Linking Budgets and Accounts to Goals

How to link budget items and bank accounts to your goals in Forbidden Finance for automatic progress tracking and verification.

Overview

Linking is what makes goals in Forbidden Finance truly powerful. By connecting a goal to a budget item, account, or both, your progress updates automatically as money moves. There are three ways to feed progress into a goal: linking a budget item (the primary driver), linking a bank account (for verification), and recording manual contributions. You can use any combination of these approaches.

The most effective setup is a budget item link plus an account link. The budget item tells Forbidden Finance how much you planned to contribute. The account balance confirms the money is actually there. Together, they give you both the plan and the proof.

How to Link a Budget Item to a Goal

Linking a budget item makes it the primary progress driver for your goal. When you allocate money to that budget category and track spending against it, the goal's progress updates accordingly.

Open your goal

Navigate to Goals and tap the goal you want to link.

Tap Link Budget Item

On the goal detail screen, tap Link Budget Item (or the link icon in the budget section).

Select a budget category

Choose the budget category that corresponds to this goal. For example, link your "Emergency Fund" budget category to your Emergency Fund goal, or your "Vacation Savings" category to your vacation goal.

Confirm the link

Tap Link. The goal now tracks contributions from this budget category automatically.

How it works in practice: You budget $500/month in your "Emergency Fund" category. Each month, that $500 allocation is recorded as a contribution to your Emergency Fund goal. If you adjust the allocation mid-month, the goal reflects the change.

How to Link a Bank Account to a Goal

Linking a bank account provides real-world verification of your goal's balance. The account balance serves as a ground-truth check alongside your budget-driven progress.

Open your goal

Navigate to Goals and tap the goal you want to link.

Tap Link Account

On the goal detail screen, tap Link Account (or the link icon in the accounts section).

Select an account

Choose the bank or savings account where the money for this goal lives. For example, a dedicated savings account labeled "Emergency Fund."

Confirm the link

Tap Link. The goal now references this account's balance for verification.

How it works in practice: Your Emergency Fund goal is linked to a savings account at your bank. The account balance is $4,200. Your budget-driven progress shows $4,500 in contributions. The small discrepancy might be due to bank fees or interest. Having both numbers visible helps you reconcile and stay accurate.

Manual Contributions

Sometimes progress happens outside your regular budget flow. Manual contributions let you record these one-off events.

When to use manual contributions:

You receive a gift or windfall that goes toward a goal
You transfer money from an account that is not linked
You make a lump-sum contribution outside your normal budget cycle
You want to correct the balance to match reality

Open your goal

Navigate to Goals and tap the goal.

Tap Add Contribution

Tap Add Contribution (or the + icon on the progress section).

Enter the amount and date

Enter the contribution amount and the date it occurred.

Save

Tap Save. The contribution is recorded and your progress updates immediately.

How Linking Works Together

Here is a typical setup and how the three approaches complement each other:

Source	Role	Example
Budget item link	Primary progress driver	$500/month "Vacation Fund" budget category
Bank account link	Verification	Savings account showing $3,200 balance
Manual contribution	One-time additions	$500 birthday gift added to the fund

The goal screen shows contributions from all sources, broken down so you can see exactly where progress is coming from.

Tips

Use a dedicated savings account for each major goal whenever possible. It makes verification simple -- the account balance should match your goal balance.

Link the budget item first, then the account. This way, contributions are tracked automatically from day one, and the account link confirms the numbers over time.

If you link multiple budget items or accounts to the same goal, make sure they do not double-count the same money. For example, do not link both a "Savings" budget category and a "Savings Transfer" category if they represent the same money.