Money buckets and starter categories
The five buckets that classify category groups, what each changes, and the starter categories Skip setup creates.
Updated October 14, 2026
A money bucket classifies a group of categories. Every group is in one bucket. The bucket decides where the group is listed, how a few labels read and how reports sort your money.
The five buckets
Groups are listed in this order on Budget, the Categories page, the Annual Budget Plan and in category lists. Inside a bucket, groups follow their own order.
| Bucket | For | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Income | Money coming in | Its categories take a planned amount (Budgeted) and a Received amount. Budget lists them in the Income section. |
| Generosity | Giving | Listed first in Expenses. In Group view and in the Month summary, its bars are gold and stay gold when over plan. Other buckets' bars show the part beyond the money available in red. |
| Savings & Investments | Money you set aside | Listed second in Expenses. On a phone, its rows read Saved instead of Spent. When money went to these groups in the month, the Budget headline adds "(includes $X saving)" under Expenses, except on a phone. |
| Debt & Liabilities | Loans and card payments | Listed third in Expenses. It works like any other spending. |
| Expenses | Everything else you spend | Listed last in Expenses. |
Only Income changes the math: its categories track money received. Every other bucket tracks money spent.
The Month summary on Budget has a Buckets this month card that shows spent and budgeted amounts for each bucket under Expenses.
Where buckets show up in reports
- Plan vs actual groups its rows by bucket.
- Income and cash flow groups outflows by bucket.
- Where income goes splits your income by bucket.
- The Giving report counts a category as giving when its group is in the Generosity bucket or the category has the heart.
Set or change a bucket
Choose a bucket when you add a group, or change it later on the Categories page. See Manage categories and groups. Changing a group to or from Income changes how its categories count: from money received to money spent, or the reverse.
The Generosity heart
A category can carry a heart. Budget shows the heart beside its name, Categories shows a Generosity badge, and an overspent category with the heart shows in gold instead of red.
Setup and the starter categories set the heart on categories in a Generosity group, and imports keep it. The app has no control to turn it on or off. A category you add later to a Generosity group has no heart. It counts as giving in the Giving report because of its group. When it is overspent, it shows red in Category view, while its group and the Generosity bucket show gold.
Starter categories
The app creates this set when you select Skip setup for now before setup has built any categories. A budget file you create with the standard set on the Budget files page gets the same categories. See Skip setup or start it again. If you finish setup instead, it builds categories from your answers.
| Group | Bucket | Categories |
|---|---|---|
| Income | Income | Salary |
| Generosity | Generosity | Giving (with the heart) |
| Savings | Savings & Investments | Emergency Fund |
| Essentials | Expenses | Housing, Groceries, Utilities, Transportation |
| Needs | Expenses | Internet / Phone, Insurance, Healthcare, Dependents, Personal Care |
| Wants | Expenses | Eating out, Entertainment, Shopping, Travel, Fitness |
The set creates no accounts. Rename, hide, add or delete any of it afterward.