Forecast

Insights → Forecast projects your balance forward, so you see a dip before it happens.

What it’s built from

• Your balance today: the balances of your bank accounts. This needs a starting balance on at least one account (see Accounts and assets). Without one, the forecast adds up cash flow from today instead.
• Your recurring items: income, bills, subscriptions, savings and debt payments that are still to come. Items already paid this month are left out. See Recurring.
• Payments you already booked with a date in the future.

Transfers between your own accounts don’t count: the money stays yours.

Switch between the next 30 days and the next 3 months at the top.

The verdict

At the top, one status sums it up:

Status	What it means
Healthy	You stay above your safety line all the way.
Warning	You dip below your safety line, into your overdraft, or close to its limit.
Critical	You run short: below zero, or past your overdraft limit if you have one.
No data	There’s no starting balance and nothing scheduled yet.

The safety line is a small buffer of 500 (in your currency) above zero, or above your overdraft limit if you count it as spendable. Arca tells you the date of the lowest point and how far above or below the line you are.

Shortfall ahead?

Look at what lands just before the low point under Coming up. Often it’s a matter of timing: a bill before payday. Move a payment, plan some extra income, or move money from savings before that date.

The chart and numbers

The line shows the expected balance day by day, with the lowest point, the money coming in, the safety line and your overdraft limit. Underneath: Next income, Expected in, Expected out and the Net change by the end of the range.

The month plan

The plan card shows how this month’s expected income is divided over Recurring bills, Savings, your budget, Debt payments and what’s Free to spend (or Short). Use the arrows to see other months.

Coming up

The next booked and expected payments, as a List or a Calendar with every day that has money moving. Tap a payment for its details.

Change one month

Is a bill different just once, like a higher energy bill in winter? In the Recurring items card on the Forecast tab, open the item and set the amount for that one month. The rule itself stays the same. Delete override puts the month back to normal.

Overdraft limits

If your bank lets an account go below zero, tell Arca how far:

1. Open the account in Settings → Accounts and fill in Overdraft limit.
2. Decide how Arca should treat it with Count overdraft as spendable:
   • Off (the default): your overdraft is a safety net. The forecast warns as soon as you dip below zero.
   • On: your overdraft is money you may use. The forecast only warns when you get close to the limit, and Home shows your balance including the overdraft.

The switch appears once at least one account has an overdraft limit.