Video tutorials

Introduction

Hi, I'm Maya, and welcome to HelloMula. Over the next few minutes, you'll create your account and set up the basics: your accounts, your paycheck, and your regular bills. By the end, HelloMula will already be telling you something useful about your money.

Choose your plan

Start by choosing your plan, right at the top of the sign-up form. Starter is free, for up to two people. Household covers up to five people and every Decision Lab analysis. You can pay monthly, or yearly to save. We'll choose Household, billed yearly.

Create your account

Just below, HelloMula confirms your plan: seventy-nine dollars a year. Fill in your name, email and a username. Then choose a password of at least ten characters. The bar under it shows how strong it is, and a green check confirms that both passwords match. Click Continue to payment.

Pay securely with Stripe

You're now on Stripe's secure checkout, with your email already filled in. Choose Card, then enter your card number, expiry date and security code, along with the name on the card and your ZIP code. Click Subscribe. Once your payment goes through, you're back at HelloMula. Your account is created. It just needs activating.

Activate your account

To keep your account safe, HelloMula sends you an activation email. Open it and click Activate My Account. The link is good for eight days. Your account is now active. Log in with your username and password.

The Setup Guide

The first time you log in, the Setup Guide opens. It takes about five minutes, and when you're done you'll see your net worth, a cashflow chart and your upcoming bills. Click Let's go.

Add your accounts

First, your accounts. Tap a tile for a common type, like Checking, give it a name, and enter today's balance. Do the same for your savings. You can add credit cards, loans and investments here too, and we'll cover those in the next video.

Add your income

Next, your income. Name it, enter the amount you take home each paycheck, and choose how often you're paid. Then pick the account it lands in. HelloMula will now record each paycheck for you automatically.

Add your regular bills

Now your regular bills. Tap a tile, like Rent, enter the monthly amount, and choose the account you pay it from. As you add bills, HelloMula keeps a running total and shows what's left over each month. Just like your paycheck, these record themselves.

Your first answer

And here's your first answer. Using only what you just entered, HelloMula works out how many months of expenses your savings would cover. Below that are your net worth, monthly income, expenses and surplus.

What's next

That's it. Your financial picture is up and running. In the next video, we'll add the rest of your accounts, including credit cards, loans and investments.

Introduction

Welcome back. Your checking account is in, but most of us keep money in more than one place. In this video, we'll add credit cards, loans and investments, so HelloMula can show your full net worth.

Your accounts and the six account types

Open Accounts from the menu. Here are the checking and savings accounts you added in the Setup Guide. Click New Account. HelloMula has six account types. Cash is for checking and savings, Credit is for credit cards, Debt is for loans and mortgages, and Investment is for brokerage and retirement accounts. Income and Expense are mostly created for you, so you can skip them for now.

Add a credit card

Let's add a credit card. Give it a name you'll recognize. Choose Credit, and a Credit Limit field appears. Enter your card's limit. For the balance, enter what you owe today, as a plain positive number. HelloMula knows a credit card balance is money you owe, and treats it that way. Then tick Used and Paid, so the card shows up when you record purchases and payments. Click Create account, and your card joins the list.

Add a car loan

Next, a car loan. Click New Account again and give it a name. Choose Debt, and you'll see fields for the interest rate and the monthly payment. Fill these in, along with what you still owe. Later, when you record a loan payment, HelloMula uses them to split each payment into principal and interest for you. Click Create account.

Add a retirement account

Finally, a retirement account. Click New Account and name it. Choose Investment, and enter today's value. If an account pays you dividends or interest that you want to track as passive income, tick Passive Account. A 401(k) reinvests what it earns, so we'll leave it unticked. Click Create account.

Your net worth

Here's everything together: cash, credit, debt and investments. Your net worth at the top of the page adds up what you own and subtracts what you owe, and it updates every time you record something.

