Moneva — AI Money Planner Case Study

01The problem

Budget apps assume a salary. Most people don't have one.

Freelancers, business owners and commission earners are paid at different times and in different amounts. Fixed monthly budgets break the moment a client pays late, so people stop trusting them.

Income

Income that moves

Paid per project, per sale or per customer, never on the same date twice.

Timing

Running out before payday

Without a forecast, money that looks available is already promised to rent and bills.

Setup

Long, cold setup

Long forms ask for everything up front, before people see any value.

Trust

Guesses treated as facts

Missing amounts become ₦0 and expected money is counted as cash, so plans quietly mislead.

How might we help someone with irregular income know, every day, what's truly safe to spend?Design challenge

02Product rules

Six rules every screen had to obey

Written before any UI, so design, engineering and the AI all worked from the same definition of an honest plan.

R1Data

Bills come from real data

Commitments use the obligations the user entered, never arbitrary AI percentages.

R2Control

Savings & reserve are suggestions

The user can change both at any time.

R3Maths

Flexible = what is left

Calculated from available money after every other allocation.

R4Honesty

Expected ≠ available

Expected future income is never treated as cash available today.

R5Honesty

Show the shortfall

If commitments exceed available money, say so. Never make the plan look affordable.

R6AI

AI explains, engine calculates

Numbers come from a deterministic calculation engine. AI only explains and recommends.

03System map

One plan, kept honest by four loops

Onboarding produces the first plan. After that, every new income, expense or voice note feeds the same engine, and the plan adapts.

Navigation & branching

New user → Welcome → Meet Moneva → Sign up
Existing user → Log in → Dashboard
Incomplete profile → resume from the last completed step
Missing details → Dashboard with a clear prompt to finish setup
Completed setup → Generate plan → Review → Dashboard
Edit income, bills or balance → recalculate forecast and plan

04Onboarding walkthrough

From download to a first plan

One question per screen, visible progress, skippable extras. Use the arrows, press play, or pick a stage.

Welcome & accountSplash

05Welcome & account

Value first, sign-up second

Before asking for anything, the welcome screens show what Moneva does: a safe-to-spend number and a 14-day forecast. The AI companion is introduced as a way to talk about money in plain language.

Validation as you type

Password rules tick off live, errors appear inline under each field, and the button stays disabled until everything is valid.

Try it

Create a password

At least 1 uppercase
At least 1 number
At least 8 characters

Create account error state with Enter a valid email address and Passwords don't match messages and a disabled button — ErrorInline errorsClear fixes, button disabled.

Verify email screen with a 6-digit code, resend timer and use a different email link — NextVerify email6-digit code and resend timer.

06Personalise & set up

Real numbers, honestly labelled

Three shaping questions, then balance, expected income, bills and savings, each on its own screen, ending in a review that shows what's missing instead of hiding it.

How do you earn screen, step 1 of 7, with freelance and business income selected — 1 of 7How do you earn?Multi-select. Shapes every follow-up.

How often are you paid screen with per project selected — 2 of 7How often are you paid?Tailored to freelance income.

What's your main goal screen with build an emergency fund selected — 3 of 7What's your main goal?Decides the first suggestion.

Set up your finances

Unknowns flagged, never ₦0

Current balance screen showing 180,000 naira with an optional breakdown of bank and cash — **Balance**Optional breakdown.

Expected income screen with a recurring retainer and a one-off payment, and a note that expected income never counts as money you have — **Expected income**Never counted as cash.

Bills and commitments list with rent, internet, electricity flagged as amount missing, and family support — FlaggedBillsUnknowns called out.

Add a bill sheet with name, amount, due date, repeat frequency, paid status and essential toggle — **Add a bill**A sheet, not a page.

Savings screen with a 500,000 naira emergency fund goal and a protected emergency reserve — **Savings**Goal plus reserve.

Review screen summarising balance, expected income, commitments and savings, with a warning that one bill has no amount — ReviewWhat we knowEdit any section.

07Generate the plan

A loading screen that tells the truth

Progress is shown only while real processing runs. And the plan is only generated when there's enough information to calculate responsibly.

Building your money plan.

Checking your entries and projecting the next 30 days.

Validating your entries
Projecting 7, 14 & 30 days
Checking for upcoming shortfalls
Suggesting allocations

Generating screen at 64 percent with a checklist of processing steps — **Generating**Real steps, real progress.

Your plan is ready screen: safe to spend this week 90,000 naira, bills protected, reserve kept and lowest point — SuccessPlan readySafe to spend, explained.

