The Problem
"Where did my money go?" is the question that starts most budgets, and a list of 300 transactions cannot answer it. You need the totals. Which five categories ate most of the month. Whether you actually spent less than you earned. Whether last month was normal or a spike. The Insights pages answer those, from the same transactions you already imported and tagged.
What Each Page Answers
- Dashboard: the overview. Spending by category, income versus expenses, and links into everything below.
- Spending: Top Categories by Spend, as a chart and a table. It also shows the dollar total of transactions that still need a tag. That number should be small. If it is not, Module 4 has your fix.
- Income vs Expenses: total in, total out, and the net for the period, month by month. This is the "did I live within my means" page.
- Monthly Trends: one category over time. Is eating out creeping up? This is where you see it.
- Custom Report: pick accounts, tags, and a date range, then export the result as CSV. When you want to do your own math in a spreadsheet, start here.
- Balance Sheet: assets minus liabilities, and how that number has moved over time.
Try It: Find Your Top Five
- Navigate: Insights → Spending
- Verify: a chart and table list your top categories by spend for the current period
- Verify: the page shows a total for uncategorized spending
- Navigate: Insights → Income vs Expenses
- Verify: the chart shows income and expenses by month with a net figure for the period
Write down your top five categories and the net figure. Those six numbers are your monthly review.
Watching the Net Worth Line
Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe. It is one honest number that ignores how busy the month felt. If you are digging out of debt, this is the chart that keeps you going: every debt payment moves the line, and one month it crosses zero. That crossing is the whole story of this app's creator, told in one line on one page.
Try It: Check Your Balance Sheet
- Navigate: Insights → Balance Sheet
- Verify: the page shows your assets, your liabilities, and a total
- Verify: the Net Worth Over Time chart plots that total month by month
Using What You See
Insights are for deciding, not admiring. Once a month:
- Compare each top-five category to its budget line. Over budget three months in a row? Either the line is wrong or the habit is. Change one of them.
- Look at the net on Income vs Expenses. Negative means the budget balanced on paper and not in life. Find the line that broke.
- Check uncategorized spending. Write a rule for whatever is hiding in there.
Then adjust next month's budget. The dashboard reports. You decide.
Key Takeaway: The Insights pages turn your tagged transactions into answers: where the money went, whether you came out ahead, and which way net worth is moving. Review once a month and change something on purpose.
Check Your Understanding
Which page shows your top categories by spend?
Answer: Spending, under Insights. It also shows the total of transactions that still need a tag.
Which page tells you whether you spent less than you earned?
Answer: Income vs Expenses, under Insights. It shows income, expenses, and the net by month.
What is net worth, and why does this app treat it as the number that matters?
Answer: Everything you own minus everything you owe. It ignores how busy the month felt and shows whether you are actually getting ahead. Watching it cross zero is the app creator's own story.
A category has been over budget three months running. What are your two options?
Answer: Raise the budget line to match reality, or change the spending habit. Either way, change something on purpose.