FirePath — Help Guide

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One page per screen, every Setting explained, annotated screenshots. Start here if you're new to FirePath or want to learn what the app can really do.

Getting Started

FirePath helps you track your net worth, income, expenses, and progress towards Financial Independence / Retire Early (FIRE). All data is stored locally on your device — no account required.

First launch

When you open the app for the first time, the Dashboard will be empty. Start by adding your assets and liabilities on the Net Worth screen, then add your income and expenses on the Income & Expenses screen. The Dashboard and FIRE Calculator will populate automatically.

Bottom navigation

The app has four main screens accessible from the bottom navigation bar:

  • Dashboard — overview of your financial position
  • Net Worth — manage assets, liabilities, and history
  • Income — manage income and expenses
  • FIRE — FIRE calculator with projections

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Dashboard

The Dashboard gives you a snapshot of your financial position with customisable cards.

Cards

The Dashboard displays cards including:

  • Net Worth — your current net worth with month-on-month change
  • FIRE Progress — progress bar towards your FIRE number
  • Years / Days to FI — estimated time to reach financial independence
  • Monthly Cash Flow — income vs expenses for the current month
  • Passive Income — annual passive income breakdown
  • Total Cash — liquid cash across all accounts
  • Emergency Fund — months of expenses covered by cash
  • Asset Allocation — donut chart showing asset breakdown by heading
  • Milestones — FIRE milestone ladder

Customise

Tap the tune icon in the top-right corner to enter customise mode. You can show/hide cards using the eye icon, and long-press to drag and reorder them. Tap the check icon to save your layout.

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Net Worth Screen

The Net Worth screen has three tabs: Assets, Liabilities, and History.

Assets

Assets are organised by headings (e.g. Investments, Property, Cash, Crypto). Each heading shows a percentage of your total assets. Tap + Add on any heading to add a new asset.

When adding an asset, choose an investment type (Stock, ETF, Crypto, etc.) to determine which fields are shown. Ticker-backed types (Stock, ETF, Crypto) require a ticker and exchange code for automatic price fetching. Other types use manual value entry.

Liabilities

Liabilities work the same way — organised by headings with + Add buttons. Enter the name, balance, and optionally an interest rate.

History

The History tab shows your net worth over time as a chart with selectable time ranges (3mo, 6mo, 1yr, 2yr, 5yr, All). Below the chart is a list of monthly snapshots. The current month's snapshot updates automatically when you add or edit assets/liabilities.

Tap + Add to manually add a historical snapshot. Tap the edit icon to manage (delete) existing snapshots.

Investment Net Worth vs Total Net Worth

By default, the app shows Investment Net Worth which excludes personal-use assets like your primary residence or car. You can toggle each asset's "Include in Investment Net Worth" flag when adding or editing it. Non-investment assets appear dimmed on the Assets tab.

To track both, go to Settings → Net Worth → Track Both Net Worths.

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Income & Expenses

Track your income sources and expenses to calculate your savings rate and FIRE projections.

Adding items

Tap the + button to add income or expense items. Each item has a name, amount, period (weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, annually), and category. You can mark items as active/inactive and assign an owner.

Summary view

The summary cards at the top show your total income, expenses, and savings. Toggle between Mth (monthly) and Yr (annual) views using the segmented control. Your preferred default can be set in Settings → Income & Expenses → Default Summary View.

Lean FIRE expenses

Each expense has an "Include in Lean FIRE" toggle. Lean FIRE only counts essential expenses, giving you a lower FIRE target. Toggle this on for expenses you'd keep in a lean retirement (housing, food, utilities) and off for discretionary spending (travel, dining out).

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FIRE Calculator

The FIRE Calculator has four tabs, each showing a different FIRE variant.

Lean FIRE

Based on essential expenses only (items marked "Include in Lean FIRE"). Uses the standard withdrawal rate. This is the minimum you need to cover basics.

Regular FIRE

Based on all active expenses and the standard withdrawal rate (default 4%). This is the most common FIRE target.

