Copilot vs Monarch vs YNAB - Which Premium Budget App is Worth It?

[sarah_budgeter]

Copilot vs Monarch vs YNAB - Which Premium Budget App is Worth It?

Like millions of others, I woke up on January 1st, 2024, to find Mint had shut down. After using it religiously for eight years, I was devastated. Credit Karma tried to absorb Mint users, but let’s be honest - it’s not a replacement. The budgeting features are skeletal at best, and the whole experience feels like it’s designed to upsell you on credit products rather than help you manage your money.

So I spent the last year testing alternatives. Not just downloading them and poking around for an hour, but actually using them as my primary financial tool for 30 days each. I’m talking connecting all my accounts, setting up budgets, tracking spending, and living with these apps day in and day out.

The three premium apps that kept rising to the top: Copilot Money, Monarch Money, and YNAB (You Need A Budget). They’re all paid apps with similar annual costs, but vastly different philosophies. After months of testing, here’s my comprehensive comparison.

Quick Comparison Table

Feature	Copilot Money	Monarch Money	YNAB
Monthly Price	$13/month	$14.99/month	$14.99/month
Annual Price	$95/year ($7.92/mo)	$99.99/year ($8.33/mo)	$99/year ($8.25/mo)
Platforms	iOS, Mac only	Web, iOS, Android	Web, iOS, Android
Philosophy	Privacy-first tracking	Comprehensive dashboard	Zero-based budgeting
Best For	Apple users	Data enthusiasts, couples	Behavioral change
Learning Curve	Easy	Moderate	Steep
Account Connections	13,000+	13,000+	Bank syncing available
Investment Tracking	Yes	Yes	Limited
Collaboration	No	Yes (free for partner)	Yes
Privacy Focus	Exceptional	Good	Good
Automation Level	High	High	Low (intentional)

My Background and Testing Methodology

Before I dive into the details, let me give you context on my situation. I’m a 34-year-old marketing manager making around $85K/year. I have:

• Checking and savings at two different banks
• Three credit cards
• A 401(k) and Roth IRA
• A small brokerage account for individual stocks
• Student loans (finally in the last stretch!)
• A car payment

I’m not financially struggling, but I’m also not where I want to be. I’ve got about $15K in savings, but I know I should have more. I tend to overspend on dining out and impulse online purchases. My goal was to find an app that would help me get more intentional with my money without requiring a PhD in personal finance.

For each app, I committed to:

1. Connecting all my accounts
2. Setting up a realistic budget
3. Using the app daily for 30 days
4. Recording my experience, frustrations, and wins
5. Measuring whether my behavior actually changed

Copilot Money: The Apple Ecosystem Champion

Price: $95/year (works out to $7.92/month)

First Impressions

Copilot is gorgeous. Like, unreasonably gorgeous for a financial app. The moment you open it, you can tell this was designed by people who care deeply about the Apple aesthetic. Everything feels smooth, intentional, and polished.

But here’s the catch - it’s iOS and Mac only. If you’re on Android or Windows, stop reading this section. Copilot is not for you, and the developers have been very clear they have no plans to expand to other platforms.

Setup Experience (8/10)

Setting up Copilot was surprisingly painless. The app uses Plaid for account connections, which is the same service Mint used, so I was familiar with it. Within 15 minutes, I had all seven of my financial accounts connected and syncing.

The app automatically categorized about 85% of my transactions correctly right out of the gate. For the ones it got wrong, I could quickly recategorize with a swipe and tap. And here’s where Copilot shines - it learns. After correcting a few transactions from my favorite coffee shop, it started automatically categorizing all purchases there correctly.

Daily Use Experience (9/10)

I genuinely looked forward to opening Copilot each morning. The home screen shows you exactly what you need to know:

• Account balances at a glance
• Recent transactions
• Spending insights
• Progress toward savings goals

The transaction review process is brilliant. Every morning, I’d spend 2-3 minutes reviewing yesterday’s transactions, recategorizing if needed, and adding notes. It became part of my coffee routine, and for the first time ever, I actually enjoyed checking my finances.

Budgeting Approach (7/10)

This is where Copilot diverges from traditional budgeting apps. It doesn’t force you to allocate every dollar before you spend it. Instead, it tracks your spending by category and shows you patterns over time.

You can set spending targets for categories, and the app will alert you when you’re approaching or exceeding them. But it’s more observational than prescriptive. For someone like me who finds traditional budgeting oppressive, this felt liberating.

However, if you need strict budget enforcement or you’re trying to break serious overspending habits, Copilot’s gentle approach might not provide enough structure.

Investment Tracking (8/10)

Copilot handles investment tracking well, though it’s not the star feature. You can connect your 401(k), IRAs, and brokerage accounts. The app shows your total net worth and tracks changes over time.

What I appreciated: Clean visualization of asset allocation, performance tracking, and the ability to see all my investments in one place.

What’s missing: Deep portfolio analysis, tax-loss harvesting suggestions, or retirement planning features. If you want serious investment insights, you’ll need a dedicated tool like Empower.

Privacy Features (10/10)

This is Copilot’s killer feature. The company is obsessive about privacy:

• No ads (ever)
• No data selling
• Data encrypted end-to-end
• Optional iCloud sync keeps data on your devices only
• No tracking or analytics without explicit permission

In an era where every app wants to monetize your data, Copilot’s business model is refreshingly simple: you pay for the app, they provide the service, end of story. For privacy-conscious users, this alone might justify the cost.

Who Should Choose Copilot?

After 30 days with Copilot, I’d recommend it for:

• Apple ecosystem users (non-negotiable)
• People who value privacy above all else
• Those who want financial awareness without rigid budgeting
• Anyone who appreciates beautiful, thoughtful design
• Users with straightforward financial situations

Don’t choose Copilot if:

• You use Android or Windows
• You need strict budget enforcement
• You want advanced investment analysis
• You manage finances with a partner who uses different devices
• You need detailed debt payoff planning

Monarch Money: The Comprehensive Financial Dashboard

Price: $99.99/year (works out to $8.33/month)

First Impressions

If Copilot is the sleek sports car, Monarch is the luxury SUV with every feature imaginable. This app wants to be your all-in-one financial command center, and it largely succeeds.

Monarch is the spiritual successor to Mint, built by a team that understood what made Mint great while fixing its shortcomings. It’s available on web, iOS, and Android, making it the most accessible of the three apps I tested.

Setup Experience (7/10)

Setup took longer than Copilot - about 30 minutes to get everything configured. Monarch can connect to over 13,000 financial institutions, which is impressive, but the breadth of options made the initial setup feel a bit overwhelming.

The onboarding process walks you through:

1. Connecting all accounts
2. Setting up budget categories
3. Defining financial goals
4. Customizing your dashboard

I appreciated the guidance, but I wish there was a “quick start” option for people who just want to dive in and customize later.

Daily Use Experience (8/10)

Monarch’s dashboard is information-dense in the best way. You can customize it to show exactly what matters to you:

• Net worth trend
• Cash flow analysis
• Budget progress
• Investment performance
• Upcoming bills
• Savings goals

The web interface is where Monarch really shines. Having a full browser window to review finances feels more powerful than squinting at a phone screen. I found myself using the desktop version for weekly deep dives and the mobile app for daily transaction reviews.

Budgeting Approach (9/10)

Monarch offers the most flexible budgeting system of the three apps. You can choose your style:

• Flexible budgeting: Set targets but don’t enforce them strictly
• Rollover budgeting: Unused budget carries to next month
• Zero-based budgeting: Every dollar has a job (YNAB-style)

I started with flexible budgeting and eventually moved to rollover budgeting, which felt like the sweet spot for me. When I didn’t spend my full “dining out” budget in a lean week, I loved seeing it roll over and give me permission to splurge a bit the following week.

The budget vs. actuals view is excellent. Color-coded categories make it immediately obvious where you’re on track and where you’re overspending. After two weeks, I could glance at my budget screen and instantly know my financial status for the month.

Investment Tracking (9/10)

This is where Monarch justifies its premium price. The investment tracking features are robust:

• Real-time portfolio values
• Performance tracking with returns and gains/losses
• Asset allocation breakdown
• Historical net worth trending
• Individual holding analysis

For someone with multiple investment accounts across different providers, having it all in one view was game-changing. I could finally see my true asset allocation and realized I was way more heavily weighted in tech stocks than I thought.

Collaboration Features (10/10)

Monarch’s killer feature for couples: your partner gets a free account. Not a limited account - a full account with complete access to all features. This is huge if you manage finances together.

My partner and I don’t share finances completely yet, but we wanted to start being more transparent about money. With Monarch, we each connected our individual accounts and could see a combined dashboard. It sparked some really healthy conversations about our financial goals and spending habits.

You can also add family members or financial advisors with customizable permission levels. If you have aging parents or complex family finances, this feature alone might make Monarch worth it.

Who Should Choose Monarch?

After 30 days with Monarch, I’d recommend it for:

• Former Mint users looking for a similar experience
• Couples managing finances together
• People who want comprehensive financial visibility
• Data enthusiasts who love reports and trends
• Anyone juggling multiple accounts across many institutions

Don’t choose Monarch if:

• You want the simplest possible interface
• You’re on a tight budget (it’s the most expensive of the three)
• You don’t need investment tracking
• You prefer rigid, rule-based budgeting over flexibility

YNAB: The Behavioral Change Powerhouse

Price: $99/year (works out to $8.25/month)

First Impressions

YNAB is different. Really different. Within five minutes of using it, I understood why people either love it religiously or bounce off completely. There’s no middle ground with YNAB.

The app doesn’t try to be pretty or feature-packed. It has one job: teach you zero-based budgeting and help you stick with it. Everything about the design, the features, and even the limitations is in service of that goal.

Setup Experience (6/10)

This was the hardest setup of the three apps. YNAB requires you to think about money differently from day one, and that’s uncomfortable.

Instead of connecting your accounts and letting the app figure everything out, YNAB makes you answer questions:

• How much money do you have right now?
• What do you need to pay before your next paycheck?
• What are your financial priorities?
• Where do you want your money to go?

It took me almost an hour to complete the initial setup, and I had to watch two tutorial videos to understand what I was doing. I’ll be honest - I almost quit on day three. The learning curve is real.

