Leaving bank-linked apps
This is an illustrative example, not a customer story. The numbers are made up.
Sunil Rao is a secondary school teacher in Manchester. For about five years he used budgeting apps connected to his bank. Every few months a connection dropped, and he didn't like typing his bank login into the app again each time. His teachers' pension, a Spanish account from a year in Seville, his car and GBP 2,000 he'd lent his brother weren't in the apps at all. He kept those in a spreadsheet on the side.
This example covers how he set up Thallo and what his first monthly update looked like.
Importing his history
His spreadsheet had about two years of month-end numbers. He copied them into Thallo's spreadsheet template and imported the file, which took an evening, mostly spent tidying the spreadsheet. Because the file is read in the browser, it stayed on his laptop and only the balances were saved to Thallo. After that he removed the old apps' access to his bank.
Setting up the accounts
His display currency is GBP.
| Account | Type | Currency | Balance on 30 September |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current account | Cash | GBP | GBP 3,400 |
| Easy-access savings | Cash | GBP | GBP 12,000 |
| Stocks and shares ISA | Brokerage | GBP | GBP 28,000 |
| Teachers' pension | Retirement | GBP | GBP 46,000 |
| Spanish account | Cash | EUR | EUR 20,000 |
| Car | Vehicle | GBP | ≈ GBP 9,000 |
| Loan to his brother | Private credit | GBP | GBP 2,000 |
| Credit card | Credit card | GBP | GBP 1,100 |
He set a rhythm for each account. The pension statement comes once a year, so the pension is yearly, and so is the car, which is his own estimate. He doesn't log in to the Spanish bank often, so that one is quarterly, and the rest are monthly.
On 30 September, 1 EUR was worth GBP 0.85 and his net worth was GBP 116,300. That total included the pension, the Spanish account, the car and the loan, which had been in the spreadsheet before.
The first update, in October
He updated on the last Sunday of the month. He logged in to the bank, the ISA provider and the card, typed in the new numbers for the monthly accounts and tapped "No change" on the rest.
- He moved GBP 3,600 from savings into the ISA, to use more of this year's allowance.
- The ISA ended the month at GBP 32,600, so the market added about GBP 1,000 on top of the transfer.
- His brother paid back GBP 250, leaving GBP 1,750 owed.
- The current account was GBP 250 lower, and the card balance GBP 150 lower.
The Spanish balance didn't change, but by 31 October 1 EUR was worth GBP 0.88. His net worth that day was GBP 117,550, up GBP 1,250.
Where the October change came from
Account by account, 30 September to 31 October looks like this:
| Account | Currency effect | Balance changes |
|---|---|---|
| Current account | GBP 0 | −GBP 250 |
| Easy-access savings | GBP 0 | −GBP 3,600 |
| Stocks and shares ISA | GBP 0 | +GBP 4,600 |
| Spanish account | +GBP 600 | GBP 0 |
| Loan to his brother | GBP 0 | −GBP 250 |
| Credit card | GBP 0 | +GBP 150 |
| Total | +GBP 600 | +GBP 650 |
The pension and the car didn't change, so they're left out of the table. What moved shows the +GBP 600 as its EUR row.
GBP 600 of the rise came from the euro. The Spanish account went from GBP 17,000 to GBP 17,600 in pounds without any change to the balance.
GBP 3,600 went from savings into the ISA, and the ISA rose GBP 4,600, so about GBP 1,000 of that was the market.
The loan is money his brother owes him, so it counts as something he owns. His brother paid back GBP 250, so the loan went down by that much.
How up to date the total was
At the end of October the Overview showed the total as 92% up to date. The other 8% was the car, which he'd imported with last year's value, so it was past its yearly rhythm. A few days later he looked at some similar cars for sale and entered GBP 8,200.
What he gave up
The old apps updated balances automatically. Thallo doesn't, so if he skips three months, his numbers will be three months old.
He also no longer has spending categories. He'd stopped looking at them, but someone who budgets carefully would miss them.
You can bring your spreadsheet history in when you sign up.