Coming from Quicken Classic Deluxe - budgeting seems harder in Simplifi???

mikehd

For me at least. I'm not used to my financial management app categorizing my transactions as bills or subscriptions. I'm used to having a budget per category that is either expensed monthly or as needed. For example, utilities are monthly but hobby spending is "as needed".

So I am struggling on how to transfer my remaining budget plan from QCD to Simplifi for 2025. I've looked through the various FAQs but haven't found one that addresses my confusion.

I've been walking through my QCD budget and identifying the bills and subscriptions. Now I'm trying to implement the non-bill planned spending (planning to spend it this year but the month isn't fixed) and have been using the rollover feature in Simplifi as the planned spend for the month. The source data is the rollover amount for the QCD category for the same month. The problem is with this approach I have a huge negative left to spend summary on my spending plan. I then thought that using unplanned spending would work but there is no way to show a budget or spending limit for those items that I can find.

Which lead me to the watchlist groups. So now I interact with three separate interfaces to create and maintain a budget: bills/subscriptions, planned monthly spending, and watchlist. And it looks like watchlist is how to monitor spending in categories that is planned but not periodic like a bill or subscription.

However, I would have to set up 59 watchlists based on my understanding of Simplifi (which isn't great). Is this unusual for the "average" Simplifi user?

I think in the end, Simplifi isn't going to work for me. If anyone can point out what I've got wrong, I would greatly appreciate it.

Why am I looking for an alternative to QCD? I don't use the majority of the features and am getting frustrated with the connectivity issues with my credit union. Although I think the budgeting workflow is decent and fairly straightforward for my needs.

DryHeat

@mikehd

There are various posts and support articles available that talk about how "budgeting" works in Simplifi. The system works well for some people. For example, I am mainly concerned with being aware of my spending month by month. I use Simplifi's Spending Plan system primarily to guide my spending behavior.

But if you need to set specific budget amounts for 59 distinct categories, Simplifi may not meet your needs.

(FWIW, you don't have to categorize any recurring bills as subscriptions if you don't want to. You can call them all bills if that suits your needs better.)

mikehd

Thanks for the reply and feedback. I've read what I could find but the FAQs and articles never really gave the overview of the workflow or process used to manage money that I needed.

Agreed, I'm thinking that this isn't the solution for my money management needs.

DryHeat

@mikehd

It might not be for you… but I want to point out a potential benefit.

It took me a little while to get used to Simplifi's methodology, but pretty soon I found that I didn't really need to slice my budget into so many detailed pieces. It was easier and more helpful for me to take a "sector by sector" view of my spending. My real objective was to make sure that spending didn't get out of hand in any particular sector. Or that, if it did, I knew it and could compensate by toning it down in some other sector(s).

In other words, I budget at a higher level so I can easily comprehend what is going on. Then, if need be, I use the reporting system to drill down from that higher level to find where the body is buried.

mikehd

That is an interesting potential benefit. Maybe it is time to revisit my categorization.

SRC54

I came up with my own categorization years ago in Quicken Classic and have used it since in other apps including Simplifi. I have about 9 broad categories (1 is no longer used) for spending and 3 for income. We used to sometimes share our categories on here just for fun. Of course, I am always tinkering with it.

As for bills and subscriptions, it's up to you to use subscriptions; some people don't. I tend to use it for things that are automatically paid or the same each month, and things I don't consider to be bills like my wife's spending money. But everyone does it differently.

I also don't use rollover. What I have left is Savings. Some I even physically move to a savings account. I haven't ever found a way to make Savings Goals work for me. My goal is to save a fix amount, which I have set as a monthly transfer on the last day of the month.

I have two watchlists and only about 6 Planned Spending categories in the Spending Plan.

So I guess I keep things simple. As @DryHeat says this app may not be for you, but I hope you will find a way to make it your own.

Good luck.

DannyB

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/59238#Comment_59238

I'm going to guess you have read through the support article for how to use the Spending Plan. If not, it may be close to what you are looking for as far as a concise description for how the Spending Plan works:

https://support.simplifi.quicken.com/en/articles/4212702-understanding-your-spending-plan

QS does indeed require a shift in thinking. It was helpful for me to shift from the more common category-based budgeting that you are used to in QC and many other budgeting apps to what is called a "fixed and flexible" approach. QS gives you the tools to sort out your monthly/annual planning and tracking more along the lines of fixed and flexible.

Fixed = "Bills" (as pointed out above the distinction between and use of "Bills" and/or "Subscriptions" is up to the user.) In my experience, QS did a good job of identifying my fixed recurring expenses. I of course did my own customization of categories for my various recurring fixed expenses and made some minor corrections and additions to tighten things up, but now I have a solid picture of how much I spend monthly on my recurring bills.

Flexible = "Planned Spend" In this section of the Spending Plan I can set up my target amounts for all my flexible expenses, groceries, eating out, transportation, medical, entertainment/recreation, clothing, household supplies, etc. All those monthly routine expenses that are paid out to various vendors at various times during the month.

All of this is separate from your expense categorization schema which is still in place and is important to QS but is more in the "background" so-to-speak than it is the QC budgeting set up. All my expenses are categorized but the Spending Plan is better approached as a Fixed and Flexible planning tool than a detailed category-based planning tool.

As you have discovered, trying to transfer a detailed category-based budget into the fixed and flexible system used by QS is, as you describe, confusing and frustrating.

If you want an organized walk through the various available support articles for understanding and working with QS take a look at this link;

https://support.simplifi.quicken.com/en/collections/2721915-using-simplifi

mikehd

Thanks @DannyB and @SRC54 for the additional detail. I'll review the suggested links and then review the need for my categories.

SRC54

I figured Danny would chime in at some point. He's our go-to guy for the Spending Plan!

Here are my categories (sub-categories):

EXPENSES

Automobile (Insurance, Maintenance, Licenses, Vehicle Tax, Fuel)

Concomitant (Fees, Rebates, Presents, Software, Sales Tax)

Essentials(Apparel, Food, Sundries*)

Extras (Coffee, Wine, Beer, Restaurants) Things to cut down on. 😀

Home (Supplies, Hardware, Services, Upkeep, Property Tax, Pets*)

Medical (Clinics, Health Insurance, Prescriptions

Recreation (Media, Events, Hobbies, Trips)

Tribute (Charity, Federal Tax, State Tax, SS Tax, Medicare Tax)

INCOME

Wages (Salary, Distributions, Social Security)

Unusual (Awards*, Gifts, Settlements)

Yields (Interest, Dividends, Capital Gains)

NOTES

I simplified it a little here to leave out Capital Gains Distributions, Tax-Free Dividends, etc.

Fees includes postage, handling, charges. Distributions are IRAs and Pensions.

I can use Payees to find particular things such as wife's salary, UA Tickets.

*I used one word whenever possible. So that Sundries is personal spending. Media is music, books and video. Events are when my wife goes to see things. Hobbies are the things we participate in: her chorus and my tennis.

*Awards: I actually won $1500 3 years ago. Will never happen again. Had to pay income tax on it.

*No Pets currently but they do make the home.