When using category-based budgeting, you will see your categories sorted into "Groups." For example, by default, the Food & Dining group contains the categories Groceries, Restaurants & Bars, and Coffee Shops. You can edit the categories and groups in your "Categories" settings page at any time.
Group budgeting uses these groups to allow users to budget both income and expenses at the group level rather than budgeting for each individual category. Rollovers can be enabled for group budgets as well.
When group budgeting is turned on, categories within the group will no longer have individual budget items, and the “Actual” amount spent will instead roll up to the group level. The "Actual" total for each category in that group will be summed and compared to the group’s budget.
Monarch allows you the flexibility to use group budgeting for all groups, a few, or just one!
To turn group budgeting on:
- Navigate to your Budget page.
- Find the group for which you would like to turn on group-level budgeting and hover over the name to see the Settings Gear icon.
- Expend the drop-down under "Budget" to select "By group" and save.
You will now see your categories adjusted and calculated by group spending. The group's budget can be adjusted at any time and your group-level budget will be recalculated.
To turn group budgeting off:
- Navigate to your Budget page.
- Find the group for which you would like to turn off group-level budgeting and hover over the name to see the Settings Gear icon.
- Expend the drop-down under "Budget" to select "By category" and save.
You will now see your group adjusted and broken down by category spending. The category budgets can be adjusted at any time.
To turn group budgeting rollovers on:
- Navigate to your Budget page.
- Find the group for which you would like to turn on rollovers and hover over the name to see the Settings Gear icon.
- Toggle the button under "Make this category group a monthly rollover" to the on position, select the starting month, and save.
Note: Group budgeting is not available when using Flex Budgeting.