Watchlists: Exclude Upcoming Reminders from 'Spent so far' amount (edited)

CharlieP

In your Watchlist, the value under This Month 'Spent so far' is including upcoming bills that have NOT yet been paid/spent. This is misleading in my opinion. I would think it would only include transactions that have been spent this month. That seems odd to me to include upcoming bills not spent yet. In the attached screenshot, I have not yet spent anything on Heat and Electricity. 

Jim313

I agree this is very misleading and at a minimum, upcoming bills should be shown in the projected column not the “This Month Paid so Far” column. I made additional methodology suggestions Tagged Watchlist.

Mark23

I agree "Spent so far" has nothing to do with upcoming, I would think "Upcoming" would be included in "Projected" and not "Spent So Far" bet thats a bug and was implemented incorrectly…Go check the Epic…LOL

perkin-warbeck

The example provided by the OP also illustrates the uselessness of Projected.

ajbopp

One of the reasons I would find the "Spent So Far" value is to determine if I actually want to spend something that is upcoming. For instance, as I look at my "Discretionary Spending" watchlist, I can use my current value to determine if I really want to go to the coffee shop once a week for the rest of the month to get my coffee and breakfast burrito. If this card is showing me more than I've actually spent, I don't have the information to make that choice.

Please remove upcoming expenses from "Spent So Far."

Tony Kirk

I like the idea of watchlists very much, but the current design makes it unusable. Spent so far should be what’s been spent. Projected might be a choice between summing planned upcoming or projecting based on what has been paid.

Max1223

If it said This Month then "Estimated Spending" (includes Bills and Subscriptions) then it would make more sense. I DO like to know that actual coming/recurring bills can be counted through the end of the month. This shows the end of month spend…that said, I don't have an idea of what Projections are.

Denali

I agree that projected expenses should not be added to "spent so far" until the actual expense is incurred.

UrsulaA

I will prefer a toggle to include projected expenses from upcoming bills or include them. Sometimes I want to see what I plan to spend later in the month in the watchlist.

Denali

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/25337#Comment_25337

I agree. I don't trust "already spent" unless I have checked on the underlying expenses and added them up in my head. The label is misleading, especially since (I believe) "projected" is sitting right next to it!

UrsulaA

Yes, I am just using the reports to check the already spent on categories when I know I have recurring bills on them.

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/18254#Comment_18254

This comment relates to your other thread. I will like to have a toggle between including upcoming and excluding upcoming from the watchlist's total spent so far.

Also, related to this, the alert should only be triggered by actual expenses, not upcoming. The toggle I propose will apply to both watchlist expenses and the associated alert.

UrsulaA

Basically, this request is to add an off switch to the feature implemented in 2022.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/942/have-watchlists-reflect-pending-recurring-bills-edited

Denali

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/28348#Comment_28348

Wouldn't these upcoming bills be included in the "projected" category of the watchlist? Then "spent so far" IMO should be only what has really been spent so far, with no upcoming bills included. I struggle with how Simplifi is calculating "spent so far" and always have to dig into the underlying watchlist transactions in order to see how much $$ I really have left to spend.

UrsulaA

The projected number is calculated as follows:

The Projected amount displayed for Watchlists is calculated by taking the average amount that's been spent per day during the month (including upcoming Reminders), and then Quicken Simplifi uses that average to project forward for the number of days remaining in the month.

Spent so far this month is calculated as follows:

The This month amount displayed for Watchlists is calculated by using the transactions that have already occurred during the month, as well as any upcoming Reminders for the month.

Source: https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/3472367-using-watchlists#h_131ab63f58

I would prefer to have the "this month total" with the option to include upcoming (not only default as the current setup is now). The projected calculation can be deleted as it is wildly inaccurate. Other users agree with my opinion of the projected amount.

Denali

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/28399#Comment_28399

The toggle for "spent so far" should work - agree with that as a potential solution. I think instead of deleting projected, fix the calculation to be spent so far plus upcoming recurring bills in that category.

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/28417#Comment_28417

That projected calculation will make sense to me. Re label it Projected this month for clarity.

rjg5060

@Coach Natalie

I agree with the comments on this Watchlist topic: Projected is useless in it's current design and it seems absurd that it has not been fixed yet. In the following example, my average Utilities per month is $235.87 and this month I expect to spend $477.04. There is nothing to indicate I will spend $7,394.12 on Utilities this month.

The current calculation for Projected using "Spent so far" times the remaining number of days in the month makes no sense to me. I can't figure out how this could be useful to anyone. There is no way I will spend $7,394.12 in Utilities this month and there is nothing in any previous month's data that indicates this could occur.

I also agree that the "Spent so far" label is a misnomer. This value ($477.04) should probably be the "Projected" value and "Spent so far" should, based on the words used, reflect the amount that has been spent so far this month for Utilities, which on March, 2, 2023 is $0.

UrsulaA

The projected is wild for me, I have never spent the projected amount in any given month.

I agree with @Denali

Spent so far = actual spending for the month without upcoming recurring bills and subscriptions for the chosen categories, tags, or payees. Basically, implementing this idea.

Projected = Spent so far plus upcoming recurring bills and subscriptions for the chosen categories, tags, or payees.

Associated idea

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/8203/watchlist-projected-spent-so-far-plus-upcoming-bills-and-subscriptions