We want your feedback on the Spending Plan!
Comments
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If you have a significant amount to rollover, it indicates a problem with how you've set up the spending plan, first and foremost. Not that you can get every month down to the penny, but if you spend 10% more or less than your spending plan suggests (particularly if it's happening frequently), I think a more appropriate action by the app is to guide the user through why the spending plan isn't accurate, rather than suggesting there's funds to be rolled over. I tend to think of that as "free money" and go do something ridiculous with it
I think the most useful option is for Simplifi to actively discourage rolling over funds. For instance, Simplifi could look forward to the cash flow and remind the user that there may be a low balance situation (if one exists) and that the money would do well to stay where it is (or possibly be tranferred between accounts). Simplifi could ask the user if they want to apply the unused funds for Savings Goals that are behind in their contributions, or - if infrequent bill support is implemented, whether the funds should be directed there instead. Making the money just available for the next period of time seems counter-productive to the goals of the app, and raises other difficult questions, such as:- What period of time are we rolling over to and from? Weekly? Monthly? Quarterly? Annually? Some combination of these?
- How much of the excess are we rolling over? Is it really a good idea to "zero out" each month? It looks nice, but I'm not sure it's practical.
- If not all of the excess, how do we determine how much is being rolled over?
- What amount is too insignificant to bother the user with? A few pennies of excess? A few dollars? A hundred dollars?
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye10 -
I am relatively new to Simplifi but have been a Quicken user for 15+ yrs. I like the Spending Plan as-is as opposed to the detailed budget in Quicken. I would not use the rollover feature. I prefer the simplicity of Income - Bills - Planned and Projected Spending. However, I think I'm seeing the Available amount miscalculated.5
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@ajbopp, Good questions and insights. My own interest isn’t so much what to do with the left at end of month although that has been one of my subjects in a few posts. My interest in roll over has to do with those non-monthly recurring expenses and if there is a way to incorporate them into the Spending Plan. In doing so, some/much of the “available” would be absorbed into the Spending Plan albeit that portion in roll over whether under bills or under planned spending, wouldn’t be spent until needed.Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer0 -
I would like to see the option to set up a budget on a bi-monthly basis. Since I budget my spending according to my 2 paychecks per month, I would like to have a budget plan separated by pay periods. For example: If I know my pay will be $x, I would like to know how much will be left over for that pay period after my $x groceries, $x gas, $x bills, etc. will be processed. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks!1 -
It would help me to establish a spending item in future — say my insurance bill that comes due every six months, then have Simplifi calculate how much I need to put into my spending plan to reach that spending goal.
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[removed] It would be great if on spending plans you could add notes. When two people are using simplfi and they both have an expense for say “shopping:clothes” it would be nice to know what amount is going towards what and how. Right now spending categories are just one lump sum and it would be nice to itemize them a bit more. Thank you
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Thanks for the feedback thus far, everyone!
Here are a few existing Idea posts that cover some of the suggestions that have been mentioned:
-Coach Natalie
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So I come from Mvelopes and YNAB.
Rollover would be huge for me for all the reasons people placed above.
Gifts, Bday, Christmas, etc so I can set aside each month. I use goals right now but it is cluncky.
You could do goals, but instead of a date, it is just a budgeted amount per month with no ceiling. Also, tie transactions to lower the balance and ignore it as part of the spending plan. This would be low overhead.
One other thing. That would be huge that is similar to this feature.
When you contribute to a Savings Goal I love that it shows it under the account:
Account XYZ = 2,000Savings Goal = 500
Available =. 1,500
It would be amazing if you could have credit card transactions do the same and go under the heading CC Payment, just like the savings goal. Just link the credit card account to the checking account the money comes out of, and boom, you know what is extra in that account.
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So I was fiddling around with my plan today because I had an annual subscription I forgot about pop-up. I added it as an annual recurring bill but was thinking ok I need to start setting aside for this for next year…
This got me thinking there are probably two types of people:
1. Those who think that if I start setting aside that money now, I am over saving and having a double expense this year if I set aside now. In this case, I think the annual subscription or bill is fine, but seeing the spending plan in a 12-month layout with the cash flow projection above it would be nice. That covers two enhancements (combined cash flow) and (Annual Spending Plan overview) it basically could look very similar to the Quicken 12-month layout.
2. Those that think… I want to set aside money for that now so that next year I have it earmarked and on hand when the bill comes due (basically, I under-planned these last twelve months, so the next 12 months I will make up for that). In this case If you could use savings goals (just make a new field that gives it a type) and effectively call one type "Goal" and the other something else like: "Roll Over Planned Spending", "Non-Recurring Planned Spending" etc. essentially it would set aside money in the checking / savings / etc account that you linked it to and thus while rolling over it would also ensure the cash was on hand when the bill came due or irregular spending came due. I would just have it not roll up under savings just bifurcate it in the UI between the two categories. Wonder if this helps @chrobrego or @DannyB
I think the first option would work for those that use it more like a traditional cash flow budget and the second would work really well for envelope or zero-based budgeting people.