Fix a balance that drifts

One last tip. If a balance ever drifts from what your bank shows, don't hunt for the missing entry. Click Adjust Balance. HelloMula shows the balance it has right now. Type in the real number from your bank, and click Update Balance. You're back in sync. The new balance shows straight away, and your net worth updates with it.

What's next

Your accounts are all in. In the next video, we'll record transactions: money coming in, money going out, and transfers between accounts.

Introduction

Now let's record some transactions. Here's the good news: you don't need to log every coffee. HelloMula is designed around a few entries a month, about ten minutes in total. I'll show you the routine.

Upcoming transactions

Open Transactions and choose Upcoming. Your paycheck and regular bills from the Setup Guide are already scheduled here, and each one records itself on its date. To add one yourself, click New Transaction.

The one rule: Account Used and Account Paid

Every transaction follows one simple rule. Account Used is where the money came from. Account Paid is where it went. HelloMula works out the type of transaction from those two choices, so you never have to pick one.

Your card statement in one entry

Start with your credit card. Instead of entering every purchase, add one line when your statement closes. Give it a description. For Account Paid, choose Expense. For Account Used, choose your credit card. Enter the total of the new purchases on your statement. Then choose a category. We'll use Credit Card Purchases. That's a whole month of card spending in one entry. Click Create transaction.

Pay the card

When you pay the card, that's another single entry. Click New Transaction and describe it. The money goes to the card, so choose it as Account Paid. It comes out of checking, so that's Account Used. Enter the amount you paid. HelloMula recognizes this as a debt payment. Click Create transaction.

Loan payments, split for you

Loan payments get extra help. Click New Transaction and describe it. Choose your car loan as Account Paid, and checking as Account Used. HelloMula fills in your monthly payment, and splits it into principal and interest using the loan's rate. If those numbers need adjusting, for example to match your lender's statement, you can change them in the Payment Breakdown section. Click Create transaction.

Transfers between accounts

Moving money between your own accounts, like checking to savings, is a transfer. Click New Transaction and describe it. Choose your savings account as Account Paid, and checking as Account Used. Enter the amount, and click Create transaction. Transfers don't count as spending, so your budget stays accurate. Here on Transaction History, each entry is labelled by type, and your balances have already updated.

Shortcut: edit an upcoming paycheck

One more shortcut. If a paycheck comes in different from usual, go to Upcoming, hover over it, and click Edit. Everything is already filled in, so just change the amount and save.

Your monthly routine

That's your monthly routine: log the card, log the payments, and let the recurring entries handle the rest. In the next video, we'll see what all this tells you on your dashboard.

Introduction

You've entered your accounts and transactions. Now for the fun part: seeing what HelloMula does with them. In this video, we'll tour your dashboard and set your first goal.

Dashboard tour

The first time you reach your dashboard, a short tour points out the essentials. First, your net worth: everything you own minus everything you owe, updated with every entry. Next, cashflow over time, with income against expenses month by month. Because your paycheck and bills are recurring, this chart fills itself in. Upcoming transactions shows what's about to come in and go out. It's built from your recurring transactions, like the paycheck and bills you set up in the Setup Guide, so nothing catches you by surprise. Your goals. We'll create one in a moment. And at the bottom, how your net worth splits between cash, investments and debt, plus where each is heading by the end of the year.

Net worth and setup progress

Your net worth stays at the top of every page, wherever you are. Just below it, the setup progress card tracks five milestones. There's one left: creating a goal.

Create a savings goal

Click Create a goal. Give your goal a name and a type. We'll build an emergency fund. Set the amount you're aiming for. Then link the savings account that holds the money. Linked balances update on their own, so you never have to type in your progress. Add how much you plan to put in each month. And if you like, add a target date. Click Create Goal.

Track your progress

HelloMula shows how far along you are, and when you're on pace to get there. Because you set a date, it also tells you whether you're on track to meet it. Your goal now appears on your dashboard, and your setup is complete.

What's next

Your dashboard is now your home base. In the next video, we'll use the Decision Lab to answer bigger questions, like what you can afford and how retirement is shaping up.

