Future Spending Plans (7 Merged Votes)

Micah

Well... It's not the answer I was hoping for but I appreciate the quick and honest response.

justRick

I'm also looking forward to this.  I'm currently using a spreadsheet based budgeting system; it works well, but I decided to look at Simplifi to reduce the amount of effort I spend maintaining my budget.  The update speed of Simplifi, as well as the overall ease of use is great.

Like many others, I'd like to be able to handle non-monthly expenses.  In my spreadsheet, I just have the monthly budget set aside the right amount of money; if Simplifi had the ability to automatically set aside money into savings goals on a monthly interval, and if it could automatically take money out of savings goals based on budget categories, that would handle the larger annual expenses pretty well.

In the meantime, I'm having to stay on the spreadsheet and I'll check back here from time to time.

PopeStacie

Same request: it is very problematic not to be able to work in future months.  Need this ASAP!  I see you are working on it...we need it.  Thanks!

Coach Natalie

Hello All,

Great news, everyone -- although I don't have an exact ETA, we are hard at work on making Future Spending Plans available in Simplifi!

In addition to being able to move forward in months, we are also adding a 12-month view in a customizable table format, as well as the ability to forecast, see trends, and access a "what if" tool. 

We're so excited to see these changes; please be sure to continue following along here for updates!

-Coach Natalie

justRick

Woohoo!

Micah

Excellent news.

leviautumn

Best news!!!!

Meg

Is there any timeline update on this?  This is a much needed feature and we will need to change products soon if it’s not made available 

tomdemas

I have to agree with Meg. This is (or would have been) a deal breaker for me as a customer and subscriber, so I'm very glad this feature is coming, hopefully sooner than later.

Simplifi defines itself as:
"Simplifi by Quicken is a modern budget and money tracking app."
By definition, a budget is "an estimation of revenue and expenses over a specified FUTURE period of time."

So to only be able to start a budget as of the first of any month, is nearly unacceptable. Why this wasn't considered MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for the launch of the product, I have difficulty understanding, but at least it's going to be added, again hopefully SOON.

Coming from the software world, I fully understand about not being able to provide a precise ETA, but is there any indication as to at least which quarter this feature might be released in? Like Q4 2021, Q1 2022, etc.?

Coach Natalie

Hello @Meg & @tomdemas,

Thanks for reaching out!

Unfortunately, I don't have an exact ETA to provide as to when we can expect to see this ability in Simplifi, however, as far as I'm aware, we're hoping to push the changes to the Spending Plan within the next few releases.

Fingers crossed!

-Coach Natalie

tomdemas

Okay well thank you for at least responding. So if I read between the lines it sounds like it's in development and questionable when it will be complete, tested and ready for release?  Or is it still being prioritized into a development cycle? If it's the latter I would really appreciate the honesty & transparency because I may need to move on from Simplifi. In its current state the product is of very little use to me. It's really just another interface to what I can do with my bank.  

Kristina S.

Totally agreed with @tomdemas. Sounds like this is NOT in development and has not even been prioritized, which is unfortunate. 

I feel the same, that the use of Simplifi has diminished for me without this feature and as a result, I’ll probably have to put my membership on hold until the feature is released. It sounds like many of us work in Product Management, or are at least familiar with the process, so honesty would be appreciated. 

Mike M.

+1   

Coach Natalie

Hello @tomdemas & @Kristina S.,

The enhancements to the Spending Plan (which includes Future Spending Plans) are well into development and are nearing release. Although I don't have an exact ETA, we're planning on rolling this out within the next few releases.

We typically push one release per week on the Web App, so I'd say that we can expect to see this within the next few weeks. Please be sure to enable 'Early Access', as we sometimes push new features to Early Access Users first, so you'll be at the front of the line. 

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

tomdemas

Coach Natalie, Thank you!  I am an EA user.  As an EA user, will I/we be notified when EA features are released so that we know what to look for and be able to provide timely and meaningful feedback?

Coach Natalie

Hello @tomdemas,

I'm glad to hear that you're enrolled in Early Access!

We usually add in-product messaging to introduce new features at the time that they're released to you, but other than that, we use the Community to announce things like this. If there's a corresponding Idea post for a new feature, we'll update it accordingly, however, we also announce new features to the Updates From the Product Team Category, though typically not until they're fully live.

If you have any questions or issues with a new feature, whether it was released to you early with Early Access or not, you are always more than welcome to post about it; we especially like to hear about any issues with new features while they're still in Early Access so we can fix them before full release. 

Please let me know if you have any additional questions, and thank you for your continued patience as we work on enhancing the Spending Plan!

-Coach Natalie

Kristina S.

@Coach Natalie Where do we enable early access?

Coach Natalie

Hello @Kristina S.,

Thanks for inquiring!

You can enable Early Access under Settings>General, and then toggle the 'Early Access' switch on. The same steps apply to both Mobile and Web -- please let me know if you have any issues!

-Coach Natalie

SimplifineHowareyou

Any updates on release for these?

Coach Natalie

Still no update @SimplifineHowareyou, sorry! 

-Coach Natalie

elephantgurl126

This!  I'm switching over to Simplifi and love everything so far, except it's December 26 and I'm working on my January projections and.....I have to wait until January?!  Nooooooooooooooo.....

Coach Natalie

Hello All,

Thank you all for your continued patience as we work on enhancing the Spending Plan!

Sadly, it looks like these enhancements have been pushed out a bit and we aren't expecting to see them released until at least February. 

I will do my absolute best to continue keeping everyone updated, and I'm sorry that I don't have better news today.

-Coach Natalie

cfoxcvg

Coach Natalie said:

Hello All,

Thank you all for your continued patience as we work on enhancing the Spending Plan!

Sadly, it looks like these enhancements have been pushed out a bit and we aren't expecting to see them released until at least February. 

I will do my absolute best to continue keeping everyone updated, and I'm sorry that I don't have better news today.

-Coach Natalie

Thank you for the update even though its not what I was hoping to hear.

Sooklavi

+1 for future months' Spending Plans. I wanted to create an annual budget for the upcoming year in Simplifi, month-by-month. Eventually realized you cant! Ideally, it would be possible to input recurring monthly amounts for planned spending. However, we also need to ability to plan for spending that either varies month to month or occurs at non-monthly intervals.  A grid view of planned spending for the entire year would be wonderful (columns=months, rows=categories).

curious_saver

Another vote that this would be a useful feature! Eg I have a one-off $600 expense in Feb, but the arrow to advance to next month in the spending plan is greyed out, so I appear to only be able to create planned spending in Jan

AshleytheSequel

Still looking like a February release?

Coach Natalie said:

Hello All,

Thank you all for your continued patience as we work on enhancing the Spending Plan!

Sadly, it looks like these enhancements have been pushed out a bit and we aren't expecting to see them released until at least February. 

I will do my absolute best to continue keeping everyone updated, and I'm sorry that I don't have better news today.

-Coach Natalie

Coach Natalie

Yes, we're hoping in the next few weeks, @AshleytheSequel.

zrafi

Is there a way we can add a monthly budget feature for future months? It's really annoying to not be able to plan your budget in advance. If anything, at least let us have access to the future month's budget a couple of days in advance.

Also, I think it will be great to have a notes section within the app.

Coach Natalie

@zrafi, please be sure to add your vote and feedback here for a "Notes" section: https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1641/add-a-notes-section-edited/p1?new=1

-Coach Natalie

Meg

@Coach Natalie can you please provide an update on this capability?