What was your last money mistake?

Coach Natalie

We all make mistakes with our money, whether it's splurging on an item that we don't really need or not fully understanding the terms of a loan that we just got, or even just racking up credit card debt with limited or no means to pay it off.

No matter how big or small, what was the last money mistake that you made and why? What did you learn from it? Please let us know by commenting below! 

Flopbot

Honestly, probably sticking with Quicken Desktop for so long (7 years).

I spent years under Intuit watching the Quicken product going steadily down hill.  Then, Intuit finally sold Quicken.  From that point on, it was interesting to watch the progress of Quicken (the new company) as it steadily and continually improved the Quicken Desktop software.  Now that I’ve stopped using Quicken Desktop I have no doubt that it will continue to improve.

That said, Quicken Desktop is still desktop software that lives on a computer which, for me, is a significant downside.  I love where Quicken (the company) is going with Simplifi as a cloud-based option and I really do think that with relatively few changes and improvements, Simplifi can easily supplant its elder.

I guess that if I hadn’t stuck it out thought, I wouldn’t have found out about Simplifi by Quicken so maybe it was meant to be!

SRC54

Well, right now, it's probably using Simplifi.  I love a lot about it, but none of the problems I found in November has been fixed, and I notice the promised improvements dating back to last summer have yet to be realized.

I am retired so I have time to fix daily all the errors that Simplifi makes.  It changes the dates of my entered transactions, duplicates them, sometimes just deletes them.  Simplifi is simply awful with pending transactions, and I strongly recommend you stop downloading them.  Just do as Quicken does and download cleared transactions.

I won't mention for now the fact that when I pay a bill that Simplifi will NEVER match it with a reminder or that the Spending Plan has no clue as to how to handle paychecks.

I've been with Simplifi for 2 months and we've only had one update to the Web App.  Quicken has monthly updates although they have of late been error filled.

Oh well, I paid up until Dec 22.  Maybe things will change soon.

Flopbot

@SRC54

Sorry to hear about your experience with Simplifi so far.  Mine has been about the opposite though not completely without annoyance and frustration.  Maybe that shows that things aren't hopeless in your case, yet?  From some of your past posts, I gather that you have A LOT of experience with other personal financial software and it's great to have that insight/experience in this community.

While I don’t understand the details of what your exact problem is, I remember seeing your interactions with at @Coach Natalie and do hope she and the Quicken team can figure it out.

Given that Simplifi still has room to improve (in your estimation and in mine), could it be that you're pushing in against the out door...so to speak.  I remember from one of your posts that you said you enter all receipts immediately and then wait for them to clear (as pending) and it seemed that that's when the duplicates/changed dates occur.  For me, moving from Quicken Desktop to Simplifi, I have been amazed by the speed that transactions show up in Simplifi.  I've literally had them show up while crossing the parking lot going from checkout to my car.  What if you tried waiting for them to download and then see if that improves the situation?  Certainly, this could have something to do with my bank connection.

Also, for me at least, I don't care too much about the dates listed on the transaction.  Once I did, but my frustrations with Quicken Desktop caused me to give up and that laissez-faire attitude has carried over into Simplifi.

I understand this isn't the ideal in your case, but maybe it would reduce some frustrations?

SRC54

@Flopbot
Thanks Chris for your message.  Yes, I have a lot of experience but obviously have not found my Nirvana program.  Also, I did sign up for the year and am just two months into it, so I too hope some of the quirks will iron themselves out.

You are also correct that the pending transactions download quickly so I usually let them. Once they download I make the splits.  I don't know how other banks handle this but my State bank in Alabama takes two days to clear transactions.  The problem I've run into is that they update the pending transaction on day 2, changing the dates, which causes Simplifi to (inexplicably) start over.  It downloads the second day as a new pending bank transaction changing the one I edited yesterday to a non-bank manual transaction.  Why?  If it just changed the date, it wouldn't be so bad.  Anyhow, I merely merge them.  Usually, it keeps the merged transaction the next day when they clear.  But not invariably.  I have had transactions just disappear altogether.

My only other checking account is 360 Checking and it doesn't download pending transactions at all. Its quirk is that it updates the balance first and downloads the cleared transactions later.  Yeah, isn't that great?

Now let's take credit card accounts.  I have an Amazon card.  It downloads the pending transaction fast.  I put in the splits.  It seems to only download once, but not sure.  3 days later if Amazon has been tardy in shipping the order, the transaction is deleted along with splits.  Adiós. Sayonara.  Next day it clears and reappears sans splits, which I have to recreate.  Anyhow, I could just wait to do the splits until it clears but I might lose the info.  Anyhow, most of the time, this isn't a problem.

I was interested in what would happen this weekend.  My wife went to a conference and the hotel issued a pending transaction.  You know they always do that one for more than the room charge will end up being, so I was interested in how AmEx would handle that.  The pending transaction didn't download at all.  I assume it will when it clears.  And that's fine.  I guess it is up to the bank.

Anyhow, I will keep a lookout for your posts.  I am planning one on the Spending Plan.  Overall I like this better than budgeting.  I have some suggestions for savings.  I save by not spending more than moving it to other accounts.

And I was talking tongue-in-cheek about Simplifi being my latest money error. I haven’t given up by any means.