Getting started: Overview

Welcome to PocketSmith!

We have dedicated user guides to teach you how to use all aspects of the application, but here is a quick summary of the basics to get you started.

Once created, there are four main steps to setting up a PocketSmith account.

Step one: Add bank accounts and import transactions ⚡️

Set up bank accounts and import transaction data into PocketSmith.

Step two: Categorise transactions 🗃

Sort transactions into meaningful categories so you can understand where your money is going.

Step three: Create budgets 🗓👛

Prioritise spending and plan for the future.

Step four: View and analyse the data using PocketSmith's reporting and forecasting features 📊

Compare actual earning and spending to budgeted amounts and see how planned earning and spending affects the future balances of your accounts.

When setting up a new account, you'll be presented with an onboarding checklist outlining these steps - read on to learn about each step in more detail with added tricks and tips along the way!

The first step in setting up a PocketSmith account is to add bank accounts and import transactions. There are a few different options for importing data into PocketSmith:

Bank feeds are the most convenient way to add accounts and import transactions automatically into PocketSmith.

We've got all the detail here: Adding a bank feed and establishing your accounts

Bank files are a great alternative method for bringing transactions into PocketSmith if there's no bank feed support available for your bank. You can easily export bank files from your online banking and import them into PocketSmith.

To learn how to import bank files see: Importing bank files into PocketSmith

Check out our Quick Import tool to upload multiple bank files to a PocketSmith account at the same time. We recommend using OFX file types (with the file name unchanged) where possible, as PocketSmith will attempt to automatically match each bank file to an existing PocketSmith bank account when they’re uploaded - making it even easier to upload new transactions!

You can find more about using this here: Importing multiple bank files to your accounts via the Transactions page

On occasion, you may need to edit the details of an existing account, such as the account name, account type or account currency. You can do this from the Account Summary page by clicking MANAGE ACCOUNT > Account preferences.

For more detail see Edit the details of your accounts

Bank feeds can sometimes default to the incorrect balance option - showing a positive balance when it should be negative, or, showing available credit instead of the current balance for a credit card or revolving loan account.

If the balance that has been pulled through by the bank feed is incorrect, you can change the balance option as shown here: Balance options for an account

Once transactions have been imported into an account, they'll need to be categorised to get the most out of budgets and reporting.

There are a number of ways to categorise your transactions. Getting your categories to best fit you will be an ongoing process where you can easily refine as you go along.

For details on the different ways to add categories, please see: Adding new categories.

There are a number of different places you can categorise your transactions.

You can categorise transactions manually or using category rules and filters. For more details, see: The different ways to categorise your transactions

With Category Rules, you can set up your PocketSmith account to automatically categorise transactions as they're imported.  

Category Rules work by matching a transaction's merchant name to the merchant keywords belonging to a Category Rule. With this in mind, it's important to edit the merchant keywords for each category rule as you create it so they work effectively.

You can find more on creating Category Rules here: Using Category rules to automatically categorise transactions

Check out this guide to troubleshoot any issues relating to Category Rules: Editing & deleting category rules

If you require more sophisticated auto-categorisation for certain transactions, you can use Filters.

Filters allow you to identify transactions using multiple parameters (merchant description, amount, account, etc.) and then apply categorisation alongside other actions (renaming, marking as transfer, etc.) to any matching transactions.

For detail on using Filters and how to set them up please see: Everything you need to know about filters

PocketSmith allows you to create transfer categories and mark transactions as transfers in order to exclude them from various places around PocketSmith, including income & expense reporting and from the overall budget summary figures.

You can set up multiple transfer categories depending on whether you'd like to budget for or track specific transfers between accounts. For example, you may wish to track Savings transfers separately from Bills transfers or Credit Card repayments, this is especially important when using transfer budgets to forecast into the future,

For more on managing transfers in PocketSmith and creating transfer categories see: Dealing with transfers in PocketSmith

As purchases made on a card are treated as expenses, we recommend treating credit card repayments as transfers to avoid double counting any expenses.

For further detail check out: Managing credit cards within PocketSmith

Mortgage setups for users can vary, and due to PocketSmith's advanced forecasting features, these can be a little tricky to set up in PocketSmith. We've created a guide that details how to track Mortgages, and keep forecasting accurate within PocketSmith.

Check it out here: Managing mortgages within PocketSmith

Bill and scheduled income categories are reflected differently from regular categories on the budget page and in reporting. Treated as transactions paid or received in full in a single transaction, planned spending for bill categories won't be distributed over the category's entire budget period, unlike regular (non-bill) budgets. This means that the full amount for the budget will be included if the date range applied includes the budget repeat date.

For more details, see: Bill and scheduled income categories

There are three category type options, and these determine how income and expense transactions within a category are reported on in PocketSmith reporting and budgets.

