The Gold Jar: When My Wife Bought Gold and Excel Wasn't Enough
The Gold Jar: When My Wife Bought Gold and Excel Wasn't Enough
## It started with a piece of paper
My wife bought gold for the first time in March last year.
Not because she's passionate about investing. Not because she's savvy about finance. Simply because she wanted something "saved away" — the way my mother did, the way my grandmother did for decades. Buy gold, put it in a jar, open it when you need it.
But unlike my grandmother's time, gold prices now fluctuate daily. Buy at 75 million VND per tael in the morning, it's 76 by afternoon. Next week, 74. My wife asked me: "Honey, are we making a profit or a loss?"
I opened Google Sheets. Wrote down: Date purchased, purchase price, quantity. Then every time she asked, I had to search "SJC gold price today," type it into cells, drag formulas, calculate profit/loss.
Exhausting.
## Turns out I wasn't alone
One afternoon, I was having coffee with my neighbor. He's 45, self-employed, also bought a few taels of gold to save for his kids.
"I write it down on paper," he said. "Every time the price changes, I open Notes on my phone, use the calculator, add and subtract to see profit or loss."
The neighbor next door was the same. Excel. Handwritten notes. Handheld calculator.
I realized: There's a whole group of people tracking their gold the most manual way possible.
Not because they're bad with technology. But because current finance apps... are too complicated.
## The problem with personal finance apps
I tried. Downloaded 5-6 asset management apps from the App Store.
Opened the app, and it asked:
- >"Do you want to connect your bank?"
- >"Enter your stock account number"
- >"Choose asset type: Real Estate / Stocks / Bonds / Commodities"
I just wanted to know: What price did I buy gold at, what's the price now, profit or loss.
That's it.
But no. The app forced me to understand "portfolio allocation," "asset class," "ROI calculation." For gold savers like my wife, like my neighbors, these things... are meaningless.
## The "gold jar" mindset
My grandmother had a ceramic jar. She put gold in it. When she needed it, she opened it and took it out.
Simple. Intuitive. No need to understand what "diversification" means.
I thought: What if I made an app based on exactly that mindset?
Put money in jar → Open jar → See money.
No bank connection needed. No stock account registration. No understanding financial jargon.
You just need to:
- >Input: I bought X amount of gold at price Y
- >App automatically updates real-time prices
- >Open app → immediately see profit/loss
That's enough.
## Who will use Hũ Vàng (The Gold Jar)?
Not traders. Not professional investors.
But:
- >People who buy gold to save (like my wife)
- >Older people who don't want complexity (like my neighbors)
- >People who just want to "know quickly" without "deep analysis"
That's the majority of Vietnamese gold buyers.
According to the Vietnam Gold Association, in 2024 about 8-10 million households own gold jewelry and gold bars. But how many of them use apps to track it?
Very few.
Because current apps aren't designed for them.
## So I started building
I'm not a professional developer. I'm a designer lost in code land.
But I have Claude. I have React. I have Firebase.
And most importantly: I have a real problem to solve.
Not "making an app for the sake of making an app." But "making an app because my wife and my neighbors actually need it."
That's why Hũ Vàng was born.
## What's next
In the next post in this series, I'll talk about:
- >The process of building Hũ Vàng: from idea to first prototype
- >UI/UX experiments: how to make "simple" actually simple
- >Where does real-time data come from: SJC, DOJI, and how I scrape gold prices
- >Testing with real users: what my wife and neighbors think
If you're also tracking gold with Excel, paper, or a handheld calculator — stay tuned.
The jar is opening soon.