Account types in Aspire
Aspire organizes accounts into two sections on the Configuration tab: Bank Accounts / Cash and Credit Cards. Here’s how to decide where each real-world account belongs.
Bank Accounts / Cash
This section holds accounts where you have money (assets):
| Account type | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Checking | Chase Checking, Wells Fargo Checking | Your primary spending accounts |
| Savings | Ally Savings, Marcus HYSA | Money you’re holding for goals or emergencies |
| Cash | Wallet, Cash envelope | Physical money you spend and want to track |
| Prepaid / Debit cards | Venmo balance, Cash App | If you use them regularly for spending |
All accounts in this section contribute positively to your total balance and Available to budget.
Credit Cards
This section holds accounts where you owe money (liabilities):
| Account type | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Credit cards | Visa, Amex, Discover | Cards you spend on and pay off monthly or over time |
| Lines of credit | Home equity line, personal line of credit | Similar to credit cards in behavior |
Credit card account balances are negative (showing what you owe). They reduce your overall net position.
What about loans?
Aspire handles loans differently depending on how active they are in your daily budget:
Active loan with monthly payments (car loan, student loan):
- Don’t add it as an account — instead, create a category for the payment (e.g., “Car Payment”)
- Set the Monthly Amount to your payment amount
- Log each payment as a transaction from your checking account to that category
- Track the loan balance in Net Worth Categories on the Configuration tab
Why not add it as an account? Because you don’t make transactions against a loan — you make payments from your checking account. The loan itself isn’t a spending vehicle.
Exception — credit cards with carried balances: These do belong as Credit Card accounts because you actively spend on them.
Investment and retirement accounts
These typically don’t belong in Aspire’s main account list because:
- You don’t spend from them
- Their balance changes with market fluctuations, not transactions
- Including them inflates Available to budget with money you can’t use
Instead: Track them in the Net Worth Categories section on the Configuration tab. This lets you see your full financial picture in Net Worth Reports without affecting your day-to-day budget.
How many accounts should I have?
Only add accounts that you actively spend from or receive money into. A good rule:
- ✅ Add: any account you’ll log transactions against
- ✅ Add: any account whose balance you want to see on the Dashboard
- ❌ Skip: accounts you never touch (old savings accounts, investment accounts)
- ❌ Skip: accounts tracked elsewhere (your employer’s HSA portal, 401k)
Most people have 2–5 accounts: 1–2 checking, 1 savings, 1–2 credit cards.
Setting up a new account
- Go to the Configuration tab
- Under the appropriate section (Bank Accounts / Cash or Credit Cards), add the account name
- Go to the Transactions tab and create a starting balance transaction:
- For bank accounts: enter the balance in the Inflow column (how much you have)
- For credit cards: enter the balance you owe in the Outflow column
- Category: Available to budget
- Memo: “Starting balance”