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Managing Your Holdings

Your mortgage payment is due next week, but you’re also excited about that bonus hitting your account. Meanwhile, your partner’s 401k is doing well, and you’re both wondering if you should max it out or pay down debt faster.

Sound familiar? Managing all the moving pieces of your financial life can feel overwhelming. That’s exactly why FinFam built the Holdings system.

Holdings are how you track your financial picture in FinFam: every asset, liability, income stream, and expense that matters to your planning.

Understanding Holdings

A Holding represents any financial item you own, owe, earn, or spend. FinFam organizes Holdings into four main categories:

Assets

Things you own: bank accounts, investments, your home, car, business equity, cash savings.

Liabilities

Things you owe: mortgage, credit cards, student loans, car loans, personal debt.

Income

Money coming in: salary, freelance work, rental income, investment returns, side hustles.

Expenses

Money going out: monthly spending, subscriptions, planned purchases, recurring bills.

The Power of Complete Context

Here’s why tracking all your Holdings matters: expert Views on FinFam can automatically use your real financial situation to give personalized results.

That “Should I refinance?” calculator doesn’t just give generic advice—it factors in your actual mortgage balance, credit score range, and monthly budget. The “How much house?” View considers your real savings, income, and existing debt.

Your Holdings are the bridge between expert knowledge and your personal situation.

Understanding Holders

Holders represent the people who own things in your Space—usually you, your partner, and any joint accounts. When you add a Holding, you specify which Holder owns it to keep things organized for collaboration.

Example: Your checking account belongs to “You,” your partner’s 401k belongs to “Partner,” and your joint savings belongs to “Joint.”

Adding Holdings to Your Space

FinFam offers three ways to add Holdings, designed to minimize tedious data entry:

1. Magic Sync (Fastest)

Magic Sync is FinFam’s screenshot-based import system. Instead of connecting your accounts or sharing login credentials, you simply take screenshots of your financial apps and let AI extract the data while automatically stripping out identifying information.

To use Magic Sync:

  1. Take clear screenshots of your banking apps, investment accounts, or budgeting tools (Monarch Money, YNAB, etc.)
  2. Upload to your Space via the “Import Holdings” button (also linked from “Add Holding”)
  3. Review extracted data and suggested Holding types
  4. Approve what you want to import - you have full control over what gets added

Magic Sync automatically removes account numbers and other identifying details while preserving the financial information you need for planning.

Note that Magic Sync is powered by AI, so it may take a minute to extract the data, and there might be some imperfections, but it’s often the fastest way to get a rough picture.

2. Manual Entry

For individual Holdings or when you need more control:

  • Choose a Holding type from FinFam’s comprehensive list
  • Enter the details (name, balance, owner, dates, etc.)
  • Add notes for context or special considerations

3. Spreadsheet Import (Coming Soon)

If you already track finances in Excel or Google Sheets:

  • Download the template from your Space’s import section
  • Fill in your data following the provided format
  • Upload and review the suggested Holdings
  • Confirm the import to add everything to your Space

Sub-Holdings

Some Holdings contain others (like a 401k account containing mutual funds, or a brokerage account with individual stocks). FinFam handles these relationships automatically.

Organizing Your Holdings

Tips

  • Use descriptive names: “Emergency fund - Ally Savings” vs “Account 1”
  • Add context in notes: “Opened for house down payment” or “0% promo rate until Dec 2025”
  • Keep reasonably current: Update major changes for accurate View results
  • Don’t stress perfection: Estimates often work fine for planning

Holdings and Views Integration

When you save expert Views to your Space, FinFam automatically uses your Holdings to personalize the results. Your actual income, savings, debt, and expenses replace the expert’s example numbers, giving you tailored insights based on your real financial situation.

As your Holdings change (you get a raise, pay down debt, etc.), your saved Views automatically update to reflect your new financial picture.

Privacy and Security

FinFam protects your sensitive information:

  • Account numbers are never stored or displayed
  • Magic Sync automatically strips identifying details from imports
  • Everything is private by default until you choose to share

Getting Help

Need help? Reach out at [email protected], or explore public Spaces to see how others organize their Holdings.

Ready to start tracking? Add your first Holdings in any FinFam Space and see how expert Views become personalized to your situation.