The Goals screen
Some things take years. A down payment. A car you buy outright. A cushion thick enough to sleep on. This page holds them where you can see them, instead of in the back of your head.
A goal has a name, an amount, and — if you want one — a target month. Then you say what feeds it: one envelope, several, or an investment account if your household has one.
Two things are called goals
They're not the same thing, and it's worth thirty seconds to keep them straight.
| Budget-line goal | Long-term goal | |
|---|---|---|
| Lives | on one line in the Budget grid | here, on its own page |
| Covers | one envelope | several envelopes, plus an account |
| Answers | "fund this much this month" | "will I have the house by 2030?" |
The long-term goal is the why. A budget line's target by date goal is the how — the thing that actually moves money into the envelope each month. Set the big one here, then fund it over there. → budget-line goals
What the page tells you
For each goal: how far along you are, what you'd need to put in monthly to hit your date, what you're actually putting in lately, and when that real pace gets you there.
That last number is a projection from recent months, not a promise. It moves when your habits move. Read it as "if the last few months keep up" — which is still the most honest forecast anyone can give you.
Two things worth knowing before they surprise you:
- The pace is worked out from finished months, so a brand-new household sees $0/mo until one completes. Nothing is wrong; there's just nothing to average yet.
- A goal with nothing going in says nothing going in yet rather than inventing a date. That's the page declining to make something up.
No target month? Also fine. You get the amount and the progress, and there's no date to be behind on. Some things are worth saving for without a countdown.
Why your checking account isn't selectable
When you pick what funds a goal, your checking, savings, and credit accounts are listed but grayed out: already counted by your envelopes — pick the envelope instead.
Here's the reason. Your envelopes already add up to the money sitting in your everyday accounts. Count the envelope and the account and you've counted the same dollars twice — the bar fills to 60% when you're really at 30%, and you find out the day you go to buy the thing.
Investment accounts are different, and they are selectable. The budget never counted those dollars, so adding them counts them once.
Two achievements ride along
Dream Big for starting a long-term goal, The Long Haul for finishing one. → Achievements