Projected Cash Flow: One line that represents all selected accounts (edited)

Wayne1500

Coming from Pocketsmith, the cash flow graph is essential for me. I would love it if the graph were customizable. What I am looking for is the ability to group accounts into 1 or more lines for forecasting, not just each individual lines. I use my rewards credit cards to pay for most items then fully pay off my credit cards with my checking account later in the month. I would like to combine those accounts (cards + checking) into 1 forecast to see the bigger picture. 

Coach Natalie

Hello @Wayne1500,

Thanks for posting your suggestion to the Community!

From your description, it sounds like Simplifi may already offer what you're looking for -- if you navigate to the Upcoming section on the Web App, and then select the Cash Flow tab at the top, you'll see a Projected Cash Flow Chart that can be customized to specific accounts. More info on this can be found here. 

Does this work for what you're looking for?

-Coach Natalie

miker

Would love to have at least a 12 month cash flow option.  I hope this is available, this is truly used in quicken thanks. 

Coach Natalie

Hello @miker,

Thank you for posting your feedback to the Community!

We do have an existing Idea post requesting that the Projected Cash Flow Chart/Projected Balance be increased to 12 months that would be great to have your vote on.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/64/increase-projected-balance-to-show-12-months-on-projected-cash-flow-chart-edited/p1?new=1

@Wayne1500 Please let me know if the Projected Cash Flow tab in the Upcoming section does not meet your needs, otherwise, I am looking to mark this Idea as 'Already Offered'.

-Coach Natalie

bc34

I would like to see this as well. The cash flow graph should essentially represent a pool of balances from the selected accounts. If I could see the flow of my cash, checking, and credit accounts over time, in aggregate, I could better spot trends in my spending habits. Individual lines representing each account lose insights in too much detail.

Along this same thread, if you have a lot of accounts, having all of them selected on page load causes performance issues. Maybe it would be better to save the accounts previously selected? or saved views?

Coach Natalie

Hello @bc34,

Thanks for posting your feedback to the Community!

In regards to having your previous account selections saved on the Cash Flow graph in the Upcoming section, I would suggest adding your vote and comments here: https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1554/have-the-cash-flow-forecast-in-the-upcoming-section-remember-filters-edited

-Coach Natalie

UrsulaA

The feature request is to provide a total account line in the cash flow chart. A chart that looks like the one below, adding all the accounts selected by the user or all the existing accounts.

Also, to have the ability to aggregate accounts by account type (example cash or credit cards)

Show one aggregated line for ALL available cash and one aggregated line for all credit cards. Thanks @pltc for the suggestion.

DannyB

FYI the above graphic is taken from Empower’s (formerly Personal Capital) dashboard. I do not see Empower’s dashboard and associated tools as a competitor to Quicken Simplifi since Empower’s focus is investment planning and management leading into and beyond retirement.

I’m glad to see this idea revived and brought forward as I believe this would be an excellent addition to one of the key strengths of Quicken Simplifi - Cashflow projections.

Also I believe this feature would mesh perfectly with Quicken Simplifi’s underlying aggregation methodology.

ajbopp

I upvoted this, but I suspect if it was implemented it would depress me 😁

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/29519#Comment_29519

I am glad to use the graphic you posted on another thread to illustrate this idea. The feature will make the cash flow chart great.

Jseagull

Because I use overdraft protection for my bank checking and savings accounts, I would like to have cash flow tracking at the level that includes the sum of both those accounts. In Simplifi, I have both those accounts under my Cash & Checking category. This would enable me to get alerts that project a low balance only if both of those account values combined were projected to be lower than the expenses projected for those combined accounts.

Is this what you want to (or could) achieve with your feature recommendation described in this discussion?

UrsulaA

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/32361#Comment_32361

Yes, that is one of my use cases. I have savings, checking, and cash and will like to see one line of them together to see how the values related versus the credit card balances, which could be added up together with the three accounts listed (savings, checking, and cash) in the projected line.

Jseagull

If your investments (not including cash, checking and savings) and non credit card debts are not included, it seems that your requirement would be the Net Worth calculation

UrsulaA

Not really, the projected cash flow is more for cash/checking/savings and credit cards. I want to see how the balances change with future bills, income, and subscriptions applied. Net worth only provides historical data through today.

I like using the projected cash flow with my checking, savings, and cash accounts individually. It will be nice to see a projection for all of these in one line.

Jseagull

That would work for me too. Let's see if they can add that function.

bling

+1 from me too.

i'd have to imagine most people have at least two cash accounts, one for checkings, another for savings. if the projected cashflow of my checkings account is to be believed i'd be able to retire in a year but that's clearly not true because i drain all of my checkings funds on pay day to go to bills, credit cards, savings, etc.

jtb36

I would like to be able to see the total monthly planned income and expenses by account. In this case, I have multiple bank accounts with automated deposits and recurring transactions. Utilizing the cash flow projections I can see any specific point in time for an individual account to ensure that there is always a positive trajectory, but being able to see a future monthly breakdown of planned transactions would be incredibly beneficial.

pltc

I just want to add a comment here saying this projection is certainly not helpful and doesn't make sense. Adding an aggregated line would be much better

RobWilk

i might agree, I never use that screen. I doubt a forecasted net worth line would be useful either, because life is not that predictsblel.

Flopbot

I love, love, love this idea if it were implemented under Bills & Payments > Cash Flow.

The way I would envision it is to Group ALL my CC accounts and my Checking Account together and then Simplifi would show one (1) line on the Projected Balance graph; not a whole bunch of different ones - I can find that at the top of the individual check registers. I’d use it as a quick way to see if I was spending too much on CC. Basically, I want something that visually yells “STOP! You’re spending too much on CC and won’t be able to pay it off!”

DannyB

In the interest of keeping this idea active in the forum, I will reiterate that cashflow for me is something that includes all my active inflow and outflow by any means. I simply cannot grasp the whole cashflow picture with individual accounts tracked separately. Cashflow is a "synergistic" matter that to be useful must bring together all inflow and outflow from any pipeline into a single presentation to have any real or affective meaning. (I never imagined actually using the word "synergy" or any of its derivatives but here it is!)

I fully support the inclusion of projected cashflow charts for individual accounts, but for the Bills & Payments section which aggregates all my recurring income and payment/transfer events, I also want an aggregate cashflow projection graph.

Flopbot

Well started @DannyB , ‘specially with all them there high falutin words!

Till recently, I never really thought about seeing everything as a big picture but it makes so much sense once you explain it. Currently, it’s very hard to visualize big trends with lots of individual Projected Balance lines all displayed at the same time.

Prostoy

Hi folks, I absolutely agree with the idea here about aggregating the credit balances in one credit line that fluctuates with debits and projected bills and expenses based on the user selected accounts. I love the current desktop GUI with the accounts on the right. But the charts are completely useless. The current chart projects my bank account growth based on my income and bills (linked to this account) but completely ignore my spending on credit cards and other accounts. Credit card balances are also displayed as positive credit balances (same as bank balances) that grow whereas they should be subtracted and the future spending should be reflected as negative outflows. Overall, there is whole bunch of different type of balances on the chart that does not provide any financial picture. However, aggregating credit balances and subtracting debit balances and then projecting positive and negative cashflows based on reoccurring bills and planned expenses will be an awesome tool that will need to make it to the mobile. Former Minter