Financial Planning with OWNAMIC: the Big Picture as Compass, the Household Book as Rudder

Published by Adrian Vogel · Reading time: approx. 15 minutes · Last updated: October 2026 · Jurisdiction: Germany

Before you start: This guide is not financial, investment or tax advice. OWNAMIC describes and does the sums. It does not advise. The big picture carries your own inputs forward. You set the assumptions yourself. It does not tell you what will happen. The rules of thumb here are common reference points. They are not targets for your household.

In short:

• At the end you have a plan for 10 to 30 years and a household book.
• You need your account overview, loan papers, payslip and a list of contracts.
• Getting ready takes 30 minutes; the monthly check takes 30 minutes.
• OWNAMIC does not advise and is not linked to your bank.

What the big picture calculates is covered in Projecting net worth. That article also explains why it assumes zero returns, so no interest and no price gains. This article is the practical part. You learn what to click, and in which order. That way your accounts, receipts and contracts turn into a plan. You can then check that plan every month. The video gives you a first look at the setup in the app: OWNY asks, the big picture takes shape, the first expense lands in the household book. Then two scenarios – a new heating system and a year of parental leave – and how a couple runs the household together in a shared space.

What you should know

Compass and rudder. The big picture shows the direction. It carries your net worth forward over 10, 20 or 30 years. Net worth means all you own minus all you owe. The sum only holds if everything goes on as recorded. This is called a projection. The household book is the rudder. Each month it shows where the money really went. Then you steer with small changes. Both use the same data. So every receipt you record also makes the projection more exact.

The classic household-book method. The German consumer advice centres (Verbraucherzentrale) describe these steps:

1. Note your regular income.
2. Work out your fixed costs, the ones that come back every month.
3. Turn sums due once or twice a year into a monthly figure.
4. From this, work out how much money is left.
5. Write down every other expense, including card payments and small sums.
6. Draw up a balance once a month.

You will find this exact order in the steps below.

The 50/30/20 rule. Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi made it known. They did so in their book “All Your Worth” (2005). You split your net income roughly. Net income is what reaches your account after tax and other charges. 50 % goes on fixed costs and needs, 30 % on wants, and 20 % on saving or paying off debt. The German savings banks (Sparkasse) point out a limit. With high housing costs or a low income, the rule is hard to keep. They mention variants such as 60/20/20 or 70/20/10. It is a rule of thumb, not a standard.

The emergency fund. This is money set aside for a crisis, like a broken washing machine or a lost job. A common rule of thumb is three to six months of net pay. The German money site Finanztip gives this figure, for example. The Verbraucherzentrale gives two to three months’ pay. It should sit in an instant-access savings account (Tagesgeld). That is a savings account you can draw on any day. What suits you depends on your job, family and fixed costs.

The savings rate in Germany. The savings rate is the share of income that people save. Private households saved around ten per cent of their disposable income in 2025. Disposable income is what is left after tax. This comes from the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis). Depending on the release, the figure is between 10.1 and 10.5 %.

Inflation. Inflation means prices rise, so the same money buys less. What your money can buy is called its buying power. In September 2026 inflation in Germany was 3.3 %. It was driven mainly by energy (+14.9 %). Without food and energy it was 2.4 %. The big picture uses 2.0 % by default. Nobody knows which value fits the coming years. That is why it is a slider.

Preparation (30 minutes)

Get these ready:

• a screenshot or printout of your account overview from online banking, with all balances
• your loan agreements: loan amount, interest rate, instalment, start and end of the fixed-rate period (the time your rate stays the same)
• your latest payslip, in particular the net amount
• a list of your contracts: rent, power, insurance, subscriptions, with amount and rhythm
• if you like: a portfolio screenshot from your broker app, plus the last four months of transactions as a CSV file (a table you download)

Step 1: Record your accounts

1. Tap Plus, then Photo/Video. Image Recognition opens the camera.
2. Take a photo of your account overview. Or pick the screenshot via Gallery. Use the overview, not a list of transactions. A list of transactions gives no balance.
3. Tap Recognise · 1 photo. Each account it finds becomes an object of type Money & Assets.
4. Check the names and amounts. Then save.

Without a photo, go to Plus → Manual → Financial assets. Under More precisely, choose Money & Assets. Typing it in by hand uses no AI credit.

Later you update a balance right on the account with Record balance. The Balance history then shows every balance you have recorded. Do you keep your emergency fund in its own savings account? Then set it up as a separate account. That way you can see it on its own.

