Understanding your numbers

"Why are these numbers different?"

You'll notice the same category — say, a car loan — showing up as several different dollar amounts around the app. That's not a bug. Each figure is the same thing measured a different way, so the app puts a small badge next to each one to tell you which is which. Once you know the five figures, the confusion disappears.

The deepest split is between two worlds. Never compare a number from one world to a number from the other without noticing which is which:

• Plan = forward-looking, in today's dollars — what you expect.
• Actual = backward-looking, from imported transactions — what happened.

The five figures

Plan — a forward-looking assumption in today's dollars. It's what you typed under My Plan: "I spend about $510/mo on the car loan." Steady and hypothetical.

Projected — a Plan figure grown by inflation (for expenses) or COLA (for income) to a future month. Because it's in future dollars, it looks bigger: that $510 loan payment might read $620 in a month fifteen years out. Same assumption, just carried forward. You'll see Projected figures inside the month-by-month detail on the Forecast tab.

Actual (this month) — what you really spent or earned in one month, pulled from your imported transactions. This is the volatile one. A loan might be $510 in June, $0 in July (the payment posted on the 30th), and $1,020 in August (two payments cleared). One month tells you almost nothing on its own.

Override — a month's budget you set by hand on the Spending tab, replacing the plan figure for that one month. "December is different." It carries an amber Override badge; the plan line behind it is untouched. See The Spending tab at a glance.

Trailing average (Avg 12mo) — total real spending over the last 12 complete calendar months, divided by 12. Refunds are netted off, so a category you got money back on shows what it really cost — see Refunds and credits. The current, still-running month is left out on purpose: a recurring bill that hasn't posted yet would drag the average down and make you look thriftier than you are. This is the one number that crosses from your spending into your Plan.

A worked example: the car loan

Say your loan payment is $510/mo. Here's the same loan, five ways:

• Plan: $510 — what you entered. Today's dollars.
• Projected: $510 in an early month, drifting up only if you set inflation on it (loans usually don't inflate — set 0%).
• Actual (July): $0 — the July payment hasn't cleared yet.
• Override: none — unless you typed a different figure into one month's cell.
• Avg 12mo: $510 — twelve real payments averaged out.

All five describe the same $510 loan. The Actual jumps around; the Avg is the steady truth; the Plan is your assumption. When the steady truth and your assumption disagree, that's your signal to update the Plan.

Today's dollars vs future dollars

Plan and Projected are the same assumption at two points in time. We show most headline numbers in today's dollars because that's what you can reason about — "$6,000/mo" means something to you; "$11,200/mo in 2046" doesn't. When you open a future month in the detail view, you're seeing Projected (future) dollars, which is why they look inflated. Nothing has changed except the calendar.

The Plan-vs-Actual reconciliation

Once you've imported spending, the Forecast tab carries a one-line note above the projection, in Compare view, that puts the two figures side by side:

This forecast uses your plan's $5,500/mo of expenses. Your imported spending averages $6,200/mo — $700/mo more. 3 categories differ — compare them

Following that link takes you to the Spending tab in Compare view, where each category shows your plan beside your real average with the difference. Add a missing category there with one click; change an existing line under My Plan — see Your plan vs. your real spending.

If the two sides sit at noticeably different price levels — a plan written years ago, or statements from years back — the note also shows your plan figure at the prices of the months your spending covers, like ($2,442/mo at 2016 prices). Your plan is in today's dollars; your statements are in the dollars of the months they happened. Subtracting one from the other without saying so would report a gap that is really just elapsed inflation.

None of this is advice — it's your own numbers, organized. Every term here is defined in the glossary.