Rollover unused Spending Plan money [edited] (10 Merged Votes)
Comments
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This is a must have! I'm not sure how folks are confidently budgeting without this functionality. You are flying blind with respect to infrequently recurring bills (e.g. insurance) or lumpy spend (e..g house maintenance: I spend avg $500/month fixing stuff but some months I spend $0 and other months the fridge blows out and I use the full year budget). I'll use the service for now (I like it so far) with the anticipation that this feature will be added - but it is a definite deal breaker if not added soon.6
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Please add this feature.
I will not be keeping Simplifi because it lacks this features. Once it is added, I will consider it, as it saves me a lot of time on a monthly bases.
Thanks.2 -
This is also a deal breaker for me if it is not implemented. I KNOW my car will eventually break down. It is planned spending, I just don't know when it will occur. But I should be able to PLAN and save for it before it happens. I shouldn't have to manually move balances month to month for dozens of categories to keep track of carry over balances. Too many categories are like this. It would also be nice rather than to just release the unused funds from a category to available spending, to have the option to transfer them directly to another planned spending category in order to cover a shortfall if desired. I also like to carry over negative balances in addition to positive ones. YNAB does not allow you to do this which is why I tried Simplifi in the first place. If you spend more than you have available, it should deduct from your next month's planned spending amount. Life doesn't always fit into neat planned categories, things happen that wreck "the plan". Seeing that you are starting the month in the red on a category is a powerful reminder that you don't really have anything to spend on that category until the funding for it is caught back up. YNAB FORCED you to cover the shortfall from another category, but that turns into robbing Peter to pay Paul mentality where the goal becomes to balance the budget rather than to use it as a guide for spending. This is budgeting software, not a balance sheet.6
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This is my top requested feature by far.
My current work around is fairly inelegant but it does work for most of my use cases: I create a savings goal for every infrequent (auto insurance, yearly subscriptions, etc) or planned-but-unknown date (car maintenance, etc). Once the transaction month arrives, or the expense occurs, I withdraw money from that goal and mark the transaction to not be counted in the Spending Plan.
Having built-in rollover functionality would be much preferred than this method.1 -
I'll add my vote for this feature request. To add to the list of possible use cases, my wife and I each have personal spending budgets that rollover from month to month. It would be nice to be able to keep track of this within Simplifi.5
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Any updates on this? My subscription is coming up for renewal and a lot is riding on this feature.3
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Hello @jaybarr,
Thanks for reaching out, although I apologize that there's no update to provide on this request as of yet.
In the meantime, you may consider setting a custom Income amount in the Spending Plan to include any leftovers from the previous month. More details and the steps to do so can be found here.
Otherwise, I will be sure to keep this post updated as soon as any new information becomes available. I hope this helps!
-Coach Natalie-Coach Natalie
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I like this idea as well. It would be nice to have a way to roll over positive balances. Suggested work around for folks until something like this is implemented:
I'm a former Mint user and how I handled it there was to add a Cash transaction for the left over amount, I'd add it to a planned spending category, then create a duplicate income transaction for the following month.
Example: I have $20.54 left in November. I create an expense cash transaction for $20.54, put it in a "Monthly Rollover" category dated November 30. Next I create an income cash transaction for $20.54 dated December 1 and put it in a "Rollover income" income category. The expense tracks to November but the income tracks in December.
For Simplifi I have created a manual Cash account and am adding these transactions here. But I am a new user and havent gotten through a full month to see how it works out.2 -
I would vote for this as well. It will be a deal breaker if I can't find a work around.
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I'm voting for this feature as well. Without it, it's difficult to track and plan for annual budgets (home repairs, car maintenance, etc) that don't have specific spend dates.
Mint has this feature, but I much prefer the simple, streamlined interface of the Simplifi app. It's enjoyable to work in, and it's easy to see where my money is going (I really like linking bills and subscriptions to transactions). Now, just to figure a work around for these annual expenses (savings goals? Can transactions get linked to savings goals?)4 -
Coming from YNAB, this is a deal breaker for me. You guys have better integrations with banks, a better interface, but this is a must. The default behavior from YNAB is as follows:
1. Set a given contribution amount for a category, similar to a savings goal.
2. Each month, contribute that amount to that goal.
3. Spending can be linked to that goal and withdraw the funds.
4. Any left overs carry over to the next month.
The way I'd do this, given the interface as is, simply add the ability to assign transactions to withdraw from the Savings Goals. This is exactly the behavior I want, and it is flexible. Forcing this into a new category or planned spending would be awkward. The savings goals, as is, are incomplete and cumbersome. What? Release money for that purpose that somehow counts as spending? Why is it not tied to a transaction? Or, create a one time expense and release money to the main fund?
