Withdrawal for Goal

ellinj

I have a goal defined which I have met, Whats the best thing to do, spend it and delete the goal? I don't really see any other option. It would be nice to have a way to die a goal to a transaction.

Flopbot

@ellinj ,

A few questions might help to decide the best route forward.

• What kind of account is tied to your goal?
• Is this a goal you’ll reuse in the future?
• Is this money that needs to be moved elsewhere, or is it going to stay in place for awhile?
• Is it being transferred to pay off a debt?

ellinj

The goal is attached to a few different acconts, all savings accounts. Eventually the money will need to be consolidated to a new account so that I can pay for the item I am goaling for. It is being used to pay a debt that isn't tracked currently in simplifi.

Flopbot

click here@ellinj ,

This post (click here) has all the detail about how I - personally - have chosen to use Simplifi's Savings Goals. I don't believe that I use them the way they were truly designed to be used, however I don't have nearly the same number of problems with Simplifi's SGs as some others seem to in this forum. This method seems to work for me.

Since I only tie one (1) SG to one (1) account, maybe I'm not the best to offer advise, but I'd probably use the "Withdraw for Another Purpose" option. My main reason for that is that it allows you to reuse your SG again in the future - over and over and over. If you select the other option, it makes a confusing purple 'Spent So Far' bar show up and Simplifi currently doesn’t offer any way to reset the SG for future use (click here to vote for an Idea Post); short of deleting the entire SG and recreating it.

After reading through the other post, let us know if you still have any questions.

DannyB

Hi @ellinj

There aren’t any real options for completed SGs short of either letting them ride in the completed section or deleting them once done with the goal.

For me there are two possibilities for “completed” SGs.

1. Completed means I have met the goal amount and will not be making any additional contributions to that goal.
2. I have met the goal amount AND spent the funds on the goal’s purpose and will not be making any additional contributions.

In the case of no. 2, these are SGs for one time purchases. When completed (SG amount is met) I will make the purchase, withdraw the money from the SG (in your case pulling the funds from the various bank accounts) and when the transaction for the purchase shows up in Simplifi, mark it to be excluded from the spending plan (and perhaps reports depending on circumstances.) Once the funds are withdrawn you can leave the SG in the completed section or delete it outright since it no longer has any impact on your Spending Plan.

In the case of no. 1, these are SGs that hold funds that are spent over time and not all at once, i.e. savings for birthday and holiday giving, or maintenance and repair expenses, etc. Right now Simplifi has no way to create an “on going” goal so what I do set an SG for the amount I estimate I’ll need during the year and set up a goal with a December 31st current year end date. I spend this money as the year progresses and any funds left in the SG at the end of the year I “withdraw for another purpose” which releases these funds back to the holding account and then delete the SG, setting up a new SG for the new year.

In your case, it sounds like you were saving for a specific purchase and if so, no. 2 is how I’d handle it.

In any case I follow @Flopbot ‘s rule to keep all funds for any SG in the same bank account. You have to pay attention when making contributions since you cannot currently establish a default bank account for a Savings Goal… you need to select it each time.

Hope that helps and doesn’t just create more fog.