PocketSmith Superfan Shawn Analyzes His Financial Data Like a Pro

Read how ext-Mint user Shawn has seamlessly integrated PocketSmith into every facet of his money management for ultimate control and transparency.

Tell us a little about yourself?

I was born and raised in central Ohio and moved to Florida for a couple of years in the mid-90s. I finished a bachelor’s degree in 2008 in Information Technology. I met my wife in 2003 and we married in 2005. I’m a federal Supervisory IT Specialist and have been with the Agency also since 2005.

We’ve got two kids: An 18-year-old son who has just started going to Ohio State (studying Finance) and a 15-year-old daughter. We’ve also got two dogs and a cat.

I collected comic books as a kid and sold them all in 2008 when I had my own kids. I’ve got tons of interests: History, photography, videography, cryptocurrencies (and mining) and politics.

How would you describe your role in your household?

The principal user, and key data importer and categorizer for our family. I set it up and maintain the bank feeds in PocketSmith, but my wife signs on to the mobile app occasionally to view all the accounts.

What drew you to PocketSmith?

It was Mint’s announcement that they were shutting down in late 2023. I was a Mint user for probably 8-10 years. While I loved the “free” part of Mint, I hated the ads and the limitations of being unable to truly customize categories. There was a default set you had to use that was immovable.

So I spent about a month trying out just about every package under the sun and came across PocketSmith. I found a free trial for it online and have been hooked ever since.

How long have you been with us?

Since December 2023.

What do you primarily use PocketSmith for?

It’s my net worth chart by time period, my spending tracker, my cash flow tool, and my “source of truth” for account data (well, what does it say in PocketSmith?) It’s my filing cabinet for old receipts (when did we get that fridge again, and what did we pay?)

It’s my weekly cashflow email report generator and my investment tracker. Say I’m selling a corporate bond now — what was the total I paid? I select the purchase price (the minus), then add back in the coupon payments (the addition), so if I sell now, my profit will be X. One cannot underestimate the value of having a running balance with selectable transaction amounts. It’s like a calculator at your fingertips.

How has PocketSmith changed the way you do money?

It’s much quicker to get the big picture on what I’m overspending on and to visually see trends — “That chart really went up in late 2022, what were we doing right then?” — then, dig into the calendar and transactions.

What are your favorite features?

The aforementioned selectable transactions with the instant totals, the “All Transactions” view which shows your current balance in each account on the right. When you have a lot of bank accounts, this is invaluable.

I also love the customizable dashboards. I created one that shows (across all accounts) my latest 10 transactions, my credit card balances, my savings, my investment balances, and my net worth. A complete financial picture; a single pane of glass. Plus, if you see something that seems off, you can click on any item, and it will bring you to the transaction page.

Also the saved searches and filters are amazing. Want to rename every purchase under $4.00 that you used on your Visa to automatically be renamed, tagged, marked as a transfer? Not a problem.

Got any tips?

Don’t waste your time with other apps would be #1. If you’re serious about your financial picture grab a PocketSmith subscription. Be warned though, the power of the dashboards is addicting — being able to filter expense/income or both, filter by account, account type, category and product amazing output — I don’t think I did anything in January 2024 other than create and mess with these. Amazing.

What’s the best money decision you made in the past 12 months?

Maxing out my Age 50+ contribution ($30,500) in my work retirement account in addition to the 8k max Roth contribution. PocketSmith (and I had a hunch too) confirmed the data on how much more quickly it goes up when you contribute the max.