BananaBird

What Is a Snapshot?

A Snapshot is a dated financial check-in that records your financial position at a particular point in time.

Each Snapshot can contain current Account balances, updated Asset values, contributions or withdrawals, and Income received since your previous Snapshot.

As you submit Snapshots over time, BananaBird uses them to build your financial history and power many of the comparisons, charts, and trends shown throughout the application.

Expenses are not part of Snapshots. Expenses are tracked separately using their own dated entries and recurring rules.

Why Use Snapshots?

BananaBird is designed around periodic financial check-ins rather than recording every transaction.

A Snapshot gives you a practical way to answer questions such as:

What is my current net worth?
How have my assets and liabilities changed?
Which account balances moved the most?
How much did I contribute to or withdraw from tracked accounts?
How much income did I receive during the period?
How has my financial position changed over months or years?

The value comes from consistency over time. Each Snapshot adds another point to your financial history.

Choosing a Snapshot Frequency

There is no required Snapshot schedule. You might create one weekly, every two weeks, monthly, or on another schedule that works for you.

More frequent Snapshots provide finer detail, while less frequent Snapshots require less maintenance. The most useful schedule is usually one you can maintain consistently.

BananaBird can also remind you when it has been longer than your configured reminder interval since your last submitted Snapshot.

Snapshot reminder preferences can be managed from your Profile Reminders section.

Starting a Snapshot

From the Snapshots page, select Add Snapshot and choose the date the Snapshot represents.

The As Of Date determines which Accounts, Assets, and Income sources are active and available in the Snapshot.

For example, an Account with an opened date after the Snapshot date will not appear, and an Account that was already closed before that date will not appear.

Only one Snapshot can exist for a given date.

Draft Snapshots

A new Snapshot begins as a Draft.

While a Snapshot is a Draft, you can edit its financial values, update its date, add or change its note, and return to it later before submitting it.

Changes are automatically saved while you work. The save indicator near the top of the page shows whether your changes are saved, waiting to be saved, currently saving, or could not be saved.

If BananaBird still has unsaved changes when you try to leave the page, your browser may warn you before navigating away.

Accounts & Assets

The Accounts & Assets table contains the Accounts and Assets that are active on the Snapshot date.

BananaBird shows the previous recorded value and date alongside the field for the current Snapshot. The previous value is there as a reference while you complete your check-in.

Accounts

For Accounts, enter the balance that applies on the Snapshot date. Regularly entering current balances helps keep your financial history accurate and up to date.

Enter the current balance for each Account, even if it has not changed. If left blank, BananaBird continues using the most recent known balance. If the balance is zero, enter $0.00 so the zero balance is recorded explicitly.

Assets

Assets do not need to be revalued with every Snapshot. If you have a newer value, enter it. Otherwise, BananaBird can continue using the most recent known Asset value.

If an Asset has never received an updated value, its Initial Value can be used until a newer value is recorded.

Accounts Guide Assets Guide

Contributions & Withdrawals

If an Account has Tracks Contributions enabled, it appears in the Contributions & Withdrawals section of the Snapshot.

Record the contribution or withdrawal activity associated with the period since your previous Snapshot. BananaBird also shows the previously recorded amount and date for reference.

If there was no contribution or withdrawal activity for an Account since the previous Snapshot, leave the Amount blank. You do not need to enter $0.00.

Tracking these flows helps BananaBird distinguish money moved into or out of an Account from changes in the Account's value. This is especially useful for investment accounts.

Learn more about contributions and withdrawals

Income

Active Income sources appear in the Income Items section of the Snapshot.

For each Income source, enter the amount you received since your previous Snapshot.

If you received no income from a source since the previous Snapshot, leave the Amount blank. You do not need to enter $0.00.

The amount may vary considerably from one Snapshot to another depending on your Snapshot frequency and when payments actually arrived.

For example, if you are paid $1,000 every two weeks:

With monthly Snapshots, you might record $2,000 in one Snapshot period and $3,000 in another, depending on how the paydays fall.

With weekly Snapshots, one period might contain no payday and another might contain a $1,000 payment.

Record what was actually received during the period rather than smoothing the amount into a fixed weekly or monthly value.

Read the Income Guide

Snapshot Summary

As you enter values, the summary tiles at the top of the Snapshot update to show the financial picture represented by the current entries.

Net Worth
Total Assets minus Total Liabilities.

Total Assets
The combined value of the Asset Accounts and tracked Assets represented by the Snapshot.

Total Liabilities
The combined balance of Liability Accounts represented by the Snapshot.

Total Contributions
Shown when one or more active Accounts track contributions.

Total Income
Shown when one or more Income sources are active for the Snapshot date.

Snapshot Notes

You can attach an optional note to a Draft Snapshot.

Notes can be useful for recording context that may help explain the numbers later, such as a major purchase, a bonus, a move, a new job, or another significant financial event.

Snapshot notes are searchable from the Snapshots page, making them useful for finding a particular point in your history.

Submitting a Snapshot

When you are satisfied with the Snapshot, select Submit.

Submission changes the Snapshot from Draft to Submitted and locks its financial values, date, and note from normal editing.

Submitted Snapshots are the historical checkpoints BananaBird uses for most Dashboard calculations, account and asset history, performance comparisons, charts, and other trend information.

A Draft can be saved and revisited, but it does not represent a finalized historical checkpoint until it is submitted.

Unlocking a Submitted Snapshot

If you discover a mistake after submitting a Snapshot, you can select Unlock to return it to Draft status.

Once unlocked, the Snapshot becomes editable again. Make your corrections and submit it again when you are finished.

Because submitted Snapshots feed historical calculations, changing an older Snapshot can also change charts, comparisons, and metrics that depend on that point in your history.

Moving Between Snapshots

When viewing or editing a Snapshot, previous and next buttons appear when another Snapshot exists on either side of the current date. These controls make it easy to move through your financial history without returning to the Snapshot list.

Understanding the Snapshots Page

The Snapshots page shows your recorded financial checkpoints, including their date, status, note, and summary values.

Each Snapshot can show Net Value, Assets, Liabilities, and, when applicable, Contributions and Income.

By default, BananaBird loads Snapshots from approximately the most recent six months. You can choose to show all Snapshots or search your Snapshot notes.

Draft Snapshots can be reopened for editing, while Submitted Snapshots open in their locked view.

Discarding or Deleting a Snapshot

A Draft Snapshot can be discarded if you no longer want to keep it. Snapshots can also be deleted from the Snapshot list.

Deleting a Snapshot removes that financial checkpoint from your history, so historical charts and comparisons may change as a result.

Tips for Useful Snapshots

Use a Snapshot schedule you can maintain consistently.
Enter current balances for your active Accounts whenever possible. If a balance is left blank, BananaBird continues using the most recent known value; enter $0.00 when an Account's balance is actually zero.
Revalue Assets when appropriate; they do not need to be updated every time.
Record Income received since the previous Snapshot, and leave it blank when no income was received.
Record contribution and withdrawal activity for Accounts where contribution tracking is enabled, and leave it blank when there was no activity.
Add notes when there is useful context you may want to remember later.
Submit the Snapshot when the financial checkpoint is complete.

Snapshots