The YNAB Method (The Heart of Everything)

YNAB is built around four rules:

Rule 1: Give Every Dollar a Job
Every dollar in your account must be assigned to a specific category before you can spend it. You can’t just let money sit in checking - you have to decide whether it’s for rent, groceries, fun money, or savings goals.

Rule 2: Embrace Your True Expenses
Break down annual or irregular expenses into monthly chunks. Instead of being surprised by a $600 insurance bill, you save $50/month in an insurance category.

Rule 3: Roll With the Punches
Overspent in one category? Move money from another category to cover it. The budget is flexible, but you can’t spend money you haven’t allocated.

Rule 4: Age Your Money
The goal is to break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle by building a buffer. YNAB tracks how old the money you’re spending is, with the goal of spending money you earned 30+ days ago.

Daily Use Experience (7/10)

YNAB requires more daily engagement than the other apps. You need to:

1. Manually approve transactions (even if you use bank syncing)
2. Categorize every transaction explicitly
3. Reconcile accounts regularly
4. Adjust budget allocations as needed

At first, this felt like a chore. Why couldn’t it just be automatic like Copilot or Monarch?

But here’s what I realized around day 15: the manual work is the point. Every time I had to categorize a transaction and see my “dining out” budget decrease, I became more conscious of my spending. The friction was changing my behavior.

By week three, I started thinking differently at restaurants. Before ordering an appetizer, I’d mentally check my dining budget. That had never happened with any other app.

Budgeting Approach (10/10 for structure, 6/10 for flexibility)

YNAB’s zero-based budgeting is the most strict and structured approach of the three apps. You can’t spend money you haven’t budgeted. You can’t borrow from next month. Every dollar must have a job.

For someone who needs this level of structure and discipline, it’s perfect. For someone who finds this oppressive or has irregular income, it can be frustrating.

I fell somewhere in the middle. I loved the clarity and intentionality YNAB forced, but I sometimes felt restricted when unexpected opportunities came up.

Investment Tracking (4/10)

This is YNAB’s weakest area. You can connect investment accounts to track your net worth, but the app doesn’t provide any investment analysis, performance tracking, or portfolio insights.

YNAB’s philosophy is that it’s a budgeting tool, not an investment tool. Fair enough, but if investment tracking is important to you, you’ll need a separate app or service.

The Results: Did It Actually Work?

Here’s the thing about YNAB that makes it different from every other app: it claims to deliver concrete results. According to their data, the average new user saves $600 in the first two months and $6,000 in the first year.

I was skeptical. But after 30 days with YNAB, I saved $340 more than I typically do in a month. That’s compared to my average savings rate over the previous six months with Copilot.

Why? Because YNAB made me confront trade-offs. When I wanted to buy something, I had to decide what budget category it would come from. Sometimes I’d realize the purchase wasn’t worth sacrificing money from another goal.

This wasn’t willpower or restriction - it was awareness. YNAB made the invisible visible.

Learning Resources and Community (10/10)

YNAB invests heavily in education:

• Free live workshops multiple times per week
• Comprehensive video tutorials
• An incredibly active and supportive online community
• Detailed documentation and guides
• Responsive customer support

The community aspect can’t be overstated. There are active Reddit communities, Facebook groups, and Discord servers full of YNAB users sharing tips, celebrating wins, and helping newcomers. This social support makes the steep learning curve much more manageable.

Who Should Choose YNAB?

After 30 days with YNAB, I’d recommend it for:

• People who need behavioral change around money
• Anyone living paycheck to paycheck who wants to break the cycle
• Those who want a structured, rule-based system
• People willing to invest time in learning and daily management
• Anyone who’s tried other budgeting methods without success

Don’t choose YNAB if:

• You want automated, hands-off financial tracking
• You have irregular income and need maximum flexibility
• You’re not willing to commit to daily budget management
• Investment tracking is a priority
• You want immediate gratification rather than long-term change

My Final Verdict: Which App for Which Person?

After living with all three apps for 30 days each, here’s my honest recommendation:

Choose Copilot if:

You’re an Apple user who values privacy and beautiful design. You want financial awareness without rigid budgeting. You’re doing okay financially and just want to track spending and net worth without major behavioral changes.

Best for: Privacy-conscious Apple users with stable finances

Choose Monarch if:

You want the most comprehensive financial dashboard. You’re a data person who loves reports, trends, and insights. You manage finances with a partner or family. You need both budgeting and investment tracking in one place.

Best for: Couples, former Mint users, comprehensive trackers

Choose YNAB if:

You need to change your relationship with money. You’re struggling with overspending, living paycheck to paycheck, or feeling out of control with your finances. You’re willing to put in daily work for long-term behavioral change.

Best for: Anyone needing financial discipline and habit change

What I Actually Chose

After all this testing, I chose YNAB. Here’s why:

I realized that my problem wasn’t lack of information - it was lack of intention. Copilot and Monarch showed me my spending beautifully, but they didn’t change my behavior. I’d look at the charts, think “wow, I spent a lot on restaurants this month,” and then do the same thing next month.

YNAB forced me to be intentional before spending, not just observant after the fact. That friction - having to move money between categories, seeing my budget decrease in real-time - that’s what I needed.

Am I still using YNAB six months later? Yes. Has it been easy? No. But I’ve saved more money in the last six months than in the previous two years combined. For me, that’s worth the $99/year and the daily commitment.

But here’s the crucial point: the best budget app is the one you’ll actually use. If YNAB’s approach makes you miserable and you abandon it after two weeks, it’s not worth a penny. If Copilot’s gentle tracking keeps you engaged and gradually improves your awareness, it’s worth every cent of the $95/year.

Price Value Analysis

All three apps cost roughly $100/year. Is that worth it?

Let me put it this way: In my first month with YNAB, I saved $340 more than usual. That’s $4,080 annually if I maintain the same rate. Against a $99 cost, that’s a 4,000% ROI.

Even if you save just $10/month by being more conscious of spending, you break even. Anything beyond that is profit.

The real question isn’t whether these apps are worth the cost - it’s whether you’ll actually use them. A $100/year app you use daily is infinitely more valuable than a free app you open once a month.

The Bottom Line

The death of Mint forced millions of us to rethink our financial management. While it was painful at the time, it’s actually been a blessing in disguise. The new generation of budgeting apps - Copilot, Monarch, and YNAB - are all better than Mint ever was.

Choose based on your needs:

• Copilot for effortless awareness
• Monarch for comprehensive visibility
• YNAB for behavioral transformation

You can’t go wrong with any of them, as long as you choose the one that matches your financial style and commit to using it consistently.

The best budget app isn’t the one with the most features or the prettiest interface - it’s the one that helps you achieve your financial goals. For me, that’s YNAB. For you, it might be different, and that’s perfectly okay.

What matters is that you take control of your money, one transaction at a time.

Have you tried any of these apps? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the replies. And if you’re still mourning Mint, trust me - there’s life after Mint, and it might actually be better.

[james_apple]

The Apple Ecosystem Advantage: Why Copilot’s Platform Exclusivity is Actually a Feature

Sarah, excellent breakdown! As someone who’s been all-in on the Apple ecosystem for over a decade, I want to dive deeper into why Copilot’s iOS/Mac-only approach isn’t a limitation - it’s actually their competitive advantage.

Why Platform Exclusivity Works

Most people see “iOS and Mac only” as a negative. Limited market, fewer potential users, leaving Android folks out. But here’s what I’ve learned after two years with Copilot: building exclusively for Apple’s platforms allows them to create something that couldn’t exist as a cross-platform app.

Native vs Cross-Platform: The Technical Reality

There are three ways to build apps today:

1. Native: Built specifically for each platform (Swift/SwiftUI for iOS/Mac, Kotlin for Android, etc.)
2. Cross-platform frameworks: React Native, Flutter, Electron - one codebase for multiple platforms
3. Web apps: Progressive web apps that work everywhere

Copilot chose native, and you feel it in every interaction. The app doesn’t just work on iOS - it feels like iOS. Every gesture, animation, and transition follows Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines perfectly. There’s no lag, no janky animations, no “this was clearly built for Android first” moments.

Compare that to Monarch, which uses a cross-platform framework. It’s a good app, don’t get me wrong, but you can feel the compromises. Animations aren’t quite as smooth. Gestures don’t feel as natural. The app works, but it doesn’t delight.

For a tool you’re supposed to use daily, that difference matters more than you’d think.

Privacy: Not Just Marketing Talk

Sarah mentioned Copilot’s privacy focus, but I want to dig deeper because this is where the Apple ecosystem really shines.

How Copilot Handles Your Data

Here’s what makes Copilot’s privacy model unique:

Local-First Architecture
Unlike most financial apps that store everything in the cloud, Copilot stores your data locally on your devices. Your transaction history, categorizations, notes - everything lives on your iPhone and Mac.

“But how does it sync between devices?” you ask. This is where Apple’s ecosystem is crucial.

iCloud Sync: Private by Design

Copilot uses iCloud for syncing, but with end-to-end encryption. Here’s what that means in practice:

1. Your financial data is encrypted on your iPhone
2. The encrypted data is stored in your iCloud account
3. Only your devices with your iCloud credentials can decrypt it
4. Copilot’s servers never see your unencrypted data
5. Even Copilot employees can’t access your information

This is fundamentally different from Monarch or YNAB, where your data lives on their servers. Yes, they encrypt it. Yes, they have security measures. But they have the keys. They can access your data if they wanted to (or were forced to by a government request).

With Copilot, that’s cryptographically impossible. The company literally cannot access your data, even if they wanted to.

The Privacy Comparison

Let me break down how each app handles your financial data:

Copilot:

• Data stored: Locally on your devices + encrypted iCloud
• Who can access it: Only you (with your Apple credentials)
• Data selling: No (paid business model)
• Ads: No
• Third-party sharing: None
• Data deletion: Delete app and iCloud data = completely gone

Monarch:

• Data stored: Monarch’s servers (AWS)
• Who can access it: Monarch employees (with restrictions), you
• Data selling: No (paid business model)
• Ads: No
• Third-party sharing: Only for account connections (Plaid)
• Data deletion: Must request via support

YNAB:

• Data stored: YNAB’s servers
• Who can access it: YNAB employees (with restrictions), you
• Data selling: No (paid business model)
• Ads: No
• Third-party sharing: Only for account connections
• Data deletion: Must request via support

For someone who takes privacy seriously, Copilot’s model is clearly superior. And it’s only possible because they built exclusively for Apple’s ecosystem.