I think the second change is small since you would just reuse the existing object and with a simple "Type" field you could break out the reserves in the Account section of the dashboard (Currently just labeled "savings goals") and you could also make it a simple breakout in the Savings Plan section.
Thanks!3 -
While I've been using Simplifi for a awhile, I've only recently starting using the Spending Plan. I like it. Easy process to follow and use month-to-month.
There are others who will be more serious users of rollover and have more specific needs. I would just use it generally to see the cumulative YTD rollover or overspend — similar to the net income/expense report.
Primary request for Spending Plan would be ability to exclude certain categories from it, as others have suggested. E.g., work travel spending and reimbursements.
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8 months and nothing has changed. Just saying
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- I would use rollover abilities to cover unplanned spending on those months when my shopping gets a little out of hand.
- Rollover abilites would help give me a more accurate picture of how my money is moving month-to-month. My budget doesn't always equal zero when everything is said and done, and this feature would help me see the ebb and flow of finance on a larger year-long scale.
- I would like to see the Spending Plan stop treating credit card payments as income. Yes, I can technically access that money in the form of credit, but it isn't mine. Ultimately it's a bill, and the withdrawal from my checking account SHOULD HAVE a negative impact on my available funds. The goal of a Spending Plan to me isn't to make it attractive to use credit by showing it as available funds, it's to dissuade the use of credit by only showing liquid assets as available funds.
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@ianalexschuster I'm not sure what you mean by the Spending Plan "treating credit card payments as income?" I may be missing something since I do not include credit card payments in my Spending Plan. I can understand you desire for credit card usage treated in such a way that it has a negative impact on available funds. But the don't if used correctly. Credit card usage is nutral and perhaps even beneficial when used properly since you can actual recieve financial benefits through their use with the various rewards and/or cash back offers. Of course someone is paying for that, but if the user doesn't abuse or misuse the credit card, will benefit from thier usage. The "trick" is to make sure you are using the credit card as if it were a checking account and not charge more to the card then you can pay off with your income in a given month/billing cycle - thus the nutral treatment in Simplifi.
Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer0 -
@DannyB I suspect @ianalexschuster is referring to the current bug, where only one half of a transfer between accounts is getting marked for ignore in spending plan and reports.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye2 -
I'm sure others have probably stated this already, still this is what I was attempting to do with the spending plan.
I see there are Goals which appear similar to this functionality, but in my opinion vacations, weddings, etc are expenses not savings. Savings is something that adds to your net worth, these are expenses.- How would you use rollover abilities in the Spending Plan?
Say for example I want to budget for a year e.g. Vacation Spending $x, Car maintenance Spending $y
These are spending plans that will not be constant month to month - How would having rollover abilities benefit you?
Example Car maintenance spending plan for the year $6,000
Jan - planned $500 - no expense - remaining budget $500
Feb - planned $500 - $300 expense - remaining budget $500 (Jan roll over) + $500 (Feb) - $300 = $700
Mar - planned $500 - $1500 expense - remaining budget $700 Feb roll over) + $500 (Mar) - $1500 = ($300)
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This way I clearly see where I'm at for the year. - What other features/abilities would you like to see added to the Spending Plan?
None that I can think of right now
1 - How would you use rollover abilities in the Spending Plan?
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Hi All, Been thinking about this as well as continues to cause some confusion in our family personal finances.
My biggest day to day issue is not being able to track spending directly against a spending plan. I can release money from a spending plan back into the budget but really feels like it is missing clear tracking. Maybe there is a better way to do this today. Happy for suggestions.
Today an example is if I set money asaid for atrip in a savings goal. then today I would try to do:- Tag all the transactions related to that trip so I can see how much I've spent
- Mark all the transactions to not be part of the budget reporting
- manually release money from the goal for the total spent (did I get them all, still some coming through?)
Instead would seam a lot simpler if I could just tie the transaction to the goal directly. Exclude from budget if I want (or maybe a option on the goal to choose outcome) OR even better could I tie the goal to a spending category or use it like a spending category?
Just seems like it needs to be simpler then today, whic I inevitably miss some transactions, or lose track of how much I released from the goal so far (is that visible somewhere???).
Other ways to do this better today? Thanks!
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Hi, Maybe I'm missing the point of the the options identified above by Coach Natalie, but not sure those would directly help me with the roll over / goals / categories challenges I'm seeing.
Referring to post with Info:Thanks for the feedback thus far, everyone!
Here are a few existing Idea posts that cover some of the suggestions that have been mentioned:
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I generally 'like' the idea of linking transactions to savings goals that way you link bills, but let's say you have to transfer the money from savings to checking to spend it, it gets kind of messy with what happens when the transaction is linked — does that total and/or goal amount get reduced, and is that money released back into the original savings account, then I transfer it from there?
