Cash Flow Report

The Cash Flow report is your primary view for understanding the flow of money through your finances. It shows income and expenses over time as an overlapping area chart, giving you a clear picture of your financial health.

Understanding the Chart

The Visualization

The Cash Flow chart displays:

• Income area (typically green) - Money coming in
• Expense area (typically red/orange) - Money going out
• Overlap - Where income and expenses meet
• Time axis - Days, weeks, or months depending on date range

Reading the Chart

Above the expense line = Net positive

• You're earning more than spending
• Money is accumulating

Expense exceeds income = Net negative

• Spending more than earning
• Drawing down savings or going into debt

Net Cash Flow

The difference between income and expenses:

Net Cash Flow = Income - Expenses

A positive net cash flow means you're saving money. A negative net cash flow means you're spending more than you earn.

Date Ranges

Preset Ranges

Quick access to common views:

• This Week - Current week's activity
• This Month - Current calendar month
• Last Month - Previous calendar month
• This Quarter - Current quarter (3 months)
• This Year - January 1 to today
• Last Year - Previous calendar year

Custom Ranges

Select any start and end date for:

• Specific billing cycles
• Project periods
• Year-over-year comparisons
• Any custom analysis

Comparison View

Compare two periods side by side:

• This month vs. last month
• This quarter vs. same quarter last year
• Any two periods of equal length

Chart Details

Aggregation

Data is aggregated based on your date range:

Date Range	Aggregation
Under 1 month	Daily
1-3 months	Weekly
Over 3 months	Monthly

This keeps the chart readable regardless of the time period.

Hovering/Tapping

Interact with the chart to see:

• Exact income for that period
• Exact expenses for that period
• Net cash flow
• Date range for the data point

Scrolling and Zooming

• Swipe to pan through time
• Pinch to zoom in/out
• Double-tap to reset view

What's Included

Income

Transactions categorized as income:

• Salary/wages
• Freelance payments
• Investment income
• Refunds (if categorized as income)
• Any category marked as "income"

Expenses

All non-income, non-transfer transactions:

• Regular purchases
• Bills and subscriptions
• Cash withdrawals (if not excluded)
• Any spending transaction

Excluded from Reports

The following don't appear in Cash Flow:

Transfers

• Moving money between your own accounts
• Credit card payments
• Internal transfers

Hidden Duplicates

• Only the shown copy counts
• Duplicates don't inflate totals

Excluded Accounts

• Accounts you've chosen to exclude
• Hidden accounts

Filtering the Report

By Account

Focus on specific accounts:

• "Show only checking account"
• "Exclude investment accounts"
• "Compare between accounts"

Useful for seeing cash flow per payment method or account type.

By Category

Focus on specific spending areas:

• "Show only Food & Dining"
• "Exclude one-time purchases"

Note: This affects both income and expenses based on categories.

By Tag

Focus on tagged transactions:

• "Show only business expenses"
• "Track project spending over time"

Combines with other filters for detailed analysis.

Budget Integration

Budget Lines

When viewing Cash Flow, you can overlay budget information:

Budget limit line

• Shows your budgeted expense level
• Compare actual spending to budget
• See if you're on track over time

Cumulative budget tracking

• For monthly budgets: daily budget accumulation
• Visual comparison of actual vs. expected

Budget Line Styling

The budget line appearance indicates confidence level:

Solid budget line - Exact budget amount known

• Direct filter-to-budget match (e.g., filtering by "Restaurants" with a "Restaurants" budget)
• High confidence in the displayed amount

Dashed budget line - Estimated budget amount

• Budget is inferred from historical transaction patterns
• Indicates some uncertainty in the calculation

Budget range (shaded band) - When upper and lower bounds differ

• Shows the range of possible budget values
• Wider band = more uncertainty

Budget and Series Mode

When using spread transactions, the budget calculation depends on which series you're viewing:

Series Mode	Budget Calculation
Actual	Based on actual transaction amounts
Both	Based on actual transaction amounts
Spread Adjusted	Based on spread-adjusted amounts

In "Actual" or "Both" mode, the budget line matches your actual spending patterns. In "Spread Adjusted" mode, the budget reflects the smoothed, distributed amounts—ensuring the budget line always aligns with the primary data being displayed.

Implied Budgets

When filters are applied, budget lines adjust intelligently based on:

• Filtering by account (budgets span all accounts)
• Filtering across budget dimensions
• Using tag filters with category budgets

See Implied Budgets for details on how this works.

Projected Cash Flow

You can project the Cash Flow chart into the future with projected income and expense lines. These projections help you anticipate upcoming months based on your actual spending and earning patterns.

How Projections Appear

Projected lines appear as muted, lighter-colored versions of your income and expense lines, extending beyond a "Now" divider that marks the boundary between historical data and projections.

What you see depends on your Series Mode:

Series Mode	Projection Lines Shown
Actual	Projected actual income and expenses
Spread Adjusted	Projected spread-adjusted income and expenses
Both	Both actual and spread-adjusted projection lines

When you have spread rules active, the "Both" mode shows four projection lines total—actual and spread-adjusted for both income and expenses—so you can compare how spreading affects each series.