Fat FIRE

Based on all active expenses but with a lower, more conservative withdrawal rate (default 3.33%). This gives a larger safety margin.

Coast FIRE

The amount you need invested today so that, with compound growth alone (no further contributions), your portfolio will reach your FIRE number by retirement age. Once you've hit Coast FIRE, you only need to earn enough to cover current expenses.

Cards

Each tab (except Coast) shows customisable cards: FIRE Number, Years to FI, Days to FI, Projection Chart, Scenarios, and Assumptions. Use the tune icon to show/hide and reorder cards.

Custom FIRE Numbers

By default, FIRE numbers are calculated from your expenses and withdrawal rate. You can override any of the three numbers (Lean, Regular, Fat) with a custom target in Settings → FIRE Calculator → FIRE Numbers. Custom numbers are fixed targets that don't change when expenses or assumptions change. Use the Reset button to revert to the calculated value.

Projection Chart

Shows your historical net worth and a projected growth line based on your current savings rate and expected return. The horizontal line is your FIRE target. Where the projection crosses the target is your estimated FIRE date.

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Owners

If you share finances with a partner, you can track who owns each asset, liability, income source, and expense.

Setting up owners

Go to Settings → Owners and enable the feature. Add owner names (e.g. "You", "Partner", "Both"). Owners can be shown/hidden, reordered, and renamed.

Assigning owners

When adding or editing any item, an owner dropdown appears. Items without an owner are shown as "Unassigned".

Split by owner

On the Asset Headings screen, tap the people icon next to a heading to split that section by owner on the Net Worth screen. Each owner gets a sub-header with their own total.

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Settings

Settings is accessed via the gear icon on the Dashboard, Net Worth, Income, or FIRE screens.

Security

Biometric Lock

When enabled, the app requires fingerprint or face unlock each time you open it. Your financial data stays protected even if someone has access to your phone.

Screens

Appearance

Controls the visual look and behaviour of the app:

  • Opening Screen — choose which screen shows when you launch the app: Dashboard, Net Worth, Income, or FIRE
  • Theme — Light, Dark, or System (follows your device setting)
  • Region — AU, US, UK, EU, or Other. Affects terminology (e.g. "Super" vs "401k" vs "Pension") and currency formatting
  • Progress Bar Animations — toggle animated or static progress bars on the Dashboard and FIRE screens
  • Collapse Top Cards — automatically collapse the summary cards at the top of screens when you scroll down

Owners

Enable this to track who owns each asset, liability, income, or expense. Useful for couples managing shared finances.

  • Add owner names (e.g. "You", "Partner", "Both")
  • Show/hide owners, drag to reorder, tap to rename
  • Owners appear as a dropdown when adding/editing any item
  • On the Asset Headings screen, tap the people icon to split a heading by owner on the Net Worth screen

Net Worth

Configure the Net Worth screen's lists and behaviour:

  • Asset Headings — the sections on the Assets tab (e.g. Investments, Property, Cash). Toggle visibility, reorder, add custom headings, and rename
  • Liability Headings — same for the Liabilities tab (e.g. Mortgage, Loan, Credit Card)
  • Investment Types — the types shown in the add-asset chip picker (Stock, ETF, Crypto, etc.). System types can be hidden/reordered/renamed. Tap + to add custom types that behave like "Other" (manual value entry)
  • Exchanges — the exchange codes used for price fetching (ASX, US, LSE, CRYPTO). Add custom exchanges if needed

Net Worth Number settings:

  • Track Total Net Worth — enable to track both Investment Net Worth and Total Net Worth values
  • Show Total Net Worth — when on, the Net Worth screen hero shows Total NW instead of Investment NW. Also affects the Dashboard and asset allocation percentages
  • FIRE Uses Total Net Worth — when on, the FIRE calculator uses Total NW for progress calculations instead of Investment NW

Income & Expenses

Configure the Income & Expenses screen:

