Understanding Roles and Permissions

Learn what each role can do when sharing your household

When you invite someone to your household, you assign them a role that determines what they can do. Understanding these roles helps you grant the right level of access to each member.

The Three Roles

Owner

The Owner is the person who originally created the Financio account. Every household has exactly one Owner.

What Owners can do:

  • View all accounts, transactions, and financial data
  • Create, edit, and delete accounts
  • Add, edit, and delete transactions
  • Manage categories, tags, and rules
  • Create and manage goals
  • Generate and save reports
  • Invite new members
  • Change member roles
  • Remove members from the household

Ownership Cannot Be Transferred

The Owner role cannot be assigned to another member. If you need to change ownership, you'll need to export your data and have the new owner create a fresh account.

Full Access

Full Access members can do almost everything the Owner can, except manage other members.

What Full Access members can do:

  • View all accounts, transactions, and financial data
  • Create, edit, and delete accounts
  • Add, edit, and delete transactions
  • Manage categories, tags, and rules
  • Create and manage goals
  • Generate and save reports

What Full Access members cannot do:

  • Invite new members
  • Change member roles
  • Remove members

Best for: Partners, spouses, or trusted family members who actively manage the household finances together.

Read Only

Read Only members can see everything but cannot make any changes.

What Read Only members can do:

  • View all accounts and balances
  • See all transactions
  • Browse categories and tags
  • View rules and goals
  • Access all reports and insights

What Read Only members cannot do:

  • Create, edit, or delete accounts
  • Add, edit, or delete transactions
  • Modify categories, tags, or rules
  • Create or edit goals
  • Save reports
  • Manage members

Best for: Family members who want visibility, financial advisors reviewing your data, or anyone who needs to see but not touch.

Permission Comparison

ActionOwnerFull AccessRead Only
View accounts and balancesYesYesYes
View transactionsYesYesYes
View categories and tagsYesYesYes
View rulesYesYesYes
View goalsYesYesYes
Access reportsYesYesYes
Create/edit accountsYesYesNo
Add/edit transactionsYesYesNo
Manage categoriesYesYesNo
Manage tagsYesYesNo
Create/edit rulesYesYesNo
Create/edit goalsYesYesNo
Save reportsYesYesNo
Invite membersYesNoNo
Change member rolesYesNoNo
Remove membersYesNoNo

Choosing the Right Role

Consider these questions when deciding which role to assign:

Should they be able to add transactions and manage accounts?

  • Yes → Full Access
  • No → Read Only

Do they need to invite or manage other members?

  • Yes → They need to be the Owner (only one allowed)
  • No → Full Access or Read Only

Are they actively managing the finances with you?

  • Yes → Full Access
  • No → Read Only

Role Changes

Only the Owner can change member roles. If you're the Owner:

  1. Go to Settings > Household Members
  2. Find the member whose role you want to change
  3. Click the role dropdown and select the new role
  4. The change takes effect immediately

Upgrading Access

You can upgrade a Read Only member to Full Access at any time if they need to start making changes.

Read Only Indicator

When a Read Only member is using Financio, they'll see a visual indicator in the header showing they're in read-only mode. Add and edit buttons will be hidden throughout the interface to prevent confusion.