The time axis: your money’s past, today and future

Most finance apps show you the past: what you spent yesterday, this week, this month. Useful, but that is half the picture. Money lives in time in both directions: it has a future too. A tour of the time axis, one of Finance Flow 365's core tools.

Past, "today", future

The time axis shows money moving on a horizon of up to ten years in both directions. In the middle sits the "today" anchor: to the left, what already happened; to the right, what will happen if nothing changes. Recurring payments, installment plans, big one-off expenses — all visible in advance, not after the fact.

You can slice it different ways: by week, by month, by year. The week answers "what is due soon", the month shows the rhythm of your life, the year makes slow things visible, like insurance and vacations.

A one-off payment, stretched over its term

The most underrated idea of the axis: a one-off payment stretches over its whole term. Bought a yearly insurance for 240? On the axis it is not one scary September bar but a thin line across twelve months, roughly 66 cents a day.

Why? Because the insurance really does have a yearly term: you use it every day, not once in September. The daily price makes the incomparable comparable: a 10-a-month subscription and a 240-a-year insurance can finally stand side by side, one at 33 cents a day, the other at 66.

The same principle handles installment plans: each shows its remaining balance, its daily price and the date it finally ends. "Four payments left until February" is literally visible on the axis.

The "due in 7 days" cut

Out of the time axis grows the most everyday and, judging by feedback, the most loved tool: the cut of the coming week. What will be charged in the next seven days and how much in total. One glance in the morning, and month end stops delivering surprises: every charge was visible ahead of time.

For people with uneven income this is the number of the week. For families it is a way to sync: both of you see that this week holds the rent and the insurance, so the big purchases can wait for the next one.

Where to start

Enter your recurring payments: rent, phone, subscriptions, installment plans. A one-time job of about ten minutes. From then on the axis builds itself: every new payment takes its place in time, and the future stops being a blank spot.

To see how this plays out in a life with debts and installments, read the “Debts and installments” scenario: the time axis plays the lead role there.