  • Income Categories — categories for income items (Salary, Rental, Dividends, etc.). Toggle, reorder, add custom
  • Expense Categories — categories for expense items (Housing, Food, Transport, etc.). Toggle, reorder, add custom
  • Default Summary View — choose whether the Income & Expenses summary cards default to Monthly (Mth) or Annual (Yr) when you open the screen

FIRE Calculator

Configure FIRE assumptions and numbers:

  • Default FIRE Type — which tab opens by default: Lean, Regular, Fat, or Coast

FIRE Assumptions (used to calculate years to FI, projections, and scenarios):

  • Show on Coast FIRE screen — display the editable assumptions card on the Coast FIRE tab
  • Regular FIRE Withdrawal Rate — the percentage you plan to withdraw annually in retirement (default 4%)
  • Fat FIRE Withdrawal Rate — a more conservative rate for Fat FIRE calculations (default 3.33%)
  • Expected Return — your assumed annual investment return before inflation (default 7%)
  • Inflation — assumed annual inflation rate (default 3%)
  • Target Retirement Age — the age you plan to reach FIRE (used for Coast FIRE calculations)
  • Current Age — your current age (used for Coast FIRE)

FIRE Numbers (click to customise):

  • Show on Coast FIRE screen — display the editable FIRE numbers card on the Coast FIRE tab
  • Lean FIRE — your Lean FIRE target. Calculated from lean expenses ÷ withdrawal rate, or set a custom number
  • Regular FIRE — your Regular FIRE target. Calculated from all expenses ÷ withdrawal rate, or set a custom number
  • Fat FIRE — your Fat FIRE target. Calculated from all expenses ÷ fat withdrawal rate, or set a custom number

Custom FIRE numbers are fixed targets that don't change when expenses or assumptions change. Non-custom numbers update automatically. Use the Reset button in the edit dialog to revert to the calculated value.

System

Update Prices

Manually refresh prices for stocks, ETFs, crypto, and gold. Tap any asset to enter a price manually. Prices also update automatically in the background approximately every 12 hours.

Backup & Restore

Google Drive backup (premium), CSV export, and PDF export. See the Backup & Restore and Exporting Your Data sections for details.

Help & Support

Links to this help page and contact information.

About

App version, disclaimer, privacy policy, terms of use, and Delete All Data — permanently removes all holdings, assets, income, expenses, and snapshots. App configuration (headings, categories, etc.) is automatically re-seeded after deletion.

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Backup & Restore

FirePath offers full backup and restore via Google Drive (premium feature).

Backing up

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore, sign in with your Google account, and tap Backup. Your data is saved to your Google Drive's app data folder, including all assets, liabilities, income, expenses, snapshots, settings, and preferences.

Restoring

On the Backup & Restore screen, tap Restore. A confirmation dialog will appear — restoring replaces all your current data with the backed-up version.

Moving to a new phone

  1. Back up on your old phone
  2. Install FirePath on your new phone
  3. Sign in with the same Google account and tap Restore

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Exporting Your Data

FirePath offers two export formats for getting your data out without needing Google Drive.

Export to CSV

Exports a ZIP file containing five CSVs: assets, liabilities, income, expenses, and snapshots. Perfect for spreadsheet analysis in Excel, Google Sheets, or Numbers. All currency fields are raw numbers without symbols or thousands separators, so you can do arithmetic on them directly.

Export to PDF

Generates a formatted summary report with:

  • Net worth breakdown (total and investment)
  • Income & expenses summary with savings rate
  • FIRE progress and assumptions
  • Detailed asset and liability listings by heading
  • Income and expense items

Great for sharing with a financial adviser, keeping a printed record, or reviewing your position at a glance.

How to export

Go to Settings → Backup & Restore and scroll to the Export Data section. Tap either Export to CSV or Export to PDF. You'll be prompted to choose a save location (Downloads, Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.).

