What is paycheck planning?
Paycheck planning (or cash-flow planning) allows you to set specific dates for your paychecks and expenses so you can visually see how money will flow in and out of your budget throughout the month. In EveryDollar, your paycheck plan includes the dates you intend to have money available to spend for items in your budget.
How does paycheck planning work with my regular budget?
Unless you get paid once a month, you have to spread out your expenses throughout the month so you don’t bust your budget. Paycheck planning works with the planned amounts from your budget. And based on the dates you enter, EveryDollar shows you when money is available to spend.
You’ll still track all of your income, purchases and transactions in your regular EveryDollar budget. Paycheck planning is a way to make sure you don’t overspend throughout the month by showing you when it’s safe to spend.
If you adjust your planned amounts in your monthly budget, they will also be reflected in your paycheck plan.
What does “risk of overspending” really mean?
The whole point of paycheck planning is to keep you from overspending throughout the month. After you make your first plan, EveryDollar will tell you if you’ve spread things out well or if you need to go make some adjustments.
For example: If you enter all your dates and see you have negative $20 a few days before you get paid, EveryDollar will tell you you’re at risk of overspending and you need to move some things around. If you’ve got healthy buffers built into your budget, then EveryDollar will tell you that your overspend risk is low (and that’s where you want to be).
I don’t get paid until the fifth of the month, but I still have a balance left over from my last paycheck. Why does paycheck planning show a negative balance at the beginning of the month?
Set a Buffer. A buffer is a great idea for any budget. If you don’t get paid on the first of the month, then you probably have a little left over from last month. Set the amount you anticipate having as padding until your first paycheck gets here.
What if I try to track a transaction for a future month? Will it show up in my paycheck plan?
Nope. Paycheck planning helps you plan for the current month.
Will my plan roll over to the next month?
Yes. After you set up your initial paycheck plan and create a new budget for the next month, all your numbers will copy over into the next month’s paycheck plan.
What if I need to reset the dates for my paycheck plan?
Open paycheck planning, scroll to the bottom, and select Reset Dates. This will reset everything in your paycheck plan back to the first of the month. Then, you can start from scratch and build a new plan.
What if I don’t want to use paycheck planning?
Totally okay! Open up paycheck planning and click Reset Dates. That will set everything back to the way EveryDollar previously worked.
What if I don’t want to see the paycheck planning tool in the mobile app?
You can remove the paycheck planning tile from showing on the budget in the mobile app by tapping on the Profile tab at the bottom of the screen, then tap on Settings and turn off the toggle next to the Paycheck Planning option.
Can I set a specific dollar amount to be available on a specific date?
That's a great question! This feature is not available at this time. Dollar amounts will be evenly distributed by the number of days the line item is scheduled for. If the amount is $100 and scheduled for the 1st and 15th, the split will be $50 on each date.