Today, the Watchlist isn't really helpful for managing the current month spending. The current methodology bases the monthly projection on the average daily amount of spend including already paid bills in “upcoming reminders.” The issue with this methodology is that expenses are not ratable. For example, many of my fixed expenses occur at the beginning of the month (think mortgage or car payment). The current methodolgy shows a significant exaggeration of the monthly projected expense (6X+). I suggest the following: First, the “This Month Spent So Far” colomn should show what has been actually spent so far just as the title states. Second, the “Projected” could use the following methodology: Subtract all planned expenses showing in the Upcoming Expenses List, whether paid or not, calculate the daily average spend using the difference, (unplanned expenses so far), then add back the Upcoming Expenses. Also, the titles should change. “This Month Spent So Far” should actually show the amount spent so far as of that day just as the title states. The “Projected” column should be the above methodology, These changes would, in my opinion, make much more sense throughout the month and improve the usability of Watchlists. Even if the projection is off, it would be off by a much smaller amount than the current methodology and the column headings would indicate what is really in the number. It allows for controlling the spend we can control in a Watchlist expense item.