How the Average Is Calculated

Both projection lines start from a weighted average of all historical months in your selected date range. Each complete month gets a weight of 1.0, but the current (partial) month is weighted by the fraction of days elapsed.

Example: Say you're viewing the last 3 months (January through March 15):

• January: $4,000 expenses (weight 1.0)
• February: $3,500 expenses (weight 1.0)
• March 1–15: $1,800 expenses so far (weight 15/31 ≈ 0.48)

Without partial-month weighting, March's $1,800 would drag the average down to $3,100. With weighting, the average reflects the full-month rate: roughly $3,750—which is closer to what you'd actually expect for a complete month.

One-Time Spread Exclusion

If you have a one-time spread rule—for example, spreading a single $6,000 car repair over 6 months—those transactions are excluded from the actual projection average. Since that $6,000 expense won't recur, including it would inflate your projected expenses going forward.

This only affects the "actual" projection line. Spread-adjusted projections handle one-time spreads differently (see below).

Actual Projections — Bumpy

The actual projection line shows when you expect to actually see money move. It takes the base average and adds expected lump-sum amounts from recurring spread rules in the specific months they're due.

Example: You have a quarterly water bill of $450 due every 3 months. Instead of showing a flat $150/month, the actual projection shows:

• Months without the water bill: just your base spending average
• Months when it's due: base average + $450 spike

This creates a "bumpy" line that reflects real cash flow — the months where larger bills actually hit your account.

Spread-Adjusted Projections — Smoother

The spread-adjusted projection distributes those same expected recurring transactions across their spread periods, creating a smoother line. Each projected transaction's amount is divided evenly across the months in its spread window, just like spread rules work for historical transactions.

Example: That same quarterly $450 water bill (spread over 3 months) appears as ~$150/month in the spread projection — much smoother than the bumpy actual line.

When you have no spread rules, both projection lines show the same values.

Current Month Overlap

The projection starts at the current month, overlapping with your partial actual data for the month. This creates a smooth visual transition from what has actually happened so far to what the chart projects for the rest of the period. The projected value for the current month represents the full-month average, not just what you've spent or earned so far.

Projections and Filters

Projections respect your current filters. If you filter to a specific category like "Groceries," the projection is based only on your historical grocery spending. This makes it easy to answer questions like "how much will I likely spend on groceries next month?"

Budget lines and projections can be viewed together—turn on budget lines to see how your projected spending compares to your budget.

Projection Breakdown

When you tap on a projected month, a collapsible Projection breakdown section appears in the period details. This shows exactly which recurring rules contribute to that month's projected amount:

• Each rule shows its name, amount, and frequency (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually)
• Helps you understand why a specific month's projection is higher or lower than average
• Especially useful for "bumpy" actual projections where large recurring bills cause spikes

Exploring Projected Months

The Explore button is available for projected months, not just historical ones. When you tap Explore on a projected month, the Explorer shows spread-adjusted synthetic groups for future months — the same recurring transactions that contribute to the projection, distributed across their spread periods. This lets you see the specific rules and amounts that make up a projected month's total.

Using Cash Flow Effectively

Monthly Health Check

1. Select "This Month"
2. Check if income exceeds expenses
3. Compare to last month
4. Note any unusual spikes

Identify Patterns

1. Select "Last 12 Months"
2. Look for seasonal expense spikes (holidays, summer, etc.)
3. Check income consistency
4. Plan for predictable variations

Track Progress

1. Compare this year to last year
2. Are you spending less? Earning more?
3. Is your net cash flow improving?
4. Celebrate wins, address problems

Budget Performance

1. Turn on budget lines
2. See how actual spending tracks
3. Identify months you exceeded budget
4. Adjust future budgets based on patterns

Common Insights

Paycheck-to-Paycheck Pattern

If expenses closely follow income with little gap:

• Consider building an emergency fund
• Look for expenses to reduce
• Automate savings

Seasonal Variation

Spikes at certain times of year:

• Holiday spending in December
• Summer vacation expenses
• Back-to-school in August
• Plan and budget for these

Income Variability

For irregular income (freelance, commission):

• Look at 6-12 month averages
• Budget based on low months
• Save during high months

Expense Creep

Gradually increasing expenses:

• Compare year-over-year
• Identify growing categories
• Review subscriptions and recurring costs

Troubleshooting

Income Appears as Expenses

• Check category settings—is it marked as income?
• Verify the transaction amount sign (positive = income)
• Review uncategorized transactions

Numbers Don't Match Expectations

• Check for excluded accounts
• Verify transfers are correctly identified
• Look for pending transactions
• Check date range includes all relevant transactions

Budget Lines Missing

• Ensure budgets exist for the filtered categories
• Check that budget periods overlap with the date range
• Verify budget settings are configured

Chart Looks Empty

• Expand the date range
• Check filters aren't too restrictive
• Verify accounts are connected and synced

Related Features

• Explorer - Drill down into specific categories
• Budgets - Set spending limits visible in reports
• Implied Budgets - How filters affect budget lines
• Transfer Detection - Why transfers don't appear
• Spread Transactions - How spread rules affect projections
• Categories - How transactions are classified