-Rob
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Rob Wilkens0 -
Please add rollover function! I would use this for my monthly discretionary spending - some months I spend less than others, but would like that to rollover to next month's discretionary allowance rather than release the money.
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I'm currently in a trial run of Simplifi and wondering if there is a plan to implement rollover. I am considering moving from YNAB but if I don't see any indication of a plan to implement rollover then I'll stick with YNAB. I need rollover to track my kids allowances along with a host of other reasons. I want to be able to keep money set aside and committed for various purposes even if it's not spent. I'm not sure why it is taking so long to make this an option. Those who don't need it can just choose not to use it, so there is no cost to including the feature, only a benefit, and it's something that's included in Quicken so its not like we're in uncharted waters here… please include the feature!
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Before fixing the 'spending plan', Intuit needs to improve the workflow for the entire app. Why do I need to release money every month for my budget? Why do I need to enter a 'subject' in my register to do a simple money transfer between account. Why do I have to look at gargantuan rectangles on my spending plan budget that blocks my view for 75% of my other budget categories? Why can't I rollover money to the next month? Why is a simple reoccuring transaction complicated so much — a series? [removed - profanity]? Why doesn't Simplifi AUTOMATICALLY populate my spending category items so I don't have to setup EVERY SINGLE ONE? Why does Simplifi have such a hard time matching transations?
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Intuit has nothing to do with Simplifi or Quicken. I believe the company that took over is Quicken Inc.
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Rob Wilkens2 -
The spending plan should show all available money, not just the income for the month. Say a person has $5,000 set aside in an account that is a spending account, why would that money not be included in the available for this months, as well as next months or until it is depleted? expenses? We as humans tend to squirrel away money for squirrel expenses or impulse purchases or planned expenses (quarterly taxes)
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I'm so not a fan of of making it show 'all available money'. IF I wanted that, i would just use the cash flow chart. The idea of a budget is not to spend every penny you have, it's to put some money in savings each month and not spend that. I'm a fan of allowing you (which you're allowed anyway) to pre-plan some money aside (i.e. savings goals) and use that money towards a particular purchase(or purchases). I'm not a fan of draining savings down to $0 for purposes of a budget.
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Rob Wilkens1 -
The function of the Spending Plan is not to show whether you are going to spend more money than you have on hand. It is there to show you if you are going to spend more money than you make in a month. More importantly, it shows you if you are doing that consistently, so that you know whether you need to make changes. If the Spending Plan were changed to show all available money, it would stop being the tool that it is supposed to be, and wouldn't make a very good tool for anything else either.
@RobWilk is correct. If you have $5000 set aside, collect it Savings Goals. That's what they are for (though we all admit they are not for infrequent planned expenses, for which Simplifi has no real solution - still with some careful planning Savings Goals can be twisted into a form that will kind of serve the purpose.)
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye0 -
1. Rollover would be very useful, but any overage should go to savings vs individual categories.
2. See #1.
3. Please, please allow the spending plan to be viewable for the entire year (in a speadsheet format). You can make this optional, but for people who need to plan specific outlays in the future, this would be of great benefit. This does not negate a simipler month to month plan, but allowing to plan a year of expenditures in a spreadsheet format would be great, and for me, allow for a better way to plan.At least post a roadmap of what you are planning - this has been going on for quite a while. Thanks.
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Perhaps an optional toggle to include savings on hand as availible to spend, if that is the way the customer wants to see/plan their finances. This avoids having to frankenstein another feature to make it kinda work as desired.
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I'm paid quarterly. As much as I'm able, I set my spending on quarterly frequency as well. Of course, many utilities and loan payments require monthly. But it would be helpful if I could set the spending plan on a quarterly frequency vs monthly. I'm not as familiar with the rollover feature, but have seen other budgeting apps like Everydollar allow for that to happen whereby each quarter every dollar is assigned a role. Unused money can roll into next month's budget or be reallocated to other categories that perhaps there was overspending. What about my situation whereby I get paid then need to sustain that income through 3 months of spending and saving?
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@Brandon Roop I'm not understanding your issue entirely, I think. It seems like your chief critique is that Simplifi isn't like some other app.
As for your specific question, you can set up your income to be quarterly, you can set up your groceries to be weekly, your electric bill to be monthly. I'm not seeing the difficulty of the spending plan reflecting spending as it actually occurs?
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye-1 -
I understand @Brandon Roop 's concern, and that is that the spending plan page only shows by calendar month. If they get paid one out of three months, that means two out of three months the spending plan is going to show them over budget if they spend $0.01. I can't say this affects me, however I am open to supporting (if it went to a vote) more flexibility in dates/length for the spending plan.
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Rob Wilkens0
