How To Transfer Money Between Accounts

Your budget should reflect reality. So it is not only important to keep track of what each dollar is allocated for but also to know where each dollar is.

At some point in your budgeting journey it is going to come up that you need to transfer money between accounts in your budget.

🌎 Web Application

Transaction Form

When you initially set up your budget, by default, your payee list will only include your current accounts, provided you have added any. These accounts are automatically generated whenever you add a new one.

Transfer Money

In this example we want to move $500 from our savings account to our checking account.

• Amount - We make the transaction amount a negative $500.
• Payee - Essentially, we are paying this money to our checking account because that is where we want the money to go, so we select ”First Bank” from the Transfers list for the payee field.
• Category - We are not losing or gaining money, but simply transferring it. Therefore, a category is not necessary. If you select one of your accounts as the payee, the category field will be disabled to signify that it is not required for this field.
• Account - This field operates the same for every transaction. It indicates which account the money is coming from for a negative transaction, or which account the money is going to for a positive transaction.

All Transaction View

If we select the "Account" pane on the left side navigation, we can view all the transactions for the month. We'll notice that when we initiate a transaction to transfer money from one account to another, Ploutos Budget automatically creates a matching transaction for the recipient account. If we delete either one of these transactions, the corresponding transaction will also be automatically deleted.

Posted Link Transactions

If one or both of the accounts to which we are transferring money are linked for automatic imports, then when the transfer is posted by your bank, the transactions will appear in the Link Transactions for that account.

Transfer Link Transaction

When a linked transaction is posted and appears in Ploutos Budget, it provides a helpful name in the payee field to signify what it is, but it won't recognize it as a transfer to an existing account in Ploutos Budget. You simply need to select the appropriate “Transfers” account option from your payee list.

In this case, it's a positive amount. This means the money came into this account, so we will select “Savings” from the Transfers because it came from our savings account. The money was deposited into our checking account, so in the account field, we will select “First Bank”.

This process is the same as manually adding a transfer transaction where the Category will be disabled and a sibling transaction will automatically be created.

📱 Mobile Application

Transaction Form

When you initially set up your budget, by default, your payee list will only include your current accounts, provided you have added any. These accounts are automatically generated whenever you add a new one.

Transfer Money

In this example we want to move $500 from our savings account to our checking account.

• Amount - We make the transaction amount a negative $500.
• Payee - Essentially, we are paying this money to our checking account because that is where we want the money to go, so we select ”First Bank” from the Transfers list for the payee field.
• Category - We are not losing or gaining money, but simply transferring it. Therefore, a category is not necessary. If you select one of your accounts as the payee, the category field will be disabled to signify that it is not required for this field.
• Account - This field operates the same for every transaction. It indicates which account the money is coming from for a negative transaction, or which account the money is going to for a positive transaction.

All Transaction View

By selecting the "Accounts" tab in the bottom navigation, we can view all the transactions for the month. This allows us to filter transactions by checking one or multiple accounts or see all transactions by leaving them all unchecked. Notably, when we create a transaction to transfer money from one account to another, Ploutos Budget auto-generates a matching transaction for the other account. Deleting either one of these transactions will automatically remove the corresponding transaction.

Posted Link Transactions

If one or both of the accounts that we are transferring money to/from are linked for automatic imports, then when the transfer is posted by your bank, the transactions will show up in the Linked Transactions. These will also be displayed as "Uncategorized Transactions" in the Dashboard.

Transfer Link Transaction

When a linked transaction is posted and appears in Ploutos Budget, it provides a helpful name in the payee field to signify what it is, but it won't recognize it as a transfer to an existing account in Ploutos Budget. You simply need to select the appropriate “Transfers” account option from your payee list.

In this case, it's a positive amount. This means the money came into this account, so we will select “Savings” from the Transfers because it came from our savings account. The money was deposited into our checking account, so in the account field, we will select “First Bank”.

This process is the same as manually adding a transfer transaction where the Category will be disabled and a sibling transaction will automatically be created.