Recurring Transactions for Savings Goals and make it a part of my Spending Plan (edited)

simplij

How do I set up a recurring transaction to 'move money' into my virtual savings account? And how can I make that part of my monthly spending plan?

Coach Paco

@simplij You wouldn't be able to create a recurring transaction to contribute to your savings goal. There isn't a way to make it part of your Spending Plan but I think that would be an excellent addition to the Spending Plan!

simplij

Oh funny. I figured that was a big part of how this works. If I can’t track that ‘spend’ in my spending plan, not set up a recurring transaction’, savings goals have little to no visibility and much reduce value. IMHO.

simplij

Just to add, I feel like this is a real 'miss'. There are so many great uses of savings goals, IF we can set up recurring transactions and make them part of the spending plan. If it can't be made automatic, and I would have to manually always be moving money into it, I honestly don't see the value of it.

chanceryder25

I agree with this thread - the savings goals as they stand right now are not very useful, but they have a LOT of potential to be super useful if they could be better incorporated with the app’s other features, like the Spending Plan. My current workaround is to set up manual transfers (which are showing up with the opposite sign like I chatted you about Paco - having transfers properly show in the projected balances is crucial), then mark them as bills so they’re deducted from my spending plan, and finally manually update each savings goal. To have the these be set up as recurring (just virtual OR linked to real) transfers would be waaaay helpful! Even if it’s not changed completely, it would be nice to have the option.

simplij

Simplfi peeps, since I can't use savings goals with the spending plan, what is the suggested method for 'saving up' for annual bills, like property taxes? I need to make sure I am virtually putting aside a certain amount each month so that I have that money available when the bill is due. I definitely don't want to have to manually do that every single month with the Savings Goals. And I don't want to have to set up an actual transfer between bank accounts just to make it work with Simplifi. Is there another way?

Coach Paco

@simplij There isn't another way I can think of for your situation other than a savings goal, to be honest. I see if I can figure something out and IF I do, I will post it on this discussion

Flopbot

Agree with @simplij!

It's a proven method of building wealth over time; to consistently save little bits each and every month, repeatedly, indefinitely. In searching for new budgeting software, the lack of a way to automatically / repeatedly contribute to Savings Goals is one of my critical requirements and is causing me to question if Simplifi will really work for us.

While I'm new to Simplifi (still in my 30-day trial), I've been using Quicken Desktop since 2014 and it does have this functionality. For a real world example, lets say I have one (1) $200 deposit going directly into my Savings Account each and every paycheck - every two weeks. Then, in Quicken Desktop, I set up six (6) automatic, recurring Savings Goal contributions:

~$100 into a "Car Replacement" Savings Goal
~$50 into a "Home Maintenance" Savings Goal
~$20 into a "Appliance Replacement" Savings Goal
~$10 into a "Education" Savings Goal
~$10 into a "Computer Replacement" Savings Goal
~$10 into a "Whatever" Savings Goal

I - nor do other users - have the time to do this manually. For me, this would be twelve (12) manual transactions every month! If I added more Savings Goals, it would get even more untenable!

Simplifi, please add Savings Goals to this list when adding transactions to the "Upcoming" tab.

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1D8YfFPnGwOK6GsmDdKYShnYPLz0cNglR

Thank you.



P.S. There appears to be something wrong with the voting button on this idea (no up/down arrows)...I am logged in...on Chrome...on Windows 10 and I would have voted for it if I could!

jondehen

@Coach Paco
Question regarding this upcoming feature.  I have multiple savings accounts use for different purposes. (house, car, travel, etc).  I realize most people do not have actual separate savings accounts like this (but maybe they should).

I use direct deposit to automatically contribute a set amount to these specific accounts, but occasionally I might need to withdraw (transfer) money out for car repairs, travel, etc.  Or I might contribute extra manually through a transfer.

I'd love the ability to set up a savings goal that has a date and amount and can track an account balance.  (IE $X amount for Car account by XX/XX/XXXX).

Will this feature provide this?  Otherwise the savings goals are entirely useless for me.  Thank you!

PS: I don't like the idea of "virtual" savings accounts.  If people want additional checking/savings accounts, just open them up. (or, Ally offers buckets, etc).

Coach Natalie

Hello @jondehen,

Thanks for the feedback and the inquiry!

Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of information on what exactly this will look like once it's released. However, as far as I'm aware, this feature will just allow our Users to create Recurring Transactions for their Savings Goals contributions; I'm not seeing anything about tracking a Savings Goal against an account balance.