Introduction

Tracking your money is step one. Step two is using it to make better decisions. That's what the Decision Lab is for, so let's try it together. Open Decision Lab from the menu.

Inside the Decision Lab

There are 24 analyses here, covering savings, retirement, debt, housing, taxes and more. Each one starts from the numbers you've already entered, so there are no long forms to fill in. Your emergency fund analysis from the Setup Guide is already saved here.

Can I afford this?

Let's start with a question everyone asks: can I afford this? Open the quick tool at the top. Say you're planning a twenty-four-hundred-dollar family trip. Enter the amount, and choose one-time. Click Check it. HelloMula weighs it against your cash on hand, your monthly room and your goals, and gives you a clear answer, with the reasons behind it. It works for ongoing costs too. Switch to every month, and check again. This time it's cautious. With only a few weeks of history, HelloMula can't see a monthly surplus yet. As your history builds, this answer sharpens.

Project your retirement savings

Now the long view: the portfolio projection. Back in the Decision Lab, open Portfolio Projection. HelloMula fills in these inputs from your data, like the balance of your retirement account. Add what you save for retirement each year. Jordan puts six thousand dollars a year into the 401(k). While your history is still short, check the expense estimates, and enter what you really spend in a year. Essentials like food, utilities and transport. Housing, which for Jordan is rent. And extras like travel and hobbies. Then click Run Analysis. It runs your savings through a thousand possible market paths. Instead of one optimistic number, you get the odds that your money lasts, and a plain-English explanation of what's driving them.

Try a different choice

Now change one input, like saving two hundred dollars more each month. Run it again, and see how your odds change. That's the real point of the Decision Lab: trying a choice before you commit to it.

What's next

Try a decision in the Decision Lab before you make it for real. In the next video, we'll bring the people you share money with into HelloMula, so you can see your finances together.

Introduction

HelloMula is built for households. In this video, you'll invite the people you share money with, or create their accounts yourself, and choose what each person can do. Open the menu under your profile icon and choose Users. This page lists everyone in your household, and the bar shows how many people your plan includes.

Invite someone by email

The easiest way to add someone is to invite them by email. Click Invite a User and enter their address. Click the plus to add more people. Then click Send Invites. Each person gets a link to sign up with their own username and password, and they join your household straight away.

Create an account and choose a role

You can also create the account yourself. Click New User, then enter their name, a username and their email address. Then choose their role. A Primary User helps run the household. They can add people, set up household budgets, and open other members' records. A General User works with their own records, plus any accounts that are shared with them. We'll make Sam a General User.

Create the user

Click Create user. HelloMula emails Sam a link to choose a password, and Sam's status changes from Inactive to Active once they do.

What's next

That's how you build your household. In the next video, we'll see how Primary Users can view other members' records, and everyone's finances at once.

Introduction

When you share finances, you want the whole picture without stepping on anyone's toes. In this video, we'll switch between household members, see everyone at once, and cover who can change what.

Switch to another member's records

As a Primary User, you'll see a selector at the top of every page that lists everyone in your household. Choose a person to see HelloMula exactly as they see it. Now you're looking at Sam's records: Sam's net worth, accounts, transactions and reports, on every screen.

Seeing versus changing

But seeing isn't the same as changing. The bar at the bottom says you have view-only access, and the New Transaction button has gone. To add or edit anything in someone else's records, two things must be true. You need to be a Primary User, and that person needs to give you permission. Nobody gets permission by default, not even the person who pays for the plan.

Ask for access

If you'd like to help, click Ask for access. Sam gets an alert with a link straight to their sharing settings. Now let's switch to Sam's side. Only Sam can give Jordan permission, so Sam logs in and opens the sharing settings.

Grant permission

Here's what Sam sees under My Profile, Who Can Manage My Records. Sam picks a level for each Primary User. View only means they can look. Can add means they can enter new transactions and goals. Can manage means they can edit and correct things too. Sam chooses Can manage and saves. Sam can change this at any time, and only Sam can ever delete Sam's accounts.