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Prices & Market Data

Auto-pricing is in beta. Price updates are a best-effort convenience feature. Coverage varies by region and exchange, prices may be delayed or unavailable, and the feature is not guaranteed as part of your subscription. You can always enter prices manually.

FirePath can fetch live-ish prices for ticker-backed assets you hold — Stocks, ETFs, Crypto, and spot commodities (gold, silver, platinum, palladium).

Manual price entry (all users, free and premium)

Tap any row on Settings → Update Prices to type a price for that asset. This works for everyone and is the most reliable way to keep values current if auto-fetch doesn't cover your specific holding.

Auto-fetch (Premium)

Premium users get a refresh button in the top bar and on each row. Tapping the top refresh fetches every ticker-backed asset at once; per-row refresh fetches just that one. When the app is open, prices also refresh in the background when you return to it (rate-limited to once every 15 minutes). When the app is closed, a scheduled refresh runs roughly every 30 minutes. Prices are fetched centrally on our server from third-party data providers, converted to your home currency, and cached — the app reads from that cache rather than hitting data providers directly.

Home currency

Prices are returned in your home currency (AUD or USD depending on the region you selected during onboarding). For physical gold and other spot commodities, prices are returned per gram so you can enter your quantity in grams.

Supported exchanges

  • ASX — Australian stocks and ETFs
  • US — American stocks and ETFs (NYSE, NASDAQ)
  • LSE — London Stock Exchange
  • CRYPTO — Major cryptocurrencies priced in USD, converted to your home currency
  • SPOT — Spot commodities (gold, silver, platinum, palladium) priced per gram

When a price doesn't arrive

Sometimes a ticker isn't covered, the data provider is temporarily unavailable, or a new ticker is still being added to the cache. When that happens, the asset's value stays at its last known price (or $0 for a brand-new asset). Your next auto-refresh or a manual price entry fills it in.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is FIRE?

FIRE stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. It's the idea of saving and investing aggressively so you can live off your investments and become financially independent — whether or not you choose to stop working.

Q: How is my FIRE number calculated?

Your FIRE number = annual expenses ÷ withdrawal rate. For example, if you spend $50,000/year and use a 4% withdrawal rate, your FIRE number is $1,250,000. You can also set a custom FIRE number in Settings → FIRE Calculator.

Q: What is the difference between Lean, Regular, and Fat FIRE?

Lean FIRE uses only essential expenses (marked "Include in Lean FIRE") for a lower target. Regular FIRE uses all expenses with a standard withdrawal rate. Fat FIRE uses all expenses with a more conservative (lower) withdrawal rate for extra safety.

Q: What is Coast FIRE?

Coast FIRE is the amount you need invested today so that compound growth alone (without any further contributions) will grow your portfolio to your FIRE number by your target retirement age. Once you reach Coast FIRE, you only need to earn enough to cover current living expenses.

Q: What is Investment Net Worth vs Total Net Worth?

Investment Net Worth excludes personal-use assets like your primary residence or car — things you can't easily sell to fund retirement. Total Net Worth includes everything. By default, the app uses Investment Net Worth for FIRE calculations. You can enable both in Settings → Net Worth.

Q: How do I add a custom investment type?

Go to Settings → Net Worth → Investment Types and tap the + button. Custom types behave like "Other" — manual value entry, no ticker or price fetching.

Q: Does FirePath collect my data?

No. All data is stored locally on your device. We do not collect, access, or sell any personal information. If you use Google Drive backup, your data is stored in your own Google Drive account only.

Q: How do I move to a new phone?

Use Google Drive Backup (premium feature):

  1. Back up on your old phone (Settings → Backup & Restore)
  2. Install FirePath on your new phone
  3. Sign in with the same Google account and tap Restore

Alternatively, export to CSV for a spreadsheet copy of your data.

Q: Is FirePath financial advice?

No. FirePath is an educational tool for tracking and planning. It does not provide financial, tax, or investment advice. Always consult a qualified financial adviser for personalised guidance.

Need More Help?

Email us at: woohoosoftware@gmail.com