Allocation Decisions: Money to Place
When money moves on an account several goals share and it does not match their shares, Forbidden Finance asks you where it belongs instead of guessing. Here is how that inbox works, on every plan including Free.
Overview
When several goals share one savings account, most deposits are easy: they match the shares you set, so they are divided and nothing needs saying. Real accounts are not always that tidy. A deposit arrives that is not the usual amount. Money leaves. A transfer lands that had nothing to do with your goals at all.
Forbidden Finance does not guess at those. It asks you, in a screen called Money to place, and leaves your balances alone until you answer.
Where the Questions Come From
Only accounts in the Share an account with other goals tracking mode raise these questions. If none of your goals share an account, you will never see this inbox. See Goal Tracking Modes.
On a shared account:
| What happened | What Forbidden Finance does |
|---|---|
| A deposit that matches your shares exactly | Splits it and gets on with it. No prompt. It is logged as Applied automatically so you can still see it happened. |
| A deposit that does not match your shares | Asks you. Nothing moves until you answer. |
| Any withdrawal, ever | Asks you. Withdrawals are never applied automatically. |
That last row is deliberate. Money going into your goals can be handled by a rule you wrote. Money coming out of a goal is a decision, and Forbidden Finance will not make it on your behalf, so every withdrawal from a shared account waits for you, however neatly it happens to fit the shares.
Finding the Inbox
When something is waiting, a card appears on your Goals tab headed Money to place: "One movement on a shared account is waiting for you to say which goals it belongs to.", or, when there is more than one, that several movements on shared accounts are waiting for you to say which goals they belong to. It carries a badge with the number waiting, and a Review button.
When nothing is pending, the card is not there. This inbox does not sit around asking for attention it does not need.
Inside, there are two segments:
- Needs you holds the questions still open.
- History holds everything already settled: what you answered, what you dismissed, and the deposits that matched your shares and were applied without asking.
Answering a Question
Open the inbox
On the Goals tab, tap Review on the Money to place card.
Pick something from Needs you
Each waiting item shows the movement it is asking about.
Say where it belongs
A sheet opens. For money arriving it is headed Where does this go?; for money leaving, Where did this come from? Set how the amount divides between the goals sharing that account.
Confirm
Tap Confirm split for money arriving, or Confirm where it came from for money leaving. Your goals' balances move at that point, and not before.
The two headings are not decoration. A deposit is a question about destination, a withdrawal is a question about origin, and being asked the right one is the difference between answering quickly and having to think about which direction you are reasoning in.
When It Is Not Your Goals' Money
Not everything that moves through a shared savings account belongs to a goal. A transfer you made for another reason, a refund passing through, money that is simply not part of any plan.
Tap Not from my goals. You are asked to confirm with a dialog headed Leave this unassigned?, which tells you exactly what that means: "No money moves and no goal changes. The question stays in your history, so there's a record that it was asked." Tap Leave it unassigned and you will see Left unassigned. Nothing moved.
Dismissing is not deleting. The question stays in History marked Left unassigned, so months later you can see that the movement was noticed, asked about, and deliberately left alone, rather than wondering whether it was missed.
Status Chips
Every item carries a chip saying where it stands:
| Chip | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting | Still open. Nothing has moved. |
| Split | You answered, and the money was divided the way you said. |
| Left unassigned | You dismissed it. No money moved and no goal changed. |
| Expired | It went unanswered for 30 days. No money moved, and none will. |
| Applied automatically | The deposit matched your shares exactly, so it was split without asking. |
Questions Expire After 30 Days
A question you never answer expires after 30 days. When that happens, no money moved and none will. The movement is simply left out of your goals, and the record stays in your history marked Expired.
Expiring is the safe outcome on purpose. An unanswered question is not a hint that the app should decide for itself; a stale guess about money from a month ago is worse than no guess at all. If you missed one, record what you want by hand as a contribution.
Notifications
Forbidden Finance may send you a push notification when something is waiting. It reads "Where should this money go?" with the body "A recent transaction needs you to say which goals it belongs to".
You will notice it never contains an amount. Notifications appear on lock screens, in front of whoever happens to be nearby, so the notification tells you there is something to look at and keeps the figures inside the app behind your authentication.
What You See on Free and Starter
The inbox itself is not gated in any way. If a question is waiting for you, you can review it, answer it, split it or dismiss it on any plan.
Below Pro, when there is nothing pending, the empty state doubles as an explanation of the Pro feature. It is headed Shared savings accounts, with a line telling you that on Pro several goals can share one savings account, each taking a share of what arrives.
Empty States
- Nothing to place means nothing needs you. The screen explains when it will: "When money moves on an account several goals share and it doesn't match their shares exactly, we'll ask you here instead of guessing."
- History with nothing in it yet reads "Nothing has been decided yet. Answers, dismissals and splits we applied automatically all end up here."
An empty Needs you is the normal, healthy state of this screen. If your shares fit how money actually arrives, most weeks you will never open it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need Pro to answer these questions?
No. Reviewing, answering and dismissing works on every plan, including Free. Pro is what you need to create a shared-account funding rule in the first place. Answering a question the app already asked you is a correction, and corrections are never a paid feature.
Why is a deposit waiting when my shares are set up?
Because it did not match those shares exactly. A deposit that matches is divided and logged as Applied automatically with no prompt. Anything else becomes a question so that a guess never lands in your balances.
Why does every withdrawal ask me, even a small one?
Taking money out of a goal stays a user action. A funding rule describes how money arriving should be divided; it says nothing about which goal should give money up. So withdrawals are never applied automatically, regardless of size.
What happens if I ignore a question?
After 30 days it expires. No money moved and none will, the movement stays out of your goals and the record stays in History marked Expired.
Does dismissing something delete it?
No. It is recorded as Left unassigned in your history, so there is a permanent record that the question was asked and deliberately left alone.
Can I see what was decided months ago?
Yes, in the History segment. Answers, dismissals and the splits applied automatically all end up there, along with anything that expired unanswered.
Why doesn't the notification say how much?
Because notifications show up on lock screens. It tells you there is something waiting and keeps the amount inside the app.
I don't share any accounts between goals. Why don't I see this?
Only accounts in the Share an account with other goals mode create these questions. If no account is shared, there is nothing to ask about.
Related Articles
Funding Rules
Set each goal's share of one savings account.Goal Tracking Modes
The three ways a goal's balance can move.Goals Overview
How goals work, and how they sit alongside your budget.Notification Settings
Control which push notifications you receive.Subscription Plans
What each plan includes.Need more help? Contact us at [email protected].