Overview
The Spending Dashboard is for anyone who wants to understand where their money went and what contributed to changes in spending.
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Where did my money actually go this month (or whatever period I pick)?
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Why did I spend more last month — or last quarter?
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Am I spending more than I'm bringing in this period?
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What's actually behind these numbers — which transactions or accounts are pushing my totals up?
The Spending Dashboard brings together income, spending, and transaction details for the accounts and period you select. View trends and explore the details behind your spending. Use what you learn to determine immediate areas for improvement, find opportunities to save, and keep more money available for your goals.
To open the Spending dashboard, select Spending from the left navigation.
When to Use the Spending Dashboard
Use the Spending dashboard for:
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A quick check-in: See how much you earned, spent, and have left—and whether your spending is higher than usual.
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A closer review: Compare periods, explore where your money went, and drill into transactions to investigate changes or correct details.
You can also add a category or payee to a Watchlist when you want to monitor it over time.
To plan your spending in advance, use the Spending Plan. For more detailed or customizable analysis, use a spending report.
How to Explore Your Spending
Think of the Spending dashboard as a set of controls you turn to zoom in on an answer:
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Pick your time frame. Start with a month, quarter, or year, and compare it to a previous period.
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Break it down. See where that spending went by category, payee, or tag — as a bar chart, pie chart, Sankey flow, table, or transaction list.
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Drill in. Click any amount to see the transactions behind it, right from the dashboard.
Start with a Time Frame
At the top of the Spending dashboard, choose to view your spending by:
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Month
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Quarter
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Year
Then select a bar in the time graph to explore that period in more detail. Everything in the summary below the chart updates to reflect the period you select.
Current periods: An asterisk (*) next to a month, quarter, or year indicates that the period is still in progress. Keep this in mind when comparing it with a completed period.
Understand the Summary
Below the time trend chart, four figures provide context for the selected period:
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Income: Money received during the period.
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Total spent: Spending recorded during the period.
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Remaining: Income minus spending.
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Savings rate: The percentage of your income remaining after spending. This calculation is not tied to a specific savings goal. (You can switch from Savings rate to Spending rate, which shows the percentage of your income you spent. A higher spending rate means less of your income remains available to save.)
Together, these figures show how much money came in, how much went out, and how much remained. Watching how they change over time can help you see whether your spending habits are moving you closer to—or further from—your goals.
Choose How to Explore Your Spending
Below the summary, you can breakdown and organize the spending information by Categories, Payees, or Tags:
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Categories — What did I spend money on?
Examples: Groceries, Dining, Utilities, or Office Supplies -
Payees — Who did I spend money with?
Examples: Amazon, Costco, or Chevron -
Tags — What does this spending belong to?
Examples: Vacation, Client A, Rental Property, or Home Renovation
The dashboard also provides several visual and detailed views. See Explore Your Spending Dashboard Views learn when to use the Comparison, Pie chart, Flow, Grid, and Transaction views.
How to Explore Your Spending
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Select Spending from the left navigation.
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By default, all accounts are included. Use the account selector in the upper right to choose which accounts are included in your results.
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Choose a spending window Month, Quarter, or Year, then select a period from the trend chart. A summary is displayed below including Income, Spend, Overspent, and Savings Rate
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View your spending by Categories, Payees, or Tags, depending on what you want to understand.
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Explore the results, which are automatically ranked from highest to lowest. Hover over an item to see its percentage of your total spending.
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Click into a category, payee, tag, or amount to see the transactions behind it.
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Review those transactions and correct any categories, payees, or tags that may be inaccurate. Your spending totals and charts will update automatically.
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Look for one-time expenses, ongoing patterns, or areas you may want to change. To keep an eye on a category or payee, select Add Watchlist.
Note:
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Transfers, refunds, excluded transactions, and investment activity aren't shown as spending. Loan payments can appear when the applicable loan account is included.
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An asterisk (*) next to a month, quarter, or year indicates that the period is still in progress.
Examples
Maya Finds Room to Save Money
Maya wants to build an emergency savings fund but isn’t sure where to begin. She notices that her Savings rate is lower than she would like. She uses the pie chart to identify her largest spending areas, then drills into the transactions behind them. Maya finds Shopping is her largest spend, specifically Target. She adds Target to a Watchlist so she can monitor it more closely.
She now has one manageable change that frees up more money for her savings goal.
Daniel Explains a Spending Increase
Daniel notices that Shopping is much higher this month than last month. He opens the Comparison view and selects Shopping. The transactions reveal that the increase came from a new appliance and several back-to-school purchases.
Because these were one-time expenses, Daniel knows his regular shopping has not necessarily increased. He decides that no ongoing adjustment is needed.
Priya Catches Small Purchases Adding Up
Priya’s Dining & Drinks total seems higher than expected. She switches from Categories to Payees and discovers that frequent visits to the same coffee shop have added up to $85 this month. Priya decides to make coffee at home during the week before work and adds the coffee shop to a Watchlist. She now has a realistic change to make and a way to see whether it is working.
Marcus Corrects a Misleading Total
Marcus sees that his Entertainment spending is unusually high. He drills into the transactions and discovers that a hotel charge was placed in the wrong category. After he corrects the transaction, the dashboard updates to show a more accurate picture of his spending. Reviewing the details helped Marcus correct the data before making an unnecessary change.
James Investigates a Business Expense
Quicken Business & Personal
James notices that spending from his business accounts was higher this quarter. He uses the account selector to focus on his business accounts and compares the quarter with the previous one. When he drills into Office Expenses, he finds that the increase came primarily from a new computer.
James confirms that the increase was a necessary one-time purchase rather than a rise in his ongoing operating expenses. For formal business income and expense analysis, he uses the Profit & Loss report.
Tips for Getting More From Spending Dashboard
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Start with a question. Choose a view based on what you want to learn instead of trying to use every chart.
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If you see an Uncategorized transactions message, review those transactions so your spending breakdown is more meaningful.
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Check Spending regularly. A weekly or monthly review can help you catch changes while the purchases are still recent enough to remember.
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Look beyond one month. Use the Grid or Comparison view and the heat map to distinguish one-time expenses from longer-term patterns.
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Connect insights to a decision. When you find an increase, consider whether it is expected, necessary, or something you want to change.
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Use Watchlists to follow through. Monitor the spending areas where you want to cut back or stay within a limit.
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Switch to Payees when a category isn’t specific enough. Seeing where you spent the money may make the source of an increase clearer.
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Use Tags for expenses that cross categories. A vacation, project, property, or event may include several categories but still belong to one larger purpose.
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Keep your categories accurate. The better your transactions are categorized, the more meaningful your Spending dashboard becomes.