Manage another member's records

Now we're back on Jordan's login. Switch to Sam's records again. The bar now shows that Jordan can manage Sam's records, and New Transaction is back, so Jordan can help keep them up to date.

See the whole household

Finally, choose All Users to see the whole household at once. Every screen now combines everyone's finances. Your net worth, cash, investments and debts all add up across every member, and so does the household net worth chart. The Accounts page lists everyone's accounts together, and the reports roll up the combined totals. When you want to go back to just your own records, choose your name in the selector.

What's next

You can see each person's records, change them only with their permission, and see everyone together whenever you need to. In the next video, we'll tour the Reports tab.

Introduction

Once you've used HelloMula for a few months, the Reports tab shows you where your money goes, and where it's heading. Here's Jordan's household after three months. Open Reports. Each tile is a quick summary: your balances, cash, credit, investments and debt, cashflow, spending by category, and how you're doing against your budget.

Open a report: Cashflow

Click View Details on any tile to open the full report. If you're new, Take the Tour walks you through each one. The Cashflow report compares money in against money out, month by month, with debt payments shown separately. Below the chart are your year-to-date totals, a projection for the full year, and your monthly averages. The current month is still in progress, which is why the lines drop at the right-hand edge.

Spending by category

The Category report shows where your spending goes. Pick a type and a date range, and HelloMula breaks it down by category. Anything without a category appears as Uncategorized. Click it to see those transactions and sort them.

Your monthly money story

For a plain-English summary, open your monthly money story. Use the arrows to step through the months. It gives the month's headline, where the money went compared with the month before, your biggest single expense, and your net worth at the end of the month.

Household reports

If you share a household, Household Pulse shows your combined net worth, and what each member brought in and spent this month. And remember: switch the selector at the top to All Users, and every report adds up the whole household.

More reports and what's next

There are more reports to explore, including balances by account type, income and expenses, debt payments, budget variance and spending trends. Each one opens from a tile on the Reports page. That's the Reports tab. Check in once a month and you'll always know where you stand. In the next video, we'll set up a budget.

Introduction

A budget sets a monthly limit for each spending category, then tracks how you're doing as the month goes on. It only takes a few minutes, so let's build one. Budgets work on categories, so start there. Open Transactions, and click Manage Categories.

Create a category

These are the categories you can assign to transactions. HelloMula includes a set of common ones, and you can add your own. Click New Category. Give it a name. We'll add Cash Withdrawals. Set the type to Expense. Then tick Household Category, so everyone in your household can use it. Click Create Category. HelloMula confirms it's been created, and Cash Withdrawals now appears in your household's categories.

Create a monthly budget

Now open Budgets, from the Planning menu. Budgets are set month by month, and you start on the current month. Click Create Budget. You'll see every expense and debt payment category, including the one you just added. Enter a monthly limit for each category you want to track. We'll set groceries, dining out and transportation. Add the categories your card spending and cash fall under, and leave the rest blank. Blank categories aren't part of your budget. You can also set an overall spending cap for the month. Then click Create Budget.

Track your budget

Here's your budget for October so far. Each category shows what you planned, what you've spent, and what's left. Card purchases are already over their limit, so HelloMula flags them at the top.

Copy to next month

Next month, you don't have to start again. Click Copy to November. The same limits carry forward, and you can adjust any of them before you save.

Household budgets

Primary Users can also set a Household Budget, which tracks everyone's spending together against shared limits. Open the Household Budget tab to create one.

What's next

Categories, monthly limits, and a quick check each month: that's budgeting in HelloMula. In the next video, we'll explore more of the Decision Lab.

Introduction

The Decision Lab has twenty-four analyses. In this video, we'll run three of them: a financial health check, how much house you can afford, and an estimate of your taxes.

How every analysis works

Every module works the same way. The inputs on the left are filled in from your data and marked "from your data". Check them, change anything that doesn't fit, and click Run Analysis. Your results are saved, and they update as your numbers change.

