Set up Pocketwatch your way

Two ways in: link your banks and let transactions flow in automatically, or track everything by hand. Same destination - accounts, a budget made of categories, and a net worth that updates itself.

1. Make an account

Head to sign up. You'll need an email, a password, and a phone number for two-factor - that step isn't optional, because Pocketwatch holds financial data and an SMS second factor is the minimum. You get a free 14-day trial; no card to start, and we'll ask for one before it expires.

2. Add a pocket

A pocket is a self-contained workspace - its own accounts, budget, and net worth. Most people use exactly one for personal finances; some add a second for a side business or shared household. Name it and you're set. Switching pockets later is one click in the sidebar. More on pockets.

3. Add your accounts - linked or manual

Open the Accounts page and hit Add Account. You'll see two options. Pick whichever fits how hands-on you want to be - and you can mix both inside the same pocket.

Link with Plaid - automatic

Connect a bank or card and Pocketwatch pulls in your balances and recent transactions, then keeps them syncing on its own. Linked accounts are read-only here - your bank stays the source of truth, so there's nothing to backfill and nothing to reconcile by hand. You can disconnect a bank anytime in Settings. Bank linking is available on the Basic and Pro plans.

The fast path: link your accounts, glance at the imported transactions, group them into categories in the budget, then add any investments. Most of your recent history shows up before you've typed a thing.

Add manually - full control

Keeping your data entirely yours, or using the desktop app? Add an account by hand: pick a type, name it, and set one number.

Cash (checking, savings) starts at its current balance.
Debt (credit cards, loans) starts at the amount you owe - add the APR to power the payoff timeline.
Investment (brokerage, retirement, crypto) starts with its uninvested cash; you add holdings separately, and prices update on their own.

Your starting balance is your starting line. That number already reflects everything that happened before today, so you don't need to enter past transactions - backfilling them would just double-count money your balance already includes. Set the balance, then log new activity from today forward.

4. Build your budget - create your categories

Open the Budget page. At the top is Ready to assign: money that's landed in your accounts but doesn't have a purpose yet. Create a category for each thing your money does - Rent, Groceries, Savings, Fun - and assign dollars into each until Ready to assign reaches zero.

That's zero-based budgeting: every dollar assigned a purpose before it gets spent. Unspent category balances roll forward, so nothing vanishes at month's end. How budgeting works.

5. Add investments (optional)

On an investment account, log your holdings as lots - what you bought, how many units, and at what price. Pocketwatch tracks cost basis and current market value automatically, repricing as the market moves and folding the total into your net worth. Linked brokerage accounts bring their holdings in for you.

6. Automate the recurring stuff

Rent, subscriptions, paychecks - flag a transaction you enter as recurring (weekly through annually) and Pocketwatch projects it forward, so upcoming bills show up before they hit. Linked accounts don't need this: their real transactions arrive from your bank as they happen.

What's next

You've got the loop - accounts in, dollars stashed, net worth live. From here, Budgeting goes deep on the day-to-day, and Pockets covers when to spin up a second workspace.

Last updated June 19, 2026