View spending "plan" compared to "actual" spending

JHaf
JHaf Member
edited March 2023 in Using the Spending Plan
Is there a way to view your spending plan compared to your actual spending?  Seems like the spending plan available changes with each actual transaction and the plan that was originally set just gets updated rather than preserved. 
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  • DannyB
    DannyB Superuser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Hi @JHaf

    Interesting question and observation.  I'm a fellow Simplifi user so this is not an official answer, but my best shot at answering your question.

    As you are aware, the Spending Plan has 4 sections.  As far a your question goes, for the first section, Income after bills and savings" the answer is no, there is no comparison of what is "planned" and what is actually spent.  This makes sense considering this section is designed to account for recurring, fixed expenses which you know will be the same and thus no need to track budgeted amount against actual amount spent  (I do include here recurring bills like electric utility, natural gas, water service which do vary from month-to-month and season-to-season but not enough, in my opinion, to warrant moving these types of monthly recurring expenses to the Planned Spending section).  Anything in this section, when paid, Simplifi does simply update your plan and will adjust your Available accordingly if you go over or under what was budgeted compared to what was actually spent.

    However, in the second section, Planned Spending, you do have something like what you are asking about, if I read your question correctly. The user sets a budget for a recurring monthly expense that is more flexible such as groceries, fuel for vehicles, personal care, etc.  Once you set the budget for a category, Simplifi will show you the progress of your actual spending compared to your budgeted amount.  However, your Available will not change based on spending in your Planned Spending categories until you do the month-end release of unused funds.  Any released unused funds from your Planned Spending categories will be moved back to your Available (which becomes "Left at end of month" once a month is over.)

    The third section, Other Spending, will also affect your Available at the time the money is spent.  Since this is Other spending that is not planned for in the previous sections, there is no tracking of these expenses against a budgeted amount since there is no budget amount set for this type of spending and all Other spending will be taken from your Available.

    Available is the fourth section and it is, in some ways if not every way, the whole purpose behind Simplifi's Spending Plan... how much money do I have in a given month that is not needed for budgeted living expenses?  In a sense, you can look at this number and go ahead and make that impulse purchase covered by Other spending if you have enough in Available to cover it.  

    I'm thinking you will hear from other's on this and I'm certain one of the coaches will give you a much more concise and accurate answer.
    Danny
    Simplifi user since 01/22
    ”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer

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