How we calculate
Finance Fable uses clear ledger rules so spending, balances, and forecasts stay consistent. These are product calculations, not tax, legal, or investment advice.
This month
Overview, Budget, and Cash flow use the calendar month through today. A charge dated later this month is not in those totals yet. Reports “1M” is the trailing month through today, a different window. Safe to spend is what is left in this month’s flexible budget. Without that budget, it is cash minus bills due before the next detected paycheck, or within seven days when no paycheck is known. Pending charges are never included.
Spending and money received
Posted purchases count as spending. Pending transactions, hidden entries, split parents, recognized transfers between your accounts, and credit-card payoffs are excluded. Split details count once. Money received includes paychecks, interest, refunds, and reimbursements; refunds are miscellaneous inflows, not earned pay. Purchases stay in gross spending when a refund arrives, so the refund changes net cash flow instead of rewriting the original purchase.
Balances and currencies
Net worth adds cash, investments, and health savings balances, then subtracts liabilities. Health savings accounts appear in one balance category. Debt improvement is shown as a positive change; a zero starting value has no meaningful percentage change. Financial summaries support USD only. If other or unknown currencies are present, summaries are unavailable until supported data is used. Original records remain available for export in Settings; no exchange rate is invented.
Dates and household scope
Current periods follow the timezone in Display settings. Bank posting dates are calendar dates and are not shifted across timezones. A personal account stays off a partner’s desk. Shared accounts are visible to the household. Removing a member ends their access, including exports and saved screens. Member filters on Overview narrow what you are looking at; they do not publish someone else’s personal accounts.
Budgets and recurring items
Remaining budget is planned minus spent. In Flex mode, only the flexible bucket contributes to flexible money left to spend. A long budget horizon scales a monthly plan; short transaction history does not become a complete decade of actual spending. Recurring items are estimates from repeated charges or paychecks, or entries you create. Weekly amounts use 52 payments per year and biweekly amounts use 26. These averages can differ from the number of payments in a particular year.
Forecast assumptions
The cash forecast starts with checking, savings and wallet balances and projects 12 months using known payments and available transaction history. Matched bills replace their historical counterparts so they count once. Everyday spending, irregular costs and card settlements are estimated separately; uncertain amounts are flagged for optional review. Planned changes show their cash effect on the timeline. Investments, home value and debt are shown separately from spendable cash. Missing history or balances can limit the result. These are projections under the displayed assumptions, not guaranteed balances or investment returns.
Detections and advice
Transfers, recurring items, and spending alerts use patterns and can be wrong. A bank ledger cannot establish whether you use a subscription. Review detections and correct categories when needed.