Funding Rules: Sharing One Account Between Goals
How to divide the money arriving in one savings account between several goals in Forbidden Finance, using fixed amounts and percentages, on Pro and Premium.
Overview
Most people do not open a savings account per goal. One account quietly holds the holiday fund, next year's insurance premium and the new-laptop money all at once, and the split lives in your head.
A funding rule writes that split down. Several goals share one account, each taking a share of the money that arrives, either a fixed amount or a percentage. When a deposit lands, it is divided by those shares automatically, and you stop doing the arithmetic.
Sharing an account between goals is part of Pro. The goal itself has to be in the Share an account with other goals tracking mode first, see Goal Tracking Modes.
How Shares Divide a Deposit
The rule Forbidden Finance follows is stated at the top of the shares editor:
"Money arriving in this account is divided between these goals. Fixed amounts come off the top; percentages divide what is left. Shares apply to future deposits — they never move a balance already recorded."
Three things are worth pulling out of that sentence.
Fixed amounts come off the top. A goal set to a fixed amount is paid first, in full, before anything is split by percentage. This is how you protect a commitment, the insurance premium gets its money whether the deposit was large or small.
Percentages divide what is left. Percentage shares are applied to whatever remains after the fixed amounts, not to the original deposit. That is what lets a fixed amount and a percentage coexist without the total quietly exceeding what arrived.
Shares only ever apply to future deposits. Setting or changing a rule never reaches back and moves money that has already been recorded to a goal. Your existing balances are exactly where they were before you opened the editor. If you want an existing balance re-divided, that is a separate, explicit choice offered when a mirrored account becomes shared, see Goal Tracking Modes.
Setting Each Goal's Share
Open a goal that shares the account
Go to Goals and tap a goal that is in the Share an account with other goals mode. Its detail screen carries a card headed Shares of followed by the account name.
Tap Edit shares
The shares editor opens as a sheet, also headed Shares of and the account name, listing every goal linked to that account.
Switch on the goals that take a share
Each goal has a switch reading "…takes a share" with the goal's name. Turn on the ones that should be paid from this account. A goal left switched off simply takes nothing.
Choose Amount or Percent for each goal
Use the Amount and Percent segments to say which kind of share this goal takes, then enter the number. Fixed amounts are settled first; percentages divide what is left.
Save
Tap Save shares. You will see Shares saved. and the rule applies to the next deposit that arrives.
To take a goal out of the split entirely, use the remove control on its row, its tooltip reads "Remove …'s share" with the goal's name. Removing a share does not touch the balance that goal already holds; it only stops future deposits feeding it.
Reading the Meter
As you set shares, the editor tells you in plain language what your current numbers do to an incoming deposit:
| Line | What it is telling you |
|---|---|
| "…% of each deposit is shared out." | The proportion of an arriving deposit that your percentage shares claim between them. |
| "…% stays in the account." | The remainder, money that arrives, stays put and is not claimed by any goal. |
| "…comes off the top first." | The fixed amounts, which are settled before any percentage is applied. |
Leaving a remainder is perfectly reasonable. If 80% of each deposit is shared out and 20% stays in the account, that 20% is simply money you have not spoken for yet.
If You Over-Allocate
If your percentages claim more than a deposit contains, Forbidden Finance says so and tells you exactly how much to give back: "That is more than every deposit. Lower the percentages by …%."
It names a number rather than just refusing, because "too much" is not actionable and "5% too much" is. Adjust any goal's share until the message clears, then save.
A Worked Example
Say one savings account feeds three goals:
| Goal | Share |
|---|---|
| Car repairs | $250 fixed |
| Emergency fund | 60% |
| Vacation | 40% |
A $2,000 deposit arrives. Car repairs takes its $250 off the top, leaving $1,750. Emergency fund takes 60% of that $1,750, which is $1,050. Vacation takes the remaining 40%, which is $700.
The three add up to exactly $2,000, so nothing is left over and nothing needed your attention.
When You Are Asked Instead
Forbidden Finance splits a deposit on its own only when your shares genuinely size it. Otherwise it asks, and the question goes to Money to place.
| What arrives | What happens |
|---|---|
| A deposit that covers your fixed shares, with at least one percentage share set | Split automatically |
| Only fixed shares are set, and the deposit is exactly their total | Split automatically |
| Only fixed shares are set, and the deposit is more or less than that total | You are asked |
| A deposit too small to cover the fixed shares | You are asked |
| Money leaving the account | You are always asked |
The reasoning is the same in every case: if your rules do not describe the money that actually arrived, dividing it means choosing which goal goes short or which one gets the extra. That is your call, not ours.
When There Is Nothing to Share Yet
If only one goal is linked to the account, there is nothing to divide, and the editor says so: "No goals share this account yet. Link a second goal to it and its share appears here."
That is the honest state of things, a share is a division between goals, so the second goal is what brings the feature to life. Link another goal to the same account and its row appears in the editor.
What You See Below Pro
On Free and Starter the surface explains the feature rather than hiding it. You see Split one account between goals, and beneath it: "On Pro, several goals can share one savings account, each taking a share of what arrives — a fixed amount or a percentage."
There is no upgrade button and no price on this screen, it is an explanation, not a sales pitch interrupting your savings. If you want to change plan, do it from Subscription Plans in Settings, in your own time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does setting shares move any money I have already saved?
No. Shares apply to future deposits only and never move a balance that is already recorded against a goal. The single case where an existing balance gets re-divided is when a mirrored account becomes shared, and that is a separate question you answer explicitly.
How do fixed amounts and percentages interact?
Fixed amounts are taken off the top of the deposit first. Whatever is left is then divided by the percentage shares. So a percentage share is a percentage of the remainder, not of the whole deposit.
What if my shares do not add up to the whole deposit?
That is allowed. The meter tells you what percentage is shared out and what percentage stays in the account. Money nobody claimed simply stays in the account. What is not allowed is claiming more than arrives, the editor tells you by how much to lower the percentages.
What happens if a deposit does not match the shares?
A deposit your shares size is applied for you with no prompt. Anything else becomes a question in Money to place, where you decide how to split it. If you use percentage shares, most deposits are sized automatically, because a percentage applies to whatever remains after the fixed shares. See Allocation Decisions.
Do rounding differences lose me money?
No. Shares are worked out to four decimal places with banker's rounding, and when your percentages claim the whole of a deposit, any fraction of a cent left over is added to the largest percentage share. The pieces always add back up to exactly what arrived.
Are withdrawals split by my shares too?
No, never. Every withdrawal from a shared account becomes a question for you to answer. Money leaving a goal is always a decision you make, not one the app makes for you.
Can I stop one goal being funded without deleting it?
Yes. Turn its share off, or remove its share from the editor. The goal keeps the balance it already holds, along with its target and history, future deposits just stop feeding it.
What happens to my shares if I move off Pro?
Setting up and editing shares is the Pro part. You can always move a goal back to You record the money from the tracking-mode chooser on any plan, leaving a mode is never tier-gated, so a lapsed plan can never leave you unable to manage your own goals.
Related Articles
Goal Tracking Modes
The three ways a goal's balance can move.Allocation Decisions
Answer the questions a shared account raises.Linking Budgets and Accounts
Connect goals to your budget and your bank.Goals Overview
How goals work, and how they sit alongside your budget.Subscription Plans
What each plan includes.Need more help? Contact us at [email protected].