Finances · Reference · HourLife Premium
Your money, one month at a time.
Log your money once a month, set a monthly budget and track spending by category, and keep every subscription and its charges in one list.
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A snapshot a monthLog income, expenses and net worth once a month, and the Snapshot tab charts the trend, the savings rate and what you have saved this year.
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A budget that keeps paceSet a target for each category, log what you spend, and the Budget tab says whether you are on track or ahead of the calendar.
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Every subscription, datedEach service charges on its own day, and its history keeps every price, pause and restart, so the lifetime total stays true.
Your first month
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Log the month
On the Snapshot tab, tap “+” and fill in “Log Month”, with income, expenses and net worth. Savings and its rate fill themselves in.
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Set a budget
Choose “Set Up Budget” from the Budget tab’s ⋯ menu, enter your monthly income and a target per category, then log expenses with “+”.
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Add your subscriptions
On the Subscriptions tab, tap “+” and set each service’s amount and billing cycle. Its charges follow on their own.
Every step, in detail
- 1 On the “Snapshot” tab, tap “+” (“Add snapshot”) to open “Log Month”. Pick the month and enter “Income”, “Expenses” and “Net Worth”, plus “Debt” while “Show debt field” is on. Savings fills itself in; the pencil lets you type your own. Tap “Save”.
- 2 On the “Budget” tab, open the ⋯ menu and tap “Set Up Budget”. Enter your “MONTHLY INCOME” and an amount for each spending category.
- 3 Tap “+” on the “Budget” tab (“Log expense”) to record a purchase with its amount, category and date.
- 4 On the “Subscriptions” tab, tap “+” (“Add subscription”), name the service, and set its amount and “Billing Cycle”.
- 5 When a month ends, choose “Close September…” (the month just gone) from the Budget tab’s ⋯ menu to review it and copy its spending into that month’s snapshot.
Fifteen months on one line
The Snapshot tab charts every month you have logged. Switch between net worth, income and the savings rate, and move along the line: the card follows the month under the pointer, and below it is that month as Records shows it, with a sparkbar of its savings rate and the six months before.
Sample · fifteen snapshots, August 2025 to October 2026
Finances
Your money at a glance.
NET WORTH
- YTD savings rate29.1%
- YTD savings$25,04710 mo logged
- NW growth+$37,397since Jan
October 2026 Edit →
- Income
- $8,200
- Expenses
- $5,976
- Savings
- $2,224 27.1%
Every logged month · drag, or use the arrow keys
RECORDS · THIS MONTH’S CARD
“Savings” charts the rate, not the amount, so December’s and March’s bigger months stand out though most months save about the same. The delta pill compares each month with the one before, and the stat row reads the year so far: “YTD savings rate”, all this year saved over all this year earned (29.1%), what those months saved, and the change in net worth since the year’s first snapshot. Net worth is whatever you type, so it can fall in a month that saved money.
Ahead of the calendar, or on track
The Budget tab sets what you have spent against the share of the month gone. Spending more than 5 points ahead of the calendar turns the hero amber. Move through October, and log a few more expenses to see each category answer.
Sample · October 2026, a $4,610 budget over five categories, 7 expenses by the 12th
Finances
Your money at a glance.
LOG EXPENSE ON THAT DAY
Each category is measured the same way, against its own target, and says “Ahead of monthly pace” or “$X over”. Rent paid on the 1st puts Housing ahead from the first day. The Subscriptions category never turns red: past its target it reads a quiet “$X over target” instead (log the $180 chip to see it), and nothing posts a subscription into it; only expenses you log count. Insights’ “month pace” runs the month’s spend out to 31 days, so early in the month a rent payment makes it read high.
Every service, on its own day
Subscriptions works out each charge from the plan: its amount, its cycle and its next renewal. You need not log a payment, though you can. Move between months, then change Gym App’s price to see what “This is a price change” keeps and what a correction rewrites.
Sample · three services on October 12, 2026; Gym App paused in July and came back at $18
October 2026
Finances
Your money at a glance.
