Managing cash flow — with the tool

🧔 Adult The most common problem of households is not low income but scattered data: two bank accounts, a card, cash, a loan from relatives. The first step is one place where everything is written down. Spaces also help with boundaries: personal money is not mixed with shared money, and shared money is not mixed with the family business (if there is one). This is the same idea as "separate money — separate accounts" (Module 8, principle 6).

🏗 Project / business: every project is its own space with a budget, deadlines and a source of funding (Module 11). The owner's personal space is separate — only the final amount passes from the business to it (salary or dividend).

Myth → truth

• Myth: "I don't need to write it down — I remember roughly."
• Truth: memory is good with stories and bad with numbers. People systematically underestimate small expenses, and added together they are the big sum. Writing things down is not about control, it is about clarity.

Who profits? Whoever sees the whole picture. Banks and apps show only the part they hold.

Scene for 3D: a house with rooms — in each room a stream flows in (a tap) and there is a drain. The child opens a door and sees how much comes in and goes out.

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• The idea of separate "envelopes" for different goals: Dave Ramsey, https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/envelope-system-explained ✔ — see the Guide.
• Mental accounting: Richard Thaler, "Mental Accounting Matters", Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 12(3), 1999, 183–206 ✔ — see Module 14.

🧔 Adult Net worth is the best "thermometer", because it is not swayed by one good or bad month. Rules for an honest calculation:

1. Assets at today's market value, not at the price you paid. The car and the furniture lose value — record them realistically.
2. Liabilities as the outstanding debt, not the monthly instalment.
3. Measure at the same time each period — for example on the first day of every quarter.
4. Watch the direction, not the number: is your net worth growing over the years? That is the honest answer to "am I making progress?".

When net worth is negative, in the Pecuvo wallet goal no. 1 is not "save" but "reduce the most expensive debt" (Module 8, principle 3).

🏗 Project / business: for a business the same thing is called the balance sheet (assets, liabilities, equity). The profit in the income statement is not net worth — the cash and the debts are the truth (Module 8, principle 8).

Myth → truth

• Myth: "Rich is whoever earns a lot."
• Truth: wealth is what remains. A person with a high income and big debts can have a lower net worth than a person with a small income and no debts.

Who profits? Whoever is not fooled by "high income". Sellers of leases and credit persuade you to look at the instalment; net worth makes you look at the debt.

Scene for 3D: a pair of scales. On the left — the home, the savings, the car. On the right — the debts as sacks. The pointer shows how much you really "weigh". The child swaps items for "cheaper" ones and watches it change.

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• Definition of assets, liabilities and equity: accounting standard — the IFRS Conceptual Framework (IFRS Foundation): https://www.ifrs.org/issued-standards/list-of-standards/conceptual-framework/ ✔
• Wealth as a stock, not a flow: Kiyosaki — "an asset puts money in your pocket" (Rich Dad, https://richdad.com/is-your-house-an-asset/) ✔ (source, opened 21.10.2026) — through the Guide.

🧔 Adult Three practical rules [P]:

1. Pay yourself first (Module 8, principle 1): saving is a line in the budget, not a leftover.
2. The plan is for the next period, not the last one. Don't punish yourself for the past; treat the difference as a hint.
3. Revise slowly. If one category goes over the plan every month, the plan may be wrong, not you.

The study by Gal and McShane shows why small victories work: when paying off debt is broken into small closed accounts, people repay more successfully (Gal & McShane, 2012 ✔ — note: the choice of method in the data is not random).

🏗 Project / business: a project budget is agreed with the funding body; here actual versus budget is also an obligation — deviations above a set threshold are approved in advance (Module 11). You do not "move money between lines" without permission.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "A budget takes away my freedom."
• Truth: a budget gives you permission: once you know the bills are covered and the saving is done, you spend the rest without guilt.

Who profits? Whoever decides in time. Whoever does not plan pays with the interest on their credit cards (Module 7).

Scene for 3D: three glasses in a row — "Plan", "Actual", "Difference". Every week the child pours a little into the glasses according to what was bought. If "Actual" overflows "Plan", the "Difference" glass lights up — not red but yellow: "look what happened".

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• Gal, D. & McShane, B. (2012), "Can Small Victories Help Win the War? Evidence from Consumer Debt Management", Journal of Marketing Research 49(4): 487–501 ✔ — DOI 10.1509/jmr.11.0272.
• The budget as a plan, not a ban: Ramsey ("zero-based budget", where every euro has a job) — through the Guide ✔ (Ramsey Solutions, "How to Make a Zero-Based Budget": https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/how-to-make-a-zero-based-budget — "giving every single dollar a job"; source, opened 21.10.2026).

🧔 Adult The principle comes from double-entry bookkeeping, described by Luca Pacioli in 1494 ✔: every movement is recorded, and a correction is a new movement. Benefits for a household:

• the history stays verifiable;
• you see how often you make mistakes (and in which categories);
• there is no "clean" data hiding a problem.

For projects and businesses this is also the law: accounting documents must be kept, and corrections are made with correcting entries. How long documents are kept is set by each country's law (see chapter 9).

