Introducing Funded: A no-budgeting approach to personal finance

We’re excited to announce the launch of Funded and yes, you read that right ー its a personal finance app that helps you manage your money but does not need you to do any budgeting.

Anyone who has tried to manage their money has run into one of the many complicated budgeting tools and apps that are out there. The fundamental flaw is that these apps conflate managing your money with budgeting. This means a few steps into the process you find yourself overanalyzing every dollar and cent you’ve spent so far on Uber rides.

Or worse, an app telling you all the ways you should stop spending on Uber rides and other judgments, but hold up ー this app doesn’t even know me yet. Why is it making snap judgments based on 3 months of (probably badly categorized data) about how my “alcohol & bars” spending is too much.

So Funded set out to do quite the opposite ー an app that lets you do you. Our mission is to empower users to spend their money as they see fit, by providing a clear and concise view of their finances.

But I can see my bank balances on my bank website, so why do I need this?

If you pay rent and have credit cards, your finances are already complicated and your bank balance is not telling you the full story. Now layer in some long term plans and savings goals and it’s even harder to see a full financial picture. Funded’s core philosophy is to break down bank balances by setting aside money for large obligations and plans, so the rest can be spent confidently.

Assigning a credit card to the account it’s paid from

Funded securely links with your bank using the Plaid service to provide one place where you can see all your money. Once you link your primary cash accounts and credit cards you can already start to see the benefit of Funded.

When you pay a credit card bill from a cash account, it immediately affects how much money you have left for everything else.

From here, you can start to bring in your current financial setup into Funded. We have three simple types of funds that can accommodate almost any situation.

1. Recurring funds: occur every month, and have a due date
   (e.g. rent, mortgage, loans, car leases, gas/electricity bills, internet/phone bills, subscriptions)
2. Goal funds: have a target amount due on one specific day
   (e.g. trips, quarterly insurance payments, birthday gifts, new TV/phone/laptop, weddings, wardrobe refreshes)
3. Open-ended funds: ongoing savings without a due date
   (e.g. emergency funds, investment savings, ongoing travel fund)

Lastly, Funded syncs with your paycheck, so it can set aside money for these funds as soon as your paycheck comes in. This ensures the Everything Else number is even more accurate every week, and stays constant between paychecks. It’s an added layer of confidence that protects you from over-spending money from your last paycheck before your Funds are funded.

Understanding your balances

The goal of the Everything Else feature is to empower you to spend your money confidently, knowing your bills and other plans are already covered for. And if you ever happen to overspend, you can know ahead of time to move some money around to avoid any overdraft fees or failed autopay.

We’re excited to see all the things you achieve, and hope to help and empower you along your financial journey!

Kickstart your #2020goals, download and try Funded for free 💰
Sign up before Jan 31st and use Funded free for life.