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Budgets and savings

Budgets​

A budget in Clatri is a spending limit per category. Tell the agent "mi presupuesto mensual de comida es 800 mil pesos" (my monthly food budget is 800k pesos) and from that point you can see how much you've spent in that category against the limit you set.

Each budget has:

  • Category -- the expense category you want to control (food, transport, entertainment, housing, etc.)
  • Amount -- how much you're willing to spend in that category per period
  • Currency -- what currency the limit is defined in
  • Period -- weekly, monthly, or annual

You can only have one budget per combination of category + currency + period. If you already have a monthly food budget in pesos, you can't create another one -- you edit it.

Budget vs actual​

The system automatically compares your budget against what you've actually spent in the current period. The result has three states:

  • Under control -- you're below 80% of the limit
  • Near the limit -- you're between 80% and 100%
  • Exceeded -- you spent more than budgeted, and you see exactly how much you went over

You don't need to do anything for this to work -- every expense you record (by chat, statement, or banking integration) updates the count automatically.

Savings pockets​

Savings pockets are separate portions of an account's balance. They're not new accounts -- they're divisions within an existing account.

If your Nequi account has 10 million, you can create a "Vacation" pocket with 2 million and an "Emergency" pocket with 1 million. Your available balance becomes 7 million, but the total bank balance stays at 10. The money doesn't go anywhere -- you're simply marking it as reserved for a purpose.

Goals​

Each pocket can have a target amount. If your vacation goal is 5 million and you have 2, you see the progress. You can tell the agent "transfiere 500 mil al bolsillo de vacaciones" (transfer 500k to the vacation pocket) and the available balance goes down while the pocket goes up.

Interest​

If your savings account earns interest, you can set the rate on the pocket -- monthly or annual, simple or compound. Clatri calculates and applies interest automatically based on the configured frequency, same as with investments.

Transfers​

Moving money between the available balance and a pocket is an internal transfer. It doesn't affect the total bank balance, it just redistributes between available and savings. You can do it from the chat:

  • "Mueve 300 mil al bolsillo de emergencia" (Move 300k to the emergency pocket)
  • "Saca 100 mil del ahorro de vacaciones" (Take 100k out of the vacation savings)