8. Savings and Investment Planning

Beyond an emergency fund, Budget Vision can help you plan and track your progress towards specific savings goals, whether it's for a vacation, a down payment, or long-term investments.

The Strategy: Dedicated Savings Accounts

Just like with an emergency fund, the best practice is to create separate "virtual" accounts for each of your major savings goals.

1. Create Goal Accounts: Go to Settings -> Accounts and add accounts like:
   • Vacation Fund
   • New Car Fund
   • Investment Portfolio
2. Hide Them (Optional): You may want to hide these from your main dashboard to separate your "spending money" from your "savings money".
3. Set Up Recurring Transfers: The key to consistent saving is automation. Create a recurring transfer from your main checking account to your savings accounts that aligns with your payday.

By moving the money into a dedicated virtual account, you are "paying yourself first" and can clearly see your progress towards each goal by looking at that account's balance.

For a detailed walkthrough with images, refer to our primary guide: Savings & Funds.