Seeing your spending trends

The Income vs spending chart

Once you have a few months of transactions, the Income vs spending over time chart appears on the Spending tab. It turns your history into a picture so you can see, at a glance, whether your money is trending the right way.

The chart needs at least two periods of data to draw, so it shows up after your second month (or second year, if you're viewing by year).

What the lines mean

There are three lines plus a baseline:

• Income — your actual money coming in, per period.
• Spending — your actual money going out, per period.
• Net (income − spending) — the bottom line: what's left over. This is the one to watch.
• A dashed zero line running across the middle for reference.

Read the Net line against that dashed zero:

• Above zero — you brought in more than you spent that period: a surplus.
• Below zero — you spent more than you brought in: overspending (drawing down savings).

For example, a Net line sitting at +$400 in a month means you finished that month $400 ahead; a Net line at −$250 means you spent $250 more than came in.

Month or Year

Use the By toggle to switch between:

• Month — one point per month, for a detailed, close-up view.
• Year — rolls all the months in each year into a single point, so several years of history read as a clean, uncluttered trend.

Start with Month to spot individual bumps; switch to Year to see the big direction your finances are heading.

Transfers and payments are left out

The chart shows real cash flow, so it excludes transfers between your accounts and credit-card payments — the same money moving around isn't income or spending. This means the lines reflect actual dollars earned and actually spent, not noise. (This relies on those items being marked excluded — see Transfers and exclusions. The app excludes the obvious ones automatically.)

Making it accurate

The trend is only as good as your data, so:

• Import every account — checking and each card — so nothing is missing.
• Keep transfers and card payments excluded so spending isn't double-counted.

When the picture looks right and you want it to shape your long-range plan, bring those numbers into your plan a category at a time — see Your plan vs. your real spending.

This chart is an educational view of your own history, not financial advice.