YNAB's premise
Negotiate every dollar against scarcity, in real time.
Solves discipline — but the friction is the feature, and the friction is also why people quit.
For people pursuing FI/RE
Stop logging in apps. Just say what you spent.
HiFi inverts the budget-app model. Chat is the input layer. Dashboards are the output layer. Built for the FIRE community — calm and competent, never vigilant and scrappy.
Manual logging by default — Plaid optional
Export to CSV anytime
HiChat
April 2026i spent $30 at target
Tell HiFi what you spent…
The core insight
Every budget app dies on the same hill: logging friction.
The problem
Mint, YNAB, Monarch, Copilot — they all die the same death.
Open the app. Find the screen. Tap the category. Confirm the merchant. By month two you stop logging. The data goes stale. The system fails.
HiFi removes the friction by removing the screens. You type. We categorize. You confirm. The dashboard catches up automatically.
Sinking funds
Pay future-you ahead of time, so today already feels handled.
Solves peace of mind — but on its own, it under-tracks day-to-day overspending.
HiFi does both — because they solve different problems.
Features
Built for daily use. Designed for long horizons.
The basics other apps fight you on, plus the FIRE-specific tooling no one else ships natively.
The differentiator
Chat-first logging
"i spent $30 at target" → categorized, confirmed, and on your dashboard in five seconds. The differentiator no other budget app gets right.
Sinking funds done right
Target dates, monthly contributions, projected fill date. Future-you already paid the car insurance bill. Present-you stops worrying.
Zero-based budgeting
Every dollar of this month's income gets a job. Sinking fund contributions are line items. Two philosophies that stack instead of compete.
Net worth, charted over time
Manual account balances. Monthly snapshots. Breakdown by cash, brokerage, and retirement. The number that actually matters, plotted honestly.
End-of-month auto-summary
A chat message on the 1st: "You spent $4,238 in April. Over budget on Restaurants. Net worth grew $5,400." The spreadsheet can't do this.
Premium
FIRE-native calculators
FI, Coast FI, Barista FI, Fat FI, Lean FI. Persistent dashboards with Good/Better/Best scenarios — not throwaway one-shot calculators.
How it works
Four steps. No screens to learn.
- 01
Type what happened
Open chat. Say it like you'd say it to a friend. No screens to find, no taps to land, no menus to memorize.
- 02
HiFi categorizes
An LLM proposes the category, the right sinking fund, and the need-or-want tag — and shows its work before writing anything.
- 03
Confirm in one tap
Hit ✓ if it's right. Edit if it's not. Always a confirmation step before any data changes — no hallucinations slipping through.
- 04
Dashboards update live
Spending log, sinking funds, budget actuals, net worth. Chat is the input layer. Visuals are the output layer.
Pricing — preview
Free to use. Premium unlocks long-horizon planning.
Manual logging, sinking funds, budgets, net worth — free forever. Premium adds the FIRE planner with persistent scenarios, Plaid bank sync, advanced analytics, and family sharing.
Free
$0
- • Chat-first logging
- • Sinking funds & budgets
- • Net worth tracking
- • Monthly CSV export
Premium
$9/mo
- • FIRE planner (FI, Lean, Fat, Coast, Barista)
- • Plaid bank sync
- • Advanced analytics
- • Family sharing (5 seats)