Aspire Glossary
A quick reference for the terminology you’ll encounter in Aspire Budgeting.
A
Account
A bank account, credit card, or cash balance that you track in Aspire. Accounts are configured on the Configuration tab and appear in the Transactions tab when logging spending. Examples: “Chase Checking”, “Amex Gold”, “Cash Wallet.”
Account Transfer
A transaction that moves money between two of your accounts (e.g., checking to savings). Created on the Transactions tab by selecting ↕️ Account Transfer as the category. Requires two entries — an outflow from one account and an inflow to the other.
Available to budget
The total amount of money you haven’t yet assigned to a category. Found at the top of the Category Transfers tab and on the Dashboard. The goal of zero-based budgeting is to bring this number to zero by assigning every dollar a job.
Auto-Categorize
An add-on feature that automatically assigns categories to imported transactions based on your past categorization history. The more transactions you log, the smarter it gets.
B
Balance
The current amount in a category or account. For categories, this reflects the Monthly Amount minus spending. For accounts, this reflects all inflows minus all outflows since the starting balance.
Budget Overview
The summary strip at the top of the Dashboard tab showing key totals: Available to budget, total spent, total income, and net activity for the current month.
C
Category
A label that describes what money is for (e.g., “Groceries”, “Rent”, “Emergency Fund”). Categories are created on the Configuration tab and used to classify every transaction.
Category Group
An optional organizational label that groups related categories together (e.g., a “Bills” group containing Rent, Utilities, and Internet). Created on the Configuration tab with the ✦ symbol.
Category Transfer
The act of moving budgeted money from one category to another. Done on the Category Transfers tab. This doesn’t move actual money between bank accounts — it reallocates how your existing money is assigned.
Credit Card Category
A special category type (◘) that represents the payment amount for a credit card. When you spend on a credit card, the money is categorized normally (e.g., “Dining Out”), and the Credit Card Category tracks how much you owe.
CSV Import
An add-on feature that lets you upload a CSV export from your bank to bulk-import transactions into Aspire, rather than entering them manually one by one.
D
Dashboard
The main overview tab in Aspire. Shows all your category balances, account totals, and monthly activity at a glance.
G
Goal Amount
An optional target balance for a category. Used for sinking funds or long-term savings (e.g., “Save $1,200 for car insurance by December”). Categories with a Goal show a ⚑ icon on the Dashboard.
I
Inflow
Money coming into your budget — income, refunds, reimbursements, or transfers from outside your tracked accounts. Recorded by entering the amount in the Inflow column on the Transactions tab.
M
Monthly Amount
The amount you plan to allocate to a category at the start of each month. Set on the Configuration tab. The Category Transfers tab uses this value to show how much more a category needs to be fully funded.
N
Net Worth Categories
Broad asset and debt categories (e.g., “Home Value”, “Student Loans”) configured on the Configuration tab for tracking total net worth over time. These are separate from your day-to-day budget categories.
Non-reportable Category
A category type (※) that doesn’t appear in Spending Reports or Trend Reports. Useful for categories you don’t need to analyze — like internal transfers or one-time adjustments.
O
Outflow
Money leaving your budget — purchases, bill payments, transfers to accounts outside your tracked set. Recorded by entering the amount in the Outflow column on the Transactions tab.
P
Pending Transaction
A transaction marked with 🅿️ that hasn’t fully cleared your bank yet. Useful as a reminder to verify the final amount once it settles.
R
Reconciliation
The process of confirming that your account balance in Aspire matches your actual bank balance. After verifying, you add a reconciliation point (✳️) to mark the date everything agreed.
Reportable Category
A category type (✧) that appears in all of Aspire’s reports (Spending Reports, Trend Reports, etc.). This is the default and most common category type.
S
Settled Transaction
A transaction marked with ✅ indicating it has fully cleared your bank and the amount is final.
Sinking Fund
A category where you save a small amount each month toward a larger future expense (e.g., $100/month toward a $1,200 annual insurance premium). Typically uses a Goal Amount to track progress.
Starting Balance
The initial transaction created when you add a new account to Aspire. It captures the current balance of that account at the time you start tracking it.
Z
Zero-Based Budgeting
A budgeting method where you assign every dollar of available income to a specific category, leaving your Available to budget at zero. This doesn’t mean spending everything — it means every dollar has a purpose, including dollars assigned to savings.