Lunch Money Review: Get Detailed Stats On Your Budget

Lunch Money is a budgeting app with many unique features, including detailed reports and the ability to track your finances in multiple currencies. 

It's one of the newest budgeting apps to hit the market, designed to make budgeting easier while building a community of like-minded people who want to develop better financial habits.

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

What Is Lunch Money?

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

The company was founded in 2019 by Jen Yip, a solopreneur who wanted to create a budgeting tool for modern-day spenders. As the app has grown, the team has expanded. With customers in 30 different countries, Lunch Money supports multi-currency budgeting, day-to-day expense tracking, custom budget periods, net worth tracking, and more. 

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

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

What Does It Offer?

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

Budgeting

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

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

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

Related: Best Budgeting Apps

Trackers And Calculators

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

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

For users looking to develop a long-term financial plan, Lunch Money includes a net worth tracker. This is a powerful tool that shows how reducing your monthly expenses affects your ability to grow your net worth.

Trend Analysis

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

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

Discord Community

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

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

Are There Any Fees?

Lunch Money comes with two pricing options. Users can pay $10 per month or pay annually and set their own price, with a minimum of $60. New users can test out Lunch Money before committing to a subscription with a 30-day free trial, or 60 days when you sign up through our exclusive link.

How Does Lunch Money Compare?

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

According to user feedback, Lunch Money is a better option that doesn’t come with the learning curve associated with YNAB’s zero-based budgeting approach. Lunch Money offers a full suite of features, and its pricing is competitive with similar budgeting platforms, including Tiller. 

How Do I Open An Account?

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

Is It Safe And Secure?

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

How Do I Contact Lunch Money?

Users have several support channels to choose from, including an official Discord server, in-app support tickets, a public feedback board, and email at support@lunchmoneyapp. 

Lunch Money's team is proactive about sharing development updates. The website maintains a robust changelog as well as a knowledge base with detailed step-by-step instructions and answers to frequently asked questions. 

Customer Service

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

Is It Worth It?

Depending on what you are looking for in a budgeting app, Lunch Money may very well be worth it. It now offers a mobile app, along with an easy-to-use web interface and robust multi-currency budgeting features, making Lunch Money appealing to a globally diverse audience.

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

Lunch Money's pricing is very competitive, with lower rates for both monthly and annual plans when compared to YNAB and Tiller. Unless you're looking for a free budgeting app, Lunch Money's price point shouldn't deter you. One drawback is the limited investment tracking capability, although the net worth tracker is a nice feature. 

Lunch Money Features