Apple Integration Features

Here are the Apple-specific features that make Copilot feel magical:

Face ID / Touch ID

Every time you open Copilot, it uses Face ID or Touch ID for authentication. This seems small, but think about it: you’re opening your financial app multiple times per day. Having frictionless, secure authentication means you’re more likely to actually use it.

With web-based apps like Monarch, you’re typing in passwords or using a password manager. With Copilot, you just look at your phone.

Shortcuts and Automation

Copilot integrates with Apple Shortcuts, which opens up powerful automation possibilities. Here are some shortcuts I’ve set up:

Morning Finance Check:

• Triggers at 8 AM on weekdays
• Opens Copilot to review yesterday’s transactions
• Shows a notification with my remaining budget for key categories
• Takes about 90 seconds

Spending Alert:

• Triggered when I exceed my dining out budget
• Sends a notification with how much I’ve spent and how much I have left for the month
• Includes a shortcut to open Copilot and review recent restaurant charges

Monthly Review:

• Triggers on the 1st of each month
• Opens Copilot’s reports section
• Creates a note in Apple Notes with key spending insights
• Reminds me to review and adjust next month’s budget

None of this is possible with Monarch or YNAB. They have notifications, sure, but not the deep system integration that Shortcuts provides.

Apple Watch

Copilot’s Apple Watch app is simple but surprisingly useful. I can:

• Check account balances at a glance
• See recent transactions
• View spending by category
• Check progress on savings goals

The best use case? When I’m grocery shopping, I can raise my wrist and see how much I have left in my grocery budget without pulling out my phone. It’s a tiny thing that subtly changes behavior.

Monarch has an Apple Watch app too, but it’s clearly an afterthought. YNAB doesn’t have one at all.

Widgets

iOS home screen widgets are another area where Copilot excels. I have three widgets on my home screen:

1. Account balances - Shows checking, savings, and credit card balances
2. Recent transactions - Last 5 transactions for quick review
3. Budget progress - My top 4 spending categories and how much I have left

These widgets update in real-time and give me financial awareness without even opening the app. I glance at my home screen dozens of times per day, and now each glance reinforces my financial awareness.

Again, this exists because Copilot builds natively for iOS. Cross-platform frameworks support widgets, but they’re never as polished or performant.

Handoff and Universal Control

Here’s a workflow that happens multiple times per week:

I’m reviewing transactions on my iPhone during my morning coffee. I notice a few transactions I want to investigate more closely - maybe some subscriptions I’d forgotten about, or a category that seems high.

I put my phone down, open my Mac, and thanks to Handoff, Copilot on my Mac automatically opens to the exact same view I was looking at on my iPhone. I can now use my Mac’s bigger screen and keyboard to dig deeper, add notes, or adjust my budget.

This seamless handoff between devices is possible because Copilot uses Apple’s Continuity features. It’s not magic - it’s just deep platform integration that cross-platform apps can’t match.

Performance and Battery Life

This is subtle but important: native apps are more efficient than cross-platform apps.

I’ve used Monarch on both iPhone and web. The web version is actually pretty good - responsive, feature-rich, works well. But the iPhone app is noticeably slower. It takes longer to load, scrolling isn’t as smooth, and I can feel it draining my battery when I use it for extended periods.

Copilot, being native, is lightweight and efficient. It launches instantly, scrolling is butter-smooth, and I barely notice the battery impact even with daily use.

For an app you’re supposed to use every day, possibly multiple times per day, these performance differences compound over time.

The Design Philosophy

There’s something else worth discussing: Copilot’s design philosophy aligns perfectly with Apple’s.

Apple’s design language is about clarity, simplicity, and removing friction. Copilot embodies this:

• Clean, uncluttered interfaces
• Intuitive gestures and interactions
• Information hierarchy that makes sense
• Delightful micro-animations that provide feedback
• Typography and spacing that’s easy on the eyes

Using Copilot feels like using a first-party Apple app. It could easily be part of iOS itself, and you wouldn’t question it.

This matters because design isn’t just aesthetics - it’s functionality. An app that’s pleasant to use is an app you’ll actually use. And an app you actually use is infinitely more valuable than an app with more features that you open once a month.

The Limitations: Let’s Be Honest

Platform exclusivity isn’t all roses. Let me be clear about the trade-offs:

You Can’t Share With Android Users

If your partner uses Android, Copilot won’t work for shared financial management. This is a deal-breaker for mixed-platform couples.

Monarch’s big advantage here is its universal access. Your partner can use Android, you can use iOS, and you both access the same data through different apps. Copilot simply can’t do this.

You’re Locked Into Apple

If you ever decide to switch to Android (or are forced to by work or circumstance), you can’t take Copilot with you. Your data is exportable, but you’ll need to find a new app and go through the setup process again.

This is real lock-in. Copilot is betting that Apple users will stay Apple users. For most people, that’s a safe bet, but it’s worth acknowledging.

Limited Account Sharing

Copilot doesn’t have the collaboration features that Monarch offers. You can’t add your partner, give your financial advisor read access, or share specific information with family members.

For individual use, this isn’t a problem. For families or couples, it’s a significant limitation.

Privacy Trade-offs in the Real World

Let’s talk about what Copilot’s privacy model means in practice, both good and bad.

The Good: True Data Ownership

When you use Copilot, you own your data in a meaningful way. It’s on your devices, encrypted with your keys, and you can delete it at any time with no trace left behind.

For someone who’s concerned about data breaches, this is huge. Monarch and YNAB store data on their servers. Even with strong security, servers can be breached. Copilot’s model eliminates this entire category of risk.

The Trade-off: Limited Features

Copilot’s local-first approach limits some features:

No web access: Your data lives on your devices, so you can only access it from your iPhone or Mac. If you’re at a friend’s house and want to check your budget from their computer, you can’t. Monarch and YNAB let you log in from any browser.

Collaboration is harder: Since your data isn’t on a central server, sharing it with others is complex. Monarch makes this trivial - just invite someone to your account. Copilot can’t do this at all.

Backup complexity: If you lose your devices and your iCloud access, your financial data is gone. With server-based apps, your data is safe even if you lose all your devices.

These are real trade-offs. For me, the privacy benefits outweigh these limitations. But if you need collaboration or web access, Copilot’s architecture won’t work for you.

Who Actually Benefits from the Apple Exclusivity?

After using Copilot for two years, here’s who I think benefits most from its Apple-exclusive approach:

The Ideal Copilot User:

• Already owns iPhone and Mac (or iPad)
• Values privacy and data security highly
• Appreciates beautiful, thoughtful design
• Wants financial awareness without complexity
• Manages finances individually (not with a partner on Android)
• Uses other Apple ecosystem features (Shortcuts, Handoff, Widgets)
• Willing to pay for quality tools

Who Should Look Elsewhere:

• Mixed-platform households
• Need collaboration features
• Want web access from any device
• Prioritize features over design
• Need comprehensive reporting and analytics
• Budget constraints (can’t justify $95/year)

The Business Model Advantage

Here’s something people don’t think about enough: Copilot’s business model is sustainable and aligned with users.

They charge $95/year. That’s it. No ads, no upsells, no premium tiers. You get the full app for one price.

This is only possible because they built for a specific platform with a specific audience. Apple users are more willing to pay for quality apps. By focusing on this demographic, Copilot can build a sustainable business without resorting to ads, data selling, or freemium tricks.

Compare this to free apps that inevitably need to monetize through ads or by selling your data. Or even other paid apps that have multiple pricing tiers and are constantly trying to upsell you to the premium tier.

Copilot’s model is simple: build a great app, charge a fair price, focus on making customers happy. That only works when you have a focused target market willing to pay for quality.

My Real-World Experience

I’ve been using Copilot as my primary financial app for two years. Here’s what my daily routine looks like:

Morning (5 minutes):

• Check my home screen widget while having coffee
• Open Copilot and review yesterday’s transactions
• Recategorize anything the AI got wrong (usually 1-2 transactions)
• Add notes to any unusual purchases

Throughout the day:

• Glance at Apple Watch to check balances before major purchases
• Get notifications when new transactions appear
• Quick balance checks via widget without opening app

Weekly (15 minutes):

• Review spending trends in each category
• Adjust savings goal contributions based on actual spending
• Check investment account balances and net worth trend

Monthly (30 minutes):

• Deep dive into monthly reports
• Compare spending vs. previous months
• Adjust budget targets for next month
• Review subscriptions and recurring charges

Total time commitment: About 30-40 minutes per month. That’s less than 10 minutes per week for complete financial awareness.

The Bottom Line on Platform Exclusivity

Copilot’s Apple-only approach isn’t a compromise - it’s their core strength. By building natively for Apple platforms, they’ve created an experience that’s faster, more beautiful, more private, and more integrated than any cross-platform alternative.

Is it for everyone? Absolutely not. If you use Android, it’s not even an option. If you need collaboration features, look elsewhere.

But if you’re an Apple user who values privacy, appreciates thoughtful design, and wants effortless financial tracking, Copilot’s platform exclusivity delivers benefits you can feel every single day.

Sarah, you chose YNAB, and I respect that. The behavioral change approach clearly worked for you. But for people who are already pretty good with money and just need awareness rather than restriction, Copilot’s gentle, beautiful approach is hard to beat.

The $95/year is the best money I spend annually. Not because it saves me thousands (though it probably does), but because it makes managing my finances actually enjoyable. That’s worth something.

For any Apple users on the fence: Copilot offers a free trial. Try it for a week. If you don’t feel the difference in quality and design, it’s not for you. But I bet you will.

[maria_planner]

Monarch Money: The Data-Driven Planner’s Dream Tool

Sarah and James, both excellent perspectives! As a self-described data nerd who spent years building complex financial spreadsheets before discovering budget apps, I want to dive deep into why Monarch Money is the clear winner for people who love comprehensive financial planning.

My Background: From Spreadsheets to Monarch

I’m a 41-year-old financial analyst by profession, so I see numbers all day at work. You’d think the last thing I’d want is more spreadsheets at home, but I genuinely enjoy tracking and analyzing my personal finances.

For years, I maintained a massive Google Sheets workbook with:

• Manual transaction logging from 8 different accounts
• Category tracking and trending
• Net worth calculations updated monthly
• Investment performance tracking
• Budget vs. actual comparisons
• Annual spending reports
• Retirement projection models

It was comprehensive, fully customized, and completely exhausting. I spent 3-4 hours per month maintaining it. When I had a child last year, I simply didn’t have that time anymore.

