Months between paychecks require fast triage — Cash Compass shrinks the spending floor, tracks the emergency fund draw, and shows runway month by month.
Apple-native · No bank logins · iCloud sync
Cash Compass's category view shows your last 90 days of spending sorted by amount. Within an hour you can identify the 5-10 recurring charges and discretionary categories that should pause or shrink — subscriptions, dining, entertainment, non-essential shopping. Voice input keeps logging fast during a stressful period when journaling spending is mentally heavy.
The hardest part of an emergency fund is using it. Cash Compass treats your emergency fund as an income source during job loss, so each withdrawal shows up alongside expenses. The chart shows how many months of runway are left at current spending — useful for deciding when to cut harder and when to start considering temporary income.
Income during job loss is usually a patchwork — severance (sometimes a lump sum, sometimes spread over weeks), unemployment benefits (state-dependent, typically 26 weeks at 40-50% of prior wages), and possibly part-time or contract work. Cash Compass tracks each as a separate income category. Healthcare costs shift dramatically too — COBRA, ACA marketplace, or spouse's plan — and that category usually grows during unemployment.
Voice, photo of a receipt, or 3-tap manual entry — every method takes under 5 seconds.
Cash Compass picks the category automatically. Override once and it learns your pattern.
Weekly chart shows where money went. Adjust caps before the month is over, not after.
Bankrate's 2024 emergency fund survey found only about 44% of Americans could cover a $1,000 emergency from savings, and roughly 27% have no emergency savings at all. The conventional target is 3-6 months of essential expenses, but the realistic answer depends on your situation. Single-income households, specialized careers with longer job searches, or anyone with significant fixed costs (mortgage, dependents) often need 6-9 months. Dual-income households with general-skill careers can sometimes manage with 3 months. The honest number: figure your essential monthly expenses (rent, utilities, food, insurance, transportation, debt minimums — not lifestyle spending), divide your emergency fund by that number, and that's your months of runway. Cash Compass surfaces this calculation directly in the chart view.
Immediately, but strategically. The emergency fund exists for exactly this. Don't drain it to the bottom while also paying for the gym, three streaming services, and DoorDash. The right pattern: identify the new spending floor (essentials only), pull from the emergency fund to cover the gap between unemployment + severance and that floor, and reserve credit cards for absolute last resort. Most laid-off workers benefit from making one round of cuts on day 1-3 (cancel discretionary subscriptions, pause non-essential shopping) and a second deeper round at day 30-45 if the job search is longer than expected. Cash Compass's monthly chart shows whether the runway is shrinking faster than expected, which is the signal to either cut more or start income-replacement work.
Five categories almost always have room. Subscriptions — streaming, fitness, apps, premium accounts, often $100-$250/month combined. Dining out — typically $200-$600/month for an individual or couple, easy to cut to $50-$100 during a hiring search. Transportation — pause auto loan payments if your lender allows hardship deferment (most do), reduce mileage, defer non-essential car maintenance. Non-essential shopping — clothing, household goods, hobbies. Travel and recreation — pause planned trips and discretionary spending. Cash Compass's category view sorted by 90-day spend shows exactly where the money has been going, which makes the cuts mechanical rather than emotional. Don't cut health insurance, debt minimums, or anything that risks compounding penalties (utilities, rent, taxes).
Job loss creates an immediate health insurance question. COBRA continues your employer's plan but you pay the full premium (typically $600-$1,800/month for individual, $1,500-$3,500 for family) — it's expensive but covers pre-existing conditions and ongoing care. ACA marketplace plans are often significantly cheaper, especially with subsidies that kick in at lower income levels (which you may qualify for after job loss). A spouse's employer plan is often the cheapest option if available — most plans treat job loss as a qualifying event allowing mid-year enrollment. Don't go uninsured even briefly if you have ongoing prescriptions or chronic conditions; the gap exposes you to catastrophic risk and may complicate future coverage. Track the new insurance premium as a Cash Compass category — it's usually one of the largest expense changes during unemployment.
Built native for iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iCloud sync. Works offline.
No bank logins, no Plaid, no data sales. All data lives in your iCloud.
Manual entry, charts, category tracking — all free, forever. Premium is optional.
Track unemployment income, the emergency fund draw, and the cuttable categories in Cash Compass — free tier handles it.
Download Cash Compass on the App Store