Cash Flow: A Founder's Story

It's called "Cash Flow" (www.cashflowapp.io).

It's very early days, but I figured I'd mention it to you all.

The backstory: In 2023, my mortgage rates climbed from 1.3% to over 6%, and honestly, it was stressing me out.

I was tracking expenses in a spreadsheet and keeping a basic budget in Google Docs, but I couldn't really see where I'd actually be in a few months or a year out. I needed to know if I could still save and invest the way I wanted to - or if I'd need to adjust.

The thing about variable rate mortgages is that they force you to actually think about your money differently. I've always been someone who likes to plan ahead, save where I can, and invest for the future. But with rates climbing the way they did, I couldn't just maintain my old approach and hope for the best. I needed actual answers: Could I still hit my savings goals? Would a rate increase in six months push me into a difficult position? How much flexibility did I actually have?

So I built a spreadsheet specifically for forecasting - not just tracking where I'd been, but modeling where I'd be in one month, three months, six months, a year out. I could adjust my mortgage rate assumptions and see the impact. I could model different spending scenarios. It actually helped. A lot. It gave me the visibility I needed, and more importantly, it gave me peace of mind.

But after six months of using it, I kept thinking there had to be a better way. A spreadsheet works, but it's clunky. It's easy to break. It takes time to update the rows and formulas each time the mortgage payment had to change with rising interest, or other big expenses came up. And if other people wanted to use something like this, they'd have to build their own or deal with my mess of formulas.

Being a programmer, I decided to build a proper tool for this in my spare time. The first working version took a few months - I got the core forecasting engine working, built out the UI, got it to a place where it actually felt useful. But then I just... kept working on it. Refining things, adding features, improving the design, thinking about edge cases.

Three years later, I'm actually proud of what I've built.

The thing is, once I started using it myself and saw how much it helped me with my finances, I realized this could really help other people too. I know plenty of you deal with similar uncertainty - wondering if you're saving enough, managing unexpected changes, trying to plan ahead but feeling like you're flying blind.

Mortgage stress, unexpected expenses, job changes, life happening. This tool actually gave me a way to say: "Okay, here's where I actually stand. Here's what I can and can't do." That clarity matters.

If any of you struggle with financial planning or just want better visibility into where you're headed - whether it's because of rate changes, life changes, or just wanting to be more intentional about your money - I'd genuinely be curious what you think. No obligation at all. But I'm happy to chat about it if you're interested.