Budget & Cash Flow Setup.

What the Budget tab does

The Budget tab is a forward-looking cash flow tracker. Unlike bank statement analysis tools, it works from recurring entries you define, giving you a clear picture of your income vs. spending for any future period. The Spending Pace indicator shows whether you're on track in real time.

Step 1: Add your income

1. Go to the Budget tab and click Add Entry.
2. Set Type to Income.
3. Enter a description (e.g. "Salary, Acme Corp") and the amount.
4. Set the frequency: weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Australian salaries are most commonly paid fortnightly.
5. Set the start date to your next pay date.
6. Tick Recurring so it generates automatically each period. Click Save.

Repeat for other income sources: rental income, side income, investment distributions, government payments.

Step 2: Add recurring expenses

Add each regular outgoing as a separate entry. Suggested categories to cover:

Category	Typical frequency	Example
Housing	Monthly/fortnightly	Rent or mortgage repayment
Utilities	Monthly/quarterly	Electricity, gas, water, internet
Insurance	Monthly/annually	Health, car, home, life
Subscriptions	Monthly/annually	Netflix, Spotify, gym, software
Transport	Weekly/fortnightly	Fuel, tolls, registration, Opal
Groceries	Weekly	Supermarket average
Investments	Monthly	CommSec or Raiz contributions
Loan repayments	Monthly	Car loan, personal loan

Step 3: Set a savings target

1. Click the Settings icon on the Budget tab header (top right).
2. Enter your savings target: the amount you aim to save each period.
3. Choose the target period: weekly, fortnightly, or monthly.
4. Click Save. The Savings Target indicator appears on the Budget overview showing actual savings vs. target, pro-rated for how far through the current period you are.

Step 4: Understand Spending Pace

The Spending Pace indicator compares what you've spent so far this month to what you should have spent if spending were perfectly even:

• Green (pace ≤ 0.9): under budget. You've spent less than expected for this point in the month.
• Gold (0.9–1.1): on track. Spending is in line with the month's progress.
• Red (> 1.1): overspending. You're ahead of your spending rate relative to the month.

Spending Pace assumes even spending throughout the month. A large bill in week 1 will show red temporarily even if you're within budget for the month. Check Month End projection to see the full picture.

Step 5: Use the projection toggle

The date toggle at the top of the Budget tab changes the view endpoint:

• Today: shows only transactions up to now
• Month End: projects all recurring entries to the end of the current month
• Quarter End: shows the next 3 months of projected cash flow
• Custom date: useful for planning around a specific event (holiday, home purchase settlement)

Step 6: Link recurring entries to investments

If you make regular investment contributions (e.g. $1,000/month to your CommSec or Raiz account), you can link the budget entry to your investment holdings so the Portfolio Performance tab correctly attributes the contribution cash flows for XIRR calculations.

1. Edit an investment contribution entry.
2. Toggle on Links to Investment.
3. Select the platform (CommSec, Stake, Raiz) and the specific holdings or jars.
4. Set percentage allocations that sum to 100%. For example: 60% to VAS, 40% to VGS.
5. Click Save. Each time the entry occurs, the allocation appears in the linked portfolio's contribution history.

Step 7: Add one-off transactions

For non-recurring items (a holiday, home appliance, car service), add a one-off Budget entry with the specific date and amount. Do not tick Recurring. These appear in the budget and cash flow views on that date without repeating.

Exporting your budget data

• Click Export CSV on the Budget tab to download your income and expense entries as a spreadsheet.
• The Cash Flow tab has its own Export PDF button that produces a monthly summary useful for mortgage applications or financial planning appointments.
• Both exports include all recurring entries and their frequency (weekly/fortnightly/monthly/annual).

Frequently asked questions

Does PortWorth connect to my bank account?

The Banking tab supports Open Banking connections for viewing balances and transactions. The Budget tab is manual: you define your entries. This keeps the budget forward-looking and independent of transaction categorisation errors.

How does the budget relate to the Cash Flow tab?

The Budget tab is the entry point: you define all recurring income and expenses here. The Cash Flow tab aggregates these into a timeline view alongside upcoming investment events (dividends, distributions, loan repayments) to show projected balances over time.

Can I set budget categories?

Yes. Each entry has a Category field. You can create custom categories (Housing, Food, Transport, etc.) and the Budget overview shows spending by category as a pie chart and table, making it easy to see where your money goes.