---
title: Expected income event — what it means and why it matters | Allocate AI
description: In Allocate, a bonus, commission, or stock vest you tell the app about in advance, so the plan counts it as income on the date it is due to arrive.
canonical: https://allocateai.io/glossary/expected-income-event
site: Allocate AI — https://allocateai.io
---

# Expected income event

In Allocate, a bonus, commission, or stock vest you tell the app about in advance, so the plan counts it as income on the date it is due to arrive.

An expected income event is any piece of pay that is not your regular paycheck: an annual bonus, a commission check, an RSU vest, an ESPP purchase, a sign-on bonus, a tax refund. You tell Allocate the amount and the date, and the plan treats it as income arriving on that day, not as a surprise when it shows up and not as money you can spend before then.

This is the piece most budgeting tools miss. They see a salary and build a monthly picture from it, so a $40,000 bonus in March either breaks the picture or gets ignored. In Allocate, the bonus sits on the calendar in March. Goals that need it can be timed to it. Safe to spend does not include it until it lands. If the amount is uncertain, you enter your best estimate and adjust when the real figure is known.

For RSUs, Allocate stores the vest schedule once and creates an event for each vest date, using the current share price for the estimate and adjusting the after-tax figure for the 22% supplemental withholding (2026) so the number the plan uses is close to what will actually hit your account.

When the money arrives, Allocate matches the deposit to the event and marks it received. If a bonus comes in smaller than expected, the brief says so and shows which goals are affected.

The common mistake it prevents is double-counting: spending a bonus in your head in January, then again when it arrives, then discovering the goal it was meant for is still short.

[Try the RSU Tax Calculator →](https://allocateai.io/calculators/rsu-tax)

## Related terms

- [Lump sum matched to a goal](https://allocateai.io/glossary/lump-sum-matched-to-goal) — In Allocate, an expected one-off payment, like a bonus or vest, assigned to fund a specific goal, so the goal counts it and stops warning.
- [RSU (restricted stock unit)](https://allocateai.io/glossary/rsu) — A promise from your employer to give you shares of company stock on a future date, as long as you are still there when that date arrives.
- [Annual bonus](https://allocateai.io/glossary/annual-bonus) — A once-a-year cash payment based on company and individual performance, usually expressed as a target percentage of base salary.
- [Safe to spend](https://allocateai.io/glossary/safe-to-spend) — In Allocate, the money that is genuinely free between now and your next payday, after bills and goal contributions are already covered.

**Plan in plain language.**

Allocate answers “can I afford this?” from your own numbers, writes the plan, and stages every change for your yes. It starts from an estimate before you link a bank.

[Get started](https://app.allocateai.io/signup)

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Allocate AI is a budgeting and financial-planning app: link your accounts, say what you want in plain words, and it writes the plan and stages every change for your approval. Read more at https://allocateai.io or see all pages in https://allocateai.io/llms.txt.