Add Transaction Calendar Backups Help
Help Topics
Overview Dashboard Transactions Income Budgets Bills/Accounts Payable Financial Goals Categories Tag Management Reminders Calendar Reconcile AI Insights Enhanced Analysis Financial Health Accounting Dashboard Backup Management

Dashboard

Understanding Your Financial Dashboard

The Dashboard is your financial command center, providing a comprehensive overview of your current financial status at a glance.

What is the Dashboard?

The Dashboard is your financial home base in Cognito Money, designed to provide:

  • A snapshot of your current financial situation
  • Alerts about upcoming financial events
  • Visual representations of your spending and income
  • Insights into your financial patterns and health
Accessing Your Dashboard

You can reach your Dashboard in two ways:

  • Click on Dashboard in the main navigation menu
  • Click on the Cognito Money logo in the top-left corner
Dashboard Organization

The Dashboard is organized into distinct sections:

  • Financial Summary: Key metrics at the top of the page
  • Upcoming Events: Bills, income, and reminders approaching soon
  • Financial Charts: Visual representations of your data
  • AI Insights: Personalized observations about your finances
  • Recent Transactions: Your most recent financial activity
Chart Features

The Dashboard's charts offer useful information:

  • Income vs. Expenses: Compare your earning and spending patterns
  • Spending by Category: See where your money is going
  • Budget Progress: Track how well you're staying within budget
Best practice:

Focus on the Dashboard sections that are most relevant to your current financial goals. If you're working on reducing debt, pay special attention to the expenses section. If you're saving for a goal, monitor your savings progress regularly.

Understanding Your Financial Summary

The summary cards at the top of your Dashboard provide key financial metrics:

Current Balance

Shows your current total available funds across all tracked accounts. This figure:

  • Combines balances from all active accounts
  • Updates based on recorded transactions
  • Shows a comparison to the previous month

Click on this card to see a detailed breakdown by account.

Monthly Income

Displays your expected income for the current month:

  • Includes all active income sources
  • Shows actual income received so far this month
  • Displays expected remaining income
  • Compares to previous month's total

Click on this card to go to the Income Sources page.

Monthly Expenses

Shows your spending for the current month, broken down into:

  • Total Bills: Sum of all bill amounts (from your Bills page)
  • Bills Paid: Amount of bills paid so far this month
    • Calculated from actual transactions matched to bills
    • Requires bill name in transaction description
    • Requires exact amount match to the bill
  • Other Expenses: All expenses NOT matched to bills
    • Includes discretionary spending, one-time purchases
    • Everything that isn't a regular tracked bill
  • Shows comparison to previous month

Click on this card to see a detailed transaction breakdown.

Tip: For bills to be recognized as "paid," ensure the transaction description includes the bill name and the amount matches exactly. You can update bill amounts before paying to ensure accurate tracking.
Available to Spend

Shows how much cash you have available right now after accounting for unpaid bills:

  • Formula: Current Balance - Unpaid Bills
  • Real-time calculation based on your actual account balance
  • Subtracts only the bills you haven't paid yet this month
  • Does NOT try to predict future income
  • Updates immediately with every transaction

What this means: This is your "safe to spend" amount - money you have on hand after setting aside what you need for bills.

Note: Available to Spend takes a conservative approach. It shows what you can spend RIGHT NOW, not what you'll have after future paychecks. When you receive income, this number increases automatically.
Philosophy: Budgets are shown separately as guidelines. Available to Spend focuses only on your actual cash obligations (bills) to give you a clear picture of truly available funds. You can then use your Budget Progress widget to track discretionary spending.

Using Action Buttons

Cognito Money provides quick access to common tasks via the action buttons in the top navigation bar:

Action Description When to Use
Add Transaction Record a new expense or income When you make a purchase or receive money
Add Bill Create a new bill or subscription When you need to track a recurring payment
Backups Access backup management When you need to backup or restore your data
Help Access contextual help When you need assistance with the current feature
Tip:

These action buttons are available throughout the application for quick access to common tasks.

Understanding the Upcoming Events Section

The Upcoming Events section helps you stay ahead of your financial calendar by showing:

Upcoming Bills

This widget shows bills due in the near future:

  • Displays bill name, amount, and due date
  • Shows how many days until each bill is due
  • Provides quick actions to pay or view bill details
  • Color-codes bills by urgency (red for overdue, yellow for approaching, green for paid)
Expected Income

This widget shows upcoming income payments:

  • Lists expected income sources and amounts
  • Shows anticipated payment dates
  • Indicates how many days until each payment
  • Provides quick access to income source details
Upcoming Reminders

This widget displays upcoming financial reminders:

  • Shows reminder title and due date
  • Indicates priority level with color coding
  • Allows you to mark reminders as complete directly from the Dashboard
  • Provides quick access to reminder details
Tip:

Check your Dashboard at the beginning of each week to get a clear picture of your upcoming financial obligations and plan accordingly.

