How to set a goal and plan for it

Pick something you want, such as a car or a home, see what it really costs, and get a plan built from what your business earns.

Updated 2026-10-18

A goal is something you want to buy, an amount of money to have, or what you want to be making: a car, a home, a rental property, your next lease or unit, equipment or a work vehicle, or anything else. Otto works out what it costs, reads what your business earns, and shows how long it takes to get there at three paces.

Press Goals at the top of the Overview. They are yours alone: nobody else on your team sees them. If the Goals button is not there, switch it on under Settings → Account → Goals. The switch is yours alone and hides nobody else's button.

Each goal is a ring that fills as you save, with its name in the middle

Make a goal

Press Goals at the top of the Overview, then New goal.
Pick What is it?: a car, a home, a rental property, your next lease or unit, equipment or a work vehicle, or something else. Otto picks the usual way to pay for it: a car on finance, a home or rental property on a mortgage, anything else in cash.
Type the Name and Price. Otto shows what you'd save first and pay each month as you type. Or, if you have the listing, paste its link under Have a listing? Paste its link and press Fill it in: Otto fills in the name, the price, what it is and how you'd pay, from a car listing (Cars.com, Autotrader, CarMax, Carvana or a dealer's site), a home (Zillow, Redfin, Realtor.com), a rental listing, or equipment on a store page. Facts such as the year, make and model, or the beds and baths, show under the link, and the goal keeps the link as View listing.
Check Get it by. When your business's profit is known, it starts at the month the Regular approach gets you there; otherwise a year from now. Move the slider to change it.
Press Save goal.

That's all you need. Everything else is under Adjust the details, already filled in: what it is, how you'd pay, the figures (for finance 10% down, 60 months and the rate for a credit score of 700; for a mortgage 10% down over 30 years), the approach, and which business pays for it (the one you have open). Open it to change any of them; the cost updates as you type.

Some sites, Zillow and Carvana among them, often don't let Otto read their pages. Otto says so, fills in what it can, and you type the price. If a page doesn't show a price, Otto says "Couldn't find the price on that page — type it in." Otto never guesses a price.

Every figure is an estimate. Your lender or landlord sets the real numbers; check with them before you commit.

An amount of money

Pick An amount of money under What is it? to save a sum by a date. Type the Amount (Otto suggests a name such as "$20,000 saved") and set Have it by. It works like a purchase paid in cash: the same plan, ring, month by month and report, and Add to savings as you put money aside.

Be making…

Pick Be making… to reach a level of earnings by a date. Type the Amount, choose a month or a year, choose take-home (profit) or sales (revenue), and set Making it by. Progress comes from what the business earns, not from savings:

Where you are now is the average of the last three full months, against your target. A yearly target is compared with the monthly figure times 12. The ring goes solid with a check once the latest full month reaches the target.
What it takes shows the growth needed each month to make your date, the business's own trend, and when it gets there at that trend.
If growth runs at this pace shows the three approaches as scenarios, not forecasts: Modest is 2% growth a month, Regular 5% and Aggressive 10%, each with what it would add a month and when it would get there.
Get strategies suggests ways to raise the profit or sales you chose. In the Report, these goals are listed apart and add nothing to the monthly set-aside.

With no business yet, the suggested businesses are ranked by whether their monthly profit covers the target (a yearly one divided by 12).

Read the plan

Open a goal to see its page.

What it costs splits the price into what you pay up front and what you pay each month, with the rate Otto used and where it came from.
The plan shows the three approaches side by side. Modest sets aside 15% of the business's monthly profit, Regular 30% and Aggressive 60% — over half. If no expenses are recorded, profit is what the business takes in, so Aggressive is 60% of what the business makes. Each shows the monthly amount, the month you would reach the goal, and whether that is On time or Late for your date.

The plan: what each approach sets aside and when it gets there

Under the plan, Otto says how much more monthly profit the business would need to make your date, and whether the monthly payment looks affordable next to what the business earns.
What the business earns shows its monthly profit and trend. If no expenses are recorded, it says the figure is revenue only.
Move the Get it by slider or change the approach and the plan updates straight away.
Month by month shows, for each month up to your date, what you set aside, the total saved and how far along you are, as a chart of saved against what the date needs. Press Table for the same figures as rows.
Print or save as PDF opens the plan as one clean page: the goal, its costs, the approach, month by month and any strategies. Press the button on it, or your browser's Print.

See every goal together

Press Report beside your goals for all of them at once:

Total each month: what you set aside across every goal you're saving for, and how much of the business's average monthly profit that is.
Order of finish: which goal you reach first, and when.
If your goals together need more than the business makes, a warning says so. Pick a gentler approach for one, or move a date.

Get strategies

Press Get strategies for ways to reach the goal sooner at the approach you picked, worked out from your business's own figures and opportunities. A Modest plan leans on trimming costs and steady follow-ups; Aggressive adds new services, hiring and ads. It uses some of your monthly AI usage.

Save toward it

Type an amount and press Add to savings whenever you set money aside, or Take out if you used some. The ring fills as you go, and the history lists each change. When you have saved everything needed up front, the ring goes solid with a check. When you have bought it, press Mark as got it.

You can also add Your goals to your Overview: press Customize on the Overview and add it.

No business yet?

On the first screen after signing up, choose I have a goal — help me choose a business. Fill in the goal the same way, and Otto suggests businesses that could get you there, with a rough start-up cost, a rough monthly profit, when the first income comes, and how well each fits your date: Works when its typical monthly profit covers what the goal needs each month (the amount divided by the months left), Stretch when only a good month does, Unlikely when not even that. Press Start this business to begin one. The ranges are rough and vary widely from place to place.

If it doesn't work

The plan shows no dates: the business needs a few months of recorded payments before Otto can work out its profit. Until then each approach shows the profit it would need.
"Otto's answer could not be read as strategies. Try again.": press Get strategies again.
A business is greyed out under who pays for it: you need to see money in that business. Ask its owner.
"That site doesn't let Otto read its pages — type the price.": the site blocks automated reading. Type the price yourself.