Finzen
Hey, I'm Nova! 👋🏻
I'm the developer, researcher, educator, personal finance nerd, and ramen-lover who built Finzen.
Why I built Finzen
I've used envelope budgeting for over a decade. It gave me control over my money when I needed it most. But once I started investing, I had a problem. Budget in one app, portfolio in another. They never talked to each other. I made due with Google Sheets, but it always felt like a temporary solution. I wanted a smooth user experience and beautiful data visualization.
So I tested dozens of personal finance tools. Great budgeting, terrible investment tracking. Or great investments, invasive bank connections. Nothing gave me the complete picture I needed. Eventually, I realized the tool I needed didn't exist. So I built it.
The journey
The idea
Stuck at home during the pandemic, I had the idea and built the first prototype. It didn't quite live up to what I wanted - so I made due with a custom Google Sheet.
Back to the drawing board
I picked Finzen up again. Complete design overhaul, deep research, and serious planning. I mapped out every feature based on well-known personal finance rules →
From mockups to reality
I spent 700+ hours going from designs to a real, working application. Building, testing, iterating - until it was something I'd actually want to use every day.
Public beta
Launched the free public beta. Real users, real feedback. Building in public and shaping the product with the people who use it.
Finzen V1.0
Full release. The complete vision: one app for budget and portfolio, manual, private, and built for the long haul.
How I got here
From boglehead to crypto nerd
My personal finance background began with passive investing and index fund strategies at a fintech startup. Ten years of envelope budgeting taught me how daily choices compound over time. That foundation led me toward alternative investments, especially digital assets, where I've spent the last four years researching and lecturing professionally.
Finzen is the result of that journey: bringing disciplined budgeting and contemporary investing together in one easy-to-use dashboard.
Let's connect
Want to chat about personal finance, product development, or just say hi? Don't be a stranger!
Everything you need to manage your money
Built from years of testing what actually works
YNAB4 taught me budgeting, but left half the picture blank
I used YNAB4 for years and loved the envelope budgeting discipline it instilled. But it only tracked spending, my investments lived in separate apps. I never had a complete view of my financial health, just fragments scattered across platforms.
Blockfolio was perfect - until it disappeared
For portfolio tracking, Blockfolio nailed it. Then FTX bought them weeks before collapsing, taking the entire platform down. I lost my favorite tracker overnight and realized I needed something that could monitor all my assets: crypto, stocks, forex, commodities in one place.
A decade of experimentation led here
After testing countless personal finance apps, the pattern was clear: budgeting tools ignored investments, portfolio trackers didn't handle cash flow, and nothing brought it all together. I was constantly juggling five different logins just to understand my full financial picture.
Finzen combines the best features I found across years of testing - so you can manage your complete financial life in one dashboard, DIY-style, without needing an advisor.
Built with ♥
Most finance apps are built by teams whose real customers are advertisers, data brokers, or VCs - not you. Finzen has no shareholders to please, no growth targets to hit, no exit strategy. Just one developer who wanted something better and spent 700+ hours building it.
No shortcuts, no hype, no compromises - just a tool that does what it says.
Building something from scratch means every bug is embarrassing and every compliment feels personal. But it also means I can't hide behind corporate speak or pass the blame. This tool is as honest as I know how to make it.
See if Finzen works for you
Try it free and find out what happens when budgeting and investing finally live in the same place. Your privacy stays intact, your data stays yours, and you get to use something built with actual care instead of growth metrics. If it clicks, great. If not, no pressure - but I think you'll like it.
Continue exploring
The Finzen Method
Spend 2-3 minutes a day logging your expenses and you'll understand your money better than any bank sync ever could. No automation. Just awareness.
Privacy & Security
Finzen uses AES-256 encryption, EU servers, and zero-knowledge architecture. We can't read your financial data even if we wanted to. Privacy by design.