Edit Subscription · Gym App
PLAN
STARTS ON
“THIS MONTH” adds the plans with a charge day in the month; “paid” adds the charges logged in it, and the two can differ. Lifetime and Payments count each month once: a logged charge takes the place of whatever the plan projected for its month. Notion bills once a year, so it shows in October with no amount due and “Next charge Mar 8, 2027”. A price change appears in the history as the old period ending and a new one starting the same day; a month the old price already billed keeps that charge.
One sheet a month, and what it moves
“Log Month” asks for five numbers. Savings is income less expenses until you take it over with the pencil, and net worth sits beside last month’s. Change October and watch the Records card, Today’s widget and the stat row follow.
Sample · October 2026, as logged on the 12th
CancelLog MonthSave
October 2026
MONTHLY FLOW
POSITION
NOTE (OPTIONAL)
Freelance project closed. Paid extra...
RECORDS
TODAY · THE “FINANCES” WIDGET
SNAPSHOT TAB · THIS YEAR
The rate is savings over income, and 0.0% in a month with no income. Every screen shows it to one decimal place, from Log Month and the month’s pill to Records, Goals and the Today widget, so the same month reads the same figure everywhere. The savings you type with the pencil stays as typed even when income or expenses change later. A snapshot’s expenses are what you type, unless you close the month: “Close September…” in the Budget tab’s ⋯ menu offers “Copy spending to snapshot”, which sets that month’s snapshot expenses to what the Budget tab logged, or logs a new snapshot that keeps net worth from your last one.
Insights, from every tab
One Insights sheet opens from all three tabs’ ⋯ menus: wealth from your snapshots, this month against the calendar, six months of spending with three more projected, and what your subscriptions commit you to.
Sample · the same October, on the 12th
Insights · Wealth, spending, and recurring costs at a glance.
Net worth is $160,257 — up $6,001 from last month.
69% of this month’s budget used.
Trend · 6 months
Spend eased versus last month.
Next 3 months at the trailing average: $10,180.
- —May: $0
- $1.1KJun: $1,140
- $3.6KJul: $3,610
- $3.2KAug: $3,240
- $3.3KSep: $3,330
- $3.2KOct: $3,199
- $3.4KNov, projected: $3,393
- $3.4KDec, projected: $3,393
- $3.4KJan, projected: $3,393
Spending · This month
Spending is ahead of the calendar — 69% of budget with 39% of the month gone.
Biggest category: Housing at $2,800.
- Housing$2,800
- Groceries$214
- Transport$96
- Health$72
- Subscriptions$17
Wealth · Snapshots
Net worth climbed to $160,257 as of Oct 2026.
Savings rate over the last 6 logged months: 24.9%.
Recurring
3 services add up to $36/month.
Paid $28 toward subscriptions so far this month.
- Gym App$18
- iCloud+$10
- Notion$8
Two savings rates are on show, worked out the same way, total saved over total income, but over different spans: the Snapshot tab’s 29.1% is this year, Insights’ 24.9% the last six logged months. The trend’s October is the month so far, so “eased” compares twelve days with all of September. Notion’s $96 a year counts as $8 a month toward what is committed.
Where Finances reaches
The month’s snapshot comes back in Today, in a habit, in your timeline and in the reviews. The currency goes further still.
Today · the end of the month
From the 26th, while the month has no snapshot, Today can show it once a day. Log October and it stops.
The Today widget
“Finances”, “Latest net worth and savings”, is off until you add it. It shows the latest snapshot and opens the Snapshot tab.
Habits and Day by Day
- Finance Snapshota habit’s action, opens Log Month
- October 12the month’s note, or “Net worth $160,257”
A snapshot shows on the day you log it in Day by Day, by its note if it has one.
Quarterly review and export
The quarterly review lists the quarter’s expenses, or says “No expenses recorded this quarter.”
## Finances - October 2026: income $8,200, expenses $5,976, net worth $160,257
The Markdown export carries the snapshots. The line above is a sketch, not the export’s exact layout.
One currency serves the whole app: Household’s costs and a new Venture use the code chosen in Finance Settings. While Goals is on, Log Month’s “LINK TO (OPTIONAL)” ties a snapshot to a goal, and the goal lists it under “Financial History”.
