Transfers

Moving money between your own accounts, such as $500 from checking to savings, is a transfer. Put these in a category with the transfer type and Penny leaves them out of both income and spending. Otherwise that $500 counts as spending, and a credit card payment counts purchases already on the card a second time.

Setting it up

Create one or more categories with the transfer type. A single Transfer category works, or you can split them up, for example into Credit card payment, Savings, and Investments.

When both accounts are in Penny, categorize both sides: the money leaving one account and the money arriving in the other. Use rules to categorize future transfers automatically.

What counts as a transfer

• Credit card payments
• Moving money to and from savings
• Brokerage and retirement contributions
• Moving money between your own banks
• Cash withdrawals, if you track cash purchases separately
• Loan payments, if you want. You can split a payment into principal (transfer) and interest (expense), or count the whole payment as spending. Whichever you pick, stay consistent.

What doesn't

• Paying a friend through Venmo or Cash App. The money left the household, so it's spending.
• Refunds. Put them in the original purchase's category so they reduce it.
• Paychecks. They're income.