FSAwise

Every year, millions of Americans lose money in Flexible Spending Accounts simply because they miscalculate or forget to use their funds. We saw this as a design and information problem—not a lack of money, but a lack of clarity and guidance. That gap inspired us to build FSAwise.

FSAwise is a smart FSA management platform that predicts how much users should contribute, tracks their spending in real time, and recommends FSA-eligible products. It helps users maximize tax savings and avoid losing unused funds.

We built FSAwise using React and Tailwind for a clean, responsive frontend, with Recharts for data visualization. We integrated AI using Claude to power contribution predictions, spending insights, and personalized tips. Local storage is used for fast, persistent tracking without requiring accounts.

One of the biggest challenges was translating complex financial logic into something simple and intuitive for users. We also had to ensure AI responses were consistent, structured, and reliable—especially when returning strict JSON formats. Designing a smooth multi-step experience without overwhelming the user was another key hurdle.

We’re proud of building a fully functional, end-to-end product—from prediction to tracking to recommendations. The AI integration feels practical and actionable, not gimmicky. We also created a clean UI that makes a typically confusing financial tool feel simple and approachable.

We learned how to design around real user behavior—especially procrastination and uncertainty. We also gained experience structuring AI prompts for reliable outputs and balancing automation with user control. Most importantly, we learned that simplicity is critical in financial tools.

Next, we plan to add bank and FSA provider integrations for real-time syncing, smarter predictive models based on historical data, and notifications for deadlines and spending milestones. We also want to expand into HSA optimization and employer-side analytics.

Built With

• beautiful-soup
• claude
• fastapi
• gemini
• react
• tavily-ai-search-api
• vercel