Forecast

The Forecast screen answers the most important question in household accounting: “how will my money look over the coming months?”. Cuéntamo takes your current balance, adds your recurring movements (salary, bills, mortgage…) and the planned movements that haven't happened yet, and draws a balance line into the future. With that it warns you whether you'll go into the red, when, and how much room you have to spend without getting into trouble.

You don't need to do anything special for it to work: the forecast feeds itself from what you've already recorded. The more complete your recurrents and accounts are, the more reliable the line.

Where the numbers come from

The forecast is built from three ingredients:

• The current balance of your accounts. It's the starting point, the height the line takes off from as of today.
• Your history of real movements, which draws the part of the line before today (where you're coming from).
• Your future projections: the movements Cuéntamo generates from your recurrents (salary, bills, subscriptions…) plus any future movement you've confirmed by hand, and what you have left to spend of your budgets (at the end of each month).

One key thing: not every account enters the forecast. On the Accounts screen, each account has a role. Only accounts with the Normal role (and where the “In forecast” switch is on) add to the balance projection. Auxiliary accounts and Debts and reimbursements accounts stay out of the forecast line (even though their balance still counts towards your total balance and your net worth). If you miss an account in the projection, check its role: there's a note with a direct link to Accounts just above the chart.

The horizon (how many months you look ahead)

At the top right, the “Horizon” selector decides how far the projection reaches: 3, 6, 12, 24, 36, 48 or 60 months (up to 5 years out). The chart and table adjust to what you pick.

Free users can look up to 6 months; the longer horizons are tagged “Más” and, when clicked, open the Cuéntamo Más window. With Más you see the full projection up to 60 months.

An important safety detail: even though the free version only shows 6 months, Cuéntamo always calculates long term under the hood. So if a balance problem appears beyond your visible window, it doesn't give you a misleadingly optimistic number: it warns you that the forecast is trending down (with an estimate in years of when the red would arrive), while reserving the exact date and amount for Cuéntamo Más.

Current balance and expected minimum

The first large card shows your current balance (in red if negative). Below it, the “Expected minimum” line: the lowest point your balance will reach within the horizon, with the date when it would happen. It's the figure most worth watching, because a negative minimum means that at some point you run out of money.

If that minimum is negative, the card adds the date of the first red day and a list of ideas to avoid it:

• Earn or save X per month (the exact amount that, contributed each month, would keep the balance positive across the whole horizon).
• Review your recurrents, with a direct link to the Recurrents screen.
• Check the planned movements up to the critical date, with a link to the already-filtered list.
• Transfer money from savings or defer a large expense.

In the free version, if the only problem is beyond your 6 visible months, you'll see a qualitative warning (“the forecast is trending down…”) with an estimate in years, instead of the exact figures.

Negative-balance alerts per account

If a specific account is going to go negative, a block of red alerts appears, one per affected account. Each alert states the account name, the exact date it would go into the red and the projected balance that day.

Each alert also carries a thumbnail of that account's projected balance, from today until a month past the overdraft —beside the text on wide screens, underneath on mobile—. It's drawn as steps, which is how a balance really behaves: flat between movements, jumping on the day of each entry. The dotted line is zero and the vertical one marks the alert's day; the fill below zero is red. At a glance you can tell a passing dip —down one day, recovered the next— from a sustained slide, which is what decides whether you need to act today.

The “View movements” link takes you straight to that account's movements around the critical date (two weeks before and after), with the overdraft day highlighted, so you can see at a glance which charge causes it and act on it (move it, bring an income forward, make a transfer…).

By email too. You don't need to open the app to find out: if an overdraft falls within the lead time you choose (15, 30, 60, 90 or 180 days; 90 by default), you get an email with the account, the day, the projected balance and the payment that causes it (“Car insurance, −€300”). We warn you once per overdraft, and again only if it comes forward; if you fix it and another one appears later, it warns you again. The owner and the members of the book with a verified email receive it, and each chooses their lead time or turns it off in Settings → Alerts & communications or from the link in the email itself. There are no alerts for credit cards or debt accounts, which can be negative by nature, or for sample data.

