Goals give a dollar target and a deadline to a specific savings purpose, and track progress straight from a linked account. The savings ladder is a separate, related screen — a conventional ordering for where new savings should go first.
What this screen shows
The Goals screen has a form for adding a goal and a list of your current goals below it. Each goal has a name, a target amount, a deadline, a kind (emergency fund, sinking fund, or general savings), a contribution cadence, and, optionally, a linked account. Each goal row shows current progress against its target and, if it isn't on track yet, the contribution amount needed per cadence period to reach the deadline.
How to use it
- Add a goal — name, target amount, deadline, kind, and contribution cadence. Linking an account is optional but is what makes the progress figure real rather than static — without a linked account, current progress has nothing to draw from.
- Link an account — pick from your existing accounts. Once linked, the goal's current amount always reflects that account's real balance; there's no separate manually entered progress number to keep in sync.
- Edit or delete a goal from its row.
- Read the status line — a goal that has reached its target says so; otherwise it shows the contribution needed per period and how many periods remain, and flags a deadline that's already passed.
The savings ladder
The Savings ladder screen lists the conventionally agreed order for where new savings should go: capturing an employer retirement match, clearing high-interest debt, building an emergency fund, then using tax-advantaged space before taxable investing. You can reorder the rungs with the Up/Down controls on each row to match your own priorities, and your custom order is saved.
Notes and limits
Progress on a goal comes only from its linked account's balance — it is never a number you type in directly, which is what keeps it honest as your account balance changes. Goal currency is fixed to USD today. Both the goal contribution figures and the savings ladder's default ordering are educational — an explanation of a conventional approach and the arithmetic behind reaching a target, not personalized financial advice about what you should actually do with your money.