Step 2: Add your loans

For a home loan:

1. Tap Plus → Manual → Financial assets → Mortgage.
2. Enter a name and tap Next.
3. Under costs, choose Monthly. Enter your instalment under Amount.
4. Under Mortgage Details, fill in Total Loan Amount, Interest Rate (%), Mortgage Type and End Date. The type is usually Annuity. That means the instalment stays the same. The interest part shrinks and the repayment part grows.
5. Add the Start Date in the details. OWNAMIC works out the repayment plan and the Remaining Balance. That is what you still have to pay back.
6. Next comes “Which account are these payments booked from?”. Choose your current account or “Don't book — only record the contract”.

Nothing is booked at this point. Each instalment only shows up under Open bookings once it is due.

Instalment and car loans go in as Repayment. To be honest: their instalment counts in the big picture, but their remaining debt does not yet. So your net worth looks higher than it is. If you pay back extra money outside the plan, that is a special repayment. Add it on the loan with Add Event → Special Repayment.

Step 3: Record physical assets and your portfolio

For most households, most of their wealth is not in accounts. Record your main physical assets with Plus. These are things like your home, the car or a collection. Record furniture by Photo series or Video capture. When the AI guesses a value, OWNAMIC assumes it could be off by ±25 %. This doubt feeds into the corridor. A value backed by a purchase receipt counts as documented.

Portfolio: a portfolio is the account that holds your shares and funds. Upload a screenshot of your portfolio overview via Plus → Photo/Video. Securities become a Financial Asset, crypto a Digital Asset, and bars Material. In the object details, tap Link live price. Then confirm with Connect price. The value is then quantity × daily closing price, the price at the end of the trading day.

Savings plan: this is how you set up a monthly purchase.

1. Open the holding.
2. Go to Purchases & sales and tap Record.
3. Choose Purchase. Enter Quantity, Amount and Date.
4. Under Repeat, pick Monthly.
5. Leave Ends on empty if the plan has no end.

The big picture reads every future instalment as a transfer. Money leaves the account and lands in the portfolio. So your net worth stays the same. The monthly balance, what is left each month, falls by the instalment.

Planned purchases or sales: an entry with a future date is listed as “planned”. It only changes your holdings on that date. But the big picture already counts it in the right month.

Step 4: Enter income and fixed costs

Fixed costs are the costs that come back regularly. Without income and fixed costs, the big picture holds its figures back. It shows “Figures withheld — the data set is too thin for a carry-forward”. The 20- and 30-year spans stay locked.

Salary:

1. Tap Plus → Manual → Income → Salary.
2. Enter the net amount and choose Monthly.
3. At “Which account do these payments arrive on?”, choose your current account.

Do you plan over 20 or 30 years? Then give the salary an End Date. Add your pension as a further income. Otherwise the big picture reminds you.

Fixed costs: go to Manual entry → Service expenses. Under More precisely, choose Rent, Insurance, Subscription, Power or Heat Supply, Tax or Service. Do not turn a yearly premium into a monthly figure. Record it with Yearly instead. Use its due date as the start date. The household book then shows it in the right month. Leave some room in that month. The Verbraucherzentrale suggests a reserve for yearly sums.

Faster by import:

1. Tap Plus → Document.
2. Pick the CSV or PDF file from your online banking.
3. Tap Read file.

OWNY reads the lines. Payments that repeat become one monthly entry. You check every entry before you save. Do not deduct past transactions from the account. The current balance already comes from step 1. Make sure your loan instalment does not show up again as an expense. It already sits on the mortgage.

Step 5: Set up the big picture

1. Open Home in the sidebar.
2. At “What are you here for today?”, choose Financial planning or The whole picture.
3. Tap the Big picture tab. This jumps to the section.
4. Details opens the big picture as a page of its own.

Does your home page already show the start page of the Finances edition? Then you find it there under More → Big picture.

