How Slices works

Smoothy predicts your upcoming expenses which shows you what needs paying before you next get paid, or next month as the longest range outlook. See How Smoothy predicts expenses.

Smoothy also calculates regular, even amounts to set aside each pay cycle, called ‘Slices’.
‘Slices’ answers the question:
“How much should I put aside each time I get paid so that future expenses are covered?”

Slices provides guidance, but doesn’t move money. It shows how much needs to be in each account when, and what it’s for. You still move money between accounts yourself.

How Slices works

Slices shows the Funds required for a selected period (week, fortnight, month). If you’ve entered your pay cycle details in Settings, each slice is automatically synced to show how much you need to move into your bank account(s) each time you get paid. This amount is you ‘pre-paying your upcoming expenses — either a recurring bill, or a contribution to a one-off expense that can be due up to 12 months in the future.

So if you have a monthly bill, and you get paid fortnightly, Slices works out all the dates and shows the amount you need to put aside each pay cycle to make sure that bill will be covered by the due date.

If you have a one-off expense coming up in the future (let’s say an annual car insurance payment), Slices divides the amount due by the ‘slices’ (e.g. fortnights) between now and the due date, so you are putting enough aside each pay day to make sure that future expense is covered.

In this way, Slices smooths all your expenses into reasonably even installments each time you get paid so you can feel more confident your future expenses are covered without the unwanted surprise of a big bill that needs paying.

Here’s how your bills become Slices

1. Your transactions are analysed and recurring expenses are predicted (amount and due date)
2. Each predicted bill is treated as a savings target — one “envelope” for that bill instance
3. The bill amount is split into even installments across pay periods before it is due
4. Each period shows Put aside rows (deposits to make) and sometimes PAY OUT rows (bills due that period)
5. Totals are grouped by bank account so you know which account needs the money

Put aside vs PAY OUT

Every bill in your schedule appears as one of two row types:

• Put aside — money to deposit this pay cycle toward a future bill. The label shows what share of the full bill this slice covers, for example Put aside (25%).

• PAY OUT — the bill is due this period. The full amount leaves (or would leave) the paying account. You should already have saved this through earlier Put aside slices.

Think of it this way: Put aside = save now. PAY OUT = bill due (already funded by earlier slices).

What “Funds required” means

The headline total on each period card is the sum of Put aside deposits needed that period. It does not include PAY OUT rows, because those bills were funded by savings you built up in earlier periods.

Example: if your fortnight shows a $100 power bill as PAY OUT and a $25 Spotify Put aside, Funds required is $25 — not $125. The $100 should already be in the account from earlier slices.

The envelope model

Smoothy treats each predicted bill occurrence as an envelope — a virtual savings target for that one bill (for example, “Electric Kiwi due 21 June”).

• While the envelope is open, you make regular Put aside deposits until it is fully funded.
• On the bill’s due date, the envelope closes — shown as a PAY OUT row.
• The envelope for the next bill for that payee opens around the same time, and starts receiving slices.

Smoothy does not start funding a bill many months early. Each bill gets roughly one billing cycle of runway — so your period totals stay steady instead of jumping when lots of future bills exist.

Grouped by bank account

Bills are grouped by the account they pay from (for example, “ANZ Everyday” or “BNZ Bills account”). Expand an account to see individual bills.

You do not need a dedicated bills account. Slices works across however many accounts you use today — it shows how much each account needs based on where payments actually come from.

Choosing a time period

You can view Slices per week, per fortnight, or per month. If you have set your income frequency in Smoothy, the default period matches how often you get paid and period labels align to your pay dates (for example, “10 Jul”).

If income is not configured, Slices still works — it defaults to weekly and you can switch periods manually. Income improves alignment but is never required.

Variable amounts and dates

Some bills are not exactly the same every time (for example power). When Smoothy is less certain about an amount or date, you may see a ~ prefix before the figure. That means it is an estimate based on your transaction history.

What Slices does not do (yet)

• It does not move money for you — it is a plan, not a payment automation tool.
• It does not track a live balance in each envelope — it assumes you follow the plan and set money aside as shown.
• It relies on predicted bills — if a prediction is wrong, the slice amounts will be too. It’s important that you review your recurring expenses regularly and include or exclude anything that should not be there.

Summary

Smoothy Slices is designed to remove bill shock by spreading costs evenly:

• Put aside rows tell you what to save this pay cycle toward future bills
• PAY OUT rows show bills due that period — already funded by earlier slices
• Funds required is deposits only, not bills leaving your account
• Amounts are grouped by the bank account each bill pays from
• Percentages on Put aside rows show your share of the full bill that period
• Predictions drive the numbers — connect your bank, review your expenses, and adjust exclusions as needed. See How Smoothy works.