Understanding Dashboard Charts

The Dashboard includes several interactive charts to help visualize your financial data:

Income vs. Expenses

This chart compares your income and expenses over time:

  • Shows monthly totals for both income and expenses
  • Visualizes the gap between earning and spending
  • Illustrates trends in your income-expense ratio
  • Hover over any month to see exact figures
Spending by Category

This pie chart breaks down your current month's spending by category:

  • Shows the proportion of spending in each category
  • Uses different colors to distinguish categories
  • Displays the percentage and amount for each slice
  • Click on any slice to see a detailed breakdown
Budget Progress

This widget shows your progress against your budgets with enhanced features:

  • Displays each budget category as a progress bar
  • Shows percentage of budget used and amounts (spent/total)
  • Color-codes status (green = under budget, yellow = near limit, red = over budget)
  • Supports ongoing budgets: Budgets without end dates track indefinitely
  • Handles refunds/returns: Credits automatically reduce spent amounts in budget categories
  • Totals footer: Shows Total Budget, Total Spent, and Total Remaining across all budgets
  • Click on any bar to go to the detailed budget page
Ongoing Budgets: You can create budgets without end dates (e.g., monthly grocery budget). These budgets track month-over-month and reset based on their recurrence period.
Cash Flow Forecast

This chart projects your expected cash flow for the upcoming period:

  • Shows anticipated income and expenses for the next 30 days
  • Forecasts your account balance trajectory
  • Highlights potential cash flow issues
  • Based on your scheduled bills, expected income, and spending patterns
Chart Interactions

All Dashboard charts offer interactive features:

  • Hover: See detailed values for specific data points
  • Click: Drill down into more detailed views
  • Time Period Selector: Change the time frame being displayed (This Month, Last Month, This Year, etc.)
  • Download: Save charts as images for external use

Viewing Recent Transactions

The Recent Transactions section shows your latest financial activities in a read-only view:

Transaction List Features
  • Displays the most recent 5-10 transactions by default
  • Shows date, description, category, and amount for each transaction
  • Color-codes amounts (red for expenses, green for income)

This dashboard section provides a quick overview of your most recent financial activity. For interactive features like filtering, searching, or editing transactions, you'll need to navigate to the full Transactions page.

View All Transactions

To see your complete transaction history and access interactive features:

  1. Click the View All button at the bottom of the Recent Transactions section
  2. This will take you to the full Transactions page with advanced features including:
    • Filtering options (by transaction type, date range, etc.)
    • Search functionality to find specific transactions
    • Quick action buttons (edit, delete, duplicate, categorize)
    • Detailed transaction information and management tools
Tip:

Review your recent transactions daily or weekly to catch any unexpected charges or ensure all your spending is categorized correctly.

Getting the Most From Your Dashboard
  1. Check daily - Make reviewing your Dashboard part of your daily routine
  2. Prioritize upcoming events - Pay special attention to bills and reminders due soon
  3. Monitor trends - Watch the Income vs. Expenses chart to track your savings rate over time
  4. Use Quick Actions - Take advantage of one-click access to common financial tasks
  5. Respond to insights - Act on the AI-generated financial observations
  6. Focus on priorities - Pay attention to the financial information that matters most to your current goals
  7. Drill down when needed - Use the Dashboard as a jumping-off point to explore specific areas in detail
Dashboard Financial Review Routine

Develop a consistent routine for reviewing your finances:

Daily (2-3 minutes)
  • Check upcoming bills and reminders
  • Review recent transactions
  • Note any new AI insights
Weekly (10-15 minutes)
  • Review spending by category
  • Check budget progress
  • Examine cash flow forecast
  • Plan for upcoming financial events
Monthly (20-30 minutes)
  • Analyze Income vs. Expenses chart
  • Review monthly summary metrics
  • Check progress on financial goals
  • Make adjustments to budgets if needed
  • Run an enhanced AI analysis
Success Tip:

The most financially successful users check their Dashboard at least 4 times per week and take immediate action on upcoming bills and unusual spending patterns.