A limit goal caps what you spend on a category or tag over a window you choose: "less than $50,000 on Travel this year", "under $8,000 on the renovation tag by June". Financio tracks every matching transaction and tells you whether your pace will land under the cap.
Why limits have an end date
Spending only ever accumulates, so a limit without an end date could only ever be exceeded: it's a countdown to failure, not a goal. Every limit runs over a one-off window: a calendar year, a project, a season. When you want a new period, create a new goal for it (your finished one keeps its result).
The safe pace
Spread your limit evenly across the window and you get the safe pace, the monthly spend that lands exactly at the cap on the end date. A $50,000 limit over a year is roughly $4,167/month.
While the window is open, your status compares your actual spending against that line:
- On Track, cumulative spend is at or under the safe-pace line
- Behind Pace. You're above the line; at this rate you'll go over
- Exceeded. You've already passed the cap
The projection
The goal's detail page goes a step further: it takes your actual average so far and projects it to the end date. "Projected $41,300 by end date, $8,700 under" means that at your current rate, you'll finish comfortably inside the limit. The chart shows all three lines (your real cumulative spend, the safe pace, and the dashed projection) plus the cap itself.
The monthly breakdown chart below it shows each month's spend against the safe monthly pace, so you can spot which months blew out (a July of flights and deposits) and which ones bought you headroom.
The monthly breakdown chart shows each month's spend as a bar, with the current month lighter because it's still month-to-date. Press and hold a bar to see its exact amount.
When the window closes
On the end date, the limit resolves to a final result:
- Finished under the cap → Achieved 🎉, and you can archive it
- Over the cap → Exceeded
Transactions dated after the end date never count toward the goal, so late-arriving imports won't rewrite a finished window.
Tips
- Pick a parent category to cap a whole area of spending: a Travel limit counts Flights, Accommodation, Insurance and every other subcategory.
- Use a tag instead when the spending crosses categories: a "#wedding" tag can gather venue, catering and outfits into one cap. See Understanding Tags.
- One-off limits aren't monthly budgets. They don't reset. For a cap that starts fresh each month, use Planning › Budgets instead.