Adding a Savings Goal

<p> <em>Savings Goals</em> differ from Income and Expense items. They are more complex because according to your input, the goals grow dynamically and automatically every month. You also have the option to add extra contributions or make withdrawals. To add flexibility because life happens, your savings goals can also be paused, restarted or retired. Any savings can also&nbsp;be redistributed into other savings goals.</p> <p> In general there are two different types of savings goals:</p> <p> <strong>1. Preset Goals</strong>&nbsp;have a certain future event and time frame in mind (car, travel etc) and come with a set of expense categories&nbsp; so that&nbsp;you do not&nbsp;miss important costs. After you&nbsp;added&nbsp;all expenses and set a time frame, YBP will automatically determine the monthly amount of saving that will need to be budgeted. Any extra contributions or withdrawals will adjust this amount.</p> <ul> <li> Click on the '+Add' icon.</li> <li> Choose a preset planner from the dropdown list.</li> <li> Fill&nbsp;in a specific title,&nbsp;desired some info/notes, then the number of months to save (when do you plan to go to Hawaii?).</li> <li> In the <em>Expense</em> section, fill in the preset expenses, or click on the '+Add' icon and choose from the preset subcategories, then add the amounts.</li> <li> In the <em>Contribution</em> section you can view your savings. It holds all budgeted monthly contribution as well as other contributions that you might have made towards this goal (i.e. unexpected birthday cash). In order to make this tool work for you fullly, though, it is important to <em><strong>actually transfer the money from your checking account into a savings account</strong></em>.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> <strong>2. On-going Goals </strong>are goals that foster continuous&nbsp;saving. An example is $100/mo for<strong>&nbsp;</strong>your kid's education. As we don't need a concrete time frame here, you determine the monthly amount yourself.</p> <ul> <li> Click on the '+Add' icon.</li> <li> Choose the on-going planner from the dropdown list.</li> <li> Fill&nbsp;in a specific title and if desired some info/notes and the monthly amount you'd like&nbsp;to save.</li> <li> Since this is an ongoing planner, there is no set&nbsp;<em>Expense</em> section.</li> <li> In the <em>Contribution</em> section you can view your savings. It holds all budgeted monthly contribution as well as other contributions that you might have made towards this goal (i.e. unexpected birthday cash). In order to make this tool work for you full, though, it is important to <strong><em>actually transfer the money from your checking account into a savings account</em></strong>.&nbsp;</li> </ul> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> <strong>Creating a Savings Goal Planner&nbsp;out of the Dashboard:</strong></p> <p> In your dashboard, you can also create <em>Savings Goals</em>. It works just like described above, however, since you're not coming directly out of the budget, you have a&nbsp; number of options:</p> <ol> <li> Budget the <em>Savings Goa</em>l: 'Create Goal and Add to Budget' at the end of the planner&nbsp;- saves your goal directly into the budget.</li> <li> Save it as a draft for future use (but not budgeted). It will appear as a drafted goal in your dashboard only. To not budget a savings goal is&nbsp;useful if you want to compare certain savings options you might have.</li> </ol> <div class="well bird success"> To maximize savings: Use your banking institution's 'Automated Savings' program. The bank will automatically transfer the amount you specify to a savings account for you. This is almost always a free service, and makes your life easier as you don't have to remember to transfer the amount over every month.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

<p> <em>Savings Goals</em> differ from Income and Expense items. They are more complex because according to your input, the goals grow dynamically and automatically every month. You also have the option to add extra contributions or make withdrawals. To add flexibility because life happens, your savings goals can also be paused, restarted or retired. Any savings can also be redistributed into other savings goals.</p> <p> In general there are two different types of savings goals:</p> <p> <strong>1. Preset Goals</strong> have a certain future event and time frame in mind (car, travel etc) and come with a set of expense categories  so that you do not miss important costs. After you added all expenses and set a time frame, YBP will automatically determine the monthly amount of saving that will need to be budgeted. Any extra contributions or withdrawals will adjust this amount.</p> <ul><li> Click on the '+Add' icon.</li> <li> Choose a preset planner from the dropdown list.</li> <li> Fill in a specific title, desired some info/notes, then the number of months to save (when do you plan to go to Hawaii?).</li> <li> In the <em>Expense</em> section, fill in the preset expenses, or click on the '+Add' icon and choose from the preset subcategories, then add the amounts.</li> <li> In the <em>Contribution</em> section you can view your savings. It holds all budgeted monthly contribution as well as other contributions that you might have made towards this goal (i.e. unexpected birthday cash). In order to make this tool work for you fullly, though, it is important to <em><strong>actually transfer the money from your checking account into a savings account</strong></em>. </li> </ul><p>  </p> <p> <strong>2. On-going Goals </strong>are goals that foster continuous saving. An example is $100/mo for<strong> </strong>your kid's education. As we don't need a concrete time frame here, you determine the monthly amount yourself.</p> <ul><li> Click on the '+Add' icon.</li> <li> Choose the on-going planner from the dropdown list.</li> <li> Fill in a specific title and if desired some info/notes and the monthly amount you'd like to save.</li> <li> Since this is an ongoing planner, there is no set <em>Expense</em> section.</li> <li> In the <em>Contribution</em> section you can view your savings. It holds all budgeted monthly contribution as well as other contributions that you might have made towards this goal (i.e. unexpected birthday cash). In order to make this tool work for you full, though, it is important to <strong><em>actually transfer the money from your checking account into a savings account</em></strong>. </li> </ul><p>  </p> <p> <strong>Creating a Savings Goal Planner out of the Dashboard:</strong></p> <p> In your dashboard, you can also create <em>Savings Goals</em>. It works just like described above, however, since you're not coming directly out of the budget, you have a  number of options:</p> <ol><li> Budget the <em>Savings Goa</em>l: 'Create Goal and Add to Budget' at the end of the planner - saves your goal directly into the budget.</li> <li> Save it as a draft for future use (but not budgeted). It will appear as a drafted goal in your dashboard only. To not budget a savings goal is useful if you want to compare certain savings options you might have.</li> </ol><div class="well bird success"> To maximize savings: Use your banking institution's 'Automated Savings' program. The bank will automatically transfer the amount you specify to a savings account for you. This is almost always a free service, and makes your life easier as you don't have to remember to transfer the amount over every month.   </div>