Mike

Founder of @_FreeBudget. Sharing numbers, product decisions, and personal finance lessons as I go. Anonymous because I care about privacy.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

The origin thread is up - https://t.co/0hXfuPMmm0

I’ve never told that story out loud before.

If you read it, thank you.

Short version: woke up at 2am unable to stop thinking about why budgeting tools cost money. A year and a half later, here we are.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

1/11 At 2am in October 2024, I woke up unable to stop thinking about one question:

Why does it cost you money to track your money?

I got out of bed and opened a Google doc. About a year later I launched a free budgeting app. Here's the full story.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

We've been on the path to FI for a while now. Here's my savings rate every year since 2017 (not including extra mortgage principal paid down).

2017: 48%
2018: 54%
2019: 41%
2020: 45%
2021: 46% - Mortgage Paid off
2022: 48% - First child born
2023: 54%
2024: 52% - Second child born
2025: 27% - Moved to new house

The average American saves 3.9%. A few things I learned from 9+ years of tracking this.

1) The years I saved the least were the years I was least intentional. Not the years I earned the least.

2) The number moves when you make it visible. I tracked it monthly. Once it became a metric, it became a habit.

3) 2025 being the lowest in years is a story for another day. But it's also proof that the number does not go one direction forever. Circumstances change. The habit is what carries you through.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@NovaXCode Let’s connect! https://t.co/t0bcmCDoyu

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@merts_dev Most of my users are coming from SEO. I’m expanding on social media, building in public, and trying to build stronger relationships with influencers in the finance space. The last one I think is going to be significant if I can do it well.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

May update. Real numbers, honest take.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@merts_dev For sure! A completely separate skill set and an immense amount of time and energy needs to be devoted to it to be successful!

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@zero2tenx Haha true! A secret that I’d prefer not to be a secret 😂.

Thanks man!

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

The thing about building in public is that it forces you to be honest about what's actually working.

Growth is real. The product is loved by the people who use it. We just have not cracked distribution yet.

That's the job right now.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

June focus: significant new features shipping, onboarding improvements (our activation is strong already but the more we can improve here the better), and building relationships with financial coaches and influencers in the space.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@brandononchain True… it’s hard to say that paying off any debt is going to be anything other than a net positive. But factoring opportunity cost for me especially given we had to take out another loan later at a higher rate is what hurts.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

I paid off my mortgage in 4.5 years and it might have been my biggest financial mistake.

I had a 3-4% interest rate. The market averaged 12%+ during those same years. I was aggressively paying off cheap debt instead of investing at a higher return.

I do not regret the discipline. I do regret the math.

If I did it again I would have invested the difference and let the numbers work for me instead of against me.

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@zdogmode @X Would love to connect! Building https://t.co/INeDF4Oed9

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@Jaylovenoodle Hey! Let’s connect!

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@TTrimoreau Would love to connect! https://t.co/t0bcmCDoyu

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@foxtomb232 Let’s connect! https://t.co/t0bcmCDoyu

[Mike @FreeBudgetMike]

@debojeetbuilds @X Let’s connect! I’m building https://t.co/INeDF4Oed9