I tried Mint, but it felt too simplistic. I tried YNAB, but the rigid methodology didn’t fit my needs. Then I found Monarch, and for the first time, I discovered an app that could match the depth of insight I got from my spreadsheets without the manual labor.

Why Monarch Exists: Understanding the Vision

Monarch was founded in 2021 by a team that saw the gap in the market after Mint’s acquisition by Intuit. They asked: what would a modern financial dashboard look like if you built it from scratch with today’s technology and today’s needs?

Their answer: a comprehensive, collaborative, privacy-respecting financial command center that gives you as much depth as you want without forcing complexity on those who don’t need it.

This philosophy shows in every feature. Monarch scales to your needs. If you want basic tracking, it does that beautifully. If you want deep analytics, detailed reporting, and multi-account investment tracking across dozens of institutions, it does that too.

The Dashboard: Your Financial Command Center

Let me walk you through how I’ve configured my Monarch dashboard, because this customization is what makes it special.

My Dashboard Layout

Section 1: The Overview (Top)

• Net worth trend (past 12 months)
• Cash flow this month (income vs. expenses)
• Budget progress (quick view of top 5 categories)

Section 2: Accounts (Left)

• Checking and savings balances
• Credit card balances and utilization
• Investment account values
• Loan balances

Section 3: Goals (Center)

• Emergency fund progress (goal: $30K, current: $27.5K)
• House down payment (goal: $100K, current: $68K)
• Next vacation (goal: $5K, current: $3.2K)

Section 4: Insights (Right)

• Spending this month vs. last month
• Unusual spending alerts
• Upcoming bills in next 7 days
• Subscription tracker

Section 5: Investments (Bottom)

• Portfolio allocation (stocks/bonds/cash)
• YTD investment returns
• Individual account performance

This is my personal layout. My partner has a completely different configuration focused on his priorities. That’s the power of Monarch - it molds to your needs rather than forcing you into a predetermined structure.

Multi-Account Aggregation: Monarch’s Superpower

I have accounts at 11 different financial institutions:

• 2 banks (checking, savings, emergency fund)
• 3 credit cards
• 401(k) at work (Fidelity)
• Roth IRA (Vanguard)
• Taxable brokerage (Schwab)
• Old 401(k) from previous employer (still at Fidelity)
• 529 college savings for my daughter (Vanguard)
• Auto loan (Toyota Financial)
• Mortgage (Wells Fargo)

Before Monarch, I logged into 11 different websites or apps to see the complete picture. Some I checked daily (checking, credit cards), others monthly (investments), and some almost never (old 401k, 529).

With Monarch, I see everything in one view, updated automatically. This seems obvious, but the comprehensiveness of Monarch’s connections is remarkable. They support over 13,000 financial institutions - not just the big players, but credit unions, regional banks, smaller brokerages, even some international accounts.

Connection Reliability

One of Mint’s biggest problems was broken account connections. I’d log in and see “Action Required” on three accounts, spend 15 minutes re-authenticating, and then the same accounts would break again next week.

Monarch uses the same backend (Plaid) but has better error handling and reconnection flows. In 9 months of use, I’ve had to re-authenticate accounts exactly three times - twice for my credit union (which has overly aggressive security), and once after my bank did a major system upgrade.

When connections do break, Monarch’s error messages are actually helpful. Instead of “Something went wrong,” it tells you exactly what failed and what steps to take. Often, it’s as simple as clicking “Reconnect” and confirming with Face ID.

Investment Tracking: Beyond Basic Balance Checking

This is where Monarch separates itself from basic budget apps and approaches the functionality of dedicated investment trackers like Empower (formerly Personal Capital).

What Monarch Tracks:

Account-Level Data:

• Current balance (real-time)
• Total contributions (money you’ve put in)
• Total gains/losses (investment performance)
• Return percentage (YTD, 1-year, all-time)
• Asset allocation by account

Holding-Level Data:

• Individual stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs
• Shares owned and current price
• Cost basis (what you paid)
• Current value
• Unrealized gains/losses
• Dividend yield

Portfolio-Level Analysis:

• Total portfolio value across all accounts
• Overall asset allocation (domestic stocks, international, bonds, cash, etc.)
• Performance attribution (which accounts are driving returns)
• Fee analysis (expense ratios across all holdings)
• Diversification metrics

Real Example: How This Changed My Investment Strategy

Before Monarch, I thought I had a well-diversified portfolio. I knew my 401(k) was mostly in an S&P 500 index fund, my Roth IRA was in target-date funds, and my brokerage account had some individual stocks.

Monarch’s portfolio aggregation showed me the truth: I was 78% in US large-cap stocks. My “diversified” target-date fund was heavily weighted to US equities. My individual stocks were all tech companies. Even my “safe” bond allocation in the 401(k) was smaller than I thought.

I was massively overconcentrated in one asset class and one sector. If tech stocks tanked, my entire portfolio would crater.

Armed with this information, I rebalanced:

• Increased international equity exposure from 8% to 20%
• Moved more of my 401(k) to bond funds (raised from 12% to 25%)
• Sold some individual tech stocks and bought dividend-focused ETFs
• Adjusted my Roth IRA to complement, not duplicate, my 401(k) allocation

This rebalancing wouldn’t have happened without Monarch’s aggregated view. I simply couldn’t see the forest for the trees when looking at accounts individually.

Investment Features Monarch Lacks

To be fair, Monarch isn’t a full-featured investment platform like Empower. Here’s what it doesn’t do:

• No retirement projections: It won’t tell you if you’re on track to retire at 65
• No tax-loss harvesting suggestions: You won’t get alerts about opportunities to harvest losses
• Limited portfolio rebalancing tools: It shows you your allocation but doesn’t suggest specific trades
• No financial advisor matching: Empower connects you with advisors; Monarch doesn’t
• No 401(k) fee analyzer: Empower famously shows you how much your 401(k) fees cost over time

If you want these features, you need Empower (which is free for these tools, though they’ll pitch you on their wealth management services).

But for most people who just want comprehensive investment visibility without advisor services, Monarch hits the sweet spot. It’s enough depth to make informed decisions without overwhelming complexity.

Budgeting Flexibility: The Middle Path

Sarah talked about YNAB’s rigid zero-based budgeting and Copilot’s flexible tracking. Monarch sits perfectly in the middle, which is exactly where I need it to be.

Multiple Budgeting Methodologies

Monarch supports three budgeting approaches:

1. Flexible Budgeting (My Current Method)

Set spending targets for each category, but treat them as guidelines rather than hard limits. The app shows you when you’re approaching or exceeding targets, but it doesn’t stop you from spending.

This is perfect for someone who’s already financially disciplined but wants awareness. I don’t need the app to enforce rules - I just need it to show me trends and alert me to anomalies.

2. Rollover Budgeting

Unused budget in one month carries over to the next. Overspending in one month creates a deficit you need to make up.

This is great for categories with variable spending. If I underspend on groceries one month because we went out more, that budget rolls over and I can use it next month. It smooths out natural variability without requiring constant budget adjustments.

3. Zero-Based Budgeting (YNAB-Style)

Every dollar gets assigned to a category. You can’t spend money you haven’t budgeted. The app enforces this strictly.

Monarch offers this for people who want YNAB’s methodology but also want Monarch’s investment tracking and collaboration features. I haven’t used it personally, but my partner tried it for a few months and found it helpful for controlling impulse spending.

Budget vs. Actual Analysis

This is where my spreadsheet-loving heart gets happy. Monarch’s budget reports show:

• Planned vs. actual by category: See exactly where you overshot or underspent
• Trends over time: How does this month’s spending compare to the last 3, 6, or 12 months?
• Percentage variance: Not just dollars, but percentage above or below budget
• Category deep dives: Click any category to see every transaction that contributed to it

The visual presentation is excellent. Color coding makes it immediately obvious which categories need attention. Green for under budget, yellow for close to limit, red for over.

Budget Templates and Smart Suggestions

When you first set up Monarch, it analyzes your historical spending and suggests budget amounts for each category based on your actual behavior.

This is brilliant for beginners who have no idea how much they “should” budget for groceries or gas. Instead of guessing, Monarch says: “Based on the last 3 months, you spend an average of $620/month on groceries. Want to budget that amount?”

You can accept, adjust, or completely customize. But having data-driven starting points eliminates the blank-page paralysis that stops many people from budgeting at all.

Collaboration Features: Built for Couples and Families

This is Monarch’s killer feature that neither Copilot nor YNAB can match.

Partner Access (Free!)

Your partner gets a completely free Monarch account with full access to all features. This isn’t a limited account or a “guest” view - it’s a full subscription for free.

The value proposition is clear: pay $99.99/year for two people instead of $199.98 for separate subscriptions. For couples, Monarch is literally half the price of competitors.

How My Partner and I Use It

We’re not fully merged financially (we each maintain separate checking and savings), but we have shared expenses and shared goals.

Our Setup:

• I connected my accounts (5 accounts)
• He connected his accounts (4 accounts)
• We created a “shared” view that shows both our accounts
• We set up shared goals (house down payment, vacation fund)
• We created shared budget categories for joint expenses

Our Weekly Finance Date:

Every Sunday morning, we spend 15 minutes reviewing finances together:

1. Open the shared dashboard on our TV (via web browser)
2. Review the week’s spending in shared categories
3. Check progress on shared goals
4. Discuss any unusual expenses or upcoming large purchases
5. Adjust budget allocations if needed

This ritual has transformed our relationship with money. Before Monarch, we’d have awkward, stressful money conversations when problems arose - “Why did you spend so much on X?” or “I didn’t know we were that low in savings.”

Now, we have regular, calm, data-driven discussions. We can see exactly where money is going, celebrate progress toward goals, and catch problems before they become arguments.

Permission Levels

Monarch offers granular permission controls:

• Full access: See everything, make changes, manage subscriptions
• View only: See all data but can’t make changes
• Custom: Choose which accounts or categories someone can see

This is useful for:

• Financial advisors: Give your advisor view-only access so they can see your full picture without you needing to export reports
• Aging parents: Help manage parents’ finances by getting view access to their accounts
• Young adults: Give your college-age kids access to see how you budget as a teaching tool
• Business partners: If you have shared business accounts, give your partner access to just those accounts

Collaboration Limitations

Monarch’s collaboration isn’t perfect:

No conversation threads: You can’t have discussions within the app. If I want to ask my partner about a charge, I text him - I can’t leave a comment in Monarch.

