Surplus funds overview
Give your extra money a purpose. When you mark a category as Surplus funds, the money in it can cover overspending in your other categories, fund your targets, and grow into an emergency fund. The Surplus funds overview shows how many months ahead that money would cover your targets and upcoming payments.
This is one of the easiest ways to build a 6-month emergency fund. Keep putting extra money into your surplus category and the overview shows how close you are. When you need the money, take what you need out of the category.
Set up a surplus category
Mark one or more categories as surplus funds:
- Open the category you want to use (for example Emergency fund) to see its Category details.
- Open the menu (⋮) at the top and tick Surplus funds ("Cover overspending in others and forecast how long it can support future targets").
You can also start from the overview: open the side menu and tap Surplus funds overview (under Beyond only budgeting). Until you have a surplus category, the screen shows a To get started checklist:
- Mark a category as surplus funds: pick the category to use.
- Set targets: the forecast is based on your targets, so set them on the categories you want covered.
- Auto-cover overspending: turn on to let surplus funds cover overspending automatically.
Income and credit card payment categories can't be surplus categories.
Cover overspending automatically
With Cover overspending by default turned on (in the overview's ⋮ menu), when a category runs out of funds the app moves money from your surplus funds to cover it, as long as there's enough balance.
You can also decide expense by expense: when your budget has a surplus category, new expenses show a Cover overspending switch ("Use surplus funds to cover overspending in this category if enough balance is available").
See Overspending for what happens when a category goes negative.
How far can the surplus money go?
The overview shows:
- Emergency fund progress: how many months your surplus funds already cover, and how much more you need to reach the next month, on the way to a 6-month safety net.
- Progress to financial safety: a bar with one step per month.
- Surplus categories: each surplus category and the total Available.
- How far can the surplus money go?: one row per coming month, showing how much of that month's targets and upcoming payments the surplus covers ("… fully funded" or "… funded of …"). Each month uses only what's left after the months before it.
Tap a month to see what it includes: the Upcoming transactions and All targets that month, with the estimated number of occurrences of each.
Count essentials only
Below the progress, turn on Count essentials only to see how long your surplus would last if you only paid for the things you can't live without: "Only Essential categories count toward each month. Those without a target use their average spending over the last 3 months." In a month's details, an amount worked out that way is marked 3-month average.
It uses each category's nature. If no category is marked Essential yet, the overview says "No category is marked Essential yet. Mark the ones you can't live without, like housing, food and utilities, to see how long your surplus funds would cover them." Tap Edit category natures on that message to mark them.
Example
You have $4,425.00 in your Emergency fund category. Next month needs $3,000.00 for targets and upcoming payments, so it's fully funded and $1,425.00 is left. The month after needs $2,400.00, but only $1,425.00 is left, so it's 59% funded, and the months after that show 0%. Now you know when you'll need to add more money.
The overview is a quick snapshot, not a detailed financial analysis. It counts your upcoming transactions and a fixed amount for each target, and it doesn't include carry-over amounts from earlier months.
Overview options
The buttons at the top of the overview:
- Pin: shows a surplus funds summary on the Home screen. You can also turn this on or off in Home's Customize screen with Pin surplus money summary.
- Targets and Upcoming transactions: open those lists, so you can adjust what the forecast is based on.
The ⋮ menu:
- Cover overspending by default: see above.
- Adjust for overlaps: avoids counting the same amount twice when an upcoming payment and a target are for the same thing. Months where this applied are marked Adjusted for overlap.
- Reorder auto-allocation priority (Pro): choose the order in which surplus categories are used.
- Change goal (Pro): how many months the overview looks ahead: 3 months, 6 months (default), 9 months or 12 months.
Fund targets from your surplus
When a new month starts, you can use your surplus to fund targets without allocating category by category. Open a category's allocation sheet:
- On a category with a target, tap Fund from surplus to move the missing amount from your surplus categories.
- On a surplus category, tap Fund … targets to fund every target that still needs money in one go.
Auto-allocation can also put money into your surplus categories (Allocate to surplus funds).
Why use a surplus category instead of allocating to future months?
Both work, but a surplus category has some advantages:
- One clear view. Instead of spreading money across future months, you see in one place how much you've set aside and how long it lasts.
- Flexibility. Money allocated to a future month is tied to that month. Money in a surplus category can be moved to any category whenever your plans change.
- Easy allocation. At the start of each month, Fund … targets covers your key categories from the surplus in one step.