How Savings Goals work

A Savings Goal isn't just another way to log a Savings expense. It's a planning and funding mechanism that connects saving → funding → progress tracking → payment → renewal, so you stop having to hold all of it in your head.

🆚How a Goal Differs From a Normal Savings Expense

You can always log a plain expense under Savings, like "Savings → Car Maintenance → ₱20,000", with no Goal. That's fine. Make a Goal when you want Budgett to track your progress, remind you how much to save each month, and know when you're done.

🎯What Creating a Goal Actually Does

It automatically creates (or reuses) a Sub-Category under Savings. You never have to set that up yourself.
That link is permanent. Renaming the Goal later never detaches it or creates a duplicate Sub-Category.
It shows a progress bar right at the top: how much is saved, how much is left, and what percent funded you are.
It works out your monthly allocation and estimated months remaining automatically.

📊How the Progress Bar Reads

Every Goal shows Current Funded vs. Target, a live percentage, Remaining amount, planned Monthly Allocation, and Due Date, all in one place. "Fully funded" has one exact meaning across the whole app: Current Funded ≥ Target.

🔁Frequency: Custom vs. Recurring

Custom is for a one-time target with an end date, like an Emergency Fund or a house downpayment. You set the Target Amount and Target Date; Budgett works out the monthly allocation for you. Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual work the other way: you set a monthly amount and Budgett works out the target. For example, ₱2,000 a month on a Quarterly goal is a ₱6,000 target every 3 months. That fits a repeating bill like insurance.

♻️Auto-Renew Resets Tracking. It Never Moves Money.

Turn Auto-Renew on, and when a cycle's due date passes, Budgett sets that Goal back to ₱0 and starts the next cycle. No tap needed, even if the target wasn't reached. It does NOT take money out of the linked account. Your savings stay where they are. Only the Goal's progress bar starts over.

⚠️ Paying the Real Bill: Your Call, Your Account

Once a cycle's target is reached (say, ₱6,000 saved toward a quarterly insurance premium), when to pay the insurance company is up to you. Budgett never assumes you paid. If the Goal is For a future expense with Create a bill once goal ends, add the expense under its category when the bill is due: a Pay from box shows, already ticked, and pays it from the Goal. Otherwise, log it as a normal one-time expense under the real category (e.g. Insurance) whenever you're ready, paid from the SAME account the Goal was saving into. Auto-Renew never takes money out, so nothing is taken twice. The account only goes down when you say so.

🎂Saving for a Future Expense

When you make a Goal, pick For a future expense if the money will be spent later, like a Birthday Fund. Then pick the category it will be spent on (like Family or Entertainment).
Each month, the money you put in sits in your savings account as that Goal's own pie. It uses part of that month's income, but it is not counted as spending.
Turn on Create a bill once goal ends. The bill waits at the bottom of the Bill List, then moves up when its month starts.
On the day, tap the bill and type what it really cost. Or add the expense under its category and keep Pay from ticked. It counts under the category you picked, and it doesn't touch that month's income. You saved ahead of time.
Cost less? The leftover stays in the Goal. Keep saving or use it next time.
Cost more? The extra comes from the unallocated money in that savings account. If there isn't enough, Budgett tells you, so you can add income or move money into savings first.
Future expense goals don't earn savings XP (Savings Rate, goal milestones, the ₱500,000 hold), since that money is for spending, not keeping.

🔗Two Ways to Fund a Goal

Log a normal expense directly under the Goal's Sub-Category. Budgett sees it and updates the Goal's progress on its own.
Connect the Goal to an item in the Bill List. Mark that Bill Paid, and the Bill, the Sub-Category, and the Goal all update together in one tap.

⚠️ One Real Event, One Set of Records

Budgett never counts the same peso twice. Paying a connected Bill updates the Sub-Category and the Goal in one step. If you ever delete a transaction that funded a Goal, the Goal's progress and its linked account both give the amount back automatically.

⬆️Upgrading a Plain Expense Into a Goal

Already tracking something manually under Savings and want the extra automation? When adding a new Goal, use "Turn an existing Savings sub-category into a goal" . It uses that same Sub-Category (nothing is copied) and fills in the Target and Current Funded amounts from what you've already budgeted and spent there.

One Account, Many Goals. They Never Mix.

Two goals can both save into the exact same bank account without their money getting confused. Budgett tracks each goal on its own: what's saved and what's still needed. The real account balance is just one number. Money in that account that isn't for any goal is called unallocated. It's still there and still yours to spend on regular bills. Nothing gets locked away without you deciding to lock it away.

Example: one savings account with ₱50,000

Emergency Fund₱30,000
Birthday Fund₱8,000
Unallocated₱12,000

A Savings Goal exists to reduce mental effort, not add a second bookkeeping system on top of the first. Once it's set up, just pay the Bill or log the expense. Budgett remembers the rest.

Ready to start?

Set Up a Savings Goal in the Budgett app.

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