What safe to spend means

In Tally, safe to spend is the lowest balance your cash accounts are projected to reach over the next 60 days. If you spend down to that line and no further, the projection never goes below zero. It is a projection, not a promise, and the app labels it that way.

How does Tally work it out?

Tally builds a day-by-day picture of your cash balance and reads off the lowest point. It uses three things:

1. Today’s balances in your cash accounts, taken from your latest import.
2. Every future occurrence of your detected recurring bills and income. Tally spots anything that repeats weekly, every two weeks, monthly or quarterly, once it has seen it at least 3 times in the last 400 days.
3. A flat daily amount for everyday spending, based on your last 90 days of spending that is not recurring.

The window is 60 days by default and can be set anywhere from 7 to 365. Only cash accounts count. A house or car you added by hand never props up next month’s rent.

What does a worked example look like?

Say your chequing balance today is CA$3,000, and Tally has these facts:

• Rent of CA$1,500 leaves on day 5.
• A pay deposit arrives on day 14.
• Everyday spending averages CA$50 a day.

The balance on day 5 is 3,000 minus 5 days of spending (250) minus rent (1,500). That leaves CA$1,250.

From day 5 to day 13 it keeps drifting down by CA$50 a day, so after 8 more days it reaches CA$850. On day 14 your pay arrives and the balance climbs again.

The lowest point in that stretch is CA$850. That is the safe to spend figure: you could spend up to CA$850 on top of your usual life and still make rent without going below zero. (A real run looks at all 60 days, so the lowest point could land in a later cycle. This example shows one.)

Notice that CA$3,000 is not the answer. The balance in your account today is not money you are free to spend, because rent is coming.

What is “Lowest point ahead”?

“Lowest point ahead” is the label Tally uses instead of “Safe to spend” when the projected low is below zero. If the same example started with CA$1,500 instead of CA$3,000, the day-5 balance would be 1,500 minus 250 minus 1,500, which is minus CA$250. Tally then shows “Lowest point ahead” with a “Shortfall ahead” stamp.

The reason for the rename is plain: a card should never say “safe” next to a negative number. The new label tells you that money is going to run short, and how short.

Why is it a projection and not a fact?

Because it depends on guesses about the future. On Android, the card reads that it is a projection from synced balances, upcoming bills and recent spending, and not a guarantee. A few things can make the real number differ:

• A bill arrives that Tally has not seen three times yet.
• A bill changes in amount or date.
• Your everyday spending in the next weeks differs from the last 90 days.
• You have not imported recently, so today’s balance is stale.

Safe to spend gets better the more regularly you import. See how to budget without linking your bank account for a light routine.

What does Tally need before it can show it?

A starting balance. That comes from an import that carries running balances, such as a Wise account statement, a TD download or an OFX file. Without one, the card says so and points you to Import. If a transaction is in a currency with no exchange rate, Tally withholds the forecast instead of showing a wrong one. See statement file formats explained and how to budget in two currencies.

How do other apps use the phrase?

“Safe to spend” is not unique to Tally, and the meaning varies. PocketGuard builds its app around a similar idea. Its homepage says “You always know how much money you have left to spend after budgeting for necessities” (PocketGuard, checked 8 October 2026). That is a leftover-money approach: take what comes in, set aside bills, debt payments and goals, and show what remains. As described on its homepage, the focus is on what is left.

Tally’s version looks forward instead. It asks how low your balance gets over the coming weeks, and it names the lowest point. Both are useful questions. Different apps answer them differently, so when you see the phrase elsewhere, check what it is counting.

Does safe to spend replace a budget?

No. Budgets set a target per category for the month, and rollover can carry what you did not use into the next month. Safe to spend answers a different question: how much room do I have before cash runs short? Use both.

A short checklist

• Import every cash account, not just one.
• Let recurring bills settle: after three appearances, Tally starts counting them.
• Treat the figure as a guide that changes after each import.
• If the card says “Lowest point ahead”, look at the cash-flow forecast to see which day the dip happens.

Tally is still in development. The figures in screenshots on this site are sample data.