Set up a goal

A goal tracks progress toward an amount you want to save or a debt you want to pay off. A goal tracked by a budget category also changes how that category works.

Create a goal

1. Select Goals in the sidebar under Plan ahead (on a phone, More, then Goals).
2. In the New goal card (on a phone, below your goals), choose Save up or Pay off.
3. Enter a Name.
4. In Tracked by, select the tab for what measures progress (Category, Account or Account group), then choose an item from its list. See the table below.
5. Enter the Target amount. For Pay off, the field is Pay down to. Enter the balance to stop at as a positive amount, or leave it empty to pay the debt off completely.
6. Optional: choose a deadline month in By (optional).
7. Optional: enter Planned monthly (optional, used when no deadline).
8. For a Save up goal, leave Count the money already in there (uncheck to measure only new savings from today) checked, or clear it. The box shows only on a new goal, after you choose an item in step 4.
9. Select Create goal.

With the box checked, the goal counts what the account or group already holds, or everything already recorded in the category, purchases included. With it cleared, the goal counts only new savings from today.

Choose what tracks the goal

A goal tracked by a Balance-only account reads the figure your bank reported. See Transactions or Balance only for a bank account.

A tab shows only when it has something to choose. If you have no account groups, the Account tab says: "Saving across several accounts? Put them in an account group on the Accounts page, then choose the group here." Select Accounts page to open Accounts. To track several accounts together, put them in a group, then choose the group on the Account group tab.

Pay off goals are tracked by an account or account group that holds the debt; the Category tab is not shown for them. Hidden categories and closed accounts are not listed.

A category goal counts the money recorded in the category in your on-budget accounts, from your first transaction through the current month. Money going out counts up, purchases included, and money coming back counts down. Planning an amount on the Budget page adds nothing. An off-budget category, marked "(off-budget)" in the list, reads $0.00. See Goal progress calculations.

What a category goal does to your budget

• Rollover. The goal turns on Rollover for its category, so the balance builds from month to month. Every month before your first saved Rollover choice for that category follows the new setting, so Balances in earlier months can change. A month where you turned Rollover on or off keeps that choice, and it carries to the months after it until you change it. Archiving or deleting the goal does not turn Rollover off.
• Funding formula. A Save up goal creates a formula tagged from goal. With a deadline, it splits what the category still needs to reach the target over the months left, counting the money moved into the category before the month it plans, as the goal card does. It plans an amount for each month up to and including the deadline month. In the current month, that amount is the card's Needs as it stood at the start of the month. After the deadline month it plans nothing. Money moved in during a month lowers the next month's amount, not that month's, so after a transfer the card's Needs can be lower than this month's plan. Money moved in during the deadline month lowers no amount, because the formula plans nothing after that month. For a later month, the formula also counts the amounts planned from the current month on that are not yet moved. With only a planned monthly amount, it plans that amount each month.
• Running the formula. The formula adds amounts only when you run it: from Month actions, the Annual Budget Plan, Use my template on an empty month, or when you apply your Budget template. See Set up funding formulas.
• Hiding the category. A goal on a category you hide is no longer filled automatically: every fill skips a hidden category, so the goal's formula adds nothing. The goal keeps its progress, which reads the money recorded into the category. The goal card shows the category name with a small hidden label and the line "This category is hidden, so automatic fills do not add to it." under the progress bar. When you edit the goal, Tracked by keeps the category and shows it with the label. Select Change to track something else. The Hide dialog tells you when a goal is tracked by the category.

Pay off goals and goals tracked by an account or account group create no formula. Neither does a category goal with no deadline and no planned monthly amount.

Edit, archive or delete a goal

• Edit. Select the pencil icon (Edit) on the goal's card, change the fields and select Save changes. The dialog opens on the Tracked by tab of the goal's current setting. Changing Tracked by resets the starting point, so progress counts only from the day you save.
• Archive. Select the archive icon. The goal moves under Archived goals and its formula is removed. To bring it back with its formula, open Archived goals and select the Restore icon.
• Delete. Select the trash icon, then Delete goal. This removes the goal and its formula. Your transactions and budget history are not changed.

An older Pay off goal tracked by a category shows "Choose the account that holds this debt." in place of its progress, with no status badge. Select its pencil icon: the dialog opens on the Account tab with nothing chosen. Choose the account or account group that holds the debt, then select Save changes.