Ask HN: Would you use a chat-based money tracker?

1 points by chetansorted 11mo ago ↗ HN

I've been experimenting with using GPT-4 to turn financial tracking into something as simple as chatting with a friend. Instead of using spreadsheets or budgeting apps with rigid inputs, I created a personal finance assistant where you just talk to it:

“Spent ₹300 on lunch” “Paid ₹12,000 for rent” “Freelance income ₹5,000” “Set food budget to ₹10,000” It understands natural language, categorizes expenses, tracks monthly budgets, gives spending summaries, and even generates charts — all inside a conversational interface. Right now, it's running as a GPT with memory and a custom backend that logs transactions, handles budget rules, and supports custom categories (like “Cigarettes” or “Loans”).

I'm working on packaging it into a mobile app with a simple chat UI. Would love your thoughts:

Is this something you'd use? Any ideas on making it more useful/fun? What features would make it better than Excel or Notion-based trackers? Live demo soon — just validating interest before I go full-on.

1 comment

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praash 11mo ago ↗

For tracking to be at all effective, this requires the user to log all of their transactions thoroughly and accurately. Personally I'd never remember to update the logs immediately after a purchase during the day.

Logging transactions on the go demands the interface to be rapidly accessible. Touch screen typing is error-prone and slow. I'd prefer a dedicated interface where I could just tap one of the available categories and enter the sum with a large number pad.

It'd make sense to primarily synchronize data from their online bank account and then ask the user to clarify/categorize unknown events. Obviously an online sync is hard to implement for all banks, so a TSV import would be a bare necessity. My bank has integrated financial tracking nicely in their mobile application.