Glossary - Bow

Budgeting

Term	Meaning
Envelope	A pot of money for one purpose, like Groceries or Rent. You fill envelopes with money you have, and spending comes out of them.
Group	A set of related envelopes shown together on the Budget screen, like Bills or Everyday.
Ready to Assign	Money in your cash accounts that isn’t in an envelope yet. Assign it to envelopes until this reaches zero.
Assign	Put money from Ready to Assign into an envelope for a month. You can also assign money to future months ahead of time.
Assigned	How much you put into an envelope this month.
Activity	What came out of or went into an envelope this month from transactions. Spending lowers it; refunds raise it.
Available	What an envelope has left to spend: money carried over from last month, plus this month’s assigned money, plus activity. Unspent money carries forward to next month.
Move money	Shift money from one envelope to another, or back to Ready to Assign, when plans change.
Overspent	An envelope with less than zero available. Cover it by moving money in from another envelope or from Ready to Assign.
Overspent on credit	Overspending that went on a credit card. If you don’t cover it, it becomes card debt instead of taking cash from other envelopes.
Cover	Fix an overspent envelope by moving money into it. If cash overspending is left uncovered when the month ends, it comes out of next month’s Ready to Assign.
Funded	An envelope that has everything its target asks for this month.
Underfunded	An envelope that still needs money to meet its target or upcoming bills this month.
Snoozed	A target skipped for one month. It asks for nothing that month and is back the next. Scheduled transactions are paused too.
Overfunded	An envelope with more assigned this month than its target asks for.
Custom view	A custom filter for the Budget screen that shows only the envelopes you choose.

Targets

Term	Meaning
Target	A goal for an envelope that tells Bow how much it needs. Bow uses targets to show what still needs money.
Set aside	A target that adds the same amount every period. Leftover money keeps building up.
Refill up to	A target that tops the envelope back up to an amount each period. Money left over counts, so only what’s missing is asked for.
One-time	A target that saves up to a total by a date. Money already in the envelope counts toward it.
Maintain balance	A target that keeps a set amount in the envelope, with no due date. Each month Bow asks for whatever is missing.
Snooze targets when covering	A setting in Settings › Budget. When you cover overspending, any envelope the cover leaves short of its target is snoozed for that month, so it doesn’t show as underfunded.
Target suggestions	Targets Bow suggests from your spending and bills. Add one from the envelope, or turn suggestions off in Bow’s settings.

Accounts

Term	Meaning
On budget	Checking, savings, cash, and credit card accounts. Their money and spending flow through your envelopes.
Off budget	Loans, investments, and other assets. Bow tracks them in your net worth, outside your spending budget.
Card payment	Money Bow sets aside to pay a credit card. When you spend on a card from a funded envelope, that money moves here so the bill is covered.
Carrying debt	A credit card balance from an earlier month that its card payment can’t fully pay off yet.
Net worth	Everything your accounts hold minus everything you owe, across on-budget and off-budget accounts.

Transactions

Term	Meaning
Transaction	Money moving in or out of an account. Each expense is assigned to an envelope.
Payee	The person or business on a transaction. Bow remembers payees so it can suggest envelopes and logos.
Inflow	Money coming into an account, like a paycheck or refund.
Transfer	Money moving between two of your own accounts. Transfers between on-budget accounts don’t count as spending.
Split	One transaction divided across several envelopes, like a store run that’s part groceries and part household.
No envelope	An expense that hasn’t been given an envelope yet. It needs one before your budget is accurate.
Schedule	A repeating transaction, like a bill or paycheck. Bow enters it on its date and adds bills to their envelope’s monthly target. It can repeat forever, or end after a number of payments or on a date.
Payment plan	A purchase paid in installments through Klarna, Affirm or Afterpay. Share a screenshot of the plan and Bow schedules each payment, ending after the last one.
Skip	Leave out one occurrence of a schedule. The schedule stays active for future dates.
Balance adjustment	A transaction Bow adds when you change an account’s balance or verify it against your bank. It changes the balance without counting as spending, so it never needs an envelope.
Shared to Bow	Receipts and bank notifications you send to Bow from other apps. They wait at the top of Spending until you review and add them.
Hide amounts	A setting in Settings that shows dots instead of your amounts, in Bow and its notifications. Amounts you type stay visible.
Read-only	How Bow works without a subscription or Lifetime. You can view, search, export, back up and delete your budget, but not change it.

Bank sync and review

Term	Meaning
Bank sync	Bow brings in transactions from your bank through SimpleFIN. Pending charges show under Pending right away and count once they post.
Needs review	A transaction that needs a decision from you, like choosing an envelope, matching a bank transaction, or confirming details. The reason shows under its name.
Approve	Finish reviewing a transaction once its payee, amount, and envelope look right.
Pending	A charge your bank hasn’t posted yet. It shows under Pending at the top of Spending and the account’s screen, but doesn’t count in your budget until it posts. Tap it and choose Add to Budget Now to count it sooner. If you entered the purchase yourself, Bow matches the two right away, and your entry shows a clock until it posts.
Matched	A transaction you entered that Bow paired with the same bank transaction, so it’s only counted once. Bow matches on its own when one entry within 10 days has the same amount and payee; when it isn’t sure, it asks you in review. A transfer Bow makes from both accounts’ bank transactions, like a card payment, is matched too.
Unmatch	Separate a matched pair if Bow paired the wrong transactions.

Verifying your balance

Term	Meaning
Verify balance	Compare an account’s Posted Balance with your bank’s current balance. When they match, Bow locks every posted transaction. If they don’t, mark what your bank has posted, and Bow can add a Balance Adjustment for what’s left.
Posted	Finished at your bank. Transactions from bank sync are posted when they arrive; mark ones you entered posted once your bank shows them. Shown with a green checkmark by the amount.
Unposted	In Bow, but your bank hasn’t posted it yet, like a purchase that’s still pending or a check that hasn’t been cashed. New transactions you enter start unposted. Shown with an empty circle.
Verified	Posted and locked by a finished Verify Balance, shown with a lock. Changing its amount or account means verifying the balance again.
Posted Balance	The starting balance plus every posted transaction. This is the balance Verify Balance compares with your bank.
Unposted Balance	The total of an account’s unposted transactions. After you verify, it should be only what’s still pending at your bank.
Total Balance	Posted Balance plus Unposted Balance: everything in the account. It’s the balance Accounts shows and the one your budget uses.
Reconcile	What YNAB and other apps call verifying your balance. In Bow, open an account and tap Verify Balance.