Financial health score

Start with the Financial Health Dashboard. It scores you out of a hundred across four areas: savings rate, debt compared with income, your emergency fund, and your assets. Each one says whether it's on track or needs work, so you know what to focus on first.

How much house can you afford?

Next: how much house can you afford? Two inputs need a quick check here. Income should be your gross pay, before tax, but HelloMula fills it in from your deposits, which are after tax. Existing debt payments include your whole credit card payment, but if you pay the card off in full each month, only your loan payments count. Jordan earns seventy-two thousand a year before tax, and pays three hundred and forty a month on the car loan. Run the analysis. It uses the two ratios lenders use, so you get a realistic price ceiling and a more conservative target. Try a different interest rate or down payment to see how the number moves.

Federal tax estimate

Finally, the Federal Tax Estimator. Enter your gross income and filing status, and you'll see your estimated federal tax, your effective and marginal rates, and your take-home pay.

Saving more for retirement

Now see what saving more for retirement would do. Click Add Pre-Tax Reductions and enter a 401(k) contribution. Run it again, and HelloMula shows how much less tax you'd pay. That makes the real cost of saving smaller than it looks.

What's next

Those are three of the twenty-four analyses. Whenever you're facing a money decision, check the Decision Lab first. In the next video, we'll put your regular bills and paychecks on a schedule with recurring transactions.

Introduction

Most of your money moves on a schedule: paychecks, rent, bills and loan payments. In this video, we'll set up recurring transactions, so HelloMula can follow that schedule for you.

Why use recurring transactions

Open Transactions, then the Recurring tab. These are the ones Jordan set up in the Setup Guide: the paycheck, the rent and the monthly bills. Set one up once, and HelloMula projects it into the future, can create it for you on the day, and reminds you before a bill is due. It also groups every payment together, so your reports can answer questions like: how much did I get paid this year? Or, how much did I spend on my water bill?

Set up a car payment

And it builds a routine. When a scheduled bill comes up, you confirm it, and keeping your money up to date becomes a habit. Let's add Jordan's car payment. Click New Recurring. Give it a name and a short description. The Account Paid is the Auto Loan, and the Account Used is Everyday Checking. Enter the payment: three hundred and forty dollars.

Fixed or dynamic payment split

Because this pays down a debt, a Payment Breakdown appears. Fixed uses the same principal and interest amounts every month. Use it when the split on your statement doesn't change. Dynamic works the split out for you. Each time the payment is created, HelloMula calculates the interest from the loan's balance and interest rate, and the rest goes to principal. As the balance falls, more of each payment pays down the loan.

Choose the schedule

Now the schedule. On Day of Week, you pick a weekday and how often: every week, every other week, or a set week of the month, like the second Friday. The start date tells HelloMula when the schedule begins. It matters most for Biweekly. Every other Friday could mean this Friday or next Friday, and the start date decides which. Set it to the date of a real payment, or your projections will land on the wrong weeks. A car payment is due on the same date each month, so switch to Day of Month and pick the fifteenth. You can pick more than one day, or Last Day for the end of the month. Avoid Weekend covers months when the fifteenth falls on a Saturday or Sunday. Create before moves it to the Friday before. Create after moves it to the Monday after.

Create automatically

Tick Create Automatically, and HelloMula records the payment on its due date for you. Leave it off, and the payment waits in your upcoming list for you to confirm. Click Create recurring, and it joins Jordan's list.

A bill that varies

Next, the water bill. The amount changes every month, so it's set up a little differently. Click New Recurring, and name it Water Bill. For Account Paid, choose Expense. It's paid from Everyday Checking, and the category is Utilities. Now tick Amount Varies. The amount field goes away, because there's no set amount. HelloMula still reminds you each month and fills in everything else. You just enter that month's amount when you record it. It's due on the twentieth. Choose Day of Month, then twenty. Leave Create Automatically off, since HelloMula needs the amount from you, and click Create recurring.

