Valet is a groundbreaking financial management tool designed to revolutionize personal budgeting, especially for individuals with variable incomes. Born out of a personal need for a more flexible and adaptive budgeting solution, Valet sets itself apart from traditional apps like RocketMoney, YNAB, and Every Dollar. While percentage-based budgeting apps often overlook fixed monthly expenses, and amount-based apps struggle to accommodate surplus income distribution, Valet bridges this gap with its innovative "Envelope" system and powerful allocation rules.

At the core of Valet's budgeting approach are "Envelopes." Each envelope serves as a virtual container for money, with an associated rule that dictates how funds should be allocated when income is added to the budget. This flexible system allows users to create envelopes tailored to their specific financial goals and obligations, such as saving for specific targets, paying monthly expenses, allocating a percentage of income to charity, or splitting surplus income between savings and investments.

Valet offers a suite of intelligent allocation rules that work in harmony to help users distribute their income effectively and reach their financial objectives:

Firstfruit: Automatically allocates a fixed percentage of income to a designated envelope, ensuring consistent contributions towards priority goals.

Repeating Goal: Ensures a specific amount is allocated to an envelope every month or at custom intervals, facilitating regular savings or expense management.

Target Goal: Once repeating goals are met, this rule allocates a percentage of additional income to an envelope until a target amount is reached, enabling users to save for specific milestones.

Surplus Goal: Distributes any remaining income after other goals are met, allowing users to allocate excess funds to various envelopes based on percentages.

These rules work together seamlessly, empowering users to create a highly personalized and adaptive budgeting system that evolves with their changing financial circumstances.

Valet is built using the Flutter framework, ensuring a smooth and responsive cross-platform experience. The app leverages Firebase for secure backend services and data storage, providing a reliable and scalable foundation. Valet's user interface is meticulously crafted using Flood's style system, resulting in a clean, intuitive, and visually appealing design. The app's architecture also allows for easy generation of web builds and automated deployments, ensuring accessibility across devices.

Valet goes beyond basic budgeting by offering powerful insights and data analysis features. The app provides users with a comprehensive overview of their financial landscape through intuitive visualizations. The insights tab showcases a line chart depicting the budget's income amount over the past few months, enabling users to identify trends and fluctuations. Additionally, a pie chart illustrates how Valet predicts income distribution on a month-by-month basis, giving users a clear understanding of their spending patterns and allocation percentages.

Recognizing the sensitivity of financial information, Valet prioritizes data privacy and security. The app implements stringent security rules within Firebase, ensuring that only authorized users can access their budget data. These measures safeguard users' financial details, providing peace of mind and trust in the platform.

Looking ahead, Valet has exciting plans for future enhancements to further streamline the budgeting process. One notable feature in development is the integration of a Dart backend that automatically pulls transactions from users' bank accounts directly into Valet. This functionality will eliminate manual entry and provide a more comprehensive financial picture. Additionally, Valet aims to introduce intelligent transaction categorization, predicting which envelope each transaction belongs to based on historical data and user preferences.

Valet represents a significant leap forward in personal budgeting, particularly for individuals with variable incomes. By combining flexible envelopes, powerful allocation rules, and insightful data analysis, Valet empowers users to take control of their finances, make informed decisions, and achieve their financial goals with ease. With its user-centric design, robust security, and commitment to continuous improvement, Valet is poised to become the go-to budgeting solution for the modern era.