Getting a complete sense of your personal finances is important, even when you just open the app for a quick peek. That’s why we made the Monthly Overview graph. We included the information you need right away and made it easy to go deeper when you need more details.

It’s true that this graph contains a few more elements than usual, so there is a bit of a learning curve. But give it a chance, it will make the quick looks at your finances a lot more effective. Here are the main elements:

 

The “Left to spend” number
As the name implies, this big green number tells you how much money is remaining for you to spend this month. If you have set up a monthly budget, all the expenses in this month will be deducted from the budget amount and what you get is the “Left to spend” number.

For more details on how this number is calculated read the Left to spend blog post, or go to the “River Flow” section in the app menu.

 

The “Left to spend” progress bar
The green-coloured background of the graph is a progress bar that tells you how much money you have “left to spend”. The length of the graph represents all the money you have “left to spend” in the month. In the beginning of the month, the whole graph is green. But as you add more expenses, it starts shrinking from left towards the right side. Kind of like a glacier. The green lollipop shows you where it ends and tells you how much you have left to spend.

If you surpass the budget amount you have set for yourself, or spend more than you earn, the progress bar will start appearing from the left in red colour, with the red lollipop up front. In that case it will display how much you went over your budget, or overspent your earnings.

 

The “today” lollipop
You can also see an upside-down lollipop in dark grey with “today” written on it. This lollipop shows current day compared to the time of the entire month. The entire length of the graph represents all the time in the month and the “today” lollipop displays where you are now.

 

The expense columns
These red columns are daily sums of expenses. They show how much you spent on a given day in the month, telling you when you spent the most and helping you to find the main culprit of overspending. The taller and darker the column, the more was spent.

Quick tip: Tap and hold with your finger on the graph to see the daily details.

 

Compare the “left to spend” and “today” lollipops
To quickly size up your financial health this month, look at the two lollipops on the graph. The green lollipop tells you how much money you have left to spend, while the grey – today lollipop tells you how much time you have left.

If they’re aligned or almost aligned, you’re right on track so far. You’re on the way to spend the almost exact amount of money you budgeted or earned in this period.

If the today lollipop (grey) is way ahead of the money left lollipop (green), then you’re doing great this month. You’ve spent less than you thought you will in this amount of time. If this happens a lot, perhaps it’s time to lower the budget amount.

 

If the money left lollipop (green) is way ahead of the today lollipop (grey), then you’re not doing so well with your budget. You’re spending more than was expected. Time to reduce your spending, or if that’s not possible, make the budget amount larger next time.

If the lollipop has already turned to red, you have already spent more than the money you had put in the budget amount. The lollipop simply tells you by how much.

 

To learn more, check out the Left to spend and River flow graph blog posts.