No task assignment: Can’t assign action items like “Call and cancel this subscription” or “Research better auto insurance.”

No audit trail: Can’t see who made what changes. If a budget amount changes, I can’t see whether I changed it or my partner did.

No approval workflows: Can’t require approval for spending above certain amounts or changes to shared goals.

These are features I’d love to see added, but they’re not deal-breakers. The core collaboration functionality - shared visibility and shared account management - works great.

Reporting and Insights: Data Nerd Paradise

After 9 months with Monarch, I’ve accumulated enough data to do serious trend analysis. This is where the app really shines.

Reports I Run Monthly

1. Spending by Category (12-month trend)

Shows how much I spent in each category over the past year. I can immediately see:

• Seasonal patterns (utilities spike in summer and winter)
• Lifestyle inflation (dining out has crept up 15% over the year)
• Successful cost-cutting (subscriptions down 40% after aggressive pruning)

2. Income vs. Expenses

Tracks my savings rate month by month. My goal is to save 30% of income. Monarch shows me I’m averaging 27%, which tells me I need to either cut expenses by 3% or increase income.

3. Net Worth Trend

The most satisfying report. A simple line graph showing net worth over time. I can see:

• Steady upward trajectory (good!)
• Impact of major purchases (down payment on car shows as a dip)
• Investment performance (market gains show as steep increases)
• Savings progress (consistent monthly growth)

This single graph has been the most motivating financial tool I’ve ever used. Seeing the line go up month after month makes me want to keep it going up. It gamifies long-term financial success.

4. Spending by Merchant

Groups all spending by merchant to show where your money goes. In my case:

• Amazon: $387/month (yikes!)
• Trader Joe’s: $245/month
• Chevron: $160/month
• Starbucks: $92/month

This report made me realize I was spending over $1,100/month at just four places. I’ve since cut Amazon spending by 40% by implementing a 48-hour rule before purchases.

5. Recurring Transactions

Automatically identifies subscriptions and recurring charges. Shows:

• Amount per month
• Next charge date
• Total spent over the past year
• Option to cancel (with links to cancellation pages)

I discovered I was spending $347/month on subscriptions. After review, I canceled $142/month in subscriptions I barely used. That’s $1,704/year saved from one 30-minute review.

Custom Reports and Filters

You can build custom reports with filters:

• Show only transactions over $100 in the past 6 months
• Display all spending at restaurants in Q4 (holiday spending)
• Track specific categories across multiple time periods
• Compare two different date ranges side by side

This flexibility is what makes Monarch work for both beginners and advanced users. Beginners can use the pre-built reports. Data nerds like me can slice and dice the data however we want.

Cash Flow Analysis: Understanding Your Money Movement

One of Monarch’s underrated features is cash flow tracking. It answers the question: “Where does my money actually go?”

Monthly Cash Flow View

Income Sources:

• Primary salary: $6,200
• Partner income: $4,800
• Side income: $400
• Total: $11,400

Fixed Expenses:

• Mortgage: $2,100
• Utilities: $280
• Insurance: $320
• Car payment: $450
• Student loan: $380
• Total: $3,530

Variable Expenses:

• Groceries: $640
• Dining out: $420
• Gas: $180
• Entertainment: $150
• Shopping: $280
• Miscellaneous: $200
• Total: $1,870

Savings and Investments:

• 401(k) contribution: $1,550
• Savings transfer: $1,200
• Investment account: $500
• Total: $3,250

Net Remaining: $2,750

This breakdown shows me exactly where every dollar goes. It’s incredibly clarifying. Before Monarch, I knew roughly what I spent on big categories, but I couldn’t tell you exactly how much I saved or where the “missing” money went each month.

Cash Flow Trends

Monarch tracks these numbers over time, showing:

• Is your income growing?
• Are fixed expenses creeping up?
• How much do variable expenses fluctuate?
• Is your savings rate increasing or decreasing?

I discovered that while my income had grown 8% over the past year, my savings rate had only grown 3%. Where did the other 5% go? Variable expenses had increased without me noticing. Small lifestyle inflation - more expensive groceries, more frequent dining out, subscription creep.

Armed with this insight, I’ve consciously kept variable expenses flat for the past 3 months while income continues to grow. My savings rate is now at 32% - exceeding my 30% goal.

The Cons: What Monarch Gets Wrong

I love Monarch, but it’s not perfect. Here are the genuine frustrations I’ve encountered:

1. Price

At $99.99/year (or $14.99/month), Monarch is the most expensive of the three apps Sarah reviewed. It’s $5/year more than YNAB and $5 more than Copilot.

For individuals, this premium is hard to justify. But for couples, it’s actually cheaper since your partner gets a free account.

2. Mobile App Performance

The iOS app is good but not great. It’s clearly built with a cross-platform framework (probably React Native), and you can feel it:

• Slight lag when scrolling through long transaction lists
• Occasional crashes when switching between accounts
• Animations aren’t as smooth as native apps like Copilot
• Battery drain is noticeable with extended use

For daily transaction review, the mobile app works fine. But for deep analysis or budget setup, I vastly prefer the web interface.

3. Learning Curve

Monarch has so many features that new users can feel overwhelmed. The onboarding helps, but there’s still a lot to learn:

• Understanding different budgeting methodologies
• Configuring your dashboard layout
• Setting up goals and tracking
• Understanding all the reports and what they mean

For someone who just wants simple transaction tracking, Monarch can feel like overkill. Copilot’s simpler approach might serve them better.

4. Customer Support

Support is email-only with typical response times of 24-48 hours. For technical issues or billing questions, this is fine. But for “how do I do X?” questions, it’s frustrating not to have live chat or phone support.

The knowledge base is comprehensive, but sometimes you just want to ask a human.

5. Export Limitations

You can export transaction data to CSV, but the export options are limited. I wanted to export my full transaction history with all custom tags and notes - not possible. You get basic transaction data only.

For someone like me who might want to do custom analysis in Excel or Python, these limitations are annoying.

The Verdict: Who Should Choose Monarch?

After 9 months of daily use, here’s who I’d recommend Monarch for:

The Ideal Monarch User:

• Couples managing finances together - The free partner account is a game-changer
• Former Mint users - Monarch is the closest spiritual successor
• Data-driven people - If you love reports, trends, and insights, you’ll love Monarch
• Multi-account households - Tracking 5+ accounts across different institutions
• Investor-budgeters - Want both investment tracking and budgeting in one app
• Long-term planners - Building toward specific financial goals over years

Who Should Look Elsewhere:

• Apple-only households seeking maximum privacy - Copilot is better
• People needing strict behavioral change - YNAB is better
• Solo users on a budget - Harder to justify $99.99/year for individual use
• Mobile-first users - Monarch is better on desktop
• People wanting simple tracking - Monarch might be overwhelming

My Bottom Line

Sarah chose YNAB for behavioral change. James chose Copilot for Apple integration and privacy. I chose Monarch for comprehensive visibility and collaboration.

All three choices are valid. They serve different needs.

For me, Monarch replaced:

• My Google Sheets tracking (saving 3-4 hours/month)
• Logins to 11 different financial institutions
• Quarterly net worth calculations
• Manual budget vs. actual reconciliation
• Separate investment tracking tools
• Awkward money conversations with my partner

The $99.99/year cost saves me 40-50 hours per year in manual tracking time. That’s $2-3 per hour if you value your time at zero. If you value your time at even $20/hour, Monarch pays for itself in the first month.

Beyond time savings, the insights have helped me save an additional ~$200/month through smarter spending decisions and subscription cancellations. That’s $2,400/year against a $100 cost.

The ROI is clear.

For couples, data nerds, and former Mint users seeking a comprehensive financial dashboard - Monarch Money is worth every penny.

What questions do you have about Monarch’s specific features? Happy to dive deeper into any area.

[derek_habits]

YNAB Changed My Life: A Recovering Overspender’s Story

Sarah, James, Maria - all great perspectives from people who already had their financial act together. I’m coming at this from a completely different angle: I was a financial disaster, and YNAB literally changed my life.

Let me be brutally honest about where I was before YNAB, because I think there are a lot of people in similar situations who need to hear that these apps can actually make a difference.

My Financial Rock Bottom

I’m 29 years old, making about $68K/year as a software developer. On paper, I should be doing fine financially. In reality, 18 months ago, I was:

• Living paycheck to paycheck despite my decent salary
• Carrying $8,400 in credit card debt at 22% APR
• Had $600 in my checking account and $0 in savings
• Couldn’t remember the last time I contributed to my 401(k)
• Getting overdraft fees 2-3 times per year
• Avoiding looking at my bank account because it stressed me out
• Ordering takeout 5-6 times per week because I never planned meals
• Buying stuff on Amazon I didn’t need because it made me feel good temporarily

I knew I was overspending. I knew I should be saving. I knew my credit card debt was killing me. But I had no idea how to stop. Every attempt to “just spend less” would last about a week before I fell back into old patterns.

I tried Mint. It showed me graphs of my overspending, which just made me feel ashamed without giving me tools to change. I’d see that I spent $800 on dining out last month, think “wow, I should stop doing that,” and then spend $850 the next month.

Information without structure doesn’t change behavior. At least not for me.

Why I Chose YNAB

A coworker noticed I was stressed about money and recommended YNAB. I was skeptical - another budgeting app? How would this be different?

He said something that stuck with me: “YNAB won’t just show you what you spent. It’ll make you decide what to do with your money before you spend it.”

That concept - deciding before spending rather than observing after spending - was completely new to me. I signed up for the free trial, and 15 months later, I’m still using it every single day.

The Learning Curve: It’s Real and It’s Steep

Let me not sugarcoat this: YNAB is hard at first. Like, genuinely difficult. The first week, I almost quit three times.

Onboarding Day 1: Confusion

I downloaded the app, connected my checking account, and saw my balance: $847. YNAB asked me: “What should this $847 do?”

I stared at the screen, confused. What do you mean, what should it do? It’s just… money in my account. It’s there.

But YNAB insisted: Every dollar needs a job. You have $847. What jobs do those dollars need to do?

I had no idea where to start. Do I budget for the whole month? Do I budget for the year? What if I don’t know how much things cost?

