Building a Personal Finance System with Plain-Text Accounting and Beancount for Multi-Currency Households
By
ayi
4mo ago· 38 min readen
100/100
Golden Brown
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Summary
A software engineer shares their personal finance system built using plain-text accounting principles and the Python library Beancount. The system handles 18 accounts across checking, savings, credit cards, and investments in three currencies for a two-person household. The author explains how they automate imports, track investments, manage multi-currency transactions, and generate a single trustworthy net worth number with just 20 minutes of weekly work.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledNo app did exactly what I needed, so I built my own personal finance system using plain-text accounting principles and a powerful Python library called Beancount.
The payoff: A single, trustworthy net worth number growing over time.
Two people. Eighteen accounts spanning checking, savings, credit cards, investments. Three currencies. Twenty minutes of work every week.
One net worth number I actually trust.
This post shows you how I handle imports, investments, multi-currency, and a two-person view.
Two people. Eighteen accounts spanning checking, savings, credit cards, investments. Three currencies. Twenty minutes of work every week.
One net worth number I actually trust.
The payoff: A single, trustworthy net worth number growing over time.
No app d
