Understanding Your Financial Picture
Last updated June 27, 2026
The Dashboard is your starting point. Every time you open OwnBudget you land here — a single snapshot of where things stand right now: what came in and went out this month, what you're worth, and how much of your money is already committed.
Income, spending, and surplus
The Dashboard shows two headline figures for the current month: This Month Income and This Month Spent.
Income is everything that came in this month. Spending is everything that went out — but not transfers between your own accounts. Moving money from checking to savings, or paying off a credit card, isn't spending; it's money changing pockets, so OwnBudget leaves it out of the total.
Your surplus is the gap between the two: what's left after the month's spending. OwnBudget doesn't show it as a separate number — you read it as the difference between income and spent. If you spent more than you earned, the This Month Spent figure turns red, signalling a shortfall rather than a surplus.
Your net worth: two numbers, one toggle
Net worth is everything you own minus everything you owe. A toggle on the Dashboard switches between two views of it:
True Net Worth — the complete picture: checking, savings, retirement, investments, and real estate, minus all of your debt.
Liquid Net Worth — the same calculation, but only the accounts you can reach today. Long-term and illiquid assets like retirement and real estate are excluded.
Why it matters: liquid net worth tells you what you'd actually have available if you needed it now, while true net worth shows your full long-term standing.
Debt service this month
Debt service is the total of your debt payments for the month — your mortgage, car or other loans, and any other debt payments. OwnBudget surfaces it as its own line beneath your stat cards.
It's called out separately because it isn't discretionary spending: you owe it regardless of what else happens this month. Seeing it on its own helps you understand how much of your income is already spoken for before you make any other choices.
Debt service is part of your spending total, not on top of it — the figure is already included in This Month Spent. (Credit-card payments are treated as transfers between your own accounts, so they aren't counted here.)
How it all connects
The Dashboard is a snapshot of where you are right now. The rest of OwnBudget helps you act on it, and each page answers a different question about the same money:
Budget — plan your spending before the month happens.
Financial Health — a score for how well your overall picture is trending.
Bills — track your committed recurring expenses.
Each one answers a different question about the same money — together they turn the Dashboard's snapshot into something you can plan around.