Frequently asked questions

A personal finance manager made for Kenya. It combines a monthly budget (what comes in and goes out) with your net worth (what you own minus what you owe), and links the two – so paying a loan or saving in your budget updates the loan or the savings automatically.

Anyone over 18 who wants to plan their money and grow their wealth: salaried workers, business owners, farmers, landlords, freelancers, people abroad building at home, retirees. It handles monthly, termly, seasonal and irregular income. See Who it's for.

Your base currency is KES by default. On Basic and Premium you can also hold assets and loans in other currencies (USD, GBP, EUR and more), converted at the Central Bank of Kenya's daily rates. The monthly budget runs in your base currency; on Premium you can also enter budget income and expenses in USD, GBP or EUR – the budget shows an estimate in shillings that follows the day's rate (or a rate you fix), and when the money arrives you record the rate you actually got.

Yes. When you add a money market or unit trust fund (or buy a new one through your budget), search for it by fund, scheme or firm name and pick it from the funds licensed by the Capital Markets Authority. SmartPFM fills in the name, manager, currency and the latest published yield, and the asset page shows the fund's terms and how to contact the manager. The figures are information only – your balance and returns are what you record. If your fund is not listed, enter it yourself or ask us to add it.

Yes – in any modern browser, and you can install it on Android and iPhone straight from the browser, without an app store. See Install the app.

No. SmartPFM never asks for your bank, M-Pesa or SACCO passwords or PINs, and it doesn't read your accounts. You enter your figures – or let recurring items record themselves – so you stay in control of what's there. Importing statements is on our list of things to come.

No. Our management tools show counts only – how many clients use a feature – never your balances, budgets, goals or documents. Support staff see your account details and the messages you send them.

Each document is checked for viruses and encrypted with its own key before it's stored. Sensitive numbers such as account, title and registration numbers are encrypted and shown masked.

No. SmartPFM records and plans; it never moves money. The only payments it handles are your own subscription payments, through M-Pesa prompts you approve on your phone.

The app keeps none of your figures on the device. Sign in from another device and choose Sign out everywhere, or change your password – every other session ends at once. With two-step sign-in on, a password alone isn't enough to get in.

Yes. Profile → My data & privacy downloads everything you've recorded, plus your documents as a zip, free on every plan. Close my account deletes it all after a 30-day window in which you can change your mind.

Yes. SmartPFM is registered with Kenya's Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC) as a data controller. See our privacy summary and the full Privacy Policy.

Yes. Once you have an account, View demo account at the bottom of the menu opens a finished example – a family with a household budget, or one person on their own – in a new tab. The names and figures are made up, you can look but not change anything, and it is reset every night.

About 15 minutes for your net worth and a first budget: assets and loans first, then your regular income and expenses. Follow the quick setup.

Yes. Incomes can repeat monthly, quarterly, termly, twice a year or on dates you choose, and you can receive any income in several part-amounts. If an expense is planned from an income that isn't expected that month, its share moves to the incomes that are – and the app shows those months in advance.

The month closes on the 3rd of the next month (or earlier, when you choose Close now). Unpaid items follow the rule you chose – deferred in full, the remainder only, or not at all – and any surplus can carry forward into the new month.

They record money that moves on its own – a salary into your account, a standing order, a deduction from your payslip – on its date, so you don't have to.

Yes. Buy it through the budget – in full, in instalments or with a loan. If you're paying in stages, it counts at what you've paid so far; with a loan, you see the full value and the debt side by side.

Yes – with Household. Each of you keeps your own account and chooses what the other sees: nothing (where everyone starts), your totals, a full read-only view, or a custom view of chosen items for up to 30 days – for your budget and your net worth – and it can differ per member. A jointly owned plot or loan is counted once in the household net worth, and you can leave at any time. Creating a household needs Premium; the people you invite can be on any plan. See the guide.

Yes, on Premium. The owner starts Household → Household net worth; the family home, a joint fund or a shared car are then kept there, valued by any member and changed by the owner and planners. It is separate from each member's own net worth, and the household budget can pay into it. You can move one of your own items in and back.

Yes. Set your share on the asset or loan (for example 60 %) and, in Household → Shared Net worth, say who owns the rest. Partners (Premium, up to 5) are people who need no SmartPFM account – a sibling, a friend, a business partner. Your net worth always counts only your share.

Only the item's name, its category and their share – no amounts, no documents, nothing else about you. With a SmartPFM account they can add the item to their own net worth (starting from your latest value, which they can change) or merge it with one they already have; after that either side is offered the other's newer value, and may use it or not. One reminder goes after a week, and every email has a link to say it is not them – that address is never invited again.

Yes – the household budget (the owner needs Premium; members any plan with budgets). You plan and record shared costs together, each member adds their own contribution on the Household page (with notes such as the joint account) and it is recorded once in both budgets, and you see who has paid what each month. Your own budgets stay private. See Features.

No. Even with a full view they see names, categories, values and budget items – never account numbers, references or documents. You can see who looked at your figures and when.

No. Estate & legacy records who you want to receive what, who to contact and where your papers are, and the estate summary puts it on paper for your family or executor. A letter of wishes isn't legally binding – see an advocate for a valid will under the Law of Succession Act.

Yes, and every new account starts with 90 days of Premium for free. See Pricing.

With M-Pesa, monthly or yearly: approve the prompt on your phone, or use the paybill and account number shown in Plan & billing. You get a receipt and an invoice every time.

Sign up and confirm your email while the offer is on – a personal code is waiting for you under Plan & billing → Your offer, and it is applied for you when you choose a paid plan. Codes are limited, take the amount off your first payment only, and expire a set number of days after your free trial ends. Clients already on a trial may get one by email, SMS or in the app.

In Settings → Plan & billing: a trial code under Have a trial coupon?, a discount code in the Coupon code field when you choose a plan. Each partner code works once, for one account.

No. Choose your partner when you sign up (its sign-up link does it for you) or once in Profile – a partner's code also sets it. SmartPFM only tells the partner how many of its members joined and pay; it never sees your records or your details. To change your partner, contact support.

Nothing is deleted. You move to the Free plan; records above its limits are kept, you just can't add more until you upgrade. Before any move down, the app shows exactly what changes.

If you are a personal finance coach, a wealth management company, a SACCO, an employer or a group, see Partner with us. Then write to [email protected] or [email protected] with the email subject Partnership Information Request.

Every screen has a Help link and every important field a ?. For anything else, open Settings → Help & support in the app to send us a message, or write to [email protected].

Not yet – it's on our roadmap.