What types of complex scenarios do you use Simplifi for?

Coach Natalie

We know that everyone has unique financial needs and goals, as well as their own way of tracking their finances. Using a tool like Simplifi is the first step in truly understanding where your money is going, and how it can be better allotted.

We also know that, as with any program, all of Simplifi's wonderful features are designed to function within certain parameters, which may make it a bit challenging to manage more complex scenarios. With that said, we'd like to hear some of the complex scenarios that you use Simplifi for! What's the goal of tracking your finances/using Simplifi this way? How do you make it work?

Also, what can we do from our end to help cover some of the more complex scenarios, i.e. Support Articles, YouTube videos, #TipTuesday's, etc? Please be sure to share why your suggestions would be beneficial for yourself, as well as other Simplifi users!

We look forward to hearing your feedback!

RobWilk

This is complex only in that it requires a lot of manual reviewing and maintaintenance:

The absolute most important reason I use simplifi is so I can try to AVOID getting to the point where I am paying unnecessary interest charges (which are an indicator I am spending over my limits, which in my case with bipolar disorder I've used as an indicator of my mental health -- "manic spending" is a thing for me) --- in other words, so I keep my credit card spending UNDER the amount where i'd be forced to pay interest on that money.

In other words,  I use the cash flow forecast.   A credit card I primarily use now has statement date that closely aligns with a calendar month, so charges I am making now in May will be payable in mid-June.  All charges prior to the early May statement date will be paid in mid May (it will have an effective zero balance from prior month).  So what I do in my case is look ahead towards mid june, then follow the cash flow to the end of that pay period to see what I have left in checking, that number MUST stay positive (worst case, I pay less than i wanted to).  As I accrue charges, I update my scheduled payment for mid-june to pay off this (or other) credit cards due then -- which results in an updated cash flow forecast for next time.  I repeat this process every time I charge something new to this card (or maybe not quite that often, but in general).  

Flopbot

My life is too complex as it is.  That's why I'm looking to Simplifi!!!

kintetemplar

My wife and I need away to synchronize on a family budget, currently I have to share my credentials which is not ideal because the bank wants to verify my identity on occasion using my phone number.  This is not ideal (or secure) in general, but if I’m not near by then she can’t access the account.   I need to be able to add users to my account so she can access our budget.   I imagine you are missing out on a large demographic of potential customers on that missing feature alone!  

RobWilk

I think some banks allow you to list multiple phone numbers on the account.   Specifically, i think i saw this with chase.  That might help.

kintetemplar

I’ll check that out!

DannyB

Hi @kintetemplar, I'm wondering about what your concern is specifically.  There is a feature request in place for authorized users here.  Not sure where Simplifi is at with adding the feature, but it's been discussed and requested.

I just left this comment there:
Correct me if I'm wrong (or at least you can try to correct me  ), but logging into Simplifi is not the same a logging into my actual financial institutions.  For my wife to log into our Simplifi account from her phone gives her access to Simplifi only.  Simplifi, through their aggregation partner, uses Express Web Connect which is a one-way connection and data is imported into Simplifi, but Simplifi cannot affect transactions or balances in any way.  There is an article explaining this here.  Again, I'm not sure why it's a problem for my spouse and I to use the same logon credentials for Simplifi.

I can see where having authorized users with the ability to set specific authorizations to see certain data can be useful especially if you have kids and doing financial teaching.  But I don't see how sharing login credentials with my spouse is a security issue with using Simplifi.

RobWilk

Danny, if I read his concern right, he said it was the bank (not simplfi) requesting additional authentication.  Having multiple Simplifi accounts accessing the same data would -not- help with that because ultimately it is the bank the keeps that 2nd stage method.  I can say for some unknown reason Chase required me to re-do the phone/e-mail verification (after i was signed into simplifi) at least 2-3 times in the last 2 days.  This is not 'common' but it is recent.

MrGood

Not sure if these are necessarily considered complex but here are my primary uses:

• Monitoring monthly spend against spending plan and sharing with my wife on a weekly basis.  As others have noted, I would prefer to have the feature where an additional user can have at least 'view-only' access without having to share credentials.
• Keep track of reimbursable HSA expenses using tags.  I'm looking to build-up our HSA investment portion as much as we can and then get an HSA payout periodically.
• Periodically reviewing subscriptions to determine if they are still value-add to us.

jorder

I’ve been using Simplifi since the beta to manage 40 accounts and Simplifi is choking on these. Of course there has been tremendous progress but complex scenarios is not something Simplifi can do. The rule formulas are very basic and most of the time I cannot achieve what I want since it’s missing proper Boolean operators. Complex searches and filtering - Simplifi can’t do. I won’t mention the lacking investment section, which is fine by me since this is not what I’m relying on, but at least the debt tab could be beefed up to have a few calculators / scenario analyses integrated. What’s the impact of additional monthly payments, of one-time payments, of recasting? I love the flexibility of the Spending Plan, which is the main reason why I’m using Simplifi. But complex it ain’t. 

DannyB

Since this question about complex scenarios and Simplifi I haven't come up with any... but then again that's why I'm using Simplifi... I used Quicken at various levels for many years when I needed a beefier program to keep track of various income streams, managing our STR, analyzing and managing our assets, debt, investing, SE taxes, and providing an in depth report for our tax person.  Our situation has changed over the past few years as we have arrived at the threshold of our retirement years.  We no longer need the power of Quicken to manage our finances and so far Simplifi looks like it is pretty much what we need - an elegant yet easy to use budgeting program that my wife and I can share that will automate our budget and budget tracking.