Need help with Bills and Savings Goals in Spending Plan

System
System Administrator admin
edited August 2022 in Using the Spending Plan
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  • I have a Savings account with my bank, as well as a checking, Visa and Auto Loan accounts.  I was a long time user of Quicken, so im familiar with how it works there.  But on Simplify, it wont let me link my savings "goal" every month to the actual transaction.  Also, for my Auto Loan as an example, if I list it  as a bill, it will enter it as a debit and a credit...so $0 net effect in my total bills.  If i take it out of my bills and put it in my "planned spending", it doesn't accurately reflect it as a mandatory bill, only a planned bill.  I thought that was where my budgeting was supposed to come in to play, like setting a monthly limit for groceries, etc.  Where am I going wrong?
  • BTW...if i choose to only see my checking account on my Spending Plan, it still registers the debit and credit.
  • Coach Natalie
    Coach Natalie Administrator, Moderator admin
    Hello @Kathryn2u,

    Thanks for posting your inquiry to the Community!

    When it comes to Savings Goals, there is currently no way to link Goal contributions to a transaction. If you'd like to see this ability in Simplifi, I'd suggest adding your vote and feedback to an existing Idea post requesting it: https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1357/link-from-transaction-to-take-from-savings-goal#latest

    With that said, however, you won't need to link the Goal to a transaction for it to reflect in the Spending Plan as long as the Goal is set up to be included in the Spending Plan. More details on using Savings Goals and how contributions are handled in the Spending Plan can be found here

    When it comes to the Recurring Bill for your auto loan -- is this setup as a Recurring Linked Transfer? If so, you may consider using a different Category for the associated Recurring Series, as Linked Transfers are designed to keep things neutral in Simplifi. When you use a Recurring Linked Transfer, you'll have a transaction coming into one account and another going out of the other account, which would cause the transactions to offset each other and result in $0 spent. 

    I'd definitely suggest taking a look at this Support Article for more details on using Transfers in Simplifi, and we also have a Support Article that goes over using the Spending Plan, as well as a Support Article that goes over using Recurring Transactions in Simplifi. 

    I hope this helps, but please be sure to let us know if you have any further questions!

    -Coach Natalie
  • DannyB
    DannyB Superuser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited July 2022
    Hi @Kathryn2u ... what @Coach Natalie said!

    How I see it...

    What Simplifi does with Goals is to give me a strategic and tactical way to prepare and meet long term expenses.  Strategic in the sense that I have to think long term about my goals in relationship to my finances and plan not just for the immediate needs, but also for those long term needs and desires.  By thinking long term I can capture such things as annual insurance premiums, gifting for special occasions, auto replacement, vacationing, even create a cushion for those unexpected expenses, etc. 

    Once I've thought through what I will need down the road - i.e. the Big Picture (Strategic thinking) - I can set up savings goals for each item I've identified, and this is where Simplifi gives me a solid tactical tool, I can divide up the total anticipated expense by the number of months between now and when that expense comes due then make monthly contributions towards that goal. The advantages is that Simplifi allows me to set aside these monthly contributions in my spending plan so I can account for them as I work on my monthly budget.

    The more strategically you can think the more accurate and realistic you tactical thinking will become.
     
    Danny
    Simplifi user since 01/22
    Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer
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