Budgeting
How do budget targets work?
Choose whether to add fresh money, top up an available balance, or build toward a dated goal. Rollover counts differently for each one.
A target is a planning prompt. It tells you how much to assign to a category to stay on track, but it never moves money by itself. Assigning money changes the category; creating, editing, or snoozing a target does not.
First, choose how often
- Weekly multiplies the amount by the number of selected weekdays in the month. A $20 Friday target asks for $80 in a month with four Fridays.
- Monthly asks for the full remaining amount in the current month. The amount is not split with a later month just because the due day has passed.
- Yearly and By date spread the remaining shortfall across the months through the due date. If Pocketwatch offers Allocate the full amount this month, turn it on to fund the whole shortfall now.
Then, choose what the amount means
| Goal | What Pocketwatch measures | Does rollover count? |
|---|---|---|
| Add $X each period | Fresh money assigned for that weekly or monthly period. | No for weekly and monthly targets. You are choosing to add the amount again. |
| Top up to $X each period | The category's available balance. | Yes. Pocketwatch asks only for the amount needed to restore the balance to the target. |
| Reach and hold $X by a date | The available balance building toward the dated goal. | Yes. Money already available reduces what remains. |
For goals that stretch across several months: Pocketwatch counts the available balance already built toward the due date, including money carried forward from earlier months.
What the progress numbers mean
- Needed this month is the amount to assign now to stay on track.
- To go is the total amount still missing from the target, which can be larger than this month's share for a future goal.
- Snooze this month hides the underfunded prompt for the current month. It does not move money or delete the target.
Example: moving rolled-over money
A category starts with $400 available from rollover and has a $250 target. You move $100 to another category, leaving $300 available.
- With Top up to $250, the category is still above $250, so Needed this month is $0.
- With Add $250 this month, the rollover does not satisfy the target. If no money had been assigned this month before the move, the move makes this month's assignment -$100, so the target asks for $350: $100 to reverse the move plus the fresh $250 you chose to add.
If you want carried-forward money to count and only want to refill what is missing, choose Top up. If you want to contribute a new amount every period regardless of what rolled over, choose Add.
Last updated August 4, 2026