App Features · The Getting Ahead Guidebook
Reserves & Sinking Funds: Stop Letting Christmas Ambush You
The bills that wreck a budget aren’t the monthly ones — it’s the big, irregular ones. Insurance premiums, property taxes, car registration, the holidays. Reserves — sinking funds — are the tool that makes those a non-event.
The idea is old and it works
Add up a yearly expense, divide by twelve, and set that much aside every month. When the bill lands, the money’s already there. No scramble, no credit card, no January regret. Our grandparents did it with envelopes; the app does it with a tap.
Nothing that happens every year on the same date should ever be an emergency.
What the reserves tool gives you
- Fixed and variable reserves, each with a goal, a due date, and a running balance.
- Common funds pre-loaded, so you don’t have to remember them all.
- A clear view of how much is set aside and how much is left to go.
- The ability to rebalance — pull from one fund to top up another as plans change.
Set them up once, fund them automatically as each paycheck lands, and watch the ‘surprises’ quietly disappear from your year.
Map your year with reserves
Every feature here is built into The Getting Ahead Guidebook — the simple, logical way to organize your family’s money. Try the whole thing free for 7 days. No credit card to start.
Grab the free Reserves Worksheet
The printable I built for my own family — 14 pre-loaded reserves, fourth-grade math, and the mindset shift that stops annual bills from being surprises. Yours free, no credit card.