Cash Flow vs Budget vs Spending

tshemphill

I am not sure that I can do what I want to do with the Spending Plan. Maybe I am missing something. I have the majority of my bills on credit card and then pay them off every month. So, I would like to have the categories on every bill and transaction for spending analysis. However on the other side I need to manage cash flow as well. It kind of seems like the tools are there somewhere. I just don't have the right levers pulled. I have tried combinations of turning "reports" and "spending plan" off on transactions (including reoccurring). I just don't seem to have the right combinations to both review spending AND cash flow for the month.

UrsulaA

I have all my credit card payments under recurring designated as transfers from my checking to the credit cards (I have 6 active credit cards). All cards are connected to the bank and the transactions in each card are categorized and accounted for in the spending plan under recurring, planned spending, or other spending.

The cash flow is accurate for my checking and savings accounts as all payments and transfers are set up in recurring bills and transfers. Transfers include credit card payments, savings contributions, and IRA contributions from checking to the IRA brokerage account.

I review cash flow and spending for the month using the spending plan and watchlists to aggregate the bills (select the categories used for bills) and planned spending. I have targets set on the watchlist for reference.

I also set up watchlists for other spending (categories not used in planned spending and bills) and all expenses.

tshemphill

Do you allow "Spending" and "Reports" on both sides of the reoccurring transactions? Just on one side?

It looks like I need to be looking at "cash flow" under "Bills and Payments" anyway.

UrsulaA

Transfers are not displayed in reports so not including them is moot. For categorized recurring bills or income, I only have one side (example Utilities>Phone payment). For the spending plan, I do not count transfers between accounts normally. If I want to count these, I use the positive side if I am transferring funds for income to spend (transfer from savings to checking) and the negative side to reduce my available to spend amount (example, contribution to IRA brokerage). You can set custom income, bills, subscription, transfer, and savings goal amounts in the spending plan.

Cash flow can be accessed at the account level on both the web and mobile app.