Extra Money Explained

What is "Extra Money"?

"Extra Money" refers to the amount of money you have today that exceeds the total amount required to cover your upcoming Bills, Transfers, and Plans over the next 60 days.

How is it calculated?

There are three primary variables used to calculate your Extra Money.

  1. Account Balance – The amount of money currently available in your budget account. This is typically the bank account you use to pay your bills and where your income is deposited.

  2. Money Coming in - your Income and any deposit Transfers

  3. Money Going Out – This includes your Bills, Plans, and other Transfers (savings, investments, or withdrawals).

    • Note: Any Bills or Plans marked as "Paid by Credit" are automatically excluded from this calculation, as their costs should already be reflected in the credit card Bill(s) you've entered.

Step 1 - Forecast Estimated Balance

Taproot forecasts your Estimated Balance on a daily basis for the next 60 days, based on the dates you expect money to come in.

Step 2- Forecast Total Money Going Out

Next, Taproot evaluates your money going out. The goal of this step is to calculate the total amount that will have gone out of your account for each day over the next 60 days.

Here's an example:

  • Day 1 (today) - you have no money going out. This means your total money going out for Day 1 is $0

  • Day 2 - you have a Bill due for $100. Your total money going out for Day 2 is $100

  • Day 3 - you have a savings Transfer for $150. This means your total money going out for Day 3 is $250 (the total from Day 2, plus the $150 for Day 3)

  • Taproot continues this exercise until Day 60.

Step 3 - Factor In Your Plans

Plans are treated differently, as they do not have specific due dates. Taproot provides flexibility allowing you to setup Plans that are weekly, monthly, yearly and everything in between.

Taproot takes the remaining balances of your Plans and like in Step 2, totals them for each day for the next 60 days.

Step 4 - Calculate Extra Money

Taproot subtracts the total money going out each day (as calculated in Steps 2 and 3) from the forecasted Estimated Balance each day (as calculated in Step 1).

The result is a daily breakdown of your estimated Extra Money for the next 60 days. The amount initially displayed on the Home screen represents the lowest Extra Money value over this period.

If this amount is negative, it means Taproot estimates that you will have a shortage. You can see the specific date of this shortage by swiping down on the tile from your Home screen and reviewing your estimated Extra Money by date. To avoid a shortage, make sure to add this amount to your account before the shortage date.

Conclusion

We hope this sheds some more light on how Taproot helps you simplify your budgeting and reduce the stress that comes with figuring out how much you need by when.