The Annual Map is the view to zoom out and see patterns the monthly calendar hides. It shows the whole year as a double-strip heatmap — one strip for expenses and one for income, parallel.
How to read it
The Annual Map has:
- A 12-month overview at the top, summarizing the year at a glance
- An "Expenses" strip — darker red the months you spent the most
- An "Income" strip — darker green the months you received the most
Intensity is relative: scaled to your average. The most intense cell of 2026 is your most expensive (or richest) month of the year, not an absolute value.
What it's actually for
Three things, mainly:
1. See your annual peaks
The darkest months in the expense strip are the months that weigh the most. For a typical family:
- Beginning of year (car insurance, road tax, first daycare quarter)
- September (back to school, books, sports)
- December (gifts, dinners, trips)
Seeing them at a glance helps you prepare: you have an idea of when more liquidity is needed, even before Smart Plan.
2. Compare expenses vs income, month over month
The two parallel strips make the visual comparison immediate: "in July did I spend more than I made?". No numbers to read — naked eye.
Useful pattern for freelancers or variable-income earners: you see which months were strong and which lean, and immediately match against spend.
3. Find the "empty" months
Months with little color in the expense strip are quiet months. If you see them in a row, you have a year with good rhythm. If the strip is mostly deep red, you're paying every month at max — a signal to check what changed.
Click on a month
Click on a month opens the monthly detail (the same view you have on the calendar for that month). From there you can open a single expense to edit.
Differences with the monthly view
| Aspect | Monthly view | Annual Map |
|---|---|---|
| Granularity | Single day with detail | Whole month as a red/green shade |
| Period | One month | A whole year |
| Primary use | Manage upcoming due dates | See patterns, comparisons |
| Edit expenses | Yes (click the dot) | Indirect (click → monthly view) |
What the Annual Map is NOT
- Not a report with exact numbers — for that there's the monthly report
- Not a view to manage due dates — for that there's the monthly calendar
- Not a guarantee: if you logged few past expenses or deleted them, the pattern is incomplete
It's a diagnostic view: it's there to give you a photo of the year, not to drive tomorrow's decisions.