FaithFi Review for 2024

FaithFi is more than just a budgeting application. FaithFi serves as your personal financial headquarters offering a good balance between financial literacy and professional support. The app includes podcasts from prominent Christian leaders in finance, a community discussion board, and a support network of Certified Kingdom Advisors and Certified Christian Financial Counselors.

I do not receive any commissions from FaithFi or their affiliates. All pictures of the FaithFi system and logos are used with permission from FaithFi. For more information about FaithFi and their ministry, visit FaithFi.com.

What is FaithFi?

FaithFi is a personal financial budgeting tool that can be accessed from their website (faithfi.com) or through your favorite app store. The app takes managing finances further than most applications by offering access to quality financial literacy and professional support resources. This includes providing a directory to their nationwide network of professional financial advisors (Certified Kingdom Advisors) and financial counselors (Certified Christian Financial Counselors).

• Cost: $8.99/mo or $74.99/year (with a 14-day free trial)
• Link to bank accounts? Yes
• Best budgeting features: Intuitive envelope budgeting which makes allocating your income simple

In my experience, there is a bit of a learning curve using the software, but is no more difficult than other budgeting applications currently available including YNAB and Everydollar.

How to use FaithFi

Getting started with FaithFi is simple, and only requires your name and an email to get started. If you want to sign-up for FaithFi Pro, you will also need a payment method such as a credit/debit card. Read my complete guide on getting started with FaithFi to learn more.

Pros and Cons of FaithFi

Pros

I honestly believe there are more pros than cons with FaithFi. I have used nearly every budgeting app on the market and am convinced FaithFi can compete technically with each one. Here is my list of the most important pros:

1. Easy to get started. FaithFi makes getting started very easy. Simple enter your name and a valid email address and you can open an account. The account will open a Free account by default, however, this free account is likely not adequate for long term use.
2. Your data remains synced between devices. Most people have a mix of eco-systems at their home: Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. Having a budgeting system accommodate each of those devices is very nice. The data always remains synced between these devices and allows you to stay on top of your budget even when you are away from home.
3. Easily switch between budgeting methods. I personally believe the envelope budget is the most effective method for managing money. But if you don't, FaithFi offers other budgeting approaches together in one app. And if you change your mind or decide to switch, you can easily toggle between these methods.
4. Free financial literacy resources - FaithFi offers a wide range of financial literacy resources, including blog posts, podcasts, and a community discussion board all designed to help you manage money wisely. They also provide a directory for the paid services of certified financial advisors and counselors.

Cons

1. The system can seem complicated at first. Most budgeting apps have a learning curve and FaithFi is no different. While navigating the site itself is rather straightforward and intuitive, the mechanics of managing your money is slightly different than YNAB or other apps. But after a few weeks of use, most people can learn how to use it effectively.
2. The freemium version lacks flexibility. If is great that FaithFi offers a freemium version to test drive the system. While FaithFi includes the free financial resources in their freemium version, you will lack the ability to change the envelope structure or connect automatic feeds from your bank. 

How much does FaithFi cost?

FaithFi offers both a paid version and a freemium version of their software. The freemium version is great to test drive the application and determine if the software is a good fit for your situation. FaithFi includes all of their financial literacy and community discussion boards in the freemium version, which makes opening an account very compelling if you are looking for quality Christian financial resources. Since FaithFi is a non-profit organization and Christian ministry, their paid version of FaithFi is very affordable when compared with other budgeting platforms available on the market.

FaithFi Basic Account

• Cost: FREE
• Features: Manual transaction entry, custom envelopes within a defined structure, limited reporting and tracking, financial resources and discussion board.

FaithFi Pro Account

• Cost: $8.99/mo or $74.99/year
• Features: Automatic bank feeds, custom budget categories, goal planning, reporting, and the financial resources and discussion board.

FaithFi Features

Automatic Bank Feeds

Automatic banking feeds are great and reduce the amount of time needed to manage your budget on a daily basis. In as little as 5 minutes, you can keep you budget up to date and know exactly where you stand for the month. There are two important features of automatic bank feeds, which I will spend more time in an upcoming post to explain: account balance and transactions. It is important to realize that both feeds are coming in from your bank, and if you have pending transactions, the two may not be equal.

Available For Funding

FaithFi is constantly analyzing your income and expenses to determine if your envelope balances match your cash balance. If there is excess cash beyond what has been allocated to your envelopes, you will see a positive number available for funding. This means you have money to allocate to your envelopes. If you have a negative amount for funding, this means you have over-allocated your available resources and need to remove money from an envelope to balance. Because this is calculation is always being performed, pending transactions may give the impression of over-allocation at times.

Envelope Goals

A great feature of FaithFi is their envelope goal feature. Goals allows you to choose an envelope to save money into (Car Fund, Emergency Fund, Christmas Fund, etc.), establish the end date for the goal, and the amount of money you want to save for the goal. Once the goal is set, the app will track your progress every time you deposit money into that envelope until the end date. This is a great way to track your progress and remind yourself of your financial priorities.

Net Worth View

One of the great advantages of FaithFi is its ability to track the balances of financial accounts beyond just checking and savings accounts. FaithFi will track the balance of your financial accounts including a brokerage account, retirement accounts, and mortgages. You can also setup manual tracking for assets such as home and auto market values. This means at any given moment you can see your full net worth picture and track your progress towards your financial goals. 

Financial Resources

FaithFi is packed with a great library of financial literacy and support resources. Faith & Finance is their own podcast and radio show hosted by Rob West and contains both financial wisdom and caller directed discussions. They also include resources from trusted Christian financial leaders in many areas of personal finance include investing, savings, and loan products. The community discussion board is also a popular place to find answers to quick questions from other users, advisors and counselors.

Conclusion

FaithFi is more than just a budgeting application. FaithFi serves as your personal financial headquarters offering a good balance between financial literacy and professional support. The app includes podcasts from prominent Christian leaders in finance, a community discussion board, and a support network of Certified Kingdom Advisors and Certified Christian Financial Counselors.