ProActive Budget
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance | Free | ProActive FinTech LLC | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
"A budget is not just a collection of numbers, but an expression of our values and aspirations."
- Jacob Lew
We at ProActive Budget are passionate about life and want to get the most out of it! Money is necessary to achieving certain aspirations, but it shouldn't necessarily prevent us from reaching those goals either. We believe that one key to a healthy and prosperous financial life (and really just a healthy life in general) is a good budget.
ProActive Budget is an ever-growing set of budgeting tools. ProActive is founded on the principles of Cash Envelope Budgeting—one of the most successful and proven systems for centuries. But in today's world, carrying around envelopes of cash is not only impractical, but it's unsafe! And it doesn't work well for online shopping.
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So how does ProActive Budget work?
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1. When you create an account with us, we create a bank account for you behind the scenes
2. We send you a Visa debit card that is controlled through the app
3. Connect an external account and deposit funds into your ProActive account from that account
4. Distribute your funds into your categories
5. Tap a category to spend
6. Money is instantly transferred from that category onto your card
(If you didn't tap "Spend" on a category and swiped your card, it would decline, forcing you to look at your budget and decide where the money comes from.)
7. Swipe your card to spend from the active category
8. The remainder makes its way back into your category and the card returns to a zero balance
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ProActive VS something like Mint?
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• The best time to budget is before you spend, not after a weekly report comes. ProActive forces you to look at your budget every time you spend.
• Fully-automated budgeting systems give you a false sense of security. Budgeting is a disciplinary skill—you wouldn't send a friend to the gym to workout for you, would you?
• ProActive acts as a bank and a budget, not just a ledger. If you can't afford a purchase from an active category, the "bank" portion of ProActive will decline the purchase. (No overdrafts!) Of course, you can transfer money between categories, but at that point, you're deliberately altering your plans.
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FAQs
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Q: "What happens if I don't activate a category before I swipe my card?"
A: Nothing! The transaction will decline and you won't be charged an overdraft. It might sound odd at first, but that's the true power of ProActive.
Q: "What if I don't have my phone with me?"
A: Well you can activate a category ahead of time (if going phoneless was planned) and it will stay active for 30 minutes. Or! We recommend bringing a backup card with you, like a credit card or another debit card.
Q: "Speaking of credit cards, what if I want to keep using mine for the rewards?"
A: Go right ahead! At some point, we're planning on adding an aggregation tool to ProActive so you can use whichever card you prefer and see those transactions in your account feed, too.
Q: "What about shared accounts?"
A: Glad you asked! You'll have to share a single login for now. We're working on a full shared account system and hope to have that ready soon. For now, check out this page to order a partner card https://proactivebudget.typeform.com/to/QwTtJj
Q: "So I need to deposit money into a ProActive bank account?"
A: That's right. You can connect your existing bank account and transfer money between it and ProActive.
William Feather once said, "A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it." That was true until we came around.
It pays to be ProActive!