First money plan dashboard with safe to spend, plan allocations, a 14 day forecast and an Ask Moneva bar — **First plan**Ready to use.

08Adaptive Money Plan

Give every naira a job, honestly

The core of Moneva: protect upcoming bills, set aside savings and a reserve, and see what is truly free to spend. Then adapt when life changes.

01Open planFrom the dashboard

02Check infoBalance, bills, income, goals

03SuggestBills · savings · reserve · flexible

04ReviewBreakdown and rationale

05EditAmounts and priorities

06PreviewRemaining money and shortfalls

07ConfirmSave approved allocations

08AdaptRecalculate on change

Edits can't break the maths

Drag or type an amount. Bills are locked at what you owe, flexible spending updates itself, and the plan stops you before you allocate money you don't have.

Bills are a floor, not a slider

Commitments come from real data, so they can't be dragged below what's owed.

Explain why it stopped

When the limit is hit, the message says what to lower first instead of silently capping the value.

Try it · Edit allocations

Available₦250,000

Allocated₦175,000

Flexible left₦75,000

Bills and essentials₦120,000Minimum ₦120,000 · 4 billsLocked Savings₦30,000 Emergency reserve₦25,000

Flexible spending updates automatically.

Every state of the plan

Tap a screen to enlarge

Home dashboard with a money plan card showing unplanned money — **Dashboard entry**Unplanned money opens the plan.

Money plan overview showing what is committed and what has no job yet — **Overview**What's committed, what has no job.

Checking your information loading state reading balance, bills, income and goals — **Checking**The engine reads your data.

Suggested allocations: bills 120,000, savings 30,000, reserve 25,000 and flexible spending 75,000 — **Suggested**Four jobs, each explained.

09Forecast & quick add

See the lowest point before you hit it

A 14-day forecast shows the lowest balance ahead, with or without expected income. Recording money is one tap away, and the plan recalculates instantly.

Expected money stays an assumption

Toggle expected income off and the same forecast tells a different story: a shortfall on rent day. Showing both is what makes the plan trustworthy.

One sheet for every change

Tap "+" for income, an expense, a commitment, or just tell Moneva.

Approve before it's saved

New income gets a suggested split, but nothing is saved until you approve it.

Lowest projected₦95,000 · 30 Oct

With expected · Kola Media ₦200,000 · 31 OctConfirmed only

14-day forecast with lowest projected 95,000 on 30 October and a 61,000 shortfall on 1 November when confirmed only — **14-day forecast**Lowest point ahead.

Quick add sheet: add income, add expense, add commitment or tell Moneva — **Quick add**One sheet, every change.

Add income of 120,000 from Ada Studio marked as confirmed — **Income entry**Confirmed vs expected.

Updated plan with new balance 300,000 and a suggested split — RecalculatedUpdated planApprove and save.

10Moneva · AI companion

Talk about money like a voice note

Ask by voice or text. Moneva shows what it heard, fetches real balances, and answers with the numbers behind it. Record a question below to try the flow.

Moneva idle screen with suggested questions and a tap to speak button

Step 01IdleOpen Moneva. Suggestions show what it can do.

Ready0:00

Review first

Nothing is sent unheard

A transcript review step lets you correct it, re-record or cancel before Moneva acts.

Evidence

Numbers show their working

Every answer lists the balances it used, straight from Moneva's calculation engine.

Confirm

Voice prepares, you approve

Voice-prepared entries and replans always pass through a confirmation card.

Permissions

Mic asked on first use

Microphone access is requested the first time you record, not during setup.

11App design language

Dark, focused, and easy on the eyes

Colour

VioletNightSafeBills

A deep violet gradient for focus. Green is reserved for money that's safe to spend.

Progress

A segmented bar and "3 of 7" label keep setup feeling finite.

States

Valid Missing Error

Every input and plan has a valid, missing and error state designed up front.

One primary action

A single white pill button at the bottom of every screen, with a quiet secondary link underneath.

12Reflection

What I learned

Honesty builds trust
Labelling estimates, showing shortfalls and refusing to treat missing amounts as ₦0 made the plan feel trustworthy, not just pretty.
Short beats complete
One question per screen with a visible "3 of 7" felt faster than one long form, even with more screens.
Design the unhappy paths early
Errors, limits, shortfalls and dropped connections were designed alongside the happy path, so nothing felt like an afterthought.
AI explains, it doesn't decide
Keeping the numbers in a calculation engine and the AI on explanations meant every answer could show its working.

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