In your Reports and on several cards and widgets, Wallet shows a small percentage next to your Income, Expenses, net result or balance — often with an up or down arrow. This article explains exactly what that number means, what it does not mean, and why it can sometimes look surprisingly large.
It's a comparison with the past period
The percentage tells you how much a value has changed compared to the previous period of the same length, using the same date range, filters and included accounts. It is not a share of your income or a portion of some total — it's a period-over-period change.
Wallet calculates it with the standard change formula:
Change (%) = (current period − previous period) ÷ |previous period| × 100
An upward arrow means the value went up versus the previous period; a downward arrow means it went down.
Example
If you're viewing this month, the comparison is against last month. Say your expenses were 800 last month and 1,000 this month:
(1,000 − 800) ÷ 800 × 100 = +25% — your expenses are 25% higher than the previous month.
If you switch the period to a year, it compares this year with the previous year, and so on.
Where you'll see it
The "vs past period" percentage appears in places such as the Income & Expense and Cash Flow cards in Reports, the Balance Trend widget, and the Expense Structure preview. They all use the same logic: current period compared with the one before it.
What it is NOT
A common expectation is that this percentage shows how much of your income you spent or saved (for example, "I spent 40% of my income" or "60% remains"). That is a different calculation — expenses as a proportion of income — and Wallet does not currently display it. The percentage you see is always a comparison with the previous period, not a ratio between income and expenses.
It's also different from the percentages inside a pie chart, where each slice shows that category's share of the total for the selected period. That's a share of a single total — not a comparison over time.
Why the number can look large or unexpected
- A small previous period. When the previous period's value is close to zero, even a modest change produces a very large percentage. For example, going from a net of 50 to 1,200 is a change of well over 2,000%. The number is mathematically correct — it just reflects a tiny starting base.
- The sign changed. If your net result moved from negative to positive (or vice versa), the percentage can look counter-intuitive even though the underlying totals are right.
- Different filters between cards. If two cards show different percentages, check that both use the same period, the same accounts, and the same base currency, and that no account is excluded from statistics or archived. Make sure transfers aren't marked as income or expense, and watch for duplicate or split records.
Tip: If you ever want to double-check a percentage, look at the underlying totals for both periods and apply the formula above, or compare with the Web App, which uses the same calculation.
Have an idea for how this should work? Let us know at feedback.budgetbakers.com.
For more on how your statistics are built, see Understanding Your Wallet Statistics.