Left-to-Spend is the money you can spend right now without touching anything you’ve set aside. It’s the big number at the top of the Dashboard, and it’s the same figure in notifications, widgets and the web app.

​
The formula

Tap the figure on the Dashboard (or the Left-to-Spend summary on the Transactions tab) to see this breakdown with your own numbers:

​
Cash

Only accounts your bank reports as checking or savings count. Money market, CD, HSA and cash management accounts appear under Savings in your account list, but they aren’t part of left-to-spend. Credit cards and loans never count as cash. To leave an account out, open it in Settings › Connected Accounts and turn off Include in budget.

​
Buckets

Buckets are virtual. The money stays in your bank; a bucket’s balance is simply money you’ve promised to something. Every dollar in a bucket is subtracted, whether it’s a bill, spending, goal or card bucket. See Buckets.

​
Pending charges

Banks leave pending charges out of the current balance until they post. Copper subtracts them now so the number doesn’t jump when they settle. This covers pending charges on checking and savings, and on credit cards that have a payment bucket.

​
How spending changes it

  • Spending with no bucket lowers your bank balance, so left-to-spend goes down by the full amount.
  • Spending assigned to a bucket comes out of that bucket instead. If the bucket doesn’t hold enough, it stops at $0 and the rest comes out of left-to-spend.
  • A refund assigned to a bucket goes back into that bucket.
  • Card purchases move their amount from left-to-spend into the card’s payment bucket, if you’ve switched that card on. See Credit cards.
  • Funding a bucket moves money from left-to-spend into it.

​
Reading the card

The status next to the number tells you where you stand: Under the figure is a daily allowance: left-to-spend divided by the days until your next funding run, or by the days left in the month if you don’t have a schedule. The tick meter below splits all your cash into bills, spending, goals, card payments and unassigned money. Slide your finger across it, or tap it, to read each part’s amount.
In a shared budget, everyone sees the same left-to-spend. It counts every account linked to the budget and every bucket, including ones someone keeps private.

​
If it’s negative

A negative number means your buckets promise more money than your accounts hold. To fix it, lower a bucket’s balance (its money goes back to left-to-spend) or wait for your next deposit. Copper warns you before this happens when it can: see Heads-up alerts.