“Money Dashboard helped me plan a wedding that was a lot cheaper than it looked.”
Hugh Greenish(36) from London is gearing up for his wedding day.
The past few months have seen Hugh and his fiancée plan a large event for family and friends– while being as nifty with their finances as possible. Taking advantage of ‘mates’ rates’ and following strict budgets to throw a celebration that’s “a lot cheaper than it looks” takes planning – which is why Hugh turned to his phone.
Hugh felt that the budgeting app he’d been using for the past four years, Money Dashboard, would be useful in assisting with wedding and honeymoon planning. Having tested out a few different options, Hugh found Money Dashboard provided an accurate depiction of what he felt his actual spend – and wealth position – was.
Hugh said: “At the time I downloaded the app I was still freelancing, so had both business and personal accounts, and that involved a lot of shuffling around. I never really knew exactly what I had. I knew I had a reasonable amount, but I was unsure how much was really mine.”
Hugh’s prior budgeting had involved a manual spreadsheet that allowed him to track invoices and provide just enough information to make a guesstimate projection of his future finances. Money Dashboard removed this tiresome task and made the whole process automatic.
Today, Hugh uses the planner to project future states, and notes that with a lot of clever budgeting using Money Dashboard, he was able to pay off his mortgage last year, leaving him able to fully focus on saving for his Big Day.
With weddings already involving endless spreadsheets, lists and planning, Hugh found being able to track the budget and spending automatically on the app resulted in a precious time saving.
He noted: “It’s the forward projection tool that is so useful, as it constantly adjusts as we splash out on things for the wedding. Using the planner function to see how what I spend now affects my finances up to my next payday - or even months ahead - makes it much easier to see past the immediate hit from big-ticket expenses, and stay on-track for the longer term”
The tagging feature that allows users to track areas of spending e.g. entertainment or household, is also really useful to Hugh, who highlighted that he uses it so much he’s lost count of how many he’s created, going down into the third level of nested tags and using many of his own custom ones – including wedding expenses.
As most of Hugh’s spending is on a card, he checks his Money Dashboard account a few times a week, enjoying how economical it is compared to older methods.
He also notes the reliability of the tagging feature. In the past when trying a similar app,Hugh was bemused to discover that when transferring a sum to his savings accounts (named Greenish), it was linked to corporate plant gifting in India – not ideal! There’s been no such issues with Money Dashboard.
A lapsed musician, following the wedding and honeymoon Hugh and his fiancée are looking to sell up and relocate to a bigger house – somewhere he can practice piano and saxophone without annoying the neighbours. His Money Dashboard account will help him prepare for – and make – the move.
