I like the software but would love a few improvements!

LucyTheCat

Hi! I'm a relatively new Quicken Simplifi user, and I do like Quicken, though I wish there was a bit more flexibility.

1. As a college student who is receiving income on an irregular basis, I think that the monthly viewpoint is a little challenging. I'd really like to be able to create a monthly budget with what is in my bank account versus a projected income. I don't think this requires redoing the entire logic behind the app, but more you could ask screening questions and say, "Do you receive a predictable income?" Either way, someone can decide between one format or another. This comes from the fact that I often just need Quicken to tell me how much spending money I have when accounting for all of my more necessary purchases.
2. I would also really appreciate bills and subscriptions being folded into Planned Spending. For example, I have some groceries that get delivered on the regular, and some which I buy as needed. But it's very confusing to subtract the subscription groceries from my total grocery budget to put into Planned Spending, and it's disorienting because my entire grocery budget isn't in one place.
3. Also being able to logically move certain transactions to act for the following month would be great. For example, say I pay my June rent (due the 1st) on May 28th. By Simplifi's current model, that goes into May budgeting even though from a user experience, it's for June. I get support from my parents, some of which is help with my rent, and technically it's sent in May, but it's calculated out for June. The bank account viewpoint would probably help with this.
4. It would be nice to have certain fun spending targets, similar to how the savings works. Stuff where, no, it's not a necessity, but I would like to get it, and it would be nice to get an indication if I could afford it with what is currently in my bank account (the spending plan simply doesn't give a clear picture), when you subtract all of my necessities.

Essentially, it would be nice to almost have visual pots each month with your necessities. Like, do you have money for groceries, do you have money for rent, etc? And you can apportion a section of the money in your account for that. And then another section for needs for the month, but like, second-tier needs that you still need to pay for (but maybe your pots are full and you need to cancel a subscription). And a savings section, similar to what we have now. And then, all of that subtracted, how much money do you have left as more disposable income, and do you have any plans on what you want/need to buy with it?

I feel like this would also be more beginner-friendly.

DannyB

Hi @LucyTheCat Welcome to Quicken Simplifi (QS).

QS is designed for a more predictable type of planning, but it can work for you as is. I'll give some feedback on each of your points just for the fun of it as see if it helps you out any.

1. Is your irregular income predictable as far as the amount over the course of a month? If so, rather than trying to base you plan on when the income arrives in your account, you can set a custom amount for each month. This article shows you how to do this. How Do I Set a Custom Income Amount in the Spending Plan? | Quicken Simplifi Help Center
2. You can "fold" bills and subscriptions into Planned Spending. To do this simply set up how much you expect to spend in a given category including your recurring bills/subscriptions that fall into that category. In your example of groceries, don't set up your "delivered on the regular" groceries as a recurring expense and make sure they are categorized the same as those groceries you buy as needed. Then set up a Planned Spending category for with the target amount you desire.
3. I can think of a couple of ways to handle the timing for those bills that land at the end or beginning of the month. One is to simply wait until the first of the month to pay the bill so that it lands in that month. Or, make sure you consistently pay that bill at the end of the previous month so that it is only counted once in each month. In my experience, there is a grace period for payment following the due date. (Rent is due on the first but not considered late if paid by the fifth or something along those lines.) As for the support from your parents that arrives in May for expenses in June - refer back to 1. and the idea of setting up a custom income amount rather than using actual income deposits.
4. In theory, this is exactly what the Spending Plan is designed and meant to do - show you what you have available to spend AFTER all necessary expenses are accounted/planned for the current month.

Using your "visual pots" idea, you can use the Planned Spending section for all the pots you need and skip setting up any recurring expenses in the Income after bills & savings section.

Once you have filled up the pots or rather established how big each pot needs to be QS will give you the bottom line. If there is nothing left after setting up your pots, well, then you don't have any extra to spend on non-essentials and will need to make adjustments to your pots if needed.

I have no idea if this helps you out or not, but perhaps it gives you some ideas how to work within the framework of QS as is.

Good luck!