Wealth Development Widget
The Wealth Development widget visualizes how your wealth changes over time. Whether you want to track your overall net worth, monitor your liquid assets, or watch your debt decrease, this widget provides a clear picture of your financial trajectory.
What Does This Widget Show?
This widget displays a time-series chart of your chosen wealth metric, helping you answer questions like:
- Is my net worth growing over time?
- How have my liquid assets changed this year?
- Am I making progress on reducing my debt?
- What's the trend of my investment portfolio?
The chart shows data points over your selected time period, making it easy to spot trends, identify significant changes, and measure progress toward financial goals.
Forecasting Future Wealth
The Wealth Development widget isn't just for looking back - it can also project your wealth into the future. When you set a date range that extends beyond today, the chart displays projected values based on your planned financial activity.
How Forecasting Works
Future projections are calculated from:
- Recurring transaction series - Regular income and expenses you've set up (salary, rent, subscriptions, loan payments)
- Future-dated transactions - Any transactions you've already entered with a date in the future
The widget combines your current account balances with these planned transactions to show where your wealth is heading.
To get accurate forecasts, make sure you've created recurring series for your regular income and expenses. The more complete your recurring transactions, the more reliable your wealth projections will be.
Viewing the Forecast
To see your projected wealth:
- Open the filter settings
- Set the To date to a future date (e.g., end of next year)
- Choose an appropriate aggregation (Monthly works well for forecasts)
- Apply the filter
The chart will display both historical data and future projections in a continuous view, helping you visualize your financial trajectory.
Available Metrics
Choose from five different metrics to track:
| Metric | Description |
|---|---|
| Net Worth | Total assets minus total debt - your complete financial picture |
| Liquid Assets | Cash and easily accessible funds (checking, savings, money market accounts) |
| Illiquid Assets | Assets that can't be quickly converted to cash (real estate, retirement accounts, investments) |
| Debt | Total outstanding liabilities (loans, mortgages, credit cards) |
| Liquid Net Worth | Liquid assets minus debt - what you could access quickly if needed |
Net Worth is the most common choice for tracking overall financial health. Use Liquid Net Worth if you want to focus on accessible funds. Track Debt separately if reducing debt is your primary goal.
Chart Types
The widget offers two visualization styles:
Line Chart
The default line chart displays your wealth as a continuous line, ideal for:
- Seeing smooth trends over longer periods
- Identifying gradual growth or decline patterns
- Spotting the overall direction of your finances
Column Chart
The column chart shows each data point as a vertical bar, useful for:
- Comparing values between specific time periods
- Highlighting month-over-month or week-over-week changes
- Making discrete time period comparisons easier to read
Configuration Options
Click the filter icon in the widget header to open the configuration dialog.
Accounts
Select which accounts to include in the wealth calculation. By default, all accounts are included. You can:
- Select All - Include every account in the calculation
- Choose specific accounts - Focus on particular accounts (e.g., only investment accounts)
- Exclude accounts - Remove accounts you don't want to track
This flexibility lets you create focused views, such as tracking only your retirement accounts or monitoring a specific savings goal.
Select Metric
Choose which wealth metric to display:
- Liquid Assets - Track easily accessible funds
- Illiquid Assets - Monitor long-term holdings
- Debt - Watch your liabilities
- Net Worth - See your complete financial picture (default)
- Liquid Net Worth - Focus on accessible net worth
Data Aggregation
Control how frequently data points appear on the chart:
| Aggregation | Best For |
|---|---|
| Daily | Short time periods, detailed analysis |
| Weekly | Medium-term trends, reducing daily noise |
| Monthly | Year-over-year comparisons, long-term trends (default) |
| Yearly | Multi-year financial planning, big-picture view |
Match your aggregation to your date range. Daily works well for weeks or months. Monthly suits year-long views. Yearly is ideal for multi-year comparisons.
Date Interval
Quickly select common time periods:
- This month / Last month
- Last 3 months / Last 6 months / Last 12 months
- This year / Last year
- All time
Date Range
For custom time periods, set specific start and end dates. The date pickers let you define exactly which period to analyze.
When you select a date interval preset, the date range fields automatically update. Manually changing the dates clears the interval selection.
Chart Type
Choose your preferred visualization:
- Line chart - Continuous line showing trends (default)
- Column chart - Vertical bars for discrete period comparison
Reading the Chart
Understanding the Y-Axis
The Y-axis shows your wealth metric value. For larger amounts (1,000 or more), values are automatically scaled to thousands for readability. The axis title indicates the metric and scale, for example: "Net Worth (in 1000 USD)".
Hovering for Details
Hover over any point on the chart to see:
- The exact date
- The precise value in your currency
Zooming
You can zoom into specific time periods by clicking and dragging horizontally on the chart. This is useful for examining periods of significant change in more detail.
Use Cases
Track Overall Financial Health
Configure the widget with:
- Metric: Net Worth
- Accounts: All accounts
- Date Interval: Last 12 months
- Aggregation: Monthly
- Chart Type: Line
This gives you a clear picture of your overall financial trajectory over the past year.
Monitor Emergency Fund Growth
Configure the widget with:
- Metric: Liquid Assets
- Accounts: Only savings/checking accounts
- Date Interval: This year
- Aggregation: Monthly
- Chart Type: Column
Watch your emergency fund grow month by month.
Track Debt Reduction Progress
Configure the widget with:
- Metric: Debt
- Accounts: Loan and credit card accounts
- Date Interval: Last 12 months
- Aggregation: Monthly
- Chart Type: Line
See your debt decrease over time as you make payments.
Investment Portfolio Growth
Configure the widget with:
- Metric: Illiquid Assets
- Accounts: Investment and retirement accounts only
- Date Interval: All time
- Aggregation: Monthly
- Chart Type: Line
Track long-term investment growth across your portfolio.
Forecast Net Worth for the Year Ahead
Configure the widget with:
- Metric: Net Worth
- Accounts: All accounts
- From date: January 1st of current year
- To date: December 31st of next year
- Aggregation: Monthly
- Chart Type: Line
See your historical wealth alongside projected future values based on your recurring transactions. This helps you plan for major expenses or savings goals.
Customization
Like all Apocha widgets, you can personalize the Wealth Development widget:
- Custom Title - Click the title to rename it (e.g., "Retirement Growth" or "Debt Payoff Progress")
- Custom Icon - Click the icon to choose a different symbol
- Widget Size - In edit mode, drag the widget edges to resize it on your dashboard
Tips for Effective Use
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Create multiple instances - Add several Wealth Development widgets with different configurations to track different aspects of your finances simultaneously
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Pair with related widgets - Combine with the Net Worth widget for current values alongside historical trends
-
Check regularly - Weekly or monthly reviews help you stay aware of your financial direction
-
Adjust time frames - Use shorter periods (daily/weekly) when actively managing finances, longer periods (monthly/yearly) for strategic planning
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Focus on trends - Don't worry about daily fluctuations; focus on the overall direction over months and years
Related Features
- Net Worth Widget - See your current net worth at a glance
- Monthly Cash Flow Widget - Understand income and expenses affecting your wealth
- Savings Rate Widget - Track how much of your income you're saving
- Account Balance Widget - Monitor specific account balances
- Cashing Up - Establish your financial baseline for accurate tracking
- Recurring Transactions - Set up the transactions that drive your wealth forecast
- Calendar Integration - Get reminders for upcoming payments
Part of the Dashboard Widgets guide series.