More details about the feature will become available once it's further into development, however, this enhancement has been delayed at this time. Hopefully we see some movement on it soon, and I will be sure to update this post accordingly!

-Coach Natalie

DannyB

Hi @Coach Natalie and @Coach Paco

This discussion started 2/2020 and has stayed active since. Voting is closed due to "This ability is forthcoming!" in the voting box.  the last update was 12/21 from @c@"Coach Natalie".  Any new news about this feature request?

I just finished making contributions to several of my Savings goals and once again thought to myself, "Wow, it would be so nice to have this process automated."

Just checking...

Coach Natalie

Hello @DannyB,

Thanks for reaching out!

Unfortunately, this feature has been delayed and there's currently no ETA to provide as to when we can expect to see it. Please be sure to stay tuned here for future updates!

-Coach Natalie 

Zion

I have a recurring transaction setup to transfer money from checking to savings. I want to link it to a savings goal but it looks like you can't link transactions to savings goals to show that you fulfilled a goal.

As near as I can tell you just have to manually go enter that you transfered $x.xx to your goal

Seems silly to not be able to do that.

sgodb

Just signed up as a new user--app looks ideal so far! Cool features like subscription tracker, refund tracker, watchlists. The only negative I've found is this inability to link savings goals to transactions. Hope it's coming soon--thanks!

DannyB

Hi @sgodb!  Welcome to Simplifi! It’s great to have you as a member of this forum.

I’ve been using Simplifi since January this year and can’t imagine NOT using it from here on out. 

For me this feature would need to allow the ability to split the transfer.  Here’s why.  I make 3 transfers every month but each of those transfers covers savings for various saving goals.  So, I can’t simply link any one transfer to a single goal.  I would have to be able to split the transferred amount and link to different goals.  Anyway this feature appears to be in the works.

In the mean time the current process is overly burdensome but looking forward to what the development team comes up with.

Flopbot

Agree with @DannyB about needing to give us the ability to split the transfer between multiple Savings Goals.  This is a must in my mind!  I too have one real-world monthly transfer that splits into multiple separate Savings Goals.

Divide and concur, as the old saying goes!

Taylor-Brill

It is inconsistent to allow clients to set money aside for savings goals on their Spending Plan, but then not to actually make those contributions automatically -- not to mention that the extra step works against the concept of SIMPLIFI-ing your finances.  The vast majority of clients won't actually make the contributions each month, either through lack of time or worries about possibly needing that money.  But if the contributions happened automatically according to the spending plan, the vast majority would happily live within the spending plan they set up, and for those times that spending gets too high, they can easily withdraw from a savings goal to meet a short-term spending need.  Please make this change ASAP; it is very much desired by customers.

RobWilk

Uhh, I disagree strongly with those saying we need to be able to SPLIT the transaction.  In my not so humble opinion, these transfers should NOT be in your transaction register, because they won't be linked to bank transactions.  They instead should be tracked in the goals system, which is a separate balance and tracking system than the register.  'splitting' is meaningless as opposed to 2+ separate "virtual savings deposits".  Please remember that these "transfers" should not affect your actual balance, the balance is reported separately from the main balance.  It's virtual not real.  You can have one real transfer to a savings account or whatever, and several 'virtual transfers' from your savings account to your savings goals.

DannyB

Hi @RobWilk. good point and I agree with what you're pointing out.  But I would want Saving Goal splits for saving goal contributions to be a separate operation within the goals system and mot, as you point out, part of the transaction register. One of the issues with automating saving goal contributions is that they are virtual and don't affect net worth the way income and actual expenses do.  It's the same with CCs if you payoff your CCs every month.

Flopbot

@RobWilk, thanks for reminding us to think of that.  Good point.  I agree with @DannyBthat when I picture this feature request in my head, I see this split being a completely separate operation from the category field found in transactions.  However, I'd hope that we would somehow be able to set it up within the individual transactions.  For example, this is roughly what I'd like to see...



And when this transaction clears the bank account, Simplify automatically categorizes the REAL WORLD money properly according to the Account & Category field and then, automatically puts the VIRTUAL/PRETEND/NON-REAL WORLD money into the appropriate Savings Goals...



I believe, the above screenshots would satisfy @simplij's original idea post which was to make it recurring and "make it part of the "Spending Plan."  If Savings Goals were better integrated with each transaction, then the original Real World transaction would still show up in the Spending Plan.  I'm sure there are lots that things that I'm not thinking about, but I think this would be a logical next step.

