WorkLivelihood

Invite-only betaConsumer money app · Our own product

Know where you stand. Know what’s next.

Livelihood shows you and your family where you stand with money, the one thing to do next, and helps you plan the life you want. Built for every age and every kind of pay, from a teen’s first paycheck to commission, a small business or retirement.

Product
Livelihood
Scope
Product, design, engineering
Platforms
iPhone, Android and web from one codebase
Status
Invite-only beta

The problem

Budget apps are either built for kids or for accountants. Most people just want to know if they can buy the thing, and what to do next. People with uneven pay or a small business are left out almost entirely.

What we built

One calm app with Safe to Spend and a single Next Move up top, and business books, tax prep, net worth and family tools underneath. It adapts to the person: a teen, a commission earner, a business owner or a retiree each get their own Home.

How fast

First line of code on October 4, 2026. 27 days in: 236 screens, 315 data tables, bank linking, tax prep, business books and household reports. A typical agency would quote $1.3M to $2.1M and more than a year of work.

Where it is

Invite-only beta on the web, with real sign-in and read-only bank linking. It is free during the beta, and pricing is not decided yet. Anyone can tap Try a demo at mylivelihood.app. Phone apps come next.

Get early access to Livelihood

Free during the beta. Bank links are read-only, you can disconnect any time, and we never sell your data.

Home

One number. One next move.

Safe to spend until payday sits at the top, with what is spent so far and when the next money comes in. Under it, one next move with the reason behind it. Every card, tile, row and chart opens the detail behind it.

  • Safe to Spend that holds back bills, goals and buckets before payday
  • Your next move with a reason, a button and a Later
  • Simple and Full views per person: four numbers and one question, or everything
  • Before payday: a heads-up on your lowest balance point before the next check lands
  • Ask Fern, an AI money helper where every number links to the payments behind it. In testing now

Money

Every dollar, sorted on purpose.

A paycheck split runs every time money comes in. Savings sub-accounts at the bank become buckets on their own, and subscriptions show what you pay, what went up and how to cancel.

  • Paycheck split into fixed, invest, save, fun and give
  • Buckets from bank sub-accounts, matched to goals and kept out of Safe to Spend
  • Subscriptions with price changes, double charges and a how to cancel guide
  • Venmo and Cash App: import statements and sort tips, paybacks, gifts and refunds
  • Read-only bank linking with consent shown before every link

Uneven pay

Built for pay that changes every month.

Commission, tips, shifts and side work get the same calm number as a salary. Livelihood turns uneven deposits into a steady monthly pay and plans the taxes that come with it.

  • Steady pay from twelve months of earned income, with a closings pipeline
  • Realtor splits and caps, fees and a household tax estimate
  • Gig and creator income: earnings per platform, per hour and per mile, plus brand deals
  • Shifts and tips: tips in one tap, overtime, and the new tips and overtime deductions
  • Mileage auto-track: drives log on their own, one tap for Business or Personal

Business and taxes

Business books and tax season, handled.

Owners get a Business tab. Books come from QuickBooks or straight from the bank feed, sorted the way a CPA files. Estimated taxes follow each business type, and at tax time one tap builds the packet for your tax pro.

  • QuickBooks sync with profit, margins and a why behind every tile
  • Bank books sorted to tax lines, with owner draws paired and a Needs a look list
  • Quarterly taxes by business type, with reminders 7 days and 1 day before each due date
  • Pay yourself: owner pay from business cash next to the taxes, with each partner’s split
  • Tax packet with a 1099 payee list and depreciation, PDF and CSV in one tap

Net worth and homes

Your net worth, your homes and your way out of debt.

Net worth shows what moved it each month. Homes are valued from public house price index data and shown as a range. A debt-free plan gives you a date, and a home-buy planner reads debt-to-income the way lenders do.

  • Net worth by kind: cash, investments, retirement, crypto, home equity and business cash
  • Home value range from FHFA house price index data, plus an AI mortgage statement reader
  • Debt-free plan with your date, strategies and a suggested extra
  • Ready to buy a home? Debt-to-income, three price points and rent vs buy
  • Retirement: a drawdown range, required withdrawals and Medicare lines

Teens, families and pros

Simple for a teen. Shared with the people who help.

A teen sees four tabs, and a parent decides what else opens. Couples run a weekly check-in from an agenda the app builds. Partners, bookkeepers and advisors get exactly the access you choose.

  • Teen mode with an age gate and parent switches for what a teen can open
  • Household meetings: a weekly check-in and monthly review with agendas built for you
  • Household reports: month in review, quarterly recap and year in review
  • Your pros: custom permissions per pro, with an audit log
  • Couples privacy: “Only me” accounts, a private business and a trusted helper
  • Classroom mode with practice money and a teacher gradebook

Custom builds

The hard parts, done carefully.

Bank linking, done right

Plaid link, sync, verified webhooks, update mode and a cleanup job for banks no one uses, all through server-side functions.

AI with a safety net

Tax returns, mortgage statements, paystubs and tax forms are read by AI, then checked. A return will not save until its math ties, and every change goes through a review step.

Permissions in the database

Partner, pro and teen access is enforced row by row in Postgres, with an audit log. A teen cannot link a bank even by calling the server directly.

Mileage that tracks itself

Background drive detection with two battery gears. A trip is saved as its start, end and miles. No trail is ever stored.

Billing with plan gates

Stripe Checkout, the customer portal, verified webhooks and a founding price lock, with plan checks in the app and on the server. In test mode during the beta.

Books a CPA would accept

QuickBooks sync and bank-fed books sorted to Schedule C, 1065 and 1120-S lines, so every dollar lands on one line of the tax packet.

Fast in a phone browser

An app-shaped first paint, fonts that never block, one code chunk per screen and offline open.

One number everywhere

Spending pace, net worth and goals come from one shared model, and an automated sweep checks every screen at three sizes in light and dark.

Built with

  • React Native
  • Expo
  • TypeScript
  • Supabase
  • Postgres
  • Edge functions
  • Plaid
  • QuickBooks Online
  • Stripe
  • Claude API
  • Resend
  • Expo push
  • Netlify

Livelihood is in invite-only beta. Every screen here is a recreation with invented numbers and made-up people and businesses. No tester or account data is shown.

More work

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