The balance evolution chart

The chart draws your balance over time with a dotted vertical line marked “Today” that separates past and future:

• The solid green line is the real balance (your history up to today).
• The dashed blue line is the projected balance (from today onwards).
• If you're simulating a scenario, an amber line for the simulated balance also appears (see below).

There's a horizontal line at zero to see at once when you cross into the red, and if you've set a cushion (see below), a dashed amber line marks that level.

Debts always count. If you keep debts and reimbursements accounts (or connected ones, which play the same role), the forecast takes them into account without you having to ask. It doesn't lump them together, though, because they don't carry the same certainty: what you owe you will pay, whereas being paid depends on someone else.

• The solid line now subtracts what you owe. That money is in your account, but it isn't yours, so counting it would have you planning with a balance you don't have.
• A dotted teal line above shows where you'd be if everyone paid you back. The gap between the two lines is, literally, what you're owed: if it's wide, your peace of mind depends on other people paying.

If you already have a repayment planned (you pay someone back next month, or they pay you), both lines take it into account: from that day on, that debt is no longer subtracted, because the payment already shows up in your balance.

Above the chart you'll also see the summary: how much you owe and how much you're owed today and, if a bigger debt is planned (a loan someone is going to give you, or one you're going to give), how much and on which day. Planned debts count even if you owe nothing today. If you keep no debts at all, neither today nor planned, you'll see neither the band nor the summary: there is nothing to separate.

A nuance worth understanding: for each stretch of the future, the projected line doesn't use the end-of-period balance but the lowest balance within that stretch. It's a deliberate, conservative choice: this way the chart doesn't hide a dip that happens mid-month (for example, if you get paid on the 30th but the big bill falls on the 5th). Hover over any point to see the exact date and balance.

The calendar (balance day by day)

The calendar opens with “View in calendar”, under the “Balance evolution” title (all accounts, with a selector), or with “View calendar” in an account's negative-balance alert (just that account, opened on the month of the overdraft). It's a month in a grid with the projected balance at the end of each day, as a full figure. Use the arrows to move between months (from the current one as far as your forecast goes: six months on the free plan, five years on Cuéntamo Más), and the drop-down to choose all accounts or just one.

• Days when an account is negative are shown in red, and the first day of the overdraft has a red frame, with a notice above saying which account and which day. With “all accounts”, a day turns red if any of them is below zero, even if the total is still positive: money in your savings doesn't stop an overdraft in your current account.
• Credit cards and debt accounts count towards the total but don't mark an overdraft, because they can be negative by nature.
• A grey dot next to the number means there are expected transactions that day.

Tap a day to see, below, the balance of each account at the end of it and the list of expected transactions for that day. In the current month, days already gone are greyed out: the calendar looks ahead.

The investments band (Cuéntamo Más)

If you hold investments, the "Count my investments" checkbox (Cuéntamo Más, off by default) adds a separate line to the chart (labelled "With your investments" in the legend): solid in the past and dotted going forward. It shows your balance plus your investments: into the past, with the real value your portfolio has had over time; into the future, with a conservative estimate (where your total money would be if your investments did poorly, but not disastrously).

It stays on its own line and never merges with the solid one, for the same reason as debts: your bank balance is near-certain money, the market value of your holdings is uncertain, and mixing them would give a false sense of certainty. That's why it's a conservative estimate —the scenario where only 1 in 10 simulations would do worse— not a promise.

The band only appears if Cuéntamo has enough history for your positions (around two years of quotes); otherwise it tells you and draws nothing. The full scenario cone (optimistic, base and pessimistic) and the wealth target live in the Projection tab under Investments.

