tell you if you&#x27;re building wealth. Your savings rate does. Simpler mental model - income minus expenses equals savings. No need to track transfers between accounts. Works universally - cash, crypto, foreign accounts, envelope budgeting... everything fits the same model. Encourages action - instead of passively watching balances, you actively track spending and see the direct impact on your savings rate. If you need to know exact account balances, your bank app does that well. Boring Money helps you understand and improve your financial behavior.

Question 3

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Start by adding your recurring income (salary, freelance, etc.) and recurring expenses (rent, subscriptions, etc.). Then track your daily expenses as they happen. The dashboard will automatically calculate your savings rate and show your financial health.

Question 4

What is the savings rate?

Accepted Answer

Your savings rate is the percentage of your income that you keep after expenses. For example, if you earn €3,000 and spend €2,000, your savings rate is 33%. A higher savings rate means you're building wealth faster. We recommend aiming for at least 20%.

Question 5

What is the difference between active and passive tracking?

Accepted Answer

Active tracking means you manually enter your expenses and income. Passive tracking relies on automatic bank connections to import transactions. Boring Money uses active tracking because it creates mindfulness around spending. When you manually log an expense, you think twice about it. Studies show that people who actively track their finances save more money.

Question 6

Why no bank connection?

Accepted Answer

We deliberately chose not to include bank connections for several reasons: Privacy - your financial data stays on our servers, not shared with third-party aggregators. Mindfulness - manually entering expenses makes you more aware of your spending habits. Simplicity - no dealing with broken connections, miscategorized transactions, or sync issues. Universal - works with any bank, any country, cash payments included. The small effort of manual entry pays off in better financial awareness.

Question 7

How is my data protected?

Accepted Answer

We don&#x27;t use bank connections or financial data aggregators. All your data is manually entered, meaning we have no access to your real bank accounts or transactions. We require a working email for account recovery, but feel free to use a privacy-focused alias (SimpleLogin, Firefox Relay, etc.). Your display name is purely cosmetic. For more details, see our Privacy Policy .

Question 8

What is the difference between an expense and a recurring expense?

Accepted Answer

An expense is a one-time transaction (buying groceries, a coffee, etc.). A recurring expense is a template for expenses that repeat on a schedule (rent, Netflix subscription, gym membership). Recurring expenses automatically create individual expenses each period.

Question 9

How do recurring expenses work?

Accepted Answer

When you create a recurring expense, you define the amount and start date. The system automatically generates individual expenses each month. You can still edit or delete individual occurrences without affecting future ones.

Question 10

Should I track every small expense?

Accepted Answer

It depends on your goals. For accurate tracking, yes. But if that feels overwhelming, focus on significant expenses and use categories to group smaller ones. The key is consistency - whatever method you choose, stick with it.

Question 11

What are categories?

Accepted Answer

Categories help you organize your expenses (e.g., Food, Transportation, Entertainment). Each expense can be assigned to one category. This helps you understand your spending patterns and identify areas where you might cut back.

Question 12

What is a budget?

Accepted Answer

A budget is a spending limit you set for one or more categories over a period (usually monthly). For example, you might budget €400/month for Food. Boring Money tracks your spending against this budget and alerts you when you're approaching or exceeding it.

Question 13

Can I have expenses without a category?

Accepted Answer

Yes, expenses without a category appear as "Uncategorized". However, we recommend categorizing expenses for better insights. You can always bulk-edit expenses later to add categories.

Question 14

What is a goal?

Accepted Answer

A goal is a savings target for a planned future expense (vacation, new laptop, down payment, etc.). You set a target amount and optionally a deadline. Then you contribute money towards it over time until you reach your target.

Question 15

How do goal contributions affect my savings rate?

Accepted Answer

Goal contributions are considered expenses because you're setting aside money for future spending. This reduces your savings rate. This is intentional - a goal contribution is earmarking money for a specific future expense.

Question 16

What is the difference between a goal and an investment?

Accepted Answer

A goal is for planned future expenses (you'll spend the money). An investment is for building long-term wealth (stocks, ETFs, crypto). Investments transfer your liquid cash to assets but don't reduce your savings rate since you're not "spending" the money.

Question 17

What is an ISIN?

Accepted Answer

ISIN (International Securities Identification Number) is a 12-character code that uniquely identifies a security (stock, ETF, bond). For example, Apple's ISIN is US0378331005. You can use the ISIN to search for investments when adding them.

Question 18

What is a ticker symbol?

Accepted Answer

A ticker is a short abbreviation used to identify a publicly traded security on an exchange. For example, AAPL for Apple, MSFT for Microsoft. Tickers can vary by exchange (e.g., a stock might have different tickers in the US vs Europe).

Question 19

Why don't investment purchases affect my savings rate?

Accepted Answer

Buying investments transfers money from cash to assets - your net worth stays the same. It's not an expense, it's a transfer. Your savings rate measures income minus spending, and investing isn't spending - it's building wealth in a different form.

Question 20

How is my portfolio value calculated?

Accepted Answer

We track your purchase transactions (buys and sells) and multiply your current holdings by the latest market prices. The total value, gains/losses, and performance percentages are calculated from this data.

Question 21

What is net worth?

Accepted Answer

Net worth is the total value of everything you own (assets) minus everything you owe (liabilities). In Boring Money, we track your liquid savings (cash) plus your investment portfolio value to calculate your net worth.

Question 22

How is my net worth calculated?

Accepted Answer

Your net worth = Cash balance + Investment portfolio value. Cash balance is calculated from your income minus expenses over time. Investment value is the current market value of all your holdings.

Question 23

Why track net worth?

Accepted Answer

Net worth is the ultimate measure of financial health. While savings rate shows how fast you're building wealth, net worth shows the result. Tracking it over time reveals your progress toward financial independence.

Question 24

What is balance reconciliation?

Accepted Answer

Over time, your calculated liquid assets may drift from your actual bank balance due to forgotten expenses, rounding errors, or cash transactions you didn&#x27;t track. Balance reconciliation lets you correct this drift by entering your actual balance. The difference is recorded as an adjustment without modifying your transaction history. You can reconcile from the dashboard (click the calculator icon next to "Liquid Assets") or from Settings > Balance Reconciliation. All reconciliations are saved in your history for reference.

Help Center

Getting Started

Expenses & Incomes

Categories & Budgets

Goals

Investments

Net Worth