I almost gave up, but I watched the “Getting Started” video. It walked me through the process:

1. List your most immediate expenses (rent due in 5 days: $1,200)
2. Budget for them (assigned $1,200 to “Rent” category)
3. Now I had -$353 “To Be Budgeted” (problem!)

This showed me my real situation: I didn’t actually have money. I had $847, but I owed $1,200 in rent in 5 days. I was already $353 short, and I hadn’t even budgeted for food, gas, or anything else.

This was my first “oh crap” moment. I thought I had money. I didn’t. I had obligations.

Week 1: The Painful Truth

That first week, I tried to budget for the entire month. I listed out all my expenses:

• Rent: $1,200
• Electric: ~$80
• Internet: $70
• Phone: $85
• Groceries: $400 (wild guess)
• Gas: $120
• Eating out: $200
• Entertainment: $100
• Miscellaneous: $200

Total: $2,455 for the month.

My income after taxes: $4,250/month (paid bi-weekly, so some months I get 3 paychecks)

My current balance: $847

To budget for the whole month, I needed $2,455. I only had $847. I was $1,608 short.

YNAB showed this in red, screaming at me that I couldn’t assign money I didn’t have.

This was crushing. I felt like a failure. How could I be making $68K and not have enough money to budget for one month of basic expenses?

The Turning Point: My Coworker’s Advice

I texted my coworker who recommended YNAB: “This app is just making me feel bad. It’s showing me I don’t have enough money. I already knew that.”

He called me. We talked for 30 minutes. He said something that clicked:

“Derek, you’re not budgeting for the month. You’re budgeting for the money you have right now. Stop thinking about the future. Budget the $847 you have today for your most immediate needs. When you get paid Friday, you’ll budget that paycheck for the next set of needs.”

This was YNAB’s core philosophy: budget the money you have, not the money you expect to have.

Week 1, Take 2: Baby Steps

I started over. I had $847. What were my most urgent needs?

1. Rent (due in 5 days): $1,200 - but I only had $847, so I budgeted all $847 to rent
2. This left me $353 short for rent, but I’d get paid $1,062 (half of my bi-weekly check) in 3 days
3. When that paycheck came, I’d add $353 to rent (fully funding it) and use the remaining $709 for other categories

This approach felt weird. I wasn’t budgeting for the month. I was budgeting for the next few days, then budgeting again when I got paid.

But it worked. For the first time, I had a plan. Not a perfect plan, not a complete plan, but a plan.

The YNAB Method: Four Rules That Changed Everything

Once I got past the learning curve, YNAB’s four rules started to make sense. Let me explain each one with real examples from my experience.

Rule 1: Give Every Dollar a Job

Before YNAB, money would hit my checking account and just sit there until I spent it on whatever seemed important at the moment. This led to impulse purchases and month-end panic when bills were due.

YNAB makes you assign every dollar to a specific category the moment it arrives. Not “savings,” not “spending money,” but specific jobs: groceries, rent, gas, emergency fund, fun money, etc.

How this changed my behavior:

Before: “I have $2,400 in checking. I can afford this $150 jacket.”

After: “I have $2,400 in checking, but $1,200 is for rent, $300 for groceries, $200 for gas, $150 for utilities… I have $40 in my clothing budget. I can’t afford this jacket without taking money from another category.”

The jacket purchase didn’t happen. Not because I had willpower, but because I could see the trade-off. If I bought the jacket, I’d have to take $110 from groceries. That made the cost real and immediate.

Rule 2: Embrace Your True Expenses

This rule changed everything for me. Before YNAB, I’d get hit with “surprise” expenses:

• Car insurance: $600 every 6 months (surprise!)
• Car registration: $180 every year (surprise!)
• Amazon Prime: $139/year (surprise!)
• Christmas gifts: $400 in December (surprise!)

These weren’t actually surprises. They happen every year at the same time. But because I didn’t save for them monthly, they felt like emergencies.

YNAB made me calculate the monthly cost of annual expenses:

• Car insurance: $600/6 months = $100/month
• Car registration: $180/year = $15/month
• Amazon Prime: $139/year = $11.58/month
• Christmas gifts: $400/year = $33.33/month

Now I budget $159.91/month into these categories. When the bills come due, the money is already there. No stress, no scrambling, no credit card debt.

Real impact: In my first December with YNAB, I spent $380 on Christmas gifts without any financial stress. The money had been accumulating all year. Previous years, I’d put $400-500 on credit cards and spend months paying it off.

Rule 3: Roll With the Punches

This rule gave me permission to be imperfect, which was crucial for someone with my history of financial failure.

YNAB’s philosophy: you will overspend in categories sometimes. Life happens. The budget is a plan, not a prison. When you overspend, move money from another category to cover it.

Example from Month 3:

I budgeted $300 for groceries and $150 for dining out. On day 22 of the month, I’d spent $285 on groceries (good!) but $197 on dining out (overspent by $47).

Old me would have said “I failed at budgeting” and given up.

YNAB me: I moved $47 from my “entertainment” category (which I hadn’t used much that month) to “dining out” to cover the overage. Problem solved. Budget balanced. No guilt, no failure, just adjustment.

This flexibility kept me using the app. I didn’t have to be perfect. I just had to be intentional.

Rule 4: Age Your Money

This is YNAB’s long-term goal: break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle by building a buffer.

YNAB tracks how old the money you’re spending is. When you start, you’re spending money you earned yesterday or last week (age: a few days). The goal is to spend money you earned 30+ days ago.

My progression:

• Month 1: Age of money: 3 days (living paycheck to paycheck)
• Month 3: Age of money: 12 days (making progress, but still tight)
• Month 6: Age of money: 24 days (almost there!)
• Month 9: Age of money: 31 days (goal achieved!)

Once my money was 30+ days old, everything changed. I stopped worrying about when paychecks would arrive. Bills were always covered because the money was already there from last month.

This is true financial stability. Not having a lot of money, but being one month ahead.

The Results: Numbers Don’t Lie

I’ve been using YNAB for 15 months. Here are my actual results:

Month 1-2:

• Saved: $340 (first time I saved any money in over a year)
• Credit card debt paid: $200
• Age of money: 3 days → 8 days

YNAB claims average users save $600 in the first two months. I saved $540 (close enough). This wasn’t magic - it was simply seeing trade-offs clearly and making better decisions.

Months 3-6:

• Saved: $1,850 total
• Credit card debt paid: $2,400 (highest interest card fully paid off!)
• Age of money: 8 days → 24 days
• Emergency fund: Built up to $1,200

This period was transformative. Paying off one credit card was a huge psychological win. The emergency fund meant I stopped using credit cards for unexpected expenses.

Months 7-12:

• Saved: $4,300 total
• Credit card debt paid: $3,800 (second card paid off, third card down to $2,000)
• Age of money: 24 days → 31 days
• Emergency fund: Grew to $3,500
• 401(k): Started contributing 6% (getting full employer match)

This was the “compounding” phase. With high-interest debt gone, more money stayed in my accounts. With an emergency fund, I stopped panicking about unexpected expenses.

Months 13-15 (current):

• Saved: $2,800 total
• Credit card debt: Down to $800 (will be paid off next month!)
• Age of money: 32 days (maintaining the buffer)
• Emergency fund: $5,100 (3 months of expenses - my goal!)
• 401(k): Increased to 10% contribution

Total transformation in 15 months:

• Debt paid off: $7,600 (from $8,400 to $800)
• Savings/emergency fund: $5,100 (from $0)
• Net worth change: +$12,700
• Peace of mind: Priceless

I’m not rich. I’m not driving a luxury car or taking exotic vacations. But I’m not stressed about money anymore. Bills don’t scare me. Unexpected expenses don’t send me into a panic.

That’s worth more than any graph or report.

Why YNAB Worked Where Others Failed

I want to be clear about why YNAB succeeded where Mint, Copilot, and others failed for me:

1. Friction Is a Feature, Not a Bug

Copilot and Monarch automate everything. Transactions categorize themselves. Budgets adjust automatically. This is great for people who already have good financial habits.

For me, automation was enabling bad behavior. I could overspend without thinking because the app handled everything in the background.

YNAB makes you manually approve every transaction. You have to categorize each purchase. You have to move money between categories when you overspend.

This friction forced me to think about every financial decision. That thinking is what changed my behavior.

2. Proactive vs. Reactive

Every other app I tried was reactive: spend money, then see reports about what you spent. This creates awareness but not necessarily change.

YNAB is proactive: decide what to do with money before you spend it. Every purchase becomes a conscious choice rather than an automatic reaction.

3. The Psychology of Categories

In Mint or Monarch, if I overspend in “dining out,” I just see red bars and feel bad.

In YNAB, if I overspend in “dining out,” I have to take money from another category to cover it. Maybe I take it from “entertainment” or “clothing” or “fun money.”

This creates a real trade-off. I’m not just overspending - I’m explicitly choosing to value restaurant meals over entertainment this month. That conscious choice makes me think harder about whether the purchase is worth it.

4. Community and Education

YNAB invests heavily in teaching their method:

• Free daily workshops on every aspect of budgeting
• YouTube channel with hundreds of tutorials
• Active Reddit community (r/ynab) with 300K+ members
• Email newsletters with tips and stories
• Podcast about financial psychology and habits

This education transformed budgeting from a spreadsheet task into a behavior change program. I learned not just how to use the software, but how to think about money differently.

5. Accountability Without Judgment

Here’s what’s weird: YNAB doesn’t judge you for overspending. There are no warnings, no alerts, no red exclamation marks screaming “YOU FAILED.”

When you overspend, it just says “This category is overspent by $X. Move money from another category to cover it.”

No shame, no guilt, just a practical problem to solve. This kept me engaged even when I made mistakes.

The Challenges: What YNAB Gets Wrong

I love YNAB, but it’s not perfect. Here are the genuine frustrations:

1. The Learning Curve is Brutal

I almost quit multiple times in the first two weeks. If my coworker hadn’t held my hand through the setup, I probably would have.

YNAB requires you to change how you think about money. That’s hard. Really hard. Some people will bounce off immediately.

2. Daily Commitment Required

You can’t just set up YNAB and forget it. You need to:

• Enter or approve transactions daily (5-10 minutes)
• Reconcile accounts weekly (10 minutes)
• Review and adjust budget monthly (30 minutes)

That’s 3-4 hours per month of active budgeting work. For people with limited time or low motivation, this is too much.

