I'm Henrique Pacheco, a 33-year-old software engineer in Braga, Portugal. By day I'm a senior tech lead at Deel. Lume is my side project, and I build it on my own. More about me at henriquepacheco.com.

Why I built it

I've tracked my finances for a long time, and I have six full years on record. Along the way I used You Need a Budget, Money Lover and, most recently, Wallet by BudgetBakers. None of them fully covered what I needed. None is built around financial independence, and none shows the numbers that matter for it, like your savings rate or how far you are from each FIRE milestone.

The bank connections were the other problem. A linked account usually expires after about three months and quietly stops collecting data. When a bank changes its API, the connection breaks and can stay broken for weeks. Either way, I ended up with gaps in my records.

So I built my own process. At the end of each month I download my statements, work out my income, categorise my spending and note the latest balance of every account, all in one large spreadsheet with charts of my progress to FIRE. That monthly close is what Lume turns into an app. It's simpler than a live connection, and it needs nothing shared: just the statements your bank already gives you. I built it for myself first. If it's useful to you too, even better.

How Lume makes money

One purchase on the App Store covers Mac and iPhone. There's no subscription and no ads, and you don't need an account unless you turn on sync. Your financial data is never sent to me: it stays on your device, and sync, if you turn it on, is end-to-end encrypted so I can't read it. This site counts visits anonymously; the privacy policy says exactly what.

How it's built

One codebase for Mac and iPhone, built with Tauri. Your data is encrypted on the device, and sync uses end-to-end encryption with a recovery code only you hold. The details are in Building an End-to-End Encrypted Finance App with Tauri.

Not financial advice

Lume and everything on this site, including the blog and help pages, are general information about tracking your own numbers. None of it is financial, tax or investment advice, and none of it knows your situation. For decisions about your money, talk to a qualified adviser where you live.

Get in touch

Questions, bugs, or a bank whose statements Lume can't read yet: email me.