Ready to Assign

Ready to Assign tracks the portion of your budgeted cash that still needs a job. When it reads zero, every unit is pointed at a category. If it is positive you still have decisions to make. If it slips negative, you have assigned more money than you actually have.

The Ready to Assign loop

1. Capture money the moment it arrives. Record paychecks, transfers, reimbursements, and cash top-ups in the account where the money actually lives. Budgero updates Ready to Assign instantly based on the inflow amount and account currency.
2. Check your budget table. Ready to Assign lives at the top of the budget table and shows how much of your cash still needs a job before the next inflow.
3. Assign funds with intention. Click on the allocated field in any category to assign money. The field acts as a mini calculator where you can type amounts directly or use math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) to adjust existing allocations. Assign funds until Ready to Assign reaches zero.
4. Reconcile regularly. Matching Budgero balances with your bank balances keeps Ready to Assign aligned with the cash that is truly available.

Two ways to calculate Ready to Assign

Budgero can calculate Ready to Assign in one of two modes, chosen per budget under Settings → Budget Settings. Switching is instant and non-destructive — it only changes the math, never your transactions or assignments. The help popover next to Ready to Assign always shows the full breakdown for whichever mode is active.

Cumulative (default)

Ready to Assign is a single, all-time figure: total income minus everything you have ever assigned (and money transferred off budget). It is the same in every month — the month you are viewing does not change it — which keeps it simple and predictable.

• Income counts as soon as it is recorded, regardless of its date.
• Overspending stays inside the category as a negative balance and carries forward month to month until you cover it. It never touches Ready to Assign.

Choose Cumulative if you think of your budget as one continuous pool and don't mind Ready to Assign staying constant across months.

Monthly (YNAB-style)

Ready to Assign is calculated for the month you are viewing, so each month stands on its own. This matches what people coming from YNAB expect.

• Income counts only up to and including the selected month — money received in a future month isn't available to assign until you reach that month.
• Money assigned in future months is already spoken for, so it is deducted from the month you are viewing (shown as "Assigned in future months" in the Ready to Assign breakdown). Like YNAB, this can only bring an earlier month down to zero — if you assign more ahead than you have, the shortfall shows as negative Ready to Assign in the month where you assigned it.
• Cash overspending is pulled out of the next month's Ready to Assign, and the category resets to zero instead of carrying a red balance forever.
• Credit-card overspending is treated as card debt, not lost cash, so it does not reduce Ready to Assign. Instead the card's Credit Card Payment category shows as underfunded; click it to see exactly which categories and months created the debt.

Choose Monthly if you're coming from YNAB, or you want each month to reconcile on its own — income as it arrives, and last month's overspending reducing this month's Ready to Assign.

Ways Ready to Assign changes

Inflows

• New income. Paychecks, freelance payments, or reimbursements push their net amount into Ready to Assign. These transactions must be categorized under the 'Income' category for Ready to Assign to increase correctly.
• Transfers between accounts. Moving funds from an off-budget account (like savings) to an on-budget account (like checking) increases Ready to Assign. Internal transfers between on-budget accounts keep Ready to Assign unchanged. Transfers out from on-budget accounts to off-budget accounts decrease Ready to Assign by the transferred amount.
• Account reconciliations. When you reconcile an account, any adjustment needed to match your bank balance affects Ready to Assign. By default, these adjustments are categorized as 'Income' unless you reassign them to another category.

Outflows

• Assigning money. When you fund a category, Ready to Assign decreases by the same amount.
• Reassigning funds. Moving money between categories does not change Ready to Assign, but pushing money back into Ready to Assign increases it.

How to allocate money

1. Select a category that needs funds and click its allocation field.
2. Type the amount you want to assign or use +, -, *, and / to adjust the existing allocation like a calculator.
3. Press Enter to confirm, then continue assigning until Ready to Assign shows zero.

Troubleshooting common situations

Ready to Assign is negative

1. Scan categories for overspending badges — red for cash overspending, amber for credit — and move money back until those categories reach zero or green.
2. Check for duplicate outflows or expense transactions entered twice and delete the duplicate.
3. Reconcile each budget account. If balances differ from your bank, adjust the account balance so Ready to Assign reflects your real cash.

Ready to Assign did not increase after a paycheck

• Ensure the transaction type is an inflow categorised to Ready to Assign (leave the category blank).
• Confirm the account is part of the budget—tracking accounts do not affect Ready to Assign.
• If the income arrived in another currency, verify the conversion rate and edit the amount if it changed after entry.

My Ready to Assign does not match YNAB

By default Budgero uses Cumulative mode, which differs from YNAB in two ways: it counts all income immediately regardless of the month you are viewing, and overspending stays inside the category instead of being deducted from Ready to Assign. If you want YNAB's behaviour, switch this budget to Monthly mode under Settings → Budget Settings — income then counts only through the month you are viewing, and last month's cash overspending is pulled from this month's Ready to Assign. See Two ways to calculate Ready to Assign above for the full comparison.

You want to park money for later

• Create a holding category (for example, “Next month buffer”). Assign funds there instead of leaving them unassigned.
• When you are ready to use the money, move it from that holding category to the category that needs it.
• Prefer goals for predictable targets—they remind you when to fund and how much to keep on track.

Next steps

Ready to Assign feels best when goals and categories reflect your priorities. Explore more guides in the Budgero docs hub to keep building momentum.