How much can I spend? (spending capacity and cushion)

The “How much can I spend?” card turns the forecast into actionable figures. It distinguishes two situations:

• If your forecast is already going negative, it shows the deficit: how much you're short (as a one-off contribution) and how much you'd have to save each month to avoid the red.
• If you're in the positive, it tells you the maximum one-off spend you can afford today and the extra monthly spend you could sustain without the balance dropping below your safety threshold.

The cushion is that safety threshold: the money you always want parked just in case. With the 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 6 buttons you pick how many months of spending it equals (Cuéntamo computes the amount from your average spending and shows it alongside). Your choice is remembered for next time.

If you're still building your cushion, instead of “€0” you'll see how much is left and the date you'll have it at your current pace. Below it, the pace: if you set aside for spending part of what's left over each month (25, 50 or 75%, your choice), how much that is per month and when the cushion will be complete then. That spending comes only from what you're going to save, never from what you've already saved.

When there's a cushion, the figures split in two: how much you can spend without touching the cushion (the prudent option) and how much dipping into it (with the estimated date it would rebuild). Below, a message tells you whether the cushion is already covered, on what date it will be at the current pace, or whether it isn't reached within the horizon.

With the cushion covered, whatever you have above it is money to spend or to invest: that's the “without touching the cushion” figure. Below it you also see the annual pace: what you'll earn and spend over the next twelve months, including the expected spending from your budgets and leaving out transfers between your own accounts. If there's money to spare, it tells you how much a year. If you spend more than you earn, the warning turns amber, because as soon as you spend or invest that surplus, each year's gap will come out of the cushion, which is for emergencies, not for covering a shortfall every year.

Can I afford it? And when? (Cuéntamo Más)

The “Can I afford it?” button, top right, tests a specific purchase against your forecast. Enter the amount, choose whether you'd buy it now, on a date or “When can I?”, and whether you'll pay in instalments: number of monthly payments and the interest, as it appears in the contract (annual nominal rate (TIN), APR (TAE) or monthly). The payment is worked out with the French amortisation system (fixed payment, the one used by loans and most financing), and you'll see the payment, the interest and the total. What is tested against your forecast is that total, not just the price.

• Without dropping below: the balance you don't want to cross. It can be your cushion, zero or another amount you type in. It is remembered for next time.
• Paying with: if you have several accounts, you can look only at the one that will pay. The balance of the others doesn't save you from an overdraft in that one.

With “When can I?” you get a specific date: the first day from which the purchase fits without your balance ever dropping below the minimum you chose, until the end of the forecast. It isn't based on monthly averages: it looks at the balance day by day, so a big bill in the middle of the month counts even if you've been paid by the end of it. If it doesn't fit within five years, it tells you.

If you choose “now” or a date and the purchase doesn't fit, besides the verdict (you can afford it, it's tight, or it puts you in the red) it tells you from when it would fit if you wait.

Where you keep your emergency cushion (optional)

Below the cushion months there's “My emergency cushion is in:”. It's optional: if you leave it on “No specific account”, everything works as before.

If you pick an account, Cuéntamo takes it that only what's in that account is your cushion, and shows how much you have against the cushion (with a progress bar, and “Cushion complete” once it's covered). It's useful if, as many people recommend, you keep it apart, in another account or another bank, so it doesn't mix with day-to-day money. Choosing the account doesn't change the calculations in “How much can I spend?” or in the Forecast: the account is included in the Forecast or not depending on its role in Accounts, as always.

Below that, the “Create a goal with milestones” link takes you to Goals with the form already filled in: the cushion amount, the cushion's account (if you chose one), what you already have in it as the starting balance, and some suggested milestones to get there in stages. If there's already a goal on that account, the link takes you to it.

Fine-tuning the cushion (Cuéntamo Más)

The “Configure” button (Cuéntamo Más) opens a panel to size the cushion more realistically, by marking two kinds of recurrents:

• Guaranteed income: the recurring income you'd keep receiving even in an emergency (for example, a pension or rent you collect). It's deducted from the spending the cushion has to cover.
• Non-essential expenses: the recurrents you'd cut in a crisis (restaurants, subscriptions, leisure…). They're also deducted, because the cushion only has to cover the essentials.