🏗 Project / business: an auditor is not interested in the "clean" statement but in the path that led to it. The reversal is the trace.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "A clean notebook is one without crossings-out."
• Truth: trust comes from the history, not from neatness. A notebook without corrections is a notebook nobody believes.

Who profits? Whoever can prove what happened — you, in a dispute with a bank, an employer or the tax authority.

Scene for 3D: an ice rink where every step leaves a mark. The child cannot erase a mark — only draw a new one that "reverses" it.

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• Luca Pacioli, Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità (1494) — digital copy (Smithsonian Libraries): https://doi.org/10.5479/sil.440357.39088007406663 ✔
• Example: Bulgaria — Accountancy Act, art. 12 — retention periods: payroll records 50 years, accounting registers and financial statements 10 years, other records 3 years ✔ (text of the law, opened 21.10.2026) — see Module 11 and chapter 9.

🧔 Adult Why a week and not a month?

• Monthly spending comes in two big waves: the beginning (bills) and the end (running short). The week brings control back to the middle.
• You get feedback in time — while you can still change something.
• Goals are broken into small closed accounts (Gal & McShane, 2012 ✔) — something that psychologically "happens" every week.

The four types of goals:

1. Emergency fund (Module 8, principle 2) — first;
2. Paying off expensive debt (Module 8, principle 3);
3. Big purchases (a home, education, a car);
4. Freedom — money gives you choice (Module 16).

🏗 Project / business: the goal is the weekly balance per project — how many weeks the money will last at the current pace (Module 8, principle 7). This indicator is the most common early warning of a problem.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "I'll get organised when I earn more."
• Truth: rhythm is a habit, and habits are built with small amounts (Module 8, principle 1; Module 14 — hedonic adaptation).

Who profits? Whoever sees the warning signal while it is still small. Debt grows silently; the weekly balance "shouts" in time.

Scene for 3D: a coloured hourglass. Every week the grains are shared out: emergency fund, debt, goal, freedom.

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• Gal & McShane (2012) ✔ — small victories.
• Goals with a deadline ("implementation intentions"): Peter Gollwitzer, American Psychologist 54(7), 1999, 493–503, DOI 10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493 ✔ — see Module 14.

🧔 Adult Taking stock is a deliberate pause. Three practical tips:

• Do it at the same time every year (e.g. January, after the statements arrive).
• Gather the documents in one place — bank statements, contracts, insurance policies (see Module 15).
• If you need to ask an outsider, find out what kind of adviser they are: a consultant paid by the hour, a broker on commission and an insurance intermediary have different interests. In most countries the financial supervisor keeps public registers of licensed firms and intermediaries — check there (Module 12, 17).

Example: Bulgaria — the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC, КФН) keeps the registers of licensed persons and publishes warnings: https://www.fsc.bg ✔

Check in your country — find your national financial supervisor (securities, insurance and pensions; sometimes the central bank) and its public register of licensed firms and intermediaries before you sign anything.

🏗 Project / business: the annual review is the project report and the company's balance sheet — see Module 11.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "A financial statement is something for businesses."
• Truth: a household is a small business with income, spending, debts and assets. The same tool works.

Who profits? Whoever takes the pause before a crisis or a creditor forces it.

Scene for 3D: an autumn "stocktake" — the rooms seen from above. The child opens each door and puts a label: "asset" or "debt".

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• Example: Bulgaria — FSC, registers of licensed persons and warnings: https://www.fsc.bg ✔
• OECD/INFE — framework of financial competences for adults (January 2022): https://finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/commission-and-oecd-infe-publish-joint-framework-adults-improve-individuals-financial-skills_en ✔

🧔 Adult The Pecuvo wallet is modelled on a venture capital fund: every space is a project — including the personal ones. On the "Portfolio" screen you see:

• the weekly balance per project;
• money put in and money returned;
• how many weeks the money will last;
• the overall allocation.

Principles built into the design:

1. A document is entered once — in the accounting system (ACE). The wallet only reads; it does not copy or write into it.
2. The link is live — you see the transaction straight away.
3. Shared costs are split by use, per project — for finer analysis.
4. The personal stays separate — the business does not see personal spaces.

🏗 Project / business: for NGOs and projects with an agreed budget this screen is the basis of the report to the funding body: the expense is tied to a project and to a budget line at the moment it is recorded (Module 11).

Myth → truth

• Myth: "It's enough to watch the overall account."
• Truth: the overall account hides which project is losing money. Only the project view shows where the problem is.

Who profits? Whoever understands where their money goes by goal, not only by bank.

Scene for 3D: a map of a town where every building is a project. Above each one — a column of light: how many more weeks it will shine.

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• Venture capital funds and the portfolio approach: the foundation — Modern Portfolio Theory, Harry Markowitz, Journal of Finance 7(1), 1952 ✔. Only as an explanation of the concept, not as investment advice.

🧔 Adult The honest limits:

• The tool is only as useful as the data you put in. If you record half, you see half.
• It does not replace a professional (accountant, lawyer) in a complex case.
• The data is yours: personal spaces are not shared with businesses and do not leave our infrastructure.
• The figures are in euro (Module 2).