Seems like this is just a missing item to Savings Goal functionality.3 -
Hi, I want to add my voice -I really need this functionality. It's the only thing that's making this software nearly unusable to me. Especially since you're gamifying based on whether you meet your goals, and the only real way to meet goals is to hide stuff from the spending plan and hope for the best. I see this feature has been requested for months with no progress. Any ideas?1
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+1 this is a MUST HAVE feature!1
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I also vote this is a must have1
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Agree this is a great feature, but also can be difficult to do well as @shanedeiley says. If one really wants to get a handle on their budget and spending, it is a required feature, and I think YNAB is probably the best implementation of the "envelope" style budgeting because it won't let you outspend your budget. This does require a change in mindset where your budget is based off of actual money in the bank, not what is forecasted. If you just want to know where your money is going and save for a few big ticket items, then Simplifi and other products work pretty well.
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@Coach Natalie Any update on this? It seems like its going on its third year with no updates....2
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I just switched to Simplifi from Quicken and I have the same feedback as previous Quicken users. Initially I wasn't sure if it did roll-over but I found this thread and upvoted. Thanks!2
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I am in the trial period of simplifi and I love it. I am trying different budget programs right now after leaving YNAB. Mint has the monthly rollover, but I do like simplifi the best and would really like to keep it.The monthly rollover is a deal breaker for me. I am confused.This seems to be a much needed addition, but no updates for a couple years. I would even be willing to purchase simplifi, if I knew this feature would be added in the near future. I hope it is added soon.1
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As someone without any set income, there are months I have 0 and months I have $20,000… I NEED to be able to roll over money from the previous month… if I don’t than it looks like I have $0 available to pay bills and for spending. For someone like me the current system makes the spending plan unusable.1
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When will this be updated? I pay for the yearly service, and would love to see a rollover option.0
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Totally agree with these comments. Budgeting is all about planning for the future not just tracking month by month expenses. Without this feature, must of the functionality of Simplifi is diminished, in my view.1
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I didn't read all of these but you should be able to deduct from the following month's budget when you go over as well automatically.
As to future planning, I 100% agree, and wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't already on the product roadmap. One thing that's great about Simplifi is that they are very responsive to our feedback and suggestions. Since I've been here I've seen several improvements as a direct result of our feedback. Improvements in tracking investments and adding some crypto accounts to name a couple. Changes don't happen overnight as each addition takes a team of people who plan out each step of the change and then have to work not only to implement it but to build it and test it so it works correctly. In the world of tech, in which I work in my real life, to do it right you must have patience grasshopper.2 -
I agree with the others. Getting in & staying in budget is a key part of why I use financial software like Simplifi (and Mint). For a most of my expense categories, looking at month individually simply isn't helpful. e.g. I don't buy clothes every month, I want to save up, and then buy in the off season and be done. Monthly budgets without roll-over hides what I'm trying to see. If I'm in the hole, fine, I'll wait a few months to replace cloths.
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I love this idea! It would be ideal if we had the OPTION to rollover or not.. so we can see what the spending plan looks like with rollover, and also WITHOUT rollover so we can track expenses in a month, but also year to date rolling in a year..0
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Two and a half years... shame this hasn't a priority. I wanted to use Simplifi as an alternative to Mint, but this is a basic feature for me and by itself is enough to prevent me from using Simplifi instead of Mint, even if Simplifi were free.1
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I honestly don't know any financial management software that has that function though IU could be wrong. I used Mint for years and the budget was the budget; you had to manually change it if you wanted to "add in" prior month's surpluses. I bet they add it one day, but until then I always have a conversation with my wife at the beginning of the month to go over budget. Just add it in there and make it a change for one month. It's the way it budgets for both expenses and savings that is the real power of the app. Let me know if you have questions! I absolutely love this app!-1
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@JedpQuicken Desktop does has this functionality. The rest of Quicken Desktop’s Budget Module is absolutely lousy - which is why I switched - but it does have this ability.
P.S. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at your monthly meeting with your wife. That idea is something I’m trying to get started with mine after seeing you mention it in another post.Chris
Spreadsheet user since forever.
Quicken Desktop user since 2014.
Quicken Simplifi user since 2021.1 -
lol maybe I should make a YouTube video of how to have a healthy budget conversation with your spouse or significant other1
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@Jedp, rollover option is one of Mint’s greatest features. This is not new unfortunately. The project management team is just dragging their feet here.1
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Come on Simplifi, we all want this, we all pay. Please listen to your subscribers. There is too much competition out there for you to not make this change a priority.1
This discussion has been closed.