Recurring Savings Goals year over year/ability to restart Goals (edited)

MommaCma

Looking to make year over year savings plan. Think like a club account from your banks for Christmas or vacation….ie I would like to save $250/ month Jan to June for vacation, the July to December for Holiday shopping..then the next year re-start the, at $0 again…currently I have this as two spending goals, but if there was a way to make recurring or more user friendly restart way…..

LtDan1912

I am doing the exact same thing and searched before suggesting this myself. 

Flopbot

With Savings Goals, you have two options when it comes time to withdraw from your saved funds.



When you select "Withdraw to spend for goal", it shows you the amount of money spent which is nice as a point of reference.  HOWEVER, because of what I've documented below, the only thing I can see the "Withdraw to spend for goal" button being useful for is for truly one-off or one-time purchases (Birth of Child #1, Birth of Child #2, 2023 Vacation Fund, 2024 Vacation Fund, New Home @ ___ Address, etc.).  I don't see it being all that useful for recurring generic purposes like Christmas, B-Days, New Car, etc. that - once spent - will just be started over again.  For those, I see "Withdraw for another purpose" being more useful.


MY IDEA:  Give us a way to reset the Savings Goals.  That way, we don't have to create a never ending series of Savings Goals that I can't get rid of (ex. Christmas 2022, Christmas 2023, Christmas 2024, Christmas 2025, etc.).


DOCUMENTATION NOTES:

Lets say I save $2,100 annually for something and I've already contributed the full amount for this year.  This is what the Savings Goal would look like...



And then, later this year, I "Withdraw to spend for goal" the entire amount...



And then, next year, I contribute the entire amount again...



And then, later next year, I "Withdraw to spend for goal" the entire amount again...



And the following year, I contribute the entire amount again...

And so on and so forth year after year after year.

The longer you go, the more off the % grows until it just becomes laughable.  Also, note that every single screenshot above shows "Goal completed" even though it is no longer completed at the points in time when the Savings Goal returns to an Available $0 balance.

DannyB

OK, I gave this goal reset idea some thought and I'm ready to give it a thumbs up.  Until rollover abilities are made available in the spending plan, having the ability to reset and reuse an existing savings goal would be very helpful.

In addition to your reset idea, I would like to also see add the ability to close out a fully completed Savings Goal and then be able to either archive/hide or delete it outright.  What I mean by fully completed is a goal that has been fully funded and all funds have been spent.

Right now it looks like you can't delete a fully completed and expended goal without Simplifi releasing the originally saved funds back to the bank account they came from.  Over time not being able to close out and archive or delete old goals will lead to an unwieldy Completed Goals Section.

Another thought - if rollover abilities were available in the spending play would the reset and reuse of a goal still be necessary? 

Flopbot

That is a great idea @DannyB.  @Coach Natalie, could you edit the name of this idea to “Ability to Reset or Archive Savings Goals”?

To answer Danny’s question, yes, I would still want this ability even if/when Simplifi adds the ability to roll over an amount in the Sending Plan from month to month.

I view this as similar to the Watchlist and Planned Sending.  Each feature has similar abilities - and you can even get the same exact information from both in some cases.  However, I use each one very differently…

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3012/planned-spending-vs-spending-watchlist

In a similar way, the ability to archive/reset just would make Simplifi that much more flexible to work with.  I could choose to handle different situations using different approaches; some using Savings Goals and others using the Sending Plan.

As it stands, I feel that Savings Goals are one of the least developed parts of Simplifi…though they are leaps and bounds better than Quicken Desktop’s version!

I’m looking forward to seeing how they improve over time.

Coach Natalie

Hello @Flopbot & @DannyB,

I think having the ability to archive completed Goals is a great idea! It sounds a little different than having the ability to reset Goals, though, and I personally think a separate Idea post would be better. But totally up to you guys -- just let me know.

-Coach Natalie

DannyB

Hi @Coach Natalie and @Flopbot,

I agree that these are two different functions and both would be beneficial making Savings Goals more versatile.  I'll go ahead and create a separate idea post for closing out and archiving Savings Goals.

Since these two ideas are related having both to do with Savings Goals, would it be a good idea to include a link in each idea post referencing the other?

Flopbot

@DannyB’s call.  It’s a really good idea, I’m just too lazy to start a new idea post.  

Flopbot

For another idea to enhance Savings Goals by adding the ability to close out and archive or delete a Savings Goal see @DannyB 's idea post here:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3833/ability-to-close-out-and-archive-or-delete-completed-savings-goals-edited#latest

Suki

I am looking for this feature as well.  A suggestion for the reset is to make the savings goal be ongoing (maybe a setting) that allows the goal to remain incomplete with a required monthly contribution and the goal % be based on what is available, not including what was already spent.  Is there any update on this?

Coach Natalie

Hello All, 

This Idea seems to have fallen stagnant, and due to the age of the request and lack of user votes/comments, will be archived within the next 10 business days.

If you would like to see this Idea kept alive and considered for possible future implementation in Quicken Simplifi, please be sure to add your vote and a comment explaining how this request would be beneficial for you. More details on voting for Idea posts can be found in our FAQ here. 

Thank you,

Quicken Simplifi Community Support Team

Flopbot

This Idea Post is the same as another one; they just are using different words to describe the same thing (restart vs. reset). Could be merged? Jumps the number of votes to 16!

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3826/ability-to-reset-savings-goals-edited

Flopbot

@MommaCma and @LtDan1912

Specifically because Simplifi doesn’t offer this ability yet, I ended up creating a completely separate Savings Account just for Christmas - my bank sets no limit on creating free Savings Accounts. Any money that finds its way into that account is automatically designated for Christmas. I have regular, automatic deposits scheduled to flow into it.

I’ve been doing this for two Christmases and really like it. The best part is that, because it’s a real world account with Recurring Deposits and relatively few transactions, Simplifi displays a very accurate Projected Balance way out into the future so I know exactly where we’ll be come Christmas.

I still want this idea to be implemented, but in the meantime, this works well.

Coach Natalie

@Flopbot, great call out! Agreed and merged.

-Coach Natalie