3. Terrible for Irregular Income

YNAB’s method works best with steady, predictable income. If you’re a freelancer, gig worker, or have commission-based income, the “budget money you have, not money you expect” approach gets complicated.

You can make it work, but it requires advanced techniques and more mental overhead.

4. Investment Tracking is Minimal

You can connect investment accounts to track net worth, but that’s it. No portfolio analysis, no asset allocation, no performance tracking.

If investments are important to you, YNAB isn’t enough. You’ll need a separate tool like Monarch or Empower.

5. Collaboration is Clunky

You can share a budget with a partner, but it’s not as elegant as Monarch:

• No separate logins (you share one account)
• No permission levels
• No activity history showing who made what changes
• Changes don’t sync in real-time (can cause conflicts)

For couples with merged finances, it works. For couples with partially separate finances, Monarch’s approach is better.

6. Mobile App Limitations

The mobile app is functional but limited:

• Can’t set up budgets (need desktop for that)
• Reports are limited compared to desktop
• Reconciliation is clunky on small screens
• No tablet-optimized layout

I do daily transaction entry on mobile, but all actual budgeting work happens on desktop.

Who Should Choose YNAB?

After 15 months of daily use, here’s my honest assessment:

Choose YNAB if you:

• Struggle with overspending - Need structure and friction to change behavior
• Live paycheck to paycheck - Want to break the cycle and build a buffer
• Have tried budgeting and failed - Need a different approach that’s more engaging
• Have steady income - Biweekly or monthly paychecks make YNAB easier
• Want behavioral change - Willing to put in daily work for long-term transformation
• Are motivated by community - Benefit from education and peer support

Don’t choose YNAB if you:

• Already have good habits - You don’t need the structure; Copilot or Monarch will serve you better
• Want automated tracking - YNAB’s manual approach will frustrate you
• Need investment features - YNAB doesn’t do portfolio management
• Have irregular income - Freelancers and gig workers will struggle with YNAB’s method
• Don’t have time for daily management - YNAB requires consistent engagement
• Want comprehensive reports - Monarch beats YNAB on analytics

The ROI: Is YNAB Worth $99/Year?

In my first two months with YNAB, I saved $540 more than I typically did. That’s $3,240 annually if maintained.

Against a $99 annual cost, that’s 3,200% ROI.

But the real value isn’t just money saved - it’s peace of mind gained. I don’t panic about bills anymore. I don’t avoid checking my bank account. I don’t lie awake at night worrying about money.

How much is that worth? For me, it’s worth far more than $99/year.

The Cost of Not Budgeting

Before YNAB, my financial chaos was costing me:

• Credit card interest: ~$1,200/year
• Overdraft fees: ~$100/year
• Impulse purchases I regretted: ~$800/year
• Lost opportunity (not contributing to 401(k)): ~$2,000/year in employer match
• Total annual cost of bad habits: ~$4,100

YNAB costs $99/year. It eliminated $4,100 in waste. That’s 4,000% ROI before even counting increased savings.

For someone with good financial habits who just needs tracking, maybe YNAB isn’t worth it. But for someone like me - someone who was financially struggling despite a decent income - YNAB was life-changing.

My Advice for People Like I Was

If you’re reading this and thinking “Derek’s story sounds like my story,” here’s my advice:

1. Accept That It’s Hard

YNAB will be uncomfortable at first. It will show you things you don’t want to see. You’ll feel overwhelmed and want to quit.

Push through the first two weeks. Watch the tutorials. Ask questions in the community. It gets easier.

2. Start Small

Don’t try to budget perfectly from day one. Budget the money you have today for your most immediate needs. That’s it. When you get paid, budget that money. One step at a time.

3. Expect to Fail

You will overspend categories. You will forget to enter transactions. You will make mistakes.

That’s fine. The budget is a plan, not a test. Roll with the punches and keep going.

4. Use the Community

The YNAB community is incredibly supportive. Post your questions, share your struggles, celebrate your wins. Other people have faced your exact situation and can help.

5. Focus on Progress, Not Perfection

I’m 15 months in and still make mistakes. I still overspend categories sometimes. I still have moments of impulse spending.

But I’m so much better than I was. That’s what matters. Progress, not perfection.

6. Give It 90 Days

YNAB offers a 34-day free trial. I’d recommend committing to 90 days (about $25 if you pay monthly after the trial).

The first month is learning. The second month is when habits start to form. The third month is when you start seeing real results.

If after 90 days you don’t see improvement, YNAB probably isn’t for you. But if you’re like me, by day 90 you’ll be a convert.

Final Thoughts: YNAB Changed My Life

I don’t say this lightly: YNAB changed my life.

I went from living paycheck to paycheck with growing debt and zero savings to having $5,100 in emergency savings, almost zero debt, and a retirement account I’m actually contributing to.

But more than the numbers, I changed my relationship with money. Money used to control me - I was reactive, stressed, and ashamed. Now I control my money - I’m proactive, calm, and confident.

Sarah chose YNAB for similar reasons - she needed behavioral change. James chose Copilot for privacy and design. Maria chose Monarch for comprehensive tracking and collaboration.

All valid choices for different needs.

But if you’re someone who’s struggling financially despite decent income, someone who overspends impulsively, someone who’s tried budgeting and failed - give YNAB a serious try.

It’s hard. It requires commitment. It won’t work overnight.

But if you stick with it, it might just change your life like it changed mine.

15 months ago, I had $8,400 in debt and $0 in savings. Today, I’m almost debt-free with $5,100 saved. YNAB made that possible. Questions? I’m happy to share more about my experience.

[nina_couple]

Couples’ Finance Management: Which App Actually Works for Two People?

Great discussion, everyone! Sarah’s comparison was super helpful, James made me curious about Copilot’s privacy features, Maria sold me on Monarch’s data capabilities, and Derek’s transformation with YNAB was inspiring.

But I’m coming at this from a different angle: which app actually works for couples?

My partner and I have been together for 6 years, living together for 3, and we’re getting engaged next month. We’ve been gradually merging our financial lives, and it’s been… complicated. Managing money as a couple is completely different from managing it solo, and most budget apps aren’t really built with couples in mind.

Our Financial Situation

Before I dive into the app comparison, let me give you context on our setup because couples’ finances vary wildly:

My situation:

• 32 years old, project manager, $78K salary
• Checking, savings, 401(k), Roth IRA
• Two credit cards
• $12K in student loans (almost done!)
• Generally responsible with money, occasional impulse spending

My partner’s situation:

• 34 years old, high school teacher, $56K salary
• Checking, savings, pension (teacher retirement), small Roth IRA
• One credit card
• No debt (paid off student loans last year - proud of him!)
• Very frugal, almost to a fault

Our combined setup:

• Joint checking for shared expenses (rent, utilities, groceries, date nights)
• Separate checking accounts for personal spending
• Separate savings accounts (for now)
• Split rent 60/40 based on income difference
• Split groceries and utilities 50/50
• Individual expenses (clothes, hobbies, eating lunch out) come from personal accounts

We’re not fully merged yet, but we’re moving in that direction. The question: which budgeting app can handle this complexity?

The Core Challenge: Joint + Separate Finances

Most budgeting apps are built for one of two extremes:

1. Completely separate finances - You each have your own account, no sharing
2. Completely merged finances - Everything is joint, one budget for both people

But many couples, especially in the early stages of combining finances, are somewhere in between. We have shared expenses and shared goals, but also individual autonomy and separate accounts.

This in-between state is where most budget apps fail.

Copilot: Beautiful but Built for Individuals

I tried Copilot first because James’s review made it sound amazing. And it is - for individuals.

What Worked:

• Gorgeous interface (he’s right about this)
• Easy transaction tracking
• Great privacy features
• Fast and responsive

The Couple Problem:

Copilot has no collaboration features at all. It’s designed for one person managing their own finances. Period.

My partner uses Android. Copilot is iOS only. This immediately ruled it out for us.

But even if we both used iPhones, there’s no way to:

• Share a budget between two people
• See each other’s spending in joint categories
• Track progress on shared goals
• Manage a joint account together

I could track our joint checking account in my Copilot, but my partner wouldn’t see it. We’d need to verbally communicate about every shared transaction. That’s not collaboration - that’s just one person doing all the financial management.

Verdict for couples: Doesn’t work unless you keep finances completely separate

YNAB: Collaboration Exists but It’s Clunky

Next, I tried YNAB because Derek’s story was compelling and I knew they had some kind of sharing feature.

The Good:

YNAB allows you to share a budget with your partner. You both use the same login credentials and access the same budget. Changes sync between devices (eventually - more on that below).

For couples with completely merged finances, this works fine. You create one budget that encompasses all accounts, all income, and all expenses. Both partners can update it.

The Problems for Partial Merging:

Problem 1: No separate logins

You share the same account and login credentials. This means:

• No privacy for individual spending (he can see every transaction I make on my personal credit card)
• No separate profiles or views
• Can’t customize the interface differently for each person
• Password sharing feels weird in 2025

Problem 2: Sync conflicts

Changes don’t sync in real-time. If we’re both editing the budget at the same time, weird things happen:

• Transactions can be categorized differently by each person
• Budget allocations can conflict
• Sometimes transactions duplicate
• The app doesn’t tell you who made what change

We had multiple instances where I’d categorize a transaction one way, he’d categorize it differently, and YNAB wouldn’t resolve the conflict cleanly. We’d end up with duplicate entries or mismatched categories.

Problem 3: No permission levels

With shared login, we both have full access to everything. I can’t give him view-only access to my personal accounts or limit what he can change.

For couples who trust each other completely (which we do), this isn’t a trust issue - it’s a practical issue. Sometimes you want someone to see the full financial picture without accidentally changing things.

Problem 4: All or nothing

YNAB’s model is: share everything or share nothing. There’s no middle ground.

I wanted to:

• Share our joint checking account
• Share our shared expense budget
• Share our savings goals
• Keep my personal accounts visible but separate from the joint budget
• Let him do the same

YNAB can’t do this. Either we create one mega-budget with everything, or we each maintain separate budgets and manually coordinate on shared expenses.

We chose separate budgets and manual coordination. It worked, but it was annoying. Every time we spent money from the joint account, we’d both have to enter it in our individual YNAB instances, categorize it, and make sure we were tracking the same thing.

