Is there a Barefoot Investor app for New Zealand?

Search "Barefoot Investor app NZ" and you'll hit a wall: Scott Pape (creator of the BFI framework) never built one, and he's said he never will. The framework runs on separate, automated bank accounts by design, and that design is Australian (1) — right down to the no-fee, high-interest online bank it assumes, which doesn't really exist here (2). If you've landed on this page, you've probably already worked that out. You're not looking to be talked back into a spreadsheet. You want the one thing the book can't hand you: a single screen that runs the buckets for you.

SortMe is the New Zealand-built option designed around the part Pape's framework leans on hardest — automatic categorisation and one view of every bucket across every NZ bank, KiwiSaver provider and investment platform. Here's what an NZ Barefoot app actually has to do, then how to set yours up in about five minutes.

What an NZ Barefoot app actually needs to do

Strip away the brand and the wishlist from NZ Barefoot readers comes down to five things:

1. Bucket-style tracking. Show BLOW, MOJO and GROW as separate numbers without typing transactions in by hand.
2. Multi-bank support. Pape says Mojo should sit at a different bank. The app has to treat a Mojo account at Wise or ASB and a daily account at Kiwibank or BNZ as one household view (3).
3. KiwiSaver as the GROW bucket. Pape's Grow Bucket is your super in Australia. In NZ that's KiwiSaver, plus almost certainly Sharesies, Hatch or Kernel — aggregated into one GROW number (4).
4. Partner sharing. The Monthly Barefoot Date Night is a couples ritual. If only one partner can see the dashboard, the ritual breaks.
5. A price that makes sense. Most Kiwis running the framework don't want to pay much more than the cost of the book each year for the software that runs it.

SortMe was built in New Zealand to do exactly these five things. Here's how it stacks up against the two workarounds people usually try first.

SortMe vs the usual workarounds

Why SortMe is the closest thing to a Barefoot app

SortMe is built in New Zealand, designed around automatic categorisation and a single view of your buckets across every major NZ bank, KiwiSaver provider and the main investment platforms Kiwis use (Sharesies, Hatch, Kernel) (8). Where PocketSmith asks you to build your own rules, SortMe categorises in the background and surfaces patterns — including a subscription audit that finds users an average of $2,371.27 a year in charges they had forgotten about. For households running the framework, particularly couples, the multi-bank, multi-KiwiSaver, partner-invited workspace lines up with Pape's design without the manual lift. Your Mojo at a different bank still shows up; your GROW bucket is one number that updates daily.

The 5-minute Barefoot setup in SortMe

If you've already read the book and want to run the framework without keeping four bank accounts in sync by hand:

1. Connect your accounts. Link your everyday bank, your separate Mojo bank, your KiwiSaver provider, and any investment platforms (Sharesies, Hatch, Kernel) via Akahu, New Zealand's open-banking platform (11). Bank-grade encryption, read-only — SortMe can never move your money.
2. Map BLOW to budget categories. SortMe auto-categorises transactions (groceries, transport, eating out, subscriptions). Set monthly limits on the categories you want to control — that becomes your Daily Expenses bucket in numbers, without needing a separate bank account for it.
3. Map MOJO to a Goal. Create a Goal called "Mojo" and link it to your savings account at the second bank. Pape's target is three to six months of expenses; SortMe tracks the progress and shows you the gap.
4. Map GROW to the Net Worth view. SortMe pulls KiwiSaver, Sharesies, Hatch, Kernel and any property you've added into one Net Worth screen. That's your GROW bucket as a single number that updates daily.
5. Invite your partner. Add them to the same workspace so the Monthly Date Night runs on one screen (12). Only one of you needs a subscription; the other gets invited in for free.

That gives you the framework, automated, in under fifteen minutes. The bank accounts you already have don't change. What changes is that you can see all five Pape accounts (Daily, Smile, Fire Extinguisher, Splurge, Mojo) as numbers on one screen — plus your GROW bucket above them.

Start your Barefoot setup

There's no official Barefoot Investor app, and there won't be. The closest thing in New Zealand is software that holds the framework together while your NZ banking, KiwiSaver and investment accounts do the real work in the background — on autopilot, with your partner in the same workspace, at a price that makes sense in NZD.

You can try the Barefoot setup in SortMe for $1 at sortme.com.

Sources

1. Scott Pape, The Barefoot Investor: The Only Money Guide You'll Ever Need, Step 2 — Set Up Your Buckets — barefootinvestor.com
2. Applying The Barefoot Investor in NZ — 2025 Update, The Happy Saver — thehappysaver.com
3. Barefoot Investor-Friendly Financial Products in New Zealand, MoneyHub NZ — moneyhub.co.nz
4. Applying The Barefoot Investor in NZ — Superannuation section, The Happy Saver — thehappysaver.com
5. Barefoot Investor Buckets methodology and tutorial, PocketSmith — pocketsmith.com
6. PocketSmith Plans & Pricing — my.pocketsmith.com/plans
7. SortMe Pricing — sortme.com/pricing
8. SortMe Integrations — sortme.com/integrations
9. Average annual savings figure $2,371.27, SortMe — sortme.com/pricing
10. Barefoot Budget Spreadsheet — 60-10-10-20 Buckets, Etsy NZ listing (representative example) — etsy.com
11. Akahu — New Zealand's Open Banking Platform — akahu.nz
12. How to invite your partner or spouse to your SortMe account, SortMe Support — support.sortme.com