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@mluhring

Many users find the relationship (or lack thereof) between their checking accounts and the Spending Plan confusing. They try to find ways to hack the Spending Plan to make it reflect what's really in their checking accounts (for example). It hasn't worked well so far and it seems to lead to frustration.

That's because, in it's most basic form, Spending Plan focuses on each month as a separate financial "game." It scores each month's game by looking at how much income you have that month versus how much you spend* that month. If income exceeds spending, the "Left this month" figure is positive and you win that month's game.

Notice that none of that tells you how much money you had in your checking account at the beginning or end of the month. What it does tell you is whether, in the long run, your account balances should be going up or down as a result of how you played the game over the intervening months.**

= = = = = =

* "Spending" includes specific Bills you pay, flexible amounts you plan for in Planned Spend, unplanned amounts in Other Spend, and money you set aside in Goals to use later.

** You can also exclude transactions from Spending Plan, meaning they will affect your checking account balance but not your Spending Plan numbers. For example, credit cards purchases are included and affect your Spending Plan but not your bank account, while payments on the credit card are excluded and affect your bank account but not your Spending Plan.