Using the Goals feature in Monarch, you can create a personalized list of financial goals. These goals can be used to prioritize your financial objectives, such as paying off debt, saving for a down payment, or investing for retirement. By specifying the account balances associated with each goal, Monarch can track your progress and suggest adjustments to help you stay on track.
Table of Contents
- How to create a goal
- How to link a transaction to a goal
- How to update goal balances
- How to use rules for goals
- FAQs
How to create a goal
Web:
- Navigate to the Goals page and select +Add Goals in the top right.
- Select as many items as you would like.
- Note: You can only select one Retirement goal per household.
- Arrange the priority of your goals.
- Enter the target amount for each goal.
- Assign accounts to your goals by clicking Edit accounts.
- Enter the amount you would like to contribute monthly towards each goal.
Mobile:
- Tap your profile in the top left corner and then tap Goals.
- Tap the “…” in the top right and then select Add a goal.
- Select as many items as you would like.
- Note: You can only select one Retirement goal per household.
- Arrange the priority of your goals.
- Enter the target amount for each goal.
- Assign accounts to your goals by clicking Edit accounts.
- Enter the amount you would like to contribute monthly towards each goal.
How to link a transaction to a goal
Web:
- Locate the specific transaction and open it by selecting the ”>” to edit the details.
- Select the goal in the Goal drop-down.
- Note: You can only choose a goal if the transaction is from an account linked to that goal.
- Select the specific goal, and it will automatically apply.
Mobile:
- Locate the specific transaction and tap on it to open up its details.
- Select the goal in the Goal drop-down.
- Note: You can only choose a goal if the transaction is from an account linked to that goal.
- Select the specific goal, and it will automatically apply.
How to update goal balances
Some accounts do not report transactions. For instance, you might do this if you have a retirement account funded through payroll deductions and want to track your progress towards your retirement goal accurately.
Web:
Manual Update:
- Navigate to your Goals.
- Select the Goal you want to update, then select Actions > Edit accounts, and edit the balance.
Automatic Update:
When your account balances have been updated, you will see a blue banner indicating you can update these balances to be used to reach your goals.
- Select Update now.
- You will see your account balances and how much is available to contribute towards your goal.
- Edit how much you want to contribute and click Done.
Mobile:
Manual Update:
- Tap your profile in the top left corner and then tap Goals.
- Select the Goal you want to update, then tap the “…” in the top right.
- Scroll down and tap on Accounts assigned and edit the balance.
Automatic Update:
When your account balances have been updated, you will see a blue banner indicating you can update these balances to be used to reach your goals.
- Tap the balance update banner.
- You will see your account balances and how much is available to contribute towards your goal.
- Edit how much you want to contribute and tap Done.
How to use rules for goals
You can set up a rule to link transactions to a goal. This is useful when you want specific transactions automatically linked to a goal or when you want to add a tag to all transactions associated with a goal. Before creating a rule for a specific goal, ensure you have an account associated with that goal on your Goals page.
Web:
- Navigate to your Settings > Rules.
- Select Create rule.
- Create your criteria for your new rule. You must specify which Account(s) this rule is for, or else no goals will populate under Link to goal.
- Select whether or not you want to apply the new rule to existing transactions.
- Save your new rule.
Mobile:
- Navigate to your Settings > Rules.
- Tap the “+” to begin creating your new rule.
- Create your criteria for your new rule. You must specify which Account(s) this rule is for, or else no goals will populate under Link to goal.
- Select whether or not you want to apply the new rule to existing transactions.
- Save your new rule.
FAQs
-
Why is my actual spending in my budget not matching the cash flow?
- Transactions attached to goals do not appear in your budget plan, but are reflected in your cash flow.
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Can I have as many goals as I want?
- There is no limit to how many goals you can create for your account. That being said, you will only be able to create one Retirement goal per household due to the nature of this lifetime goal.
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Can I apply one transaction to two goals?
- Yes, you can. To do this, you can split the transaction and then apply each split to a different goal.
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What happens when I delete a goal?
- Once a goal is deleted, it will be permanently removed from your household and cannot be restored. The linked accounts will no longer be mapped to the goal and transactions that had been marked as part of the goal will be set to NULL, and all activity and notifications related to the goal will be removed.