Some income comes in at the same amount every time. Some doesn't: a small business, commissions, tips or freelance work. Forward handles both. You give it an estimate to plan with, and it counts the real amount once the money arrives.
Adding income that varies
Add it on the Income screen like any other income (see Your income): pick the Payee that pays you, a Frequency and a Start date. For Amount, enter what you expect to receive each time.
When the money arrives
Left to assign counts received income this month + remaining expected income-Plan occurrences not yet matched
. Forward recognizes a deposit as one of your incomes when it comes from that income's payer within about a week of the payday, whatever the amount. From then on its real amount counts and the estimate for that payday doesn't. You don't update anything by hand.
Example. You expect $3,000.00 a month from your business. In October, $3,412.00 arrives from that payer. Left to assign now counts $3,412.00 for it, not $3,000.00. In November, $2,650.00 arrives, and it counts $2,650.00.
Then you decide where the real money goes: the deposit opens the Paycheck Planner, drafted from the actual amount. See Confirming a paycheck.
When the amount is different from your estimate
When a recognized deposit isn't exactly the amount you entered, Notifications tells you:
- More than expected: "Paycheck arrived $412.00 more than the $3,000.00 expected". The extra is already in your income; plan it like any other money.
- Less than expected: a Paycheck came in short card, "$2,650.00 received, $3,000.00 expected — $350.00 short."
The short card offers two choices:
- Adjust this month lowers what you assigned this month, across the categories that income funds, by the $350.00.
- Update Plan baseline changes the income's expected amount to what arrived, for the paydays after this one.
For income that changes every time, Adjust this month is usually the one you want, since the next payment may be higher again.
When a deposit isn't recognized
A deposit is not recognized as your income when it comes in under a different payee name, or more than about a week from the payday. You can still approve it as income in Notifications, and it still opens the Paycheck Planner. But for the rest of that month, Left to assign counts both the deposit and the estimate, so it shows more than you will actually receive: $3,000.00 expected plus $3,412.00 received is $6,412.00.
If your income arrives on no regular schedule at all, you can skip adding it on the Income screen. Approve each deposit as income when it arrives and plan with it then. You lose the look-ahead, but Left to assign only ever counts money you have.
Estimated vs. actual
There is no side-by-side report of what you expected against what you received. The Income screen shows each income's expected amount, and its Received section shows what actually came in from each payer, with the number of deposits and their total.
What to do
If Left to assign looks higher than the money you will really have this month:
- On the Overview, tap Income and open the income that varies.
- Check that its Payee is the one your deposits come from. If a card says deposits are under other payees, tap Review and group.
- Check that its Frequency and Start date match when you are actually paid, so deposits land within a week of a payday.
- If a deposit this month wasn't recognized, leave the estimate's amount unassigned until the month ends.