How to use budgets

How Budgets Work

Your budget is organized into four sections:

• Income — Expected monthly income

• Fixed Expenses — Rent, insurance, loan payments

• Flexible Expenses — Dining, groceries, entertainment, transport

• Non-Monthly — Irregular expenses like annual subscriptions

Each category shows your budgeted amount, actual spending (synced from your bank), and a progress bar with status:

• On track — Spent 80% or less of the limit

• At risk — Between 80% and 100%

• Over — Exceeded the limit

Setting Up Your Budget

When you first visit the budget page, abda seeds your categories automatically using one of three methods (in priority order):

1. Your transaction history — If you have 2+ months of Plaid data, it calculates averages plus a 10% buffer
2. Your persona answers — Maps your lifestyle signals (income, rent, dining frequency) to estimated limits
3. Sensible defaults — Starting estimates flagged for your review

You can edit any category limit at any time. Changes can apply to all months or this month only.

Budget Health Score

Your health score (0–100) updates nightly and reflects how well you're staying within your limits:

• Excellent (90–100) — Nearly all categories on track

• Great (80–89) — Most categories healthy

• Needs attention (below 60) — Several categories over budget

Rollover Budgets

Enable rollover on any category to carry unspent money forward:

• Underspend — Extra amount rolls into next month as a bonus

• Overspend — Overage reduces next month's effective limit

Weekly Digest

If enabled, you'll receive a weekly email every Monday with:

• Your top spending categories

• Any at-risk categories

• Month-end spending projection

• Savings goal progress

Coaching Insights

At the end of each month, the system generates coaching cards that highlight:

• Categories consistently over budget

• Rising subscription costs

• Seasonal spending spikes

• Goals that need more contributions

• Positive streaks worth celebrating