Why create your own Budget Manager? Why not just use Mint or Money Brilliant, or YNAB, etc?
Because it’s more fun to create own yourself. Because all the existing ones just don’t quite right for me. Because this is perhaps the most important data that we have. Because it serves as great learning exercise to Python and data analysis. Because I have too much time in lockdown.
I like a simple and to the point solution. I need something that just works, I don’t need a fancy UI, or automatic Sync Online Banking transaction. I like something that can create categories according to my lifestyle, separate income, expense and investment, automate report creation to Excel, and I definitely want to own my data 100%, forever. I keep it with me even if I move banks, countries or planets. I also definitely want it 100% free. After all, we are trying to save money.
Unfortunately off-the-shelf solutions are often comes with subscription fee, and it is often difficult to export/import your data if I want to switch providers. It also requires an Online Banking permissions, and sometimes not compatible with Australian Banks, does not track cash transactions, and not to mention security or privacy concerns.
My DIY Budget Manager will use browser automation tool to download CSV data, import them to SQLite, and categorise them based on your frequently used transaction, and you have all of your data, forever.
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Big Data Guy 