Use cases
Investment Log — where it earns its place
On Investment Log —
You bought the shares with conviction, and now you can't quite recall what you paid or why. The Investment Log keeps the plain facts — each position, its purchase price, its current value, and its type from stocks to property — so your portfolio is a list you keep, not a story you retell. On this page: three concrete ways a household or a solo earner who wants the numbers on their own machine reaches for the Investment Log, and the signals that tell you it fits.
When the Investment Log earns its place
As a tracker, the Investment Log keeps position, purchase price, current value, and type — no more, no less — so the record is small enough to actually read back.
Most tools in this category — YNAB ($109/yr), Monarch ($99/yr), Copilot ($95/yr), Mint's ghost — solve a version of the same problem, then bill you monthly for the privilege of remembering it. The Investment Log takes the opposite bargain: one file, once, kept.
Three scenarios drawn from money, and future
The everyday one: you open the Investment Log on a Tuesday morning, log what needs logging, and close it. Two minutes. The record is more honest than the app that pinged you to remind you.
The specific one: — the workflow it names is the record that most needs a home outside a subscription. Some people use only the Investment Log. Some fold it into a Swiss Knife next to five others. Both are correct.
The out-of-band one: months later, you want to look back. The Investment Log still opens because it is a file. There is no login lapsed, no export deadline missed. The record is where you left it.
Signals it fits a household or a solo earner who wants the numbers on their own machine
You want a personal finance surface that behaves like a document, not a service. You are comfortable typing your own numbers in. You would rather own the file than rent the log. Weight in the knife: 1. Manual: no manual — the tool is its own instructions.
Signals it fits
- You do this kind of record-keeping more than onceThe Investment Log pays back every time you don't have to reinvent the shape.
- You want it offline, on your own machineNo account, no cloud, no vendor between you and the record.
- You're comfortable with a hand-kept fileThe Investment Log is a document. It behaves like one.
Questions people ask
How do I track my investments across different accounts?
One entry per position, wherever it lives: what it is, what you paid, what it's worth now, and its type — stocks, funds, bonds, crypto, property, or other. For the first time, the whole spread sits on one page.
Is this a full replacement for YNAB ($109/yr)?
For the working core of what most people use it for — yes. For enterprise features (team seats, integrations, auto-import), no. The Investment Log is deliberately smaller and more honest about its scope.
Who is the Investment Log not for?
A household or a solo earner who wants the numbers on their own machine's opposite: a team that needs shared cloud state, or someone who wants automation over ownership. Use a SaaS for that; use this for the file.
A personal finance surface that opens where you left it, on the machine you left it on.