Get Detailed Stats On Your Budget

Lunch Money is a web-based budgeting platform that comes with a lot of unique features, including detailed reports and the ability to track your finances in multiple different currencies. 

It’s one of the newest budgeting apps to hit the market and its is designed to make budgeting easier while building a community around like-minded people who want to build better financial habits.

Is Lunch Money right for you? This review will dive deeper into Lunch Money, how it compares with other budgeting platforms, and a few things to consider if you’re looking for a better way to budget.

Lunch Money is a web-based budgeting app designed for budgeters who want something that’s more enjoyable to use than spreadsheets. It offers a number of customizable functions including budgeting in different currencies and a crypto portfolio tracker.

The platform connects with a number of financial institutions using Plaid. Alternatively, you can manually upload a CSV file of important data from your bank.

Once you’ve populated your account with your transaction history, Lunch Money allows you to split, group, categorize, and tag transactions however you want. From there you can create rules to make it easier to manage how your transactions are organized moving forward.

The platform was founded in 2019 by Jen Yip, a solopreneur who wanted to make a budgeting tool for the modern-day spender. It has users in 30 different countries and allows its user base to budget in multiple different currencies. Lunch Money users can track day-to-day expenses, as well as evaluate trends around their own spending habits.

Lunch Money offers a range of tools and features beyond simple budgeting. It can split transactions across multiple categories, create budgeting reports, help you set goals, and manage transactions in multiple currencies. It’s a versatile budgeting tool that you can tailor to meet your budgeting needs.

Similar to other budgeting apps like YNAB, Tiller, and Every Dollar, Lunch Money is a budgeting platform that helps you keep your spending in check. You can do that by evaluating every transaction that hits your bank account or by pulling reports to assess your spending in aggregate.

Like most budgeting apps on the market, you can group and categorize your spending. This allows you to prioritize your spending when you’re creating a budget while seeing how your money is actually being spent as the month progresses.

From there you can set up rules to automate the budgeting process. This frees up more of your time to spend evaluating your spending habits to ensure they stay aligned with your bigger financial goals.

Related: Best Budgeting Apps

Lunch Money comes with a number of trackers and calculators to help you plan your finances. One of the trackers is a multi-currency tracker. This is great for budgeters based outside of the United States or solopreneurs and freelancers who work with clients who pay in different currencies.

For crypto enthusiasts, Lunch Money also has a crypto tracker. Rather than keeping your crypto transactions separate from everything else, Lunch Money rolls up all of your financial transactions – including crypto – into one place.

For users looking to develop a long-term plan for their finances, Lunch Money includes a net worth tracker. This is a powerful tool that allows you to see how reducing your monthly expenses affects your ability to increase your net worth.

Another notable feature of Lunch Money is the ability to evaluate your spending habits and financial trends. This can help you incrementally adjust your budget over time so that you change your habits to become more aligned with your goals.

Lunch Money comes with a monthly summary to show you exactly where your money is going. This takes the guesswork out of having to evaluate your financial data by yourself.

While Lunch Money is still a relative newcomer on the budgeting scene, it’s striving to build a reputation for itself as a go-to-budget tool. Aside from the robust features it offers, Lunch Money users can also join the Lunch Money Discord community.

On Discord users can swap budgeting tips with one another. The community aspect of the platform can provide accountability, making it easier for you to stick to your financial goals. 

Lunch Money comes with two pricing options. Users can pay monthly membership fee of $10 per month or they can sign up for an annual membership that costs $100 for the full year.

New users can test out Lunch Money before committing to a subscription with a 30-day free trial.

Lunch Money is positioned as an alternative to apps like YNAB and complex spreadsheet-based tools like Tiller Money.

According to user feedback, Lunch Money is a better option that doesn’t come with the learning curve associated with YNAB’s zero-based budgeting approach. While Lunch Money does offer a large suite of features, it is more expensive than a lot of similar budgeting platforms out there.

To get started with Lunch Money opt into the 30-day free trial by creating an account. All you need to do is create a username, set up a password, and choose your preferred currency to get started. You won’t need to provide a credit card to set up your account.

Lunch Money stores information in their databases and doesn’t sell your information to third-parties. The platform gives you the option to connect your financial accounts with Plaid or to upload a CSV file directly onto the platform.

Lunch Money is operated by a one-woman team and doesn’t have a lot of customer support options. Users can join Discord or send an email to support@lunchmoney.app.

Lunch Money’s founder is proactive about sharing development updates. The website maintains a robust changelog as well as a documentation library to find answers to questions about how to use the platform.

Depending on what you are looking for in a budgeting app, Lunch Money may very well be worth it. With an easy-to-use web interface and the ability to budget in different currencies, it’s a budgeting tool that appeals to a globally diverse audience.

It also offers trend analysis for you which can alleviate a major pain point that’s often associated with budgeting. This data can give you more control over how you set up future budgets, allowing you to change your habits over time.

That being said, Lunch Money isn’t for everyone. It’s priced a little higher than many of its competitors and lacks a few key features like a mobile app. It is also limited in its tracking functionality. While it’s really good at tracking expenses, it isn’t good at tracking income or investments.