• Time horizon: 10 years, 20 years or 30 years.
• The corridor: this is the band around the line. It shows a range. There is a roughly 80 % chance the result falls inside it. Over time it gets wider. The reason: OWNAMIC assumes your costs swing by ±15 % per month. These swings add up. The tile gives a range with the note “from – to, not a commitment”. It also gives the end value in today's money. That means what the sum would be worth today.
• Assumptions & net worth target: open this area. Inflation is set to 2.0 % (0 to 5 %). Income growth (nominal) is also 2.0 % (0 to 6 %). Nominal means before inflation is taken off. Below them you see the real income growth, after inflation. Under Wealth goal you enter a figure. It does not change the sums. It shows up as a dashed line. The tile says in words in how many years you could reach the goal. This only holds if your inputs stay the same, and it is given as a range.
• Categories: shows what your wealth is made of. For example, you see cash shrink while the portfolio grows.
• Details → Data basis: lists every kind of input with its value and coverage: Income, Fixed costs, Variable costs, Assets, Debt, Savings plans. A warning symbol on the chart opens the notes on it.
• Configure scope: variable costs are costs that change from month to month. OWNAMIC works them out from your purchases. You set two things per category. Categories are, for example, Consumables or Household & electronics. First, the Lookback (months). Second, how to average: Mean, Median or Trimmed. The median is the middle value when you sort all months by size. Trimmed means the outliers are left out. You can also enter your own figure under Your amount / month. Under Value development per asset class, every class says No assumption (0 %). Do you want to assume a rate of return? Then choose Own rate. That assumption is yours to own.
• Show what's inside lists every flow of money one by one, including Savings rates / month.

Liquid assets are money you can get at quickly: your accounts and instant-access savings. If they run out before the end of the span, the curve ends with “Liquid assets used up in year N”. The big picture does not assume on its own that you sell other assets.

In the app, open Help & Explain on the big picture. It explains every element. The German help also has a short video tour, “Das Gesamtbild” (1:52).

Step 6: Run scenarios

A scenario is a what-if based on your real data. It changes none of your objects.

1. Above the chart is the Current state / Scenario bar. Tap + (New scenario) there.
2. In the Template tab, choose a starting point: Income stops, Parental leave, Sabbatical, Early retirement, Home purchase with loan, Loan, Special repayment, Savings plan or Empty scenario.
3. Under My objects, switch off what should not count, such as the savings plan.
4. Under Scenario objects, change amounts and periods.
5. Tap Save & apply.

While the scenario is active, a banner shows its name. The current state runs alongside as a grey line. Current state means things as they are, without the scenario. The tile Versus current state after N y shows the difference. Back to current state takes you back. You can save up to twenty scenarios.

Checking your emergency fund: the Income stops template sets every regular income to zero from next month on. The big picture then says: “Until then your savings last ≈ N months.” You can compare this figure with the rule of thumb of three to six months.

Step 7: Keep the household book: scan a receipt

There is no special receipt mode. A till receipt is a photo like any other. That is enough.

1. Tap Plus. Take a photo of the receipt (Take Photo) or pick it via Gallery.
2. Tap Recognise · 1 photo. The first time, you accept the data and copyright notice.
3. OWNY reads the receipt line by line. Each item becomes an object of type Consumable with price, quantity and purchase date.
4. Compare the total with the total on the receipt. Show N more opens all items. Under On your photos, each line has a frame around it.
5. Open one item to check it. OWNY writes out short names in full. The printed text is in the description.
6. At “Where should the purchase price be booked from?”, choose the account you paid from. Below it you see Balance afterwards.
7. Tap Save N objects.

Collect the week’s receipts. At the weekend, take them as a Photo series, up to five photos at once. Invoices as PDF go in via Import a file. You pay per object found. So a receipt with 28 items means 28 objects. Finds you throw away cost nothing.

On OWNAMIC’s finances page there is a short film, “Kassenbon scannen und Haushaltsbuch führen”. The title means “scan a receipt and keep the household book”, and the film is in German. It shows this exact sequence, from the photo to the monthly balance.

Step 8: Read income and expenses, set budgets

On Home, the Money tab takes you to “Where your money goes.”. Details opens the Income & expenses page. On the start page of the Finances edition, the Household book card also leads there. It shows the current month.

• Period: one month or the Full year.
• Monthly balance: the large figure is what is left. Next to it is the line “left — N % of your income are fixed costs.” This share is your fixed-cost ratio. The expenses bar is split into Fixed costs and Variable. You can compare this ratio right away with the 50 % of the 50/30/20 rule.
• Categories: expenses are grouped by object type, such as Consumable, Rent or Insurance. Rows marked Fix come only from running contracts. They only change when you change contracts. Click a category name to see the objects behind it.
• Budgets: a budget is a limit you set for yourself. On the expenses chart, open Budgets. For each object type, set a Budget Amount and a Budget Period (Monthly or Yearly). From 80 % the bar shows Close to Budget (≥80%). Beyond that it shows Over Budget. Hide takes a type out of the charts.

OWNAMIC does not work out a savings rate. You get it like this: take Savings rates / month from Show what's inside. Divide it by your income.

Open bookings: OWNAMIC suggests due instalments from your contracts. You find them in the Bookings tab under Open bookings.. You tap Confirm, Confirm all, Correct amount or date or Dismiss. Only your bank knows if the money really left the account.