Upcoming, Home and Calendar

Open the Upcoming tab. It lists what's coming next from all your recurring transactions. A play icon means it will be created automatically, and the water bill shows Varies. Point at a row to see its buttons: View, Edit, Create and Delete. They only affect this one date, not the recurring schedule. Delete this month's bill, and next month's still appears as normal. When the water bill arrives, click Create. Everything is already filled in from the schedule except the amount. Enter this month's amount, and save it. Upcoming transactions are on your Home page too, so you see what's due as soon as you sign in. And the Calendar tab, under Transactions, shows the month at a glance, with scheduled transactions on the days they're due.

Recurring payments in your reports

Now the reports. This is the Expense report, under Reports. Payments from the same recurring transaction are grouped together, so rent, utilities and each bill get their own row, month by month. Jordan's earlier water bills were entered before this schedule existed, so they're under Ungrouped. Click it, then Group Transactions. Each payment that matches the water bill's accounts can be added to its group. There are two pages, so start with the older bills on page two, and choose the water bill for each one. Then go back to page one, and choose the water bill for the newer bills as well. Back on the Expense report, the water bill's row now covers the whole year. Open the Annual tab for the year's total. That's how much Jordan has spent on water this year. The Income report works the same way. On its Annual tab, the Paycheck row shows exactly how much Jordan has been paid this year. Reports can group by category as well. Further down the Expense report, By Category sorts the same spending into categories like Housing, Groceries and Utilities.

What's next

Set up your regular bills once, and HelloMula keeps the schedule, the reminders and the totals for you. In the next video, we'll enter several transactions at once.

Introduction

Missed a month, or just joined and want your history filled in? You don't have to enter transactions one at a time. In this video, we'll catch up a whole month on one page.

Open Create Multiple

It's handy after a busy month, or for filling in the months before you joined. Jordan joined HelloMula in October, so let's enter September. Open Transactions, and click Create Multiple. Each row is one transaction, with the main fields from the regular form: a description, the account paid, the date, the amount and the account used. You can enter up to twenty rows.

One line for the card statement

Start with the card, just like your monthly routine: one line for the whole statement. Describe it as September card purchases, paid to Expense, dated when the statement closed, for the statement total, on the Rewards Visa.

Clone a row

Jordan also moves three hundred and fifty dollars to savings every payday. Click the plus button for an empty row, and add the first one: Move to savings, paid to Rainy Day Savings, from Everyday Checking. The second payday is the same except for the date, so click the clone button. It copies the row, accounts and all, just below. Then change the date.

Income and passive income

Now some income. Click the plus button again. Savings earned interest in September, so the account paid is Rainy Day Savings, and the account used is Deposit. Because this is income, a P.I. column appears, for passive income. Interest is money your money earns, so tick it.

Debt payments and Group by

Next, the card payment. Jordan paid the September statement in full, from Everyday Checking. For a debt payment, a note explains that principal, interest and escrow can't be split out here. If you need that, use the single transaction form. Last, a cash withdrawal, paid to Expense from Everyday Checking. Those are the same accounts as Jordan's recurring water bill, so a Group by column appears, for linking a payment to its schedule. This one is a one-off, so leave it blank.

Save the whole batch

So what's different from the single transaction form? There's no category, no notes, and no payment breakdown. You can add those afterwards by editing a transaction. When everything looks right, click Create All Transactions. HelloMula checks every row first. If one has a problem, nothing is saved until it's fixed, so you never end up with half a batch. All six are now in Jordan's transaction history, and September is complete.

Add a category afterwards

Categories decide which budget your spending counts toward. To add one, point at the card purchases and click Edit. Choose Credit Card Purchases, the same category as your monthly routine, and click Update transaction. Use multiple entry whenever you have a month to catch up on. In the next video, we'll add Jordan's home as an investment, and link it to the mortgage.

Introduction

If you own a home, it's probably the biggest thing you own, and the mortgage is probably your biggest debt. In this video, we'll add both, so your net worth tells the true story.

