Some bills come every few months or once a year, like car insurance. Forward helps you save a little each month so the full amount is there when it's due.
Setting one up
On the Bills screen (see Your bills), tap Add a bill. Enter the Amount, choose a Frequency such as Every 3 months, Every 6 months or Yearly, set Start date to the next due date, and pick the Category the bill is paid from. Only bills that come less often than monthly are paced.
Two numbers: on pace and catch-up
- On pace is the steady amount:
Level pace (reference): amount ÷ interval months.
- Catch-up is what you need from now on: what is still missing, divided by the months left until the due date, counting this month and the due month.
You are behind when catch-up is more than on pace.
An example
The Riveras' car insurance is $900.00 every six months, next due 01/15/2027. The Bills screen shows it as "Every 6 months · next 01/15/2027".
- On pace: $900.00 ÷ 6 = $150.00 a month.
- Entering October, Car insurance has Available $150.00. October, November, December and January leave 4 months, so catch-up is ($900.00 − $150.00) ÷ 4 = $187.50 a month.
- On pace, it would hold $900.00 − 4 × $150.00 = $300.00 by now. It holds $150.00, so it is behind by $187.50 − $150.00 = $37.50 a month.
Where you see it
- On the Budget tab, the category row carries a Behind badge with that difference, here Behind $37.50.
- Switch the second column to Need to see each category's catch-up amount, here $187.50.
- Open the category: its Pace line reads "Needs $187.50/mo to catch up · $150.00/mo on pace." Once it is on pace, it reads "On pace — $150.00/mo."
The badge is a nudge, never a block, and it adds nothing to Notifications.
The number corrects itself. After two October paychecks, Car insurance holds $255.48 and catch-up falls to $161.13 a month. Once the bill is paid and matched, Forward starts on the next one.
How paychecks help
Whether the category is Discretionary or Fixed, the Paycheck Planner proposes the catch-up amount spread evenly across the month's remaining paychecks. In a Fixed category it comes on top of the category's other bills, and the bill is never asked for twice. Sam's 10/01 paycheck proposes $46.88 ($187.50 ÷ 4 paychecks, rounded up to the cent).
What to do
If a category shows Behind:
- Confirm your next paycheck in Notifications with at least the proposed amount for that category.
- Or open the category on the Budget tab and tap Fund.