Yes, this category can include both income and expenses (default)

A category with this option selected will treat income and expense transactions separately. This means that any income transactions within the category are seen as income, while any expense transactions are seen as expenses.

No, this is an expense category (any income is a refund)

The category will only appear in the expense section of PocketSmith reports. Any income transactions will be treated as a reimbursement, which means that the income amount is deducted from the total expense amount for the category.

No, this is an income category (any expenses are deductions)

When choosing this option, the category and its transactions will only show in income sections of PocketSmith. Any debit transactions that are assigned to this category will be subtracted from the income total.

For more detail on category type options, and to learn how to change them see: Category types in PocketSmith

Once your transactions are loaded into PocketSmith and categorised, you can start creating Budgets for each category.

We recommend creating Budgets for recurring bills or regular income payments on the date the transaction is likely to occur as this will result in more accurate forecasting and reporting.

For expenses that do not occur on a specific date, we recommend selecting weekly, fortnightly, or monthly options depending on how you'd like to structure your budget. Remember you can revisit and change these as needed!

Learn how to create Budgets here: Creating a new budget and see our Tips and tricks budget guide.

The overall budget summary displayed at the top of the Budget page (Budget) reflects a user's actual earning and spending compared to their budgeted earning and spending for the date range selected.

For more information, see: Using the Budget page

Below is a quick look at some of the key insights you can look into with your PocketSmith data.

The Calendar page and forecast graph allow you to see upcoming budgets at a glance, as well as future forecast balances, based on budgeted earning and spending 📆📉

Each budget event assigned to an account is used to project the account's future balance or 'forecast'. To ensure that it reflects your current financial position, forecast balances are always calculated from the current actual balance of your accounts.

Tick the 'Show actuals in history' checkbox to compare past actual balances to historic forecast balances.

For more detail on using these features, check out: Using the Calendar and Forecast graph

PocketSmith has a number of reports to help analyse earning and spending and to uncover spending patterns or compare budgeted expenses compared to actual spending.

The Income & expense report is similar to a business Profit & Loss statement, but for personal finances. It shows a breakdown of a user's earning and spending categories for any chosen date range. You can generate a statement for individual accounts, or a selection of accounts and save custom configurations of the report to return to at any time. Choose to include or exclude transfers.

The Cashflows statement provides a monthly breakdown of your finances in the past and forecasted into the future, in a format similar to a spreadsheet. This report shows earning and spending per category, but also the surplus/deficit. Note that transfer categories and transactions are not automatically excluded from the cashflows statement.

Use the Trends page to quickly analyse individual categories and view actual vs budgeted spending broken down into weeks, months, years, or budget periods.

For a quick overview of recent activity and current finances, hop over to the Dashboard! The Dashboard features a net worth graph, an accounts list, a recent transactions list, and an Earning & spending chart, amongst other available widgets.

The Earning & Spending widget allows you to easily view a visual breakdown of earning and spending by category for a chosen date range. Total income and expense figures are also displayed.

The Transactions page shows all transactions imported into PocketSmith. From here, you can categorise, edit, split or delete transactions. You can also add labels and notes, and upload attachments for record-keeping.

You can view a full picture across all of your accounts, or view specific accounts by selecting the account from the side panel on the left of the Transactions page. Use PocketSmith's powerful Search to find and filter transactions based on specific criteria.

Editing and splitting transactions

On occasion, you may need to edit the details of a transaction or split it to categorise portions of an expense separately.

To learn how to do this, please see: Editing, deleting or splitting a transaction

Attaching files and photos to transactions

Store receipts, photos or important documents by attaching them to transactions! There are a few different ways this can be done, including via the transactions page, via the mobile app, or by emailing files to the attachment inbox.

For all the details, see: Attaching files and photos to transactions

Adding labels to transactions

Use labels to keep track of related transactions that span multiple categories. This is useful for tracking tax-deductible expenses or project-related expenses, such as a home renovation.

For details on using labels, see: Everything you need to know about using labels

The search panel is really handy for finding and analysing transactions based on specific criteria. You can create saved searches to quickly filter transactions with a single click.

A sum total of the search results will display, and you can further drill into the search results using the Transactions income & expense pie chart.

For an in-depth look at this feature, see: Transactions search: An overview

The Transactions page pie chart allows you to see a breakdown of your transactions into income and expense or categories based on the criteria applied to the transactions page at the time. You can also use the pie chart to drill down into parent categories.

Check out the Transactions income and expense pie chart for more information.

For a full picture of your finances, you can use the Net worth page to add any assets and debts not represented as bank accounts. This means you can add any assets, such as a house or car, as well as any debts, such as a car loan or a personal loan 🏡🚗💰

To learn how to add assets and liabilities, check out: Managing your assets and debts