Our family's assets and debts across Korea and Canada, on one screen
It's built just for our family, so there's no link. If you'd like one too…
Why did I make it?
I didn't like always going "roughly this much, roughly that much." With our money split across two countries, even I was starting to lose track.
What is it?
It puts our family's assets and debts, split across Korea and Canada, on one screen. You can view it all in won or in Canadian dollars, and there's a household ledger and a forecast of where things are heading too. Whatever I could pull in automatically, I did. Everything else comes from uploaded statements, to keep it accurate.
Why did I build it this way?
1
Separate out the exchange-rate illusion
Mix two currencies and your wealth seems to rise or fall just because the rate moved. So it shows "money actually saved" apart from "exchange-rate effect."
2
More accuracy, less work for me
What can come in automatically does. For the rest, I upload the statement and AI reads it. Upload receipts too, and later they get matched to the statement automatically.
3
How much → Why → What's ahead
How much we have now, why it ended up that way, and where money needs topping up next. The home screen shows them in that order.
4
Easy for my spouse too
No jargon, graphs for most things, and a report to wrap up each month.
What happened along the way
Is this ever going to end?
At first, I just wanted to see our assets.
But to see them, how do I even get the numbers in? Hmm, let’s upload statements. Hmm, I’ll need AI for that.
Next, hmm, I need investments in there to really see our money. Then I have to pull data straight from the brokerages?
Oh, and what about the money that moved from Korea to Canada? And how much do I need to keep ready, and where? Am I actually making money on these investments? Or not?
Maybe I should add investment advice too?
…Is this ever going to end?
Dumb-move notes
So nobody else has to make the same dumb moves.
Four months of asking
For months I'd felt something was off with how it calculated the exchange-rate illusion. I asked the AI a few times, and it kept saying there was no problem. It even rattled off reasons. I don't remember what it said, but I let it go.
Still, it felt off. It kept feeling off. I asked again. And again it said it was right.
In the end I pushed back. Come on, how can the loss from exchange rates be zero for months? Only then did it admit something was wrong and say it had fixed it… After four months of asking? Damn.
Lesson learned: if something feels off, ask "Why?"
These days, when AI says "No problem," I start with a bucketful of doubt.
History
First commit
Started as a web app you install on your phone (PWA)
Brokerage balances sync on their own
Where there is an official API, balances come in without touching anything
AI starts reading statements
Upload a statement and AI reads it into the ledger
Using it for real
Put it online and installed it on our phones
Every screen redone
Cut it down to four tabs, with a button to add an entry from anywhere
Money that moved from Korea to Canada
Pairs money taken out in Korea with what went into Canada, so it isn't counted as income
Month-end close
Three cards on how much we saved this month and where it went
Family only
Put a gatekeeper in front so only signed-in family can get in