Why add your home

Jordan owns their home, but so far HelloMula has only seen the monthly payment leaving checking. The house and the loan aren't in the net worth at the top of the page. We'll add two accounts: the mortgage first, then the home, linked to it, so HelloMula can work out the equity for you.

Add the mortgage

Name it Home Mortgage, and set the type to Debt. Enter what's still owed. Add the interest rate and the monthly payment. If your payment includes escrow for property tax and insurance, enter that too. Tick Used and Paid so you can record payments to it, and create the account. Net worth has dropped below zero for now, because HelloMula can see the loan but not the house. Let's fix that.

Add the home

Click New Account, name it Our Home, and choose Investment. For the balance, enter what the home is worth today. A recent appraisal or a home value estimate is fine. Tick Real Estate. A new field appears, Real Estate Debt Account. Choose Home Mortgage. This link is what lets HelloMula calculate the equity. Used and Paid disappear, since a home isn't used to make payments. Create the account. Net worth now includes the home's value, minus what's owed on it.

Your home equity

Open Our Home. Instead of a single balance, you see the property value, the mortgage balance, and your equity: the part of the home you own outright. As you pay down the loan, or the home's value changes, the equity updates automatically. The chart beside it fills in month by month, showing the value, what's owed, and your equity.

Record a mortgage payment

Let's see that happen. Record this month's mortgage payment: click New Transaction. Describe it. For Account Paid, choose Home Mortgage, and for Account Used, choose Everyday Checking. HelloMula fills in the payment from the mortgage's details and splits it for you: interest from the rate and balance, the escrow you entered, and the rest goes to principal. Only the principal lowers what you owe. Pick the Mortgage Payment category, and create the transaction.

Watch your equity grow

Back on Our Home, the mortgage balance has dropped by the principal, and the equity has gone up by the same amount. When the home's value changes, click Update Balance and enter the new value.

Tip: link recurring payments

One last tip: if your housing payment is a recurring transaction, edit it to pay the Home Mortgage with a Dynamic breakdown, and your equity will keep itself up to date.

What's next

Your home is now part of your net worth, and its equity grows with every payment. In the next video, we'll take a deep dive into every report.

Introduction

In an earlier video, we toured the Reports tab. This time, we'll open every report and walk through what each part means, using a full year of Jordan and Sam's history.

The Reports page

Every tile on the Reports page is a live summary of one report. Click View Details on a tile to open the full report. We'll work through them in order.

Balances and net worth

The Balance report shows your net worth over time. Each line is one kind of account: cash, investments, credit, debt, and net worth, which is everything you own minus everything you owe. Under the chart: your net worth today, how much it's changed, and its highest point so far. The Summary compares each balance today with a projection for the end of the year, where it stood at the end of last year, and how much it's changed each month, on average. Below that, Monthly Balances lists the end of every month, so you can see exactly when things changed.

Reports for each account type

Next are the reports for each type of account. We'll go through Cash in detail. At the top are your cash accounts, their balances, and each one's share of the total. Cash Balances shows each account at the end of every month, stacked, so you can see the total grow and which account it's in. Then the money moving through them: Cash Withdrawals is everything that went out of each account each month, and Cash Deposits is everything that came in. Show zero dollar cashflows adds the accounts with no activity. The Credit report has the same parts for your credit cards: balances, month by month, and the charges and payments. The Investment report does the same for retirement and investment accounts, including Jordan's home from the last video. And the Debt report covers your loans, so you can watch each balance come down.

Cashflow

The Cashflow report compares money coming in with money going out, month by month. The gap between the income and expense lines is what you kept. The Summary shows this year so far, a projection for the full year, last year's total and your monthly average. Net Income at the bottom is income minus expenses. Trends compares each kind of cashflow with the period before: this month against last month, and the last three and six months against the three and six before them. Green is better, red is worse. And Month Detail lists income, expenses, net income and debt payments for each month.

