Allocation is a term used for divvying up your funds into specific qubes. Remember that all funds initially get deposited into Unallocated Funds when money is deposited into your Qube account, regardless of source. The act of moving some or all of the money from Unallocated Funds into specific qubes is called Allocation. Qube allows both manual allocation as well as auto-allocation.
Manual Allocation Methods
How do I allocate money to my qubes?
How do I move money between my qubes?
Auto-Allocation
Auto-allocation, as the name suggests, is where Qube will automatically move money from Unallocated Funds to your individual qubes once every budgeting period. You can choose to turn auto-allocation on for all qubes or a select few. Moreover, you can control the method of auto-allocation at the qube level (more on auto-allocation methods below).
How to set-up on auto-allocation
1. The best way to set-up auto-allocation is from the Planning Screen on the web. (Once it is set-up, you can adjust auto-allocation settings for each qube from the mobile app.)
2. Enable Auto-Allocation by toggling the switch on the left side of the screen. This toggle controls auto-allocation at a global level. Turning this on enables the feature on your account, but you still have to configure auto-allocation at the individual qube level. Simply turning this on does not mean auto-allocation will start happening.
3. Once the auto-allocation feature has been enabled, you are ready to configure auto-allocation for each qube. Look for the column and click to see the available options for any qube. In the screenshot below, you can see the auto-allocation options for the Shopping qube.
When auto-allocation is turned on for a qube, money will be automatically transferred from your Unallocated Funds to that qube according to the qube’s budget amount and allocation method. The transfer will occur on day 1 of your budgeting period sometime after 12:00 am.
There are three auto-allocation methods to choose from:
Fill to Budget - transfer just enough money to reach the budget amount of that qube at the time of auto-allocation. This method will consider the balance of the qube at the time of auto-allocation. Choosing this can help you break the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and get ahead!
100% of Budget - transfer the entire budget amount, regardless of the balance of the qube at the time of auto-allocation.
Off - no money will be automatically transferred. You may manually transfer money using Internal Transfer or the Allocation screen.
Pro Tip
Qube recommends having enough money in Unallocated Funds to cover the entire budgeting period need prior to day one. If auto-allocation fails on day one due to insufficient funds, Qube will continue to retry every night.
4. Once you are done configuring all your qubes and are happy with the settings, you can review the summary of your settings on the Auto-Allocation card on the left.
Max Amount Possible - this is the maximum amount that can be auto-allocated based on the budget amounts of each qube and auto-allocation method selected. This gives you an idea of how much money is needed in Unallocated Funds. (the only time this amount can exceed from what is shown is when you have a negative qube going into a new budgeting period).
Amount Based on Current Balances - this amount is based on current balances of each qube. E.g. if your Groceries qube has a budget of $100, method is set to Fill To Budget and Groceries currently has a balance of $25, then only $75 are needed for auto-allocating to Groceries qube. This amount can be viewed at any time for the most up-to-date information.
Next Run - this is the date when auto-allocation will run next. It is usually the first day of the next budgeting period unless you just turned on auto-allocation in the middle of the month or if there were not enough funds available on Day 1 of the budgeting period.
Method - this shows the count of qubes that have a particular method set so you can see at a glance how many qubes have auto-allocation turned on and which method is being used.
Finally, Modify Allocation Order lets you choose the order the qubes are filled. This can be helpful when you do not have enough funds to complete auto-allocation for all qubes. Putting the highest priority qubes, such as bill qubes, ensures that they are filled first.