Overview
Watchlists serve as a flexible "mini-budgeting" layer that operates alongside your primary Spending Plan. Instead of planning every single dollar, Watchlists allow you to isolate and "watch" only the areas that concern you most. Unlike traditional categories, you can track spending by a specific merchant (payee), a custom tag, or a group of categories.
This feature also projects your likely monthly total based on current behavior, compares it to your 12‑month average to spot trends, and supports optional targets with alerts when you near or exceed them, giving you more precise control over your day-to-day financial habits without needing to monitor everything manually.
Create a Watchlist
Watchlists can be created using specific Categories, Payees, or Tags. You can decide if you'd like to set a monthly target for each area, and Quicken Simplifi will keep an eye on your spending for you.
Hover over the left panel and click Watchlist.
Click the blue +Watchlist button in the upper right.
Create your Watchlist by selecting Category, Payee, or Tag.
Give your Watchlist a Name, then use the dropdown to check the items you want to include. You can also choose an emoji for your Watchlist.
If you'd like to give your Watchlist a Target, select Set and then enter the amount.
Click Create when done.
You can create as many Watchlists as you'd like, and Quicken Simplifi will do the tracking for you! You can also enable Watchlist Notifications so you'll be notified when you're nearing or have reached your target amount.
Using a Watchlist
Once you’ve created a Watchlist, you can monitor your spending in that area by viewing the information on the Watchlist’s card. On this card, you’ll see how much you’ve spent for the current month, an average total for the period shown, a year-to-date total, and a projection of how much you’ll spend this month if you keep spending at the current pace.
You can also click the card to open an interactive view of your activity for that Watchlist. This view includes a month-by-month graph, with bars that represent your spending for each month and a line that shows how close you are to your target when applicable.
For even more detail, you can click any bar in the graph to see a list of all transactions for that month.
Watchlist Calculations
The "Monthly Average" shows what a typical month of spending looks like by using up to 12 months of transaction history, including the current month. It only includes months that have a full set of data, defining a “full” month as one where transactions for that Watchlist start on or before the 5th; months where data begins on the 6th or later are excluded. The current month is always displayed for real-time tracking. This approach keeps the average realistic, based on consistent, long-term habits instead of incomplete or partial months.
The "Year to date" amount provides a cumulative total of your spending for that specific Watchlist's card since the beginning of the current calendar year.
The "This month" amount displayed for Watchlists is based on transactions that have already occurred during the month, along with any upcoming Reminders scheduled for the remaining days of the month.
The "Projected" amount displayed for Watchlists is calculated in two steps. First, it divides the "This month" total by the number of days that have passed in the current month to determine your average daily spending, including upcoming Reminders.
Next, this daily average is multiplied by the number of days remaining in the month, and that amount is added to what you’ve already spent to produce the projected total.
If you're looking for the steps specific to the mobile app, please see our article on Using Watchlists on the Mobile App.
If you have any questions or need help editing your account details in Quicken Simplifi, please don't hesitate to reach out to our support team!