While the Savings Goal feature in Simplifi still seems like it's not fully complete, I do want to give them credit because it is soooo much better than Quicken Desktop's Savings Goal feature.  That one clutters your register with non-real world transactions which then cause confusion when you go to reconcile your account...yes, you could hide them in the register, but that caused it's own set of issues!  

It's small, but my favorite feature of Savings Goals in Simplifi is this...



This simple layout makes it so stinkin’ easy to understand how much is in the account.

bcrossman

I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but as this feature is developed, it would be great to have recurring transfers included in the spending plan as savings, rather than spending.

My recurring transfers are monthly transfers from savings or checking accounts to long-term investment accounts (college, house, brokerage). Because I don't has a specific dollar amount I'm trying to achieve, they don't really fit cleanly into Simplifi's Savings Goals, and so these transfers are counted as spending in the Spending Plan, when they are actually long-term savings. But I don't want to ignore the transfers from the Spending Plan either, because the transfers do reduce the income that I have available to spend. So it would be great to have the transfers appear in the Spending Plan as a recurring savings, even if not part of a specific Savings Goal. I suppose this could be achieved by broadening how Simplifi treats Savings Goals so that a specific dollar amount is not required, but rather a recurring monthly transfer is a "Savings Goal" also.

Rjthomasb

Ok. I just started using this app and just realized how manual this feature is. Honestly - I may cancel service due to the the obvious lack of care the team has for this issue which is a simple fix and makes a big difference for customers.  

ajbopp

Please consider the option to schedule Savings Goal contributions just as Bills and Subscriptions can be scheduled.

I personally know that the day after I get my first paycheck of the month, I'm going to be doing a lot of savings goal activity, and most of it is always going to be the same. Software should excel at automating repetitive tasks. It would be nice to be able to have Simplifi automate this activity by setting up a schedule. This way Savings Goals could also be reflected in the Cash Flow [graph], and more accurately reflected in the Spending Plan.

RobWilk

I support the general idea of what you're suggessting here, and voted on that.

However:

-As of now no scheduled transactions can be auto-entered, they can only be 'matched'. I don't think this is what you want.

-There are no 'upcoming' transactions or cash flow chart for savings goals, so it'lll have to work a little different.

-Also —- in my case it's also only once a month i would make savings goal contributions, but if it was automatic based on something like the individual goals' monthly contribution amount, it shouldn't "make up for the amount that was withdrawn" - i.e. Let's say I have $1000 goal contributing $100 a month the balance was $500 before contribution but withdrew $10 (leaving $490), if i looked at the contribute page it would say I owe $110 this month on that goal, I would need it to stick to the $100 rather than $110. In other words, I would need to occasonally need to dip into some of the goals.

ajbopp

What I'm asking for is to be able to plan Savings Goal contributions the way I can plan my mortgage or grocery bill. In this case, nothing would need to be matched, the scheduled amount would just be added automatically from the specified account (which we all want to see added as well) to the goal.

If this feature is implemented, transfers to Savings Goals could be reflected in the accounts' cash flow [graph] so that the Available Balance for each account is actually closer to something accurate.

I'm not proposing an end to needing to fine tune Savings Goals on occasion, just like I need to fine tune the grocery bill from time to time. But the bul, of the monthly work could be taken care of without my intervention.

RobWilk

Okay, one more clarificaiton/question: Right now existing savings goal contributions do -not- affect the balance of the source account (savings, in my case), so are you suggesting the cash flow chart reflect the balance as if contributing to a goal reduced the balance? If so, I'm not sure whether or not i support that — that's kind of a separate issue from auto-contributions.

Two separate balance lines on a cash flow chart, one the actual balance, one factoring in savings contributions, would be acceptable to me.

ajbopp

Two separate balance lines is currently what is displayed on the dashboard.

I'm suggesting the Cash Flow [graph] should show the same thing - for consistency if nothing else. Plus, I don't think money should be represented as being in two places at once. It's either in the Savings Goal, or it's in the Savings account, not both. Effectively the Cash Flow [graph] says that money is in the savings account, and the Savings Goal says it's in the Savings Goal bucket.

jason c

[removed] and Mint have a simple option to allocate the total for a savings account to a goal. That's easy to implement and would solve my problem. The other thing you could do is to make it so that a transfer into the account linked to the goal which matches the amount would automatically go to the goal. That's a little more of a challenge but should not be too hard to implement.