Irregular expenses are the most common reason people fall off budget. You plan well for monthly bills but forget about the $300 car registration in March, the $250 Amazon Prime in July, or the $800 holiday spending in December. Plan Ahead and Yearly Purchases are designed to make these predictable.
Yearly Purchases: What It Is
The Yearly Purchases page is where you log large or irregular expenses that happen once a year or a few times a year — not monthly, but not random either. Examples:
- Annual memberships — Amazon Prime, Costco, AAA, streaming annual plans
- Car registration and inspection
- Holiday gifts and celebrations
- Vacation costs — flights, hotels
- Back to school expenses
- Tax preparation fees
- Home maintenance — HVAC service, gutter cleaning
- Annual insurance premiums paid in full
How to Add a Yearly Purchase
Click Add Purchase on the Yearly Purchases page. Enter:
- Name — what the expense is
- Category — which spending category it belongs to
- Amount — the full annual or per-occurrence cost
- Month it occurs — which month(s) of the year you pay it
- Frequency — once a year, twice a year, etc.
ZhanPlan then tells you the monthly savings amount needed to have this money ready when the expense arrives.
Amazon Prime costs $139 per year. Divided across 12 months, that is about $11.58 per month. Instead of being surprised by a $139 charge in July, you set aside $12 per month from January — the money is ready when the charge hits.
Plan Ahead: Goals with Monthly Contributions
The Plan Ahead page is connected to your Goals feature and shows you a summary view of all your financial goals with their monthly contribution requirements.
This page helps you see your total monthly savings obligation across all goals at once — so you know whether your income can actually support all of them simultaneously, or whether you need to prioritize.
For each goal, Plan Ahead shows:
- Goal name and category
- Target amount
- Current savings
- Monthly contribution needed to reach the goal by the target date
- Months until goal is reached at current contribution
How to Prioritize When You Cannot Fund Everything
If your total monthly goal contributions exceed what you can realistically save:
- 1Identify your most critical goal — usually an Emergency Fund first
- 2Fund that goal fully before splitting contributions
- 3Once the critical goal is met, direct those freed funds to the next priority
- 4Review annually as your income and expenses change
Connecting Plan Ahead to Your Budget
Both your Yearly Purchases monthly savings amounts and your goal monthly contributions should appear in your Budget page under Savings. This ensures your budget reflects your full savings obligations, not just your spending.
What is the difference between Plan Ahead and Goals?
They are related. Goals track specific savings targets with a timeline and progress bar. Plan Ahead shows the same goals in a planning view — focused on the monthly contribution requirements and whether your income can support them all.
Should I open separate savings accounts for each yearly purchase?
Many financial planners recommend this — a dedicated savings account called Car Costs or Holiday Fund, where you deposit the monthly savings amount. It makes tracking easier and removes the temptation to spend the money before the expense arrives. ZhanPlan tracks the plan; your bank holds the money.