Why I decided to Build My Own Finance App (PocketZen)

4/30/2025

🌏 Living abroad and the Challenge of Managing Finances

I have been living in Japan for some time now, and one of the biggest challenges I face each month is balancing and managing my finances.

It’s not because I overspent or didn’t get paid properly - it’s because all my credit , expenses and income aren’t organized in a way I can view clearly from one place.

I believe this issue is common among foreigners living in Japan (or anywhere abroad), where you don’t get a high credit limit from a single card or bank. You end up managing multiple cards, bills spread across accounts, and it quickly becomes messy.

📱 Why existing Finance Apps Didn’t Work for Me

I tried several finance apps, but most of them required a paid subscription to access full features.

And when I paid, they didn’t really make managing money easy - they weren’t as intuitive as I hoped.

I should also mention : I personally can’t use Excel like many Japanese people do for everything. I find Excel tedious and inefficient for daily finance tracking - but that’s a topic for another day.

💬 My Experience with Money Lover

Out of all the apps I tried, Money Lover stood out the most.

It has a beautiful design, some powerful features, and only a one-time payment for full access - no subscription trap. I genuinely liked it and used it for a while.

However, even Money Lover wasn’t the perfect match for what I needed.

I found myself wanting slightly different workflows, shortcuts, and views.

🚀 A New Direction: Building Something of My Own

Recently, as part of starting my personal brand (this site, the socials you’re seeing ), I realized something important:

I have been working hard in different companies as a software engineer - but I have never built something completely by myself, end-to-end.

This felt like the perfect opportunity:

  • Solve a real problem I experience daily.
  • Build something useful for myself and maybe for others.
  • Share the entire journey openly.

And so, PocketZen was born - my personal finance management app.

🛠️ Choosing the Tech Stack for PocketZen

Since I’m primarily a Backend Engineer, it was natural for me to choose:

  • BackEnd : Java, Spring Boot
  • Database : MongoDB

For the frontend I wanted to explore something new,

After talking to my good friend, Dilitha , he suggested trying Lynx JS , which allows building cross-platform mobile and web apps - a perfect fit.

Originally, I considered Flutter, but I decided Lynx JS would help me grow stronger in Javascript as well.

✨ Welcome to the PocketZen Series

This will be a full series where I :

  • Share my thinking and architecture decisions
  • Build the backend and frontend step-by-step
  • Show the mistakes, fixes, and small victories along the way

I’m aiming to post at least once a week (hopefully twice when I can) - and cover the full software development cycle.

Whether you’re a fellow Software Engineer living abroad, a student learning to build real apps, or just someone curious about the building process - I hope you’ll enjoy following along.

🧠 Looking Ahead: Smarter with AI

While the first version of PocketZen will focus on the core features I need daily, I’m already thinking about what’s next.

In the future, I plan to integrate AI-powered insights to:

  • Detect bad spending habits or patterns I usually ignore
  • Predict future expenses based on my history
  • Help me plan better for savings and large upcoming costs

I think this will make the app not just a tracker - but a helpful assistant that makes managing money feel easier and more intentional.

Thanks for reading! 🙌

Let’s Create PocketZen together! 🚀

If you have any questions, thoughts, or just want to follow the journey in real time - feel free to connect or join the conversation on my socials. I also share updates and behind the scenes through my newsletter.

I’m Dhaneja, a software engineer living in Japan and building practical tools like this in my spare time.

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