Frequently asked questions
Got questions? We've got answers.
Everything you need to know about Finent, the set-aside calculator, and how your data is handled.
General
Finent is a personal budgeting tool built around your paycheck. Instead of showing a flat monthly summary, it organises your money around each pay period — telling you exactly what's due before your next payday and how much to set aside.
Getting started is free — no credit card required. There are no ads and no affiliate links. Membership plans with additional features may be introduced in the future.
Yes. Finent is fully responsive and works in any modern browser on phones, tablets, and desktops. There is no separate app to install.
Yes. A confirmation link is sent to your email when you register. This protects your account and ensures we can send bill-reminder notifications to a valid address. If you don't see the email, check your spam folder or use the resend link on the login page.
Budgeting & your paycheck
Finent looks at your next payday and identifies every expense due between now and that date. It then tells you how much to reserve from your current paycheck so those bills are covered when they fall due — no mental maths required.
The 50/30/20 rule is a widely used budgeting framework that divides your take-home income into three buckets:
- 50% Needs — rent, groceries, utilities, insurance
- 30% Wants — dining out, streaming, hobbies
- 20% Savings — emergency fund, debt repayment, investments
When you add an expense you assign it a category:
- Need — something essential you cannot reasonably go without (rent, food, transport)
- Want — something enjoyable but not strictly essential (subscriptions, eating out)
- Saving — money set aside for goals, emergencies, or debt reduction
Every expense has two labels. The Category (Need, Want, or Saving) places it into your 50/30/20 budget bucket. The Type (Utility, Housing, Grocery, Subscription, etc.) describes what the expense actually is. For example, an electricity bill would be Need category and Utility type. This lets you see both your big-picture budget balance and a detailed breakdown of where your money goes.
Yes. The Debts section lets you add any debt — loans, credit cards, buy-now-pay-later — with its balance, interest rate, and type. Log payments over time and watch the balance burn down with a full payment history for each debt.
Budget Groups let you share a budget with your household, partner, or anyone else. Create a group and invite members by email or a shareable invite code. Once in, members can see shared expenses assigned to them, shared savings goals, and shared debts. The group analytics view breaks down each member's contribution and spending across the whole group.
Yes. Take a Budget Snapshot for any month, then use the Compare feature to place two snapshots side by side. You'll see exactly how your income, expenses, and 50/30/20 split changed between the two periods.
Data & privacy
Yes. All traffic is served over HTTPS. Passwords are hashed with PBKDF2-SHA256 and never stored in plain text. Rate-limiting and account lockout protect against brute-force attacks, and optional two-factor authentication is available. See the Security page for full details.
No — never. Finent does not sell, rent, or share your personal or financial data with any third party for commercial purposes. The only external service that touches your data is the Gmail API used to send transactional emails. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
Yes to both. You can export your income and expense records as CSV or PDF at any time from the Export section. You can permanently delete your account and all associated data from Account → Personal Data → Delete Account. Deletion is immediate and irreversible.
Yes. You can import income and expense records from a CSV file via the Import section. This makes it easy to migrate from a spreadsheet or another tool without having to enter each record by hand.
When you enable bill reminders in your account settings, Finent sends you an email a few days before each expense is due. You can turn reminders on or off at any time from Account → Bill Reminders, and you can opt out entirely without affecting any other part of your account.