Create and track a Save up goal

Create and track a Save up goal

A Save up goal gives a purpose and a target to money you are building towards. You might use one for an emergency fund, an overseas trip, a home deposit, a car, education, or a large purchase.

Goals help Fireball show how much is completed and when you could reach the target. They are a planning and tracking feature. Creating a goal does not move money between your bank accounts or create a bank transfer. Your money stays where it is unless you move it yourself.

If you are planning to repay a loan or credit card, use Pay down instead. See Plan and track debt payoff.

Start with one clear goal

Choose one target that you can explain in a sentence:

• “I want $5,000 available for emergencies.”
• “I want $2,400 for an overseas trip by December.”
• “I want $1,500 for a new laptop.”

A budget helps you decide how much you can spend. A goal helps you track money you are building towards a particular purpose. You can use both together.

Create your goal

1. Open Goals.
2. Choose Save up.
3. Tap the plus button. If you do not have a goal yet, choose Create your first goal.
4. Choose a preset, such as Emergency fund, Overseas trip, Home deposit, Car, Education, or Big purchase. Choose Custom if none of these fit.
5. Complete the steps and review the summary before choosing Create goal.

The presets give you a starting name, purpose, and icon. You can change the name and other details before saving.

Basics

• Name is the label you will see on the goal card. Make it specific enough to recognise later.
• Target amount is the total you want to reach. Enter the amount in the currency you want the goal to use.
• Goal currency can be different from your reporting currency. Fireball uses an exchange rate when it needs to compare currencies.

Plan

When Fireball asks What happens to this money?, choose the purpose that best describes your plan:

• Safety buffer keeps the money available for emergencies.
• Spend it means the money will leave your assets when you use it, such as for a trip or event.
• Buy an asset means the money will become something you own, such as a home or car.
• Keep it invested means the money remains invested for long-term wealth.

You can add an optional Target date. If you leave Monthly contribution blank, Fireball can fill in a suggested amount based on the target and date. If you already know what you can set aside each month, enter that amount instead. Clear the amount later if you want to return to the automatic plan.

For example, a $2,400 goal due in 12 months needs roughly $200 per month before considering any money already counted towards the goal. Treat the amount as a plan, not as a payment Fireball will send to your bank.

More options

Open More options if you need either of these settings:

• Include in budget reserve is on by default. When it is on, the goal’s monthly reserve reduces Fireball’s Safe to Spend amount. Turn it off if you only want to track progress and do not want the goal included in that reserve.
• When I spend from this goal lets you choose Keep progress or Reduce progress. This tells Fireball how to update the goal when you link a purchase. It does not change the transaction or move money.

You can add an optional photo and note on the later steps. These are for organisation and do not affect the amount in the goal.

Tell Fireball what funding counts

After creating the goal, open it and choose Manage funding. This tells Fireball which connected account or manual investment asset (an investment you entered in Fireball) should count towards the goal. It does not transfer money or create a separate bank account.

Choose Add funding source, then select a source and a funding method:

• Fixed amount counts a specific amount from that source. This is the easiest option when only part of an account belongs to the goal.
• Whole balance counts the source’s full available balance. Use this only when the entire balance is for this goal.
• Growth only is available for an investment and tracks growth from that investment rather than counting the starting balance as new progress.

Start with Fixed amount if you are unsure. You can edit or remove a source later. Removing a source does not delete the account or its transactions; it only makes that amount available for other goals.

The amount already assigned through funding is different from a future monthly contribution. Funding describes what Fireball can count now. The monthly contribution is the pace you plan to follow.

Link contributions, spending, or withdrawals

When a posted transaction should change a goal, open the goal and choose Link transaction.

1. Search by description, amount, or date.
2. Choose the transaction.
3. Under How should this count?, choose the activity that matches what happened:
   • Contribution adds money to the goal.
   • Spend from goal records a purchase against the goal.
   • Withdrawal records a transfer out without treating it as spending.
   • Refund links money returned for a purchase that is already linked to the goal.
4. Choose the funding source and enter the amount to count.
5. Choose Link transaction.

For a contribution or withdrawal, the funding source must be the same account as the transaction. If Fireball says Attach funding source, attach that account to the goal first.

Only posted transactions can be linked. A pending transaction may not appear until the bank connection posts it.

If the same contribution or transfer happens regularly, turn on Link future matches automatically when Fireball offers it. Fireball creates a goal-specific automatic link rule using the transaction description or merchant and account. Manage these later under Automatic links in the goal. For general rule conditions, priority, pausing, and deletion, see Organise and correct your transactions.

Read your progress

Open the goal to see the completed amount, target, remaining amount, progress bar, and expected finish.

• Goal reached means the completed amount has reached the target.
• A date under Expected finish is an estimate based on the target, current progress, and monthly plan. It is not a guarantee.
• No finish estimate usually means Fireball has no monthly amount to project, the goal is paused or archived, or the data needed for the estimate is unavailable. Add a target date so Fireball can suggest a monthly amount, enter a manual amount, or leave the goal as a progress-only tracker.
• Paused goals keep their funding but stop reserving monthly contributions.
• Archived goals stay in your history and no longer reserve money.

The goal card is a Fireball view of allocations and linked activity. It is not the same thing as the current balance shown by your bank.

Edit, pause, archive, or delete a goal

Open the goal’s actions menu to choose Edit, Pause, Resume, Archive, or Delete.

• Use Edit to change the target, date, monthly plan, purpose, or options.
• Pause stops the monthly reserve while keeping the goal and its funding. Choose Resume when you want it to reserve again.
• Archive keeps the goal in history and keeps its allocations, but its reserve becomes zero. An archived goal can be restored to a paused state.
• Delete permanently removes the goal, its allocations, and its activity history. Use Archive if you may need the history later.

If you have more than one active goal, choose Reorder goals and drag them into the order you prefer. The new order saves automatically.

When something does not look right

“Funding unavailable”

Fireball shows this while a balance or exchange-rate value needed by the goal is refreshing. Wait for the account data to finish updating, then open the goal again. Do not delete the goal to try to fix it. If the message remains after the relevant account data is current, contact support and include the goal name, source, currency, and exact message.

The goal is not reducing Safe to Spend

Open Edit goal and expand More options. Check that Include in budget reserve is on and that the goal is Active. A paused, archived, or progress-only goal does not reserve a monthly amount. For the broader budget calculation, see Set up and manage budgets and recurring activity.

A contribution or purchase is missing

Check that:

1. The transaction is posted, not pending.
2. For a contribution or withdrawal, the transaction account is allocated to the goal. A purchase can be paid from another account, but Fireball may ask you to match the transfer that covered it.
3. You linked the correct activity type and amount.
4. The goal is not archived.

If the transaction was added but the automatic link rule was not saved, the transaction can still be linked manually. Open the goal’s Automatic links to check whether the rule is paused or matches a different description or account.

No account is available as a funding source

Save up goals need a positive, usable balance. A loan or other liability, zero or negative balance, missing balance, unsupported account type, or unavailable exchange rate may be excluded. Check the account data first. If the account should qualify and still does not appear, contact support rather than guessing or creating a duplicate goal.

The source is over-allocated

This means the source balance has fallen below the total assigned to one or more goals. Open Manage funding on the affected goals and reduce or remove an allocation until it reflects the balance you actually have. The warning does not change your bank balance.

If the details are correct but the goal still does not update, contact Fireball support. Include the goal screen, account or asset name, transaction date and amount, and exact message shown. Never send a bank password, one-time code, or full account number.