Get started with Novice Money
Start with one account, record activity, and see how upcoming payments affect your plan.
Overview
Novice Money brings together your recorded transactions, scheduled bills and income, and spending plans. Its balances come from the information recorded in the application. They are not a live confirmation of the money available at your bank.
You can read these articles without signing in. Opening your financial records requires sign-in and access to the relevant household. You do not need to use every feature to get started.
Start with one account
- Check that you are working in the intended household.
- Open Accounts and choose Add New. Enter a name, type, opening date, and opening balance.
- Open the account's Ledger. Record a transaction or review an import of existing activity.
- Add recurring bills or income in Scheduled payments when you want to plan ahead.
- Open Cash Flow for the same account and review the dates and supporting transactions.
Choose an opening balance that does not already include the activity you will enter or import. Otherwise, the same money can be counted twice.
Add other tools when useful
Budgets reserve room for category spending; they do not move money. Reports help review recorded activity and projections. Debt Snowball estimates a debt payoff plan. Household sharing, email reminders, backups, and AI connections have their own settings and permissions.
When something looks wrong
Check the household, account, dates, and filters first. Compare recorded entries with your own records before treating a projected balance as confirmed. A Viewer can review shared finances but cannot make financial changes.