Dollarwise Review: A Simple Budgeting App

in dollar terms is a mobile-only budgeting app designed to simplify managing your finances. It uses the popular 50/30/20 budgeting rule and was created by financial influencer caleb hammer.

It’s designed for beginners who are looking for an easy way to track their spending without being overwhelmed by custom budget categories or layers of features. While the concept of Dollarwise is simple, the question of whether it’s worth paying for is a little more complicated.

Dollar-wise prices are on par with many of the top budgeting apps on the market, but its feature-set is more limited. And it has an extremely limited 3-day free trial that requires a credit card to even sign up (which is our big dislike).

in dollar terms is a relatively new budgeting app created by Caleb Hammer, a personal finance content creator known for his YouTube series that focuses on budget breakdowns and financial accountability, and a confrontational, intentionally insulting style. Think reality-show version of Dave Ramsey.

The app has evolved from an older version, Simple Budget, and reflects the founder’s broader philosophy, which is that most people don’t need complex financial tools; They just need a clear system that will help them form consistent habits.

Dollarwise focuses on a few core features designed to make budgeting as simple and automated as possible. Here’s what it has to offer:

50/30/20 budgeting

DollarWise focuses on the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, which divides your income into three categories:

• 50% for needs (housing, groceries, utilities)
• 30% for necessities (entertainment, eating out, travel)
• 20% for savings and loan repayment

The app automatically implements this framework and tracks your spending against it. This gives you a quick snapshot of whether you’re staying on track or not. This is very different from other budgeting apps like You Need a Budget (YNAB), which follow zero-based budgeting and require you to manually assign each dollar. Dollarwise removes that complexity, but as a result, it is less flexible. If you want more control over your budget, you may find the system limiting.

transaction management

Many budgeting apps allow you to create an unlimited number of budget categories, but with Dollarwise, your spending is allocated into 13 preset categories. The app will then notify you of any unusual spending patterns.

For example, you might get a prompt like this: “Transportation is down $28 this week.”

By alerting you to various spending trends, Dollarwise can help you identify problem areas very quickly, so you can make changes. That said, the lack of category customization may frustrate users who want more control over how they track their spending.

Are there any fees?

in dollar terms There is a paid app that offers a 3 day free trial. Here’s how the plans work:

• Monthly plan: $9.99 for 3 months, then $19.99 per month.
• Annual: $99.99 per year ($8.33/month, plus a signed copy of Caleb’s meal plan and a digital copy of his budget-friendly cookbook)

The annual pricing puts Dollarwise in the same general category as more established budgeting tools like YNAB and Monarch, but it doesn’t offer nearly the same depth or flexibility. You have to decide whether the cookbook and meal plan add enough value to bridge the feature gap.

And the regular monthly price, $19.99, is even higher (Monarch and YNAB are both $14.99 monthly). This seems excessive, especially for an app targeted at young budgeters who are trying to get control of their finances.

And the 3 day free trial is disappointing. To access it you will need to sign up with your complete payment information. So if you forget to cancel within three days (which is very rare), you may be billed. We hate free trials that require a credit card.

in dollar terms clearly takes a more simple (and less flexible) approach than apps like YNAB And King. YNAB is built around zero-based budgeting and gives you control over every dollar, but it also has a learning curve. Monarch offers a modern interface with robust customization, account aggregation, and long-term planning tools.

And you can’t forget it’s free! empowerment Offers a solid net worth dashboard as well as completely free budgeting and expense tracking.

If you find these traditional budgeting apps intimidating, you’ll probably find Dollarwise more approachable. But if you’re already comfortable managing your money, you can grow it quickly.

How do I open an account?

You can open a Dollarwise account in just a few minutes by downloading the app from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. As soon as you open the app, you’ll be asked to provide your email address and follow a short onboarding process. Once your account is verified, you can start adding your external bank accounts. Once everything is synced, you can start tracking your spending. The setup process is based on Dollarwise’s philosophy of simplicity.

Dollarwise uses a third-party service called MasterCard Data Connect to link your bank accounts and import transactions. This is a common approach used by many financial apps, and allows Dollarwise to securely access your financial data without storing your banking credentials directly on their app. Your data is completely encrypted and accessed through secure APIs.

Just be aware that because DollarWise is a very new platform, it lacks the long track record of more established budgeting apps.

Dollarwise’s customer support options are limited. If you have any questions, you can email (email protected). There is no telephone or online chat support available.

What are people saying about the dollar?

To better understand people’s perceptions of Dollarwise, I studied recent discussion In r/povertyfinance community. Some users appreciated that the app did not overwhelm them, but many were critical of its bugs, lack of customization, and high price.

According to one user, “The app mostly works, but it has some issues like double counting of transactions. Almost every time I check, it shows my car payment being due twice a month.”

Another lamented the purchase of an annual subscription, stating that “This doubles or triples some transactions. It also has fixed categories, and you can’t create your own categories. I have contacted their support email but they are not very helpful. I wanted it to really work this time. “I think it could be worse than the first launch.”

Overall, reaction to the app was more negative than positive, although many said they enjoyed Caleb’s YouTube content.

in dollar terms It’s clearly designed for someone who is new to budgeting, feels overwhelmed by more complex financial tools, and wants a simple system they can follow. And if you are a follower of Caleb Hammer, it might be nice to use the tools he created.

And while I love supporting content creators and would love to recommend this app, it’s too expensive for what you get.

Dollar-wise it hits a higher price point and offers shorter free trial periods than the top apps on the market. In a way, DollarWise feels more like an extension of Caleb Hammer’s content than a well-developed budgeting platform. And given that a lot of Caleb Hammer’s audience is trying to get out of debt, I expected a much lower price (like a free tier, followed by something like SimpliFi at $5.99/mo when it’s not on sale).

For beginners who are willing to pay a hefty price, this may be enough. But if you want a free app with more features, check out Empower.

If you’re looking for a robust budgeting system with customization or more advanced financial tracking, apps like YNAB and Monarch are available at similar or lower prices.

Get started with Dollarwise>>