🏗 Project / business: the wallet does not do accounting. The accounting truth is in the accounting system; the wallet is its window.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "The app will make me richer."
• Truth: the app makes you better informed. Wealth is the result of the decisions you make once you are informed.

Who profits? You — if you use the tool regularly. Us — only if it is useful to you (the "flagship, not competitor" principle).

Scene for 3D: a window into a room. From outside you see everything but cannot touch — for that there is a door, and it is yours.

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• European Commission and OECD — the financial competence framework for adults in the EU (January 2022): https://finance.ec.europa.eu/publications/commission-and-oecd-infe-publish-joint-framework-adults-improve-individuals-financial-skills_en ✔

🧔 Adult What we keep [A]:

• contracts (loan, rent, insurance, phone, electricity, work) and all annexes and amendments;
• bank statements and payment confirmations;
• invoices and guarantee cards for the more expensive purchases;
• tax and social security documents;
• property and inheritance documents (Module 15).

For how long — a guide, not legal advice:

• for as long as the contract runs — and as long again as a dispute may arise. There is no single EU limitation period: each country sets in its civil law how long a claim can be brought, often with a shorter period for regular payments (rent, interest, bills);
• for goods — at least 2 years: in the EU the seller is liable for any lack of conformity that becomes apparent within 2 years of delivery (Directive (EU) 2019/771, art. 10) ✔;
• tax documents — at least for as long as the tax can still be assessed or collected; that period is set by national tax law. Property documents — for as long as you own the property and afterwards, for your heirs (Module 15).

Example: Bulgaria — under the Obligations and Contracts Act the general limitation period is 5 years, and for periodic payments (rent, interest, bills) 3 years ✔ (arts. 110 and 111(c); text of the law, opened 21.10.2026). Public (tax) debts become time-barred after 5 years, counted from 1 January of the year after the one in which they should have been paid (Tax and Social Security Procedure Code, art. 171) ✔ (text of the code, opened 21.10.2026).

Check in your country — look up the general limitation period in your civil law, the limitation period for tax debts in your tax procedure law (your tax authority's website usually explains it), and how long your tax authority expects you to keep records. The European Commission's Your Europe portal is a neutral starting point for consumer rights.

How to read a credit agreement (Module 7): the APR and the total amount payable, not only the instalment; the fee for early repayment; what happens if you pay late; whether insurance is "compulsory" or optional. You have 14 days to withdraw from a consumer credit agreement without giving a reason ✔ (Directive (EU) 2023/2225, art. 26 — from 20.11.2026; the right already exists under Directive 2008/48/EC).

An archive in 30 minutes a month [A]: one folder (paper or digital) with subfolders Contracts · Bank · Taxes · Home · Health · Guarantees. Every month — the statement, new contracts, receipts for more expensive purchases. Once a year — the annual review (chapter 6): what expires, what renews, what can be thrown away.

🏗 Project / business: for a business or a project, keeping documents is a legal obligation with set periods, defined by each country's accounting and tax law; for a project, also by the rules of the programme (Module 11).

Example: Bulgaria — under the Accountancy Act (art. 12) payroll records are kept for 50 years, accounting registers and financial statements for 10 years, and other documents for 3 years ✔ (text of the law, opened 21.10.2026).

Check in your country — your accounting law and your tax authority set the retention periods; an accountant or the tax authority's guidance for businesses will give you the exact figures.

Myth → truth

• Myth: "The bank keeps everything, I don't need to."
• Truth: the bank keeps its own records. You have to notice the mistake and report it in time. Without your eye on it, the deadline passes.

Who profits? Whoever can prove it. In a dispute, the side with the document wins.

Scene for 3D: a box with six drawers. The child drops in a receipt — it finds the "Guarantees" drawer by itself. Then the game shows a date: "you can return it until here".

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• Your Europe — guarantees and returns: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/returns/index_en.htm ✔
• EUR-Lex — Directive (EU) 2015/2366 (payment services), art. 71 (13 months): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2015/2366/oj ✔
• EUR-Lex — Directive (EU) 2019/771, art. 10 (2 years): https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2019/771/oj ✔

Sources

• ✔ Directive (EU) 2015/2366, art. 71 — notification without undue delay, no later than 13 months after the debit date.
• ✔ Directive (EU) 2019/771, art. 10 — liability of the seller for a lack of conformity that becomes apparent within 2 years.
• ✔ Directive (EU) 2023/2225, art. 26 — 14 calendar days to withdraw from a consumer credit agreement.
• ✔ Example: Bulgaria — Obligations and Contracts Act, arts. 110–111 (5 and 3 years) — text of the law (https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2121934337, in Bulgarian), opened 21.10.2026.
• ✔ Example: Bulgaria — Tax and Social Security Procedure Code, art. 171 (5-year limitation for public claims) and art. 38 (retention periods) — text of the code (https://lex.bg/laws/ldoc/2135514513, in Bulgarian), opened 21.10.2026.
• ✔ Example: Bulgaria — Accountancy Act, art. 12 (50 / 10 / 3 years) — text of the law, opened 21.10.2026.