Setting Surplus Allocation Rules

By default, surplus money — anything left after all six reserves are filled to their floors — flows entirely into the last reserve in your priority order (Wealth Building, in the default setup). That's a sane fallback, but it's blunt. A $20K invoice landing all at once probably shouldn't dump every spare dollar into an index fund without first refilling Growth or topping up Lifestyle for the year.

Surplus Allocation Rules let you split the overflow across multiple reserves with percentages, caps, and conditions. Set them once, then watch fat months distribute themselves the way you'd distribute them by hand if you had time.

When surplus rules kick in

A reserve has surplus available when it's already at or above its floor. ReservWise calculates surplus per deposit, top-down:

1. Apply the Tax pre-skim. Working amount = deposit minus tax.
2. Walk through reserves in priority order. Each one fills to its floor.
3. Whatever's left at the bottom of the order is surplus.
4. Apply your Surplus Allocation Rules to that remaining amount.

Without surplus rules, step 4 simply dumps everything into the last reserve. With rules, step 4 splits it.

Two ways to split surplus

Percentage split

Each reserve gets a fixed percentage of surplus. Percentages must total 100%.

Example: 40% Wealth, 30% Growth top-up, 20% Lifestyle top-up, 10% Tax buffer. A $5,000 surplus would split as $2,000/$1,500/$1,000/$500.

Tier-cap split

Each rule has a target reserve, a percent, and an optional dollar cap. Surplus fills the rules in order until it's exhausted.

Example: Rule 1 — Growth gets 100% up to a $2,000 cap. Rule 2 — Lifestyle gets 100% up to a $1,000 cap. Rule 3 — Wealth gets remainder. A $5,000 surplus would put $2,000 in Growth, $1,000 in Lifestyle, and $2,000 in Wealth. A $1,500 surplus would put $1,500 in Growth and zero elsewhere.

Tier-cap is more flexible and what we recommend once you have a feel for typical surplus sizes. Percentage is simpler if surplus is consistent.

How to set surplus rules

1. Open Settings → Allocation → Surplus Rules.
2. Choose a mode (Percentage or Tier-cap).
3. Add rules in priority order. Each rule has a target reserve, a percentage (or amount), and an optional cap.
4. The preview panel shows how a $5,000 surplus would split under your current rules. Adjust until it matches what you'd actually do by hand.
5. Click Save surplus rules. The next deposit's surplus uses them.

Three real configurations

The "front-load growth" pattern

For operators who reinvest aggressively in the business.

• Growth — 50% of surplus, no cap
• Wealth — 30% of surplus, no cap
• Lifestyle — 20% of surplus, capped at $1,500/month

The "reward yourself" pattern

For operators whose Lifestyle reserve never seems to refill.

• Lifestyle — 40% of surplus until at $3,000 above floor
• Wealth — 35% of surplus, no cap
• Growth — 25% of surplus, capped at $2,000/month

The "build the war chest" pattern

For operators stockpiling for a slow season they know is coming.

• Survival — 60% of surplus until at 3× floor
• Tax — 25% of surplus (extra buffer beyond percent skim)
• Wealth — 15% of surplus, no cap

Common mistakes to avoid

• Setting rules before you've seen real surplus. One month of data goes a long way. Don't optimize a system you haven't watched run.
• Over-allocating to Lifestyle. Surplus rules that send 40% of every fat month to Lifestyle eat your wealth-building flywheel. Cap it.
• No Wealth allocation at all. Even a 10% slice means something compounds. Without it, fat months evaporate into "I'll save next time".
• Forgetting to update rules when you change floors. If you raise Growth's floor by $1,000, a rule that caps Growth surplus at $500 might now under-fund what you actually wanted.
• Confusing surplus rules with priority order. Rules apply only to overflow. They don't reorder which reserves fill first — that's allocation order.

What to do next

• Run for one full month before adding any surplus rules. The default (everything to Wealth) is the right starting state.
• Once you have surplus data, pick Tier-cap mode and start with one of the three patterns above.
• Re-read How the six-tier priority system works to be sure surplus and priority don't blur together in your head.
• Set up Lean Month Mode for the slow side of the same coin.

Floors handle the obligation. Surplus rules handle the ambition. Set both, then stop thinking about it.