When YNAB Works for Couples:

YNAB is fine for couples if:

• You have completely merged finances (one budget, all accounts joint)
• You’re comfortable sharing login credentials
• You don’t mind seeing all of each other’s transactions
• You can coordinate to avoid editing simultaneously
• You both buy into the YNAB methodology

For couples in that situation, YNAB’s methodology is powerful. The joint behavioral change Derek described could work even better with a partner doing it with you.

But for couples with partially separate finances? YNAB is frustrating.

Verdict for couples: Works for fully merged finances only

Monarch: Actually Built for Modern Couples

Finally, I tried Monarch, and immediately understood why Maria loves it. This is the only app of the three that actually thought about how modern couples manage money.

The Killer Feature: Free Partner Account

Your partner gets a completely free Monarch account with full access to all features. Not a limited view, not a trial - a full subscription for free.

This changes everything. My partner and I each have our own Monarch accounts with our own logins, our own settings, our own customization. But we can share specific accounts and budgets between us.

How We Use Monarch as a Couple:

My Monarch account connects:

• My personal checking
• My personal savings
• My personal credit cards
• My 401(k) and Roth IRA
• Our joint checking account (shared)

His Monarch account connects:

• His personal checking
• His personal savings
• His personal credit card
• His pension and Roth IRA
• Our joint checking account (shared)

Shared features:

• We both see the joint checking account balance and transactions
• We share budget categories for joint expenses (rent, groceries, utilities, date nights)
• We share savings goals (house down payment, emergency fund, vacation)
• We have a combined dashboard showing our total household net worth

Separate features:

• I see my personal spending; he sees his
• I can’t see transactions on his personal credit card (and vice versa)
• We have separate budgets for personal categories
• We can customize our individual dashboards differently

This is exactly what we needed: visibility where we want it, privacy where we want it.

Real-World Example: Grocery Shopping

Here’s how a typical shared expense works with Monarch:

1. I go grocery shopping, spend $147 at Trader Joe’s on our joint credit card
2. The transaction appears in both our Monarch accounts (because we both track that joint card)
3. Monarch auto-categorizes it as “Groceries”
4. We both see that we’ve spent $386 of our $600 grocery budget this month
5. No need to text him about it, no need to manually enter it twice, no sync conflicts

It just works. Seamlessly.

Our Weekly Money Date

Every Sunday morning, we have a 15-minute “money date” where we review finances together:

The process:

1. Open Monarch web interface on our TV via laptop
2. Look at the shared dashboard showing our combined financial picture
3. Review the week’s spending on joint accounts
4. Check progress on shared goals
5. Discuss any unusual expenses or upcoming large purchases
6. Adjust shared budget categories if needed

This ritual has transformed our relationship with money. Before Monarch, we’d have awkward, infrequent money conversations when problems arose:

• “Did you pay the electric bill?”
• “How much do we have in the joint account?”
• “I thought we agreed to cut back on takeout?”

These conversations were reactive and often tense. With Monarch, we’re proactive and calm. We review data together, celebrate progress, and solve problems before they become arguments.

Permission Levels: The Flexibility We Needed

Monarch offers granular sharing controls:

Full access: See all data, make changes, manage the account
View only: See everything but can’t make changes
Custom: Choose specific accounts or categories to share

We use different levels for different things:

Joint checking: Both full access
Personal checking: Own account only
Retirement accounts: View only for each other (we can see balances but can’t make changes)
Shared goals: Both full access
Personal goals: Own account only

This flexibility is crucial. As we get more serious about combining finances (especially after marriage), we can gradually share more accounts without doing a complete financial merger all at once.

Collaboration Features in Practice

Shared goals tracker:

We’re saving for a house down payment. Goal: $120K over 3 years.

In Monarch:

• The goal is visible in both our accounts
• We each set up automatic transfers from our personal accounts to a shared savings account
• Monarch tracks contributions from both of us
• We see real-time progress: currently at $47K (39% to goal)
• Projected completion date: August 2027 (on track!)

Seeing this progress together keeps us motivated. When I’m tempted to make a big purchase, I look at the house goal and remember what we’re working toward.

Budget collaboration:

Our joint expenses budget:

• Rent: $2,400/month (I pay $1,440, he pays $960)
• Groceries: $600/month (split 50/50)
• Utilities: $180/month (split 50/50)
• Date nights: $200/month (split 50/50)
• Joint savings: $800/month (I contribute $500, he contributes $300)

Monarch tracks all of this automatically. We can see who paid what, whether we’re on track with the budget, and what our total combined spending looks like.

The Downsides of Monarch for Couples

It’s not perfect. Here are the real frustrations:

1. No in-app messaging

If I see a transaction and want to ask my partner about it, I have to text him. Can’t leave a comment or start a thread within Monarch.

This seems like an obvious feature that should exist. Maybe it will in a future update.

2. No task management

Can’t assign tasks like “Call insurance company about that weird charge” or “Research better auto insurance rates.”

We end up using our shared notes app for financial to-dos, which works but isn’t ideal.

3. No spending alerts for partners

I can set up alerts for myself (“notify me when checking account drops below $1,000”), but I can’t set up alerts for both of us.

If he makes a large purchase on our joint credit card, I don’t get notified. I only see it when I check the app.

4. Setup complexity

Getting everything configured - connecting accounts, setting up sharing, defining permissions, creating shared budgets - took us about 90 minutes together.

Not terrible, but significantly more complex than setting up an individual account.

The Privacy Conversation Every Couple Needs

Choosing a couples’ finance app forces you to have important conversations about financial privacy and trust. Here are questions my partner and I discussed:

How much visibility do we want into each other’s spending?

We decided: full visibility on joint accounts, privacy on personal accounts. We trust each other, but we also value autonomy. If he wants to buy expensive guitar equipment from his personal money, that’s his choice. I don’t need to see or approve it.

How do we handle sensitive purchases?

Presents for each other, therapy sessions, medical expenses - some things you might not want your partner to see immediately.

Monarch’s separate accounts handle this naturally. I can buy his engagement present from my personal account without him seeing the transaction in real-time.

What about before we were serious?

When we first started dating, we obviously had completely separate finances. As we got more serious, we gradually shared more.

Monarch supports this progression. You can start with zero sharing, add shared accounts and goals as you get serious, and eventually merge more if you choose.

What happens if we break up?

Dark thought, but practical. With Monarch’s separate accounts, we each keep our individual account and just disconnect the shared accounts. Our personal financial data stays with us.

With YNAB’s shared login approach, breaking up means one person keeps the account and all the historical data, while the other has to start over. Messy.

Comparing the Three Apps for Couples

Let me summarize how each app works for different couple situations:

Copilot:

Best for: Couples keeping completely separate finances, both on Apple devices
Doesn’t work for: Any amount of shared finances or collaboration
Cost: $95/year each = $190/year total

YNAB:

Best for: Couples with fully merged finances who share everything
Doesn’t work for: Partial merging, need for privacy, real-time collaboration
Cost: $99/year total (one shared account)

Monarch:

Best for: Couples with any mix of shared and separate finances
Doesn’t work for: Couples where one person doesn’t want any shared visibility
Cost: $99.99/year total (free partner account)

Our Choice: Monarch

After trying all three, we chose Monarch. The decision came down to:

1. Flexibility: We can share what we want, keep separate what we want
2. Value: Two full accounts for $100/year beats two Copilot accounts at $190/year
3. Features: Investment tracking, reports, and insights we both wanted
4. Future-proofing: As we merge finances more (after marriage), Monarch can scale with us

We’ve been using Monarch together for 7 months. It’s not perfect, but it’s the only app that actually understands how modern couples manage money.

Advice for Couples Choosing a Budget App

Based on my experience trying all three apps with my partner, here’s my advice:

1. Have the money conversation first

Before choosing an app, discuss:

• How much do you want to share financially?
• Do you want full visibility or privacy in personal spending?
• Are you working toward shared goals?
• How will you split shared expenses?

The app should match your philosophy, not dictate it.

2. Consider your trajectory

Are you:

• Just starting to combine finances? Choose something flexible like Monarch
• Planning to fully merge soon? YNAB might work if you both like the methodology
• Committed to keeping finances mostly separate? Maybe you don’t need a couples’ app at all

3. Try the free trials together

Don’t just read reviews. Both of you should actually use the app together for at least a week:

• Set up your accounts
• Try the collaboration features
• Have a money conversation using the app
• See if it fits your workflow

We tried all three for a month each before deciding. That hands-on experience was crucial.

4. Be honest about tech comfort levels

I’m very comfortable with technology. My partner is less so. Monarch’s web interface helped - he prefers using his laptop over his phone for financial stuff.

If one partner hates technology, choose the simplest tool that meets your needs, even if it has fewer features.

5. Consider the price as a household expense

$100/year for financial clarity and reduced money stress? That’s $8.33/month for both of us. Less than two coffees.

If the app helps you avoid one money argument or catch one forgotten subscription, it pays for itself.

The Relationship Benefits

Here’s something I didn’t expect: using Monarch together improved our relationship beyond just finances.

Before:

• Money discussions were rare and stressful
• I didn’t really know what his financial situation was
• He didn’t understand why I spent money on certain things
• We avoided talking about money because it felt uncomfortable

After:

• Weekly money dates are actually pleasant
• We both know exactly where we stand financially
• We understand each other’s spending priorities
• Money conversations are proactive, not reactive
• We’re working toward shared goals with visible progress

Getting married next year means merging lives in all kinds of ways. Monarch helped us merge our financial lives gradually and thoughtfully.

That’s worth far more than $100/year.

Final Thoughts

Sarah chose YNAB for behavioral change. James chose Copilot for privacy and design. Maria chose Monarch for comprehensive tracking. Derek chose YNAB for financial transformation.

I chose Monarch because it’s the only app that actually works for couples with partially merged finances.

If you’re managing money with a partner:

• Fully merged finances? YNAB or Monarch could work
• Partially merged finances? Monarch is your only real option
• Completely separate finances? Maybe you don’t need a couples’ app at all

For us, Monarch has been exactly what we needed: flexibility, visibility where we want it, privacy where we want it, and features that help us work toward shared goals.

We’re building a life together. Having a financial tool that supports that partnership has been invaluable.

Are other couples managing finances with these apps? I’d love to hear how you’re handling the shared vs. separate balance!