Step 9: The monthly check: plan against actuals (30 minutes)

Put a fixed date each month in your calendar. Then go through this round:

1. Close the gaps. Scan the last receipts. Confirm open bookings.
2. Match balances. For each account, tap Record balance. Enter the figure from your bank. Is it far from what OWNAMIC expected? Then an expense or an income is usually missing.
3. Read the actuals. In Income & expenses, choose last month. Which budgets are above 80 %? Which category costs the most?
4. Check the plan. In the big picture, look at Variable costs under Details → Data basis. Does your own monthly figure under Configure scope still match the last few months? If not, correct it.
5. Write it down. Note Net worth today, the corridor and the goal range. OWNAMIC only stores your assumptions, not earlier results. So the comparison with last month is up to you.
6. Correct your course. You have three levers. Adjust a budget (behaviour). Change a contract (fixed costs). Or change the instalment on the savings plan. Try the change as a scenario first. Only then touch your real objects.

Once a year, also check three things. Does the inflation rate still match the latest Destatis figures? Is your salary right? When does your fixed-rate period end?

Common mistakes

• Gross instead of net. The big picture works with what reaches your account.
• A loan instalment counted twice. It sits on the mortgage, not also as a service.
• Forgetting yearly sums. Car insurance, the broadcasting fee, yearly subscriptions: recorded as Yearly, they are not missed.
• A salary with no end date over 30 years. The curve then shows a working life with no retirement.
• Objects without an amount. They are silently missing from every total.

What OWNAMIC does not do here

• OWNAMIC does not advise. It names no savings rate, no product and no split that suits you.
• No bank connection. Nothing comes in from your bank on its own. You confirm every booking.
• No prediction. The big picture carries your inputs forward. It leaves out price swings, taxes and returns. That only changes if you set your own rate. The remaining debt of instalment loans is still missing.
• No history of projections. Earlier curves are not stored.
• No 50/30/20 pots. Budgets apply per object type. They only warn by colour. They block nothing and send no alert.
• No weekly or quarterly view. And no conversion between currencies.

Checklist to take with you

• Account overview photographed, every account saved as Money & Assets
• Home loan as a mortgage with rate, instalment, start and end date; instalment loans as Repayment
• Physical assets and portfolio recorded, securities linked to a live price
• Savings plan set up under Purchases & sales with Repeat: Monthly
• Net salary and all fixed costs recorded with the right rhythm
• Big picture: horizon, inflation, income growth and wealth goal set
• Data basis checked, variable costs reviewed under Configure scope
• “Income stops” scenario viewed and compared with your emergency fund
• Budgets set for the most important categories
• Receipts scanned weekly, monthly check in the calendar

Read on: Wealth in view · Projecting net worth · Why writing things down brings goals closer · What finance apps do well

Sources

• Verbraucherzentrale: Keeping a household book – an overview of your finances (German): https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/geld-versicherungen/sparen-und-anlegen/haushaltsbuch-fuehren-ueberblick-ueber-ihre-finanzen-52179
• Verbraucherzentrale: Two to three months’ pay belong in an instant-access account for emergencies (German): https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/node/27728
• Finanztip: Your no-drama account – building an emergency fund (German): https://www.finanztip.de/daily/dein-no-drama-konto-so-baust-du-deinen-notgroschen-auf/
• Finanztip: How much should you save? The 50-30-20 rule (German): https://www.finanztip.de/daily/wie-viel-solltest-du-sparen-die-50-30-20-regel/
• Sparkasse: The 50-30-20 rule, with variants for high fixed costs (German): https://www.sparkasse.de/pk/ratgeber/finanzplanung/finanzen-und-haushalt/50-30-20-regel.html
• Elizabeth Warren, Amelia Warren Tyagi: All Your Worth. The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan, Free Press, 2005
• Destatis: Inflation rate in September 2026 (press release no. 364 of 13 October 2026, German): https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/10/PD26_364_611.html
• Destatis: Inflation rate in September 2026 expected at +3.3 % (press release no. 348, German): https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressemitteilungen/2026/09/PD26_348_611.html
• Destatis: Press conference on gross domestic product 2025 (savings rate 2025, German): https://www.destatis.de/DE/Presse/Pressekonferenzen/2026/bip2025/statement-bip.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=4
• Destatis: National income, disposable income and savings rate (table, German): https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Wirtschaft/Volkswirtschaftliche-Gesamtrechnungen-Inlandsprodukt/Tabellen/bip-einkommensverteilung.html

Statistical figures are revised regularly, and rules of thumb differ between sources. Your own situation is what counts.