With those two adjustments, the cushion stops being “X months of all my spending” and becomes “X months of my net essential spending”, which is a much more useful and less alarming figure.

The scenario simulator (Cuéntamo Más)

The “What if…?” link (Cuéntamo Más) opens the scenario simulator: a testing bench to see the impact of a change without touching your real data. In the panel you can:

• Disable a recurrent (for example, “what if I drop this subscription?”).
• Change the amount of a recurrent (a pay rise, a pricier bill…).
• Add hypothetical income or expenses you haven't recorded.

With dates. Each change can be bounded in time: every recurrent shows two From / Until fields (by month) that bound whatever change you apply to it (turning it off or changing its amount), to simulate “I lose this income for four months” or “from November the bill goes up to 250”. And new items can be Monthly (a flow, with an optional window) or One-off (a single disbursement on its date: the move, the deposit, a renovation). Leave the dates blank to apply the change across the whole horizon.

Comparing scenarios. Save your scenarios with a name and, using the checkboxes in the chart header, overlay several at once: each is drawn as its own coloured line, with its name in the legend, so you can see them side by side (handy for “should I overpay the mortgage, invest, or grow the cushion?”).

While you simulate, an amber banner reminds you you're in simulation mode, the chart draws the simulated line next to the real one, and the spending-capacity card and monthly detail show the simulated figures with the real one alongside for comparison. The reset button returns you to your real forecast. Nothing you do here changes your movements or your recurrents.

The monthly detail (table and donuts)

At the bottom, a month-by-month table breaks down income, expenses, net (the month's difference) and cumulative balance (in red if negative). Past months appear in normal tone; future ones are in italics and marked “prev.” (planned). A blue “Today” row separates the present, showing your current balance.

With the year selector you switch tax years (free users see up to the current year; with Cuéntamo Más, up to five years out). On narrow screens the table automatically turns into cards.

Click any month to expand it: two donut charts open, one for income and one for expenses, with the split by category and its percentage. Each donut category is a link: clicking it jumps to the movements for that month and category, already filtered, to see the detail. When you simulate, each row also shows its real value below the simulated one.

Transfers and debts in the detail. Moving money between two accounts that are part of the forecast is neither income nor expense, so it doesn't appear. When one of them is outside the forecast, the movement does count, under a name that says what it is: “Transfers from other accounts” or “to other accounts” (a maturing deposit, a transfer to savings), or “Credit card” if you pay off a card that isn't in the forecast. If the other account is a debts and refunds account or a connected one, it shows up as “New debts” when the debt grows (you lend someone money, or they lend you) and as “Debt repayments” when it's settled (you pay them back, or they pay you back). And an expense of yours that someone else paid (the dinner a friend paid for and you owe them) appears under its category in the month it happened, together with a “New debt” for the same amount: your money hasn't moved yet, so the month still adds up; when you pay them back, it'll be a “Debt repayment”, not a new expense.

Multi-currency

If you have accounts in other currencies (Cuéntamo Más), a block appears below the chart with the applied exchange rates and when they were last checked. If a quote hasn't been updated for more than a day, it's flagged with a warning, because the conversion of those accounts to your base currency might not be up to date.

Getting the most out of it

• Keep your recurrents up to date: they are the engine of the forecast. A missing bill or an outdated amount skews the line.
• Check the expected minimum from time to time: it's your early alarm for going into the red.
• Before a big expense, look at the maximum one-off spend in “How much can I spend?” to know whether you can afford it without touching the cushion.
• Use the simulator (Más) for important decisions: a job change, a mortgage, cancelling subscriptions… before you take the step.
• Combine the forecast with your budgets and your savings goals for a complete picture of your planning.