Income

Next, the reports for each type of transaction. We'll look closely at Income. Each bar is a month, split by recurring transaction, so Jordan's paychecks are grouped together. The table below gives the same numbers for each group and month. Click a group's name to open its recurring transaction. Further down are the same trend cards as Cashflow, and By Category, which splits the last twelve months of income by category. At the top are two tabs. Monthly is what we've been looking at. Annual adds each group up by year, and shows how it compares with the year before.

Expenses, debt payments and transfers

The Expense report works the same way for spending: monthly bars by recurring transaction, the table, trends and categories. Debt Payment covers loan and credit card payments. And Transfer covers money moved between your own accounts, like savings and retirement contributions. Each has the same Monthly and Annual tabs.

Categories

The Category report breaks your spending into categories. Pick a type and a date range, then click Apply. Click any category to see the transactions behind it.

Budget variance

Budget Variance compares your budget with what you actually spent. The cards show the totals and how many categories are over. Use the arrows to step through the months. In September, each category shows its budget, what was spent, the difference, the share used, and the change from the month before. And the Spending Trends tile on the Reports page shows your top categories this month against last month.

Household reports

The Household report puts everyone side by side. Each member's card shows their income, expenses, net income and net worth for the year. Then each person's share of the household's income and expenses, and month-by-month charts of who earned and spent what. At the bottom are the year's totals for each person, their share as a percentage, and everyone's current balances added together. Household Pulse is the quick version: the household's combined net worth over time, and what each member brought in and spent this month.

Your money story

Finally, your money story. You'll find it on your Home page, under the cashflow chart: click Read your money story. It's also in the Reports menu. It's a plain-English summary of one month. Step back to September for a full month. You get the headline, where the money went compared with the month before, the biggest single expense, and your net worth at the end of the month.

What's next

That's every report in HelloMula. Start with your money story each month, then dig into the details when something stands out. In the next video, we'll look at alerts and messages.

Introduction

HelloMula keeps you up to date in two ways. Alerts are notices HelloMula sends you, and messages are notes between the people in your household.

The bell and bill reminders

Both arrive at the bell at the top of every page. The red number shows how many you haven't read yet. Click the bell. It has two tabs, Alerts and Messages. Here's a bill reminder: Jordan's car payment is coming up soon. Click a reminder to open that bill, where you can record it as soon as it's paid. Opening an alert marks it as read.

Budget alerts

Budget alerts come from the budgets you set. When spending in a category passes eighty percent of its limit, and again at one hundred percent, you get an alert. Let's record a dinner out and watch. A birthday dinner on the Rewards Visa: a hundred and seventy dollars, in the Dining Out category, which has a two hundred dollar budget. Create the transaction, and the bell picks up a new alert straight away. Jordan has used eighty-five percent of the dining budget, with weeks left in the month. Click the alert to open the budget.

All notifications and preferences

To see every alert, open the bell and click All notifications. This page lists them all, newest first. You decide which alerts you get: click Preferences. By email, there's Your Week in Money, a Monday summary, and a daily digest of unread alerts. In the app, you can turn budget alerts and bill reminders on or off, and choose how many days before a bill you're reminded.

Message your household

Now messages. You can message anyone in your household from inside HelloMula. Open the bell, choose Messages, and click All messages. Click Create message. In To, pick a household member. Jordan writes to Sam. Help and Support reaches the HelloMula team, if you ever need us. Add a subject, write the message, and click Send to deliver it. It's on the Sent tab. Sam gets an alert in the app, and an email letting them know there's a message waiting.

Reading and replying

Here's what Sam sees after signing in. The bell shows the new message. Sam opens the Messages tab and clicks the message to read it. Click Reply. The original message is quoted below, so Sam writes the answer above it, and sends it. Back on Jordan's side, the reply is waiting in the bell, and the whole conversation stays together in Messages. Alerts keep you ahead of bills and budgets, and messages keep your household talking about money. Thanks for watching, and welcome to HelloMula.