The Savings Goal Tracker from Tiller will help you track savings goals against real world account balances. You can create different savings goals to help visualize how you want your money organized. This template works best for short-term savings goals but can help you visualize how close you are to meeting any goals based on your current balances.
How to get started
Install the Savings Goal Tracker by clicking the “Add & Manage Templates” option in the main sidebar under Tiller Solutions and then click “Install Template”
Set your Savings Goals in column K under Goal Name These are the things you’re saving for, like a down payment on a house, a new car, or retirement. These don’t have to be associated with categories.
Select the savings account that will fund the goal in the Funding Account column L. This account’s balance will fund the goals it is assigned to and is where you’ll deposit money each month to reach your goals.
Note: this should not be an account you’re using for day to day spending.
Assign the Goal Target amount in column M. This is the total amount of money you need to save for each goal.
Set a ranking for the goals to indicate which should be funded first within the assigned Funding Account using the Rank section in column J.
Check off each account as “Active” in column I to have it show in the table to the left.
Note: if an account is not marked as “active” it won’t be an option to select in the Savings Goals Dashboard drop down menus.
Savings Goals Dashboard
After setting up your goals you’ll see a breakdown of how much you’ve saved, your total goal amount and how much more you need to save plus the percent funded and a progress bar.
Each goal is grouped under the funding account it’s assigned to so you can see each goal in the context of how much is available in that account and other goals it’s funding. This will show you how close you are to reaching each goal.
You can select one of the goals from the drop downs above the pie charts to get a different visual of your progress for up to three goals.
FAQ
How do I categorize my transactions for these savings goals?
The Savings Goals Tracker is only based on your account balances and does not require that you categorize transactions at all. You don’t need to apply any specific categories to your transactions in order to use this template. You can fund your goals by transferring money into the applicable savings accounts, which will increase the balance.
If you’re budgeting and want your monthly planned savings transfers to be reflected on your budget you can create an Expense type category for “Savings” and use that to categorize money being transferred out of your checking account (negative amounts) and into one of your savings accounts. Use a Transfer type category like “Savings Transfer” for the inflow into the account where money is being saved for your goals.
Can I fund one goal with multiple accounts?
No, there is not a way for multiple accounts to fund a single goal. If you need to fund the goal with more than one account consider splitting the goal into multiple goals.
Can I allocate my savings to multiple goals?
The Savings Goal Tracker template uses a “waterfall” method meaning that this template is built so that one goal is fully funded before moving onto the next one based on the rankings you set.
How can I track an account if it has the same name as another account?
If you go into the hidden columns out right in the Savings Goal sheet and change cell Q3 from J to F you’ll be able to differentiate between the accounts by last four digits and last four of a unique account ID assigned by Tiller’s systems. You can unhide those columns by clicking the small black triangle at the right of column Q’s edge.
Then just re-select accounts from the Funding Account column.