Finance Settings
A currency for the whole app, and two switches for the Snapshot tab. Both switches start on.
CURRENCY · COMMON CURRENCIES
SNAPSHOT
Tips
- When a subscription’s price really changes, turn on “This is a price change” while editing it, so the old price stays in your history. Leave it off to fix a typo.
- “Records” in the Snapshot tab’s ⋯ menu lists every month you have logged, each with a sparkbar of its savings rate. Each month’s ⋯ menu has “Edit” and “Delete”.
- In “Finance Settings”, pick your currency, turn off “Show debt field” if you have no debt, or hide the “Annual summary”. Both are on until you turn them off.
- “Manage Categories” in the Budget tab’s ⋯ menu adds and edits spending categories, or archives one you no longer use. Expenses already logged keep it.
Questions
About Finances day to day.
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Does Finances connect to my bank?
No. Every figure is one you type in, and nothing in Finances imports transactions or reads an account.
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How is my savings rate worked out?
Savings divided by income, where savings is income less expenses unless you type your own figure with the pencil in “Log Month”. Every screen shows it to one decimal place, and a month with no income reads 0.0%. The year’s rate, “YTD savings rate”, is everything saved over everything earned, so a big month counts for more than a lean one, and a month with no income is left out.
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Do my subscriptions count against my budget?
Not on their own. Budget spending is the expenses you log. The “Subscriptions” category is there to budget for them; log past its target and it reads “$X over target” rather than over budget.
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What does closing a month do?
It marks the month done and shows “Closed” with the date under its name. With “Copy spending to snapshot” on, it also sets that month’s snapshot expenses to what you logged, or logs a new snapshot that keeps your last net worth and debt. “Reopen September” in the ⋯ menu undoes the mark; the snapshot keeps what was copied.
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Do I have to log every subscription payment?
No. Charges are projected from each plan’s amount and billing cycle. You can still log or edit a charge by hand under “HISTORY”, and a logged charge takes the place of that month’s projection.
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What happens to the history when a price changes or I cancel?
Turn on “This is a price change” while editing, and the old price is kept up to the date the new one starts. “End Subscription” and “Restart Subscription” add periods too, and the earlier periods and charges stay in history.
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Will HourLife remind me to log the month?
Yes. From the 26th, if the month has no snapshot yet, Today can show “Log your financial snapshot for the month”, once a day at most.
Works with
Where Finances hands off to the rest of HourLife.
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Today
From the 26th of the month, if you have not logged a snapshot yet, Today can show “Log your financial snapshot for the month” with “Log snapshot”.
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Today
The “Finances” widget on Today (“Latest net worth and savings”) shows your latest snapshot. It is off until you turn it on.
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Habits
A habit can carry the “Finance Snapshot” action (“Log a financial snapshot”), which opens the snapshot form from the habit.
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Goals
While Goals is on, “Log Month” has “LINK TO (OPTIONAL)”, which ties the snapshot to a goal; the goal then lists it under “Financial History”.
Read and try
Books from the library that Finances puts into practice, and something to try on paper or in the browser.
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You Need a Budget Jesse Mecham Mecham on giving every dollar a job each month. Finances sets a monthly budget by category.
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Your Money or Your Life Vicki Robin, Joe Dominguez Robin and Dominguez on tracking every dollar and tallying it monthly, the habit Finances is built for.
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The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel Housel on how behaviour, not maths, decides how money goes.
Already have HourLife?
Finances is under Reference in the module list, and it needs HourLife Premium. Each tab has its own “+”; the ⋯ menus hold “Insights”, “Records”, “Settings”, “Set Up Budget”, “Manage Categories” and, on the Budget tab, “Close September…” for the month just gone.
Finances is in the Library, under Reference. If it isn’t there, turn it on in Settings → Look & Feel → Modules. It needs HourLife Premium.
What would you like to know?
Ask a question about this feature or tell us what’s missing.
Try Finances in HourLife.
HourLife is free to download. Finances comes with HourLife Premium.
