What does % Discretionary mean on an expense?
Where to find it: EXPENSES → Edit → % Discretionary
It is the portion of the planned expense that the guardrails and expense-adjustment tools may change. Edit an entry in EXPENSES and set % Discretionary from 0 to 100. A value of 0 makes it fully essential; 100, or a blank value, makes it fully discretionary.
For example, for a $1,000 expense with 30% discretionary, $700 is essential and $300 adjustable. A 30% guardrail changes the adjustable $300 by $90, so the total can become $910 after a bad year or $1,090 after a good year.
The calculation uses that year’s original planned amount; it does not compound repeated percentage changes on the previous adjustment. Normal inflation and scheduled changes still affect the underlying plan.
Type and Sub Type normally group expenses. When the percentage field is not displayed, choosing Essential or Discretionary as Type sets the discretionary share to 0% or 100%, respectively. Other labels leave the percentage unchanged.