Nesting Spending Categories

StrongArmmed

Good morning! 

I'd like to use the Needs/Wants/Savings methodology of categorizing spending. Usefully, Simplifi has categories already set up in a hierarchical way to bucket spending by type. And of course I can set up new categories to my liking (which I've used to set up parent categories for Needs, Wants and Savings respectively).

My issue is...it seems that I can't place the existing, out-of-the-box top-level categories (for example Entertainment or Dining & Drinks) into my custom parent categories mentioned above. The existing top-level categories are in the Expense "master" category and can't be moved into say, Wants, for example (even though Wants is also in that Expense "master" category).

My question is...Is there any way to make an existing top-level category a child inside a custom top-level/parent category? Or do I have to painstakingly replicate the structure inside my own categories?

Example:
Going from this: Expenses > Dining & Drinks > Fast Food

To This: Expenses > Wants > Dining & Drinks > Fast Food

where the bold item is a category I create.

Thanks for your help!!

DannyB

Hi @StrongArmmed

Interesting question.

HERE is the support article on managing categories that I think will be helpful for you.

According to that article the only categories you can't mess with are Transfer, Credit Card Payment, and Investment.  All other existing categories are editable including delete-able and reassign-able.

To rearrange the existing categories you will need to change all subcategories to "Not set".  Once there are no subcategories assigned to any other category you will be able to assign all categories as subcategories of your three desired top categories of Needs, Wants, Savings or create/add any other desired category to these three top categories.

Another thing to note, according to the support article Simplifi only allows 2 levels of nesting: Category > Subcategory. As a result you will not be able to create the scenario you outlined above.

Instead of Expenses > Wants > Dining & Drinks > Fast Food
You would only be able to do something like:

• Expense > Wants > Fast Food 
• Expense > Wants > Restaurants
  
• Expense > Wants > Coffee Shops
  
• Expense > Wants > Bars
  
• Expense > Wants > ???????
  
• Etc.

I break my spending down as Fixed and Flexible spending but haven't taken the time to rearrange my category list to reflect this.  I would be interested in how your reorganization goes.

Hope this helps.

Coach Natalie

Hello @StrongArmmed,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your inquiry!

It looks like @DannyB has gotten you taken care of, but I did want to share an Idea post that we have requesting the ability to have multiple levels of Subcategories. 

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/160/unlimited-sub-categories

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

StrongArmmed

Ahhhhhh, useful info! Thanks so much @DannyB...That info on the max number of levels is clutch! 

I'll do the reorganization and let you know how it goes. The Needs/Wants/Savings method lets me use the pie chart to at a glance to see if I'm adhering to the 50% on Needs, 30% on Wants, and 20% on Savings ratios I try to stick to.

DannyB

I meant.to ask about your percentages.  I'm also retired and my wife will retire e d of this week.  This will change in the co.ing year but right now when I do a breakdown of spending into Needs/ Wants/ Savings I end up with something like 15%/25%/60%!

StrongArmmed

DannyB said:

I meant.to ask about your percentages.  I'm also retired and my wife will retire e d of this week.  This will change in the co.ing year but right now when I do a breakdown of spending into Needs/ Wants/ Savings I end up with something like 15%/25%/60%!

Must be nice! I've got quite a while before retirement and I'm single, so my percentages are definitely skewed towards consumption — for the time being. But I'm working to change that!

StrongArmmed

Coach Natalie said:

Hello @StrongArmmed,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community with your inquiry!

It looks like @DannyB has gotten you taken care of, but I did want to share an Idea post that we have requesting the ability to have multiple levels of Subcategories. 

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/160/unlimited-sub-categories

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

This would be an outstanding feature to add. As a Product Manager that is an avid user of this tool, the improvement captured would solve a key problem for many users!