Setting Up Your Account

Getting into BetterBudgets takes about a minute. The longer part is gathering your numbers, so it's worth knowing what you'll need before you start.

Creating an account

Open the app and tap Get Started from the welcome screen. You'll create an account with your email address and a password.

If you'd rather look around first, you can browse without an account — the home screen will show you as Guest. Exploring is fine in guest mode, but you'll need an account before you can save a budget, since your budgets sync to your account rather than living only on the device.

Your profile

After signing up you'll set up a profile with your display name and a few basics. You can change all of it later from Settings → Account → Edit Profile.

What to gather first

The Builder asks for real numbers, and the plan it produces is only as good as what you feed it. Before you start, it helps to have:

• ›Your pay — how much you take home, how often, and the date of your next payday
• ›Your rent or mortgage payment
• ›Your recurring bills — utilities, insurance, subscriptions, phone, groceries
• ›Your debts — for each one, the balance, the interest rate, and the minimum payment

The debt numbers are the ones people don't have memorized. Pulling up your loan and card statements before you sit down will save you from stopping halfway through.

You don't need to be precise on everything. Rough figures for variable costs like groceries are fine — you can revise any input later and rebuild. What matters most is that debt balances and interest rates are accurate, because those drive the payoff math.

Setting your region

BetterBudgets supports 36 countries, and several parts of the app — the Paycheck and Mortgage calculators in particular — use country and regional tax figures. You'll choose your country as you go, and in the US you'll also pick a state.

See Region & Currency for the full list and what region affects.

Where to go next

Two paths from here:

• ›The Guided Walkthrough — the app's built-in tutorial, which explains each section as you fill it in. Recommended if this is your first budgeting app.
• ›Creating Your First Budget — a straight walkthrough of the Builder if you'd rather just get on with it.