The Forecast tab

Open a checking, savings, or cash account and click the Forecast tab. You'll see two things:

• A forecast chart — a line chart of the account's balance projected forward.
• An upcoming reminders table — a list of scheduled reminder occurrences in chronological order.

This page explains what each shows and how the projection is constructed.

The forecast chart

The chart starts at today's actual balance and walks forward in daily steps. For each day, it adds any reminder occurrences scheduled for that date:

• A normal reminder contributes its fixed Amount (positive or negative).
• A linked-account reminder contributes the projected balance of the linked credit card on that day — so the chart shows the expected payoff dip.

The chart extends far enough forward to be useful (typically a few months) and adjusts when you edit or add reminders.

Things the chart does not model:

• Variable, unreminded spending (groceries, gas, random one-offs). The chart assumes these don't happen. In practice, your real balance on day X will usually be lower than the forecast by whatever you typically spend on uncategorized ad-hoc things.
• Income that isn't represented by a reminder. If you have irregular income, the chart is a floor rather than a prediction.

The practical way to use it is not "the line is exactly where my balance will be on May 15," but rather "it looks like I'll dip close to zero around May 18 — I should budget for that."

The upcoming reminders table

Below the chart is a table showing the next several scheduled reminder occurrences:

• Date — when the occurrence lands.
• Payee — from the reminder.
• Amount — signed. For linked reminders, the amount shown is the projected payoff (i.e., the linked card's projected balance on that date), not the reminder's fixed Amount field.
• Balance — the projected account balance after this occurrence.

Use this list to cross-check the chart. "Why does my checking drop $1,240 on the 22nd?" — look at the row and you'll see it's the linked-account payoff for your Visa, not a bug.

Credit cards don't have a Forecast tab

Credit-card accounts (under the Credit group in the sidebar) show Spending and History instead. A credit card's "balance" is a liability and its forward picture is best seen as a cycle rather than a running line. See The Spending tab.

When the forecast looks off

A few common culprits:

• Missing reminders. If a big bill isn't in the forecast, check whether you've created a reminder for it.
• Wrong linked-account setup. If your checking forecast isn't showing the credit-card payoff, make sure you have a monthly linked reminder on the checking account pointing at the card. See Linked accounts.
• Historical imbalance. If the chart's starting point is wrong, your account's current balance is wrong — check the transactions table and make sure the top row's Balance matches reality.