Set up SmartPFM in an evening – one module at a time

Add what you own

1. Go to Net worth → Assets → Add asset and pick a category: bank, SACCO, MMF, shares, land, vehicle, pension, chama…
2. Enter today's value (or units × price for shares and unit trusts) and the date.
3. Mark your own home and family car so they're left out of investable net worth, and set your share if you co-own it.
4. Update the value whenever you get a statement; SmartPFM reminds you when a value is getting old.

Example: a SACCO with Ksh 180,000 in deposits → category SACCO deposits, value 180,000. Add Ksh 15,000 each month from the budget (see Linking) and the April dividend as a valuation.

Describe your regular money once

1. Budget → Income & expense settings → New income/expense setting.
2. Choose income or expense. If it belongs to an asset or loan – rent from a flat, a loan repayment, money from your MMF – link it first: its amount and dates are filled in for you.
3. Choose the category (an expense is a need, a want or savings) and the amount.
4. Set how it repeats: monthly, quarterly, termly, twice a year, yearly, on chosen dates, or once.
5. Turn on Auto-Receive / Auto-Spend for money that moves on its own (salary, standing orders).
6. For an expense, choose where the money comes from: the pool of available money, or a specific income.
7. Put payment details in Notes – paybill, till, account number – and choose what happens if it isn't paid by month-end.

Example: Electricity (KPLC) – expense, need, Ksh 4,500 monthly on the 5th, notes "Paybill 888880, account 1234567". School fees – Ksh 30,000 on the 20th, the unpaid remainder deferred to next month.

Link payments to loans and savings

1. In an expense setting, under Linked asset or loan, choose the loan it repays or the asset it adds to.
2. From then on, paying the item records the loan payment or the contribution – once.
3. The loan or asset shows the payment with the budget month that made it.

Example: SACCO deposit Ksh 15,000 linked to your SACCO asset; Car loan Ksh 25,000 linked to the loan. One month later: the SACCO is up 15,000, the loan down 25,000, and your net worth shows both.

Close the month, learn from it

1. The month closes on the 3rd of the next month (or choose Close now). Unpaid items follow their deferral rule; the surplus can carry forward.
2. History & analysis shows each month against its plan, the needs / wants / savings split and where each income went.
3. Open the statement on screen, or download it as PDF or Excel.
4. Adjust next month's settings – that's the "improve" in plan, do, review, improve.

Never miss a date

1. Loan instalments, renewals, maturities and document expiry dates remind you automatically.
2. Under Reminders, choose for each type: in the app, by email or by SMS, and how many days before.
3. Add your own: a land-rates payment, a chama meeting, a KRA return by 30 June.

Get a statement in a click

1. Records → Reports: statement of net worth, asset and liability registers, income from assets, the statement of cash-flow; budget statements are under Budget → History & analysis.
2. View on screen, or download as PDF (optionally with a password) or Excel. Tick Hide account numbers when the report is for someone else.
3. A big report is prepared in the background: find it, and anything you made in the last 24 hours, under Recent reports.
4. Need everything? Profile → My data & privacy → Download all my data.

Example: the SACCO wants your statement of net worth for a loan. Download the PDF with Hide account numbers ticked – the SACCO sees where each account is held, not its number.

See the family picture together

1. Household → My Household: name the household and choose Create (Premium). You become its owner.
2. Under Members & sharing, invite your spouse by the email address they use for SmartPFM – with their relationship (Spouse unless you choose another) and an optional note. They sign in (or sign up – any plan, Free included), open Household and accept.
3. Each of you chooses What I share – with everyone, or per member under You share: nothing (where everyone starts), totals, a full read-only view, or a custom view (Premium: the items you tick, for 1–30 days, with a preview first). Change it whenever you like.
4. Things the household owns as itself (the family home, a joint fund, a car)? The owner starts Household → Household net worth (Premium); then switch between My net worth and the household's on the Net worth pages. Owner and planners add items, every member can add a valuation, and Move to the household brings one of yours in.
5. Own something with others? Set My ownership % on the asset (or My share % on a loan), then open Household → Shared Net worth and choose Edit to say who owns the rest – a household member or a Partner (Household → Partners, Premium: up to 5 people who need no account). Invite sends the item's name, category and their share – no amounts; they can add it to their own net worth or merge it with one they have.
6. On the Overview, fix anything Possibly counted twice: set each share (e.g. 50 %) or choose Same as – count once.

Example: Wanjiku and Otieno both recorded the Kitengela plot at 100 %. The household view flags it; they set 50 % each and the household net worth counts the plot once.

Lock it down in two minutes

1. Profile → Security → Two-step sign-in: scan the code with an authenticator app and save the recovery codes somewhere safe.
2. Set Auto-lock on your phone, and use Hide amounts in public.
3. Lost a phone? Sign out everywhere ends every session at once; changing your password does the same.