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People

People in Arthalekha represent the members of your household, family, or group. Associating transactions with people helps you understand individual financial patterns within a shared financial ecosystem.

What is a Person?​

A Person is an individual whose financial activity you want to track separately. This is particularly useful for:

  • Families tracking individual spending
  • Couples managing joint finances
  • Roommates sharing expenses
  • Small groups with shared accounts

Person Properties​

Each person record contains:

PropertyRequiredDescription
NameYesThe person's full name
NicknameNoA short name or alias

Why Track People?​

Family Budgeting​

When multiple family members share accounts, tracking people helps answer:

  • Who is spending the most?
  • What is each person spending on?
  • How much income does each person contribute?

Individual Accountability​

Even with shared finances, people can see their own:

  • Total spending for the month
  • Spending by category
  • Income contributions

Fair Distribution​

Understanding individual spending helps with:

  • Splitting shared expenses fairly
  • Identifying spending imbalances
  • Having informed budget discussions

Using People with Transactions​

With Incomes​

Associate an income with a person to track who earned it:

  • Dad's salary
  • Mom's freelance income
  • Child's part-time job earnings

With Expenses​

Associate an expense with a person to track who spent it:

  • Who made that grocery purchase?
  • Whose subscription is this?
  • Who paid for the dinner?

With Transfers​

Transfers are typically not associated with people since they're internal account movements. However, the accounts involved might belong to different people.

Creating People​

When creating a person, provide:

Name​

The full name for the person:

  • "Rahul Sharma"
  • "Priya Patel"
  • "Mom"
  • "Dad"

Nickname (Optional)​

A shorter name for quick identification:

  • "Rahul" → Nickname: "R"
  • "Priya Patel" → Nickname: "Priya"
  • Can be left blank if not needed

People in the Interface​

When recording transactions, you'll see a dropdown to select the person. The display shows:

  • Full name
  • Nickname in parentheses (if provided)

Example: "Rahul Sharma (R)" or "Priya Patel (Priya)"

Filtering by Person​

You can filter transactions to see only those for a specific person:

  1. Go to Incomes, Expenses, or the relevant list
  2. Use the "Person" filter dropdown
  3. Select the person you want to view
  4. The list shows only their transactions

This is powerful for:

  • Monthly spending reviews by person
  • Understanding individual patterns
  • Preparing individual reports

Best Practices​

Keep It Simple​

Only create people you actually need to track:

  • For a couple: Just two people
  • For a family: Each member who has independent transactions
  • Don't create people for one-off situations

Consistent Usage​

Always associate transactions with the correct person:

  • Make it a habit when recording transactions
  • Review periodically for consistency
  • Update old transactions if needed

Use Nicknames Wisely​

Nicknames help when:

  • Full names are long
  • You want quick identification
  • Multiple people share similar names

Person vs Account​

Don't confuse people with accounts:

ConceptPurpose
PersonWHO made/received a transaction
AccountWHERE the money is stored

One person can use multiple accounts, and one account can be used by multiple people.

Example Setup​

Family of Four​

NameNickname
Rajesh KumarDad
Sunita KumarMom
Arjun KumarArjun
Ananya KumarAnanya

Couple​

NameNickname
Amit SharmaAmit
Neha SharmaNeha

Roommates​

NameNickname
Vikram SinghVik
Rohit VermaRohit
Karan MalhotraKaran

Reporting by Person​

With people set up and transactions associated, you can:

  1. Filter incomes by person - See each person's earnings
  2. Filter expenses by person - See each person's spending
  3. Export filtered data - Create individual reports
  4. Compare across people - Understand household distribution

When Not to Use People​

People tracking is optional. You might skip it if:

  • You're the only user
  • You don't need individual breakdowns
  • Transactions are truly shared/joint

In these cases, simply leave the Person field blank when recording transactions.