Build a Personal Finance Dashboard with Python (Zero Budget, Zero Subscriptions)

Managing personal finances shouldn't require a $15/month app. Here's how to build a powerful finance dashboard with Python in under 100 lines. Why Python for Personal Finance? Free forever — no subscription, no ads, no data selling Fully customizable — track what matters to you Privacy-first — your data stays on your machine Extensible — add crypto, stocks, or anything else What We're Building A CLI finance tracker that: Logs income and expenses by category Calculates monthly savings rate Shows spending by category (with ASCII chart) Projects annual savings at current rate The Code #!/usr/bin/env python3 """ Personal Finance Dashboard — 0€ budget Track income, expenses, and savings in your terminal """ import json import os from datetime import datetime from collections import defaultdict DATA_FILE = " finance_data.json " def load_data (): if os . path . exists ( DATA_FILE ): with open ( DATA_FILE ) as f : return json . load ( f ) return { " transactions " : []} def save_data ( data ):