Setup paths and life templates
The four ways to build your starting categories on the Your path step, what each creates, and the life templates.
Updated October 16, 2026
On the Your path step you choose how Good Steward builds your starting categories. Every way except a blank start leads to the Plan step. Guide me through it and Start from a life like mine go through Review & prioritize first.
The four ways to start
| Card | What it does | Next step |
|---|---|---|
| Keep it simple | Creates your categories at once, using the template that best fits your answers on About you, or the standard set if none fits. The Budget page opens in Group view. | Plan |
| Guide me through it | Asks about one area of life at a time. You select the categories that fit. See Use the guided setup. | Review & prioritize |
| Start from a life like mine | Shows eight templates. You choose one, then change it. | Review & prioritize |
| I'll build my own | Offers Start with the standard set, which creates the standard categories at once, and Start completely blank, which creates none and closes setup. | Plan, or the Categories page after a blank start |
Keep it simple skips Review & prioritize, so the numbered steps at the top show three steps.
After a blank start, select Add on the Categories page to create groups and categories. See Manage categories and groups.
Badges
- Good fit for you marks one card. It marks Guide me through it if your season is Digging out of debt or Living paycheck to paycheck, or if no template fits your answers. Otherwise it marks Start from a life like mine. It never marks Keep it simple or I'll build my own.
- Your earlier choice marks the card you chose last time.
The standard set
| Group | Categories |
|---|---|
| Income | Salary |
| Generosity | Giving |
| Savings | Emergency Fund |
| Essentials | Housing, Groceries, Utilities, Transportation |
| Needs | Internet / Phone, Insurance, Healthcare, Dependents, Personal Care |
| Wants | Eating out, Entertainment, Shopping, Travel, Fitness |
Life templates
Each template changes the standard set. A card shows Good fit when your answers match it, and cards with a match come first.
| Template | Marked Good fit when you chose | Changes to the standard set |
|---|---|---|
| Student | I'm a student | Housing becomes "Rent & residence". Salary becomes "Part-time & gigs". Dependents is removed. Needs adds "Tuition & fees" and "Books & supplies". |
| First budget | The season Saving toward something big or Stable, but not intentional | Housing becomes "Room & board". Dependents is removed. Savings adds "Big goal fund". |
| Renting | I rent | Housing becomes "Rent". |
| Family + home | I own my home or I have kids | Housing becomes "Mortgage & home". Essentials adds "Property tax". Needs adds "Child care" and "Kids' school & activities". Savings adds "Home maintenance fund" and "Education savings". |
| Debt payoff focus | The season Digging out of debt | Emergency Fund becomes "Starter emergency fund". A new Debt Payments group holds "Credit card", "Student loan", "Personal loan" and "Extra debt payments". |
| Variable income | Self-employed / side business | Salary becomes "Client income". Income adds "Other streams". Savings adds "Income smoothing buffer" and "Tax set-aside". |
| Real-estate investor | I own rental property | Income adds "Rental income". A new group, "Property 1 (rename me)", holds "Property mortgage & fees", "Property tax (rental)", "Property insurance", "Repairs & maintenance" and "Vacancy reserve". |
| Retired / fixed income | Never marked | Salary becomes "Pension & benefits". Income adds "Investment withdrawals". Needs adds "Medications & health". Savings adds "Health reserve". Wants adds "Gifts & grandkids". |
If you go back and choose again
The numbered Your path step opens the page of the way you chose last. Select Back (on the templates page, ← Different approach) to return to the cards.
- Guide me through it: Your choices are kept, with any renames, additions, removals and order you set on Review & prioritize.
- Start from a life like mine: Choosing the same template keeps your edits. Choosing a different template replaces your edited list. Every template card except your earlier choice shows a note saying so.
- Keep it simple and Start with the standard set: If categories are already saved, a dialog titled "Replace your categories?" warns that this replaces the categories you already set up and the amounts planned on them. Select Replace categories to continue or Cancel to stay. You cannot undo the replacement.
If the budget file already has transactions, Keep it simple shows "This budget already has transactions, so setup can't run again." and changes nothing.