Streamline the Spending Plan Screens on Web App [Edited]

donnajean

Please streamline the 'Planned Spending' screen. I find this part of the web app very cumbersome. Please consider the following:

• categories remaining after ‘Income, Bills, Subscriptions, Transfers and Savings Goals’, should ALL be listed for inclusion via toggle in the ‘Planned Spending’ category list. They should be organized by category group and all should be available each month for review and inclusion. This way you won’t forgot to budget for something if all remaining categories/sub-categories are displayed for inclusion and consideration. 
• You should be able to budget a $0.00 amount so you can include any category that you may wish to allot an available amount for later.
• the interface should be designed with the idea that the budget amounts will be updated often throughout the month as spending unfolds
• the interface should be much cleaner, simplified with just one line for each sub-category similar to the ‘Income, Bills, Subscriptions, Transfers and Savings Goals’ display or 'Transactions' display. The current box for each sub-category is very cumbersome and takes a lot of screen space.
• The entire spending plan (including all 3 sections) should be viewable on ONE scrolling page with a static toggle to expand ALL/collapse ALL. I don’t like having to switch between the 'Income, Planned Spending and Other Spending’ sections and viewing them separately; I want to see the whole picture (plan) on one page. And it is very cumbersome to go back and forth expanding every category every time.

Thanks for your consideration.

Coach Kristina

Hello @donnajean,

Thank you for coming to the Community to share your feedback! Here are some other Idea posts you may find interesting, since they are similar to parts of what you're asking for:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/133/ability-to-exclude-categories-and-tags-from-reports-and-spending-plan-edited-2-merged-votes

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/2062/ability-to-sort-or-rearrange-planned-spending-spending-plan-items-edited

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/6296/add-a-button-to-expand-collapse-all-in-the-spending-plan-edited

Thank you!

donnajean

I should have noted that my comments/suggestions are for the Web App, not iPhone.

Coach Natalie

@donnajean, thanks for posting your suggestions to the Community!

I went ahead and moved this out of Feature Requests, as you want to outline and request just one suggestion per Idea post in accordance with our guidelines here. It also sounds like there are some coaching opportunities, as well as existing requests that cover some of the items you mentioned.

In addition to the existing Idea posts shared by Coach Kristina above, here is one that covers a $0 Planned Spending amount:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/9467/planned-spending-expense-series-allow-0-00-amount

And I believe what you're looking for on your last point would be something like this:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1813/enter-spending-plan-budget-in-table-view

For your 4th bullet point, I'm assuming that you're referring to Planned Spending. If so, we recently added a List View —

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/33763#Comment_33763

For your 3rd bullet point, you stated "the interface should be designed with the idea that the budget amounts will be updated often throughout the month as spending unfolds" — can you elaborate on this, please? Again, I'm assuming that you're referring to Planned Spending, which is designed to update throughout the month as transactions take place. It sounds like Quicken Simplifi already does what you're looking for here. The following help article has more info on using the Spending Plan on the Web App: https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4212702-using-the-quicken-simplifi-spending-plan

I hope this helps!

-Coach Natalie

donnajean

Thanks Natalie; much appreciated! Referring to my points 4&5, If I understand correctly, the current display for ‘Planned Spending’ is the new list view? I’m hoping not as I find it to be very cumbersome and agree with the other posts that the view should be ‘table’ like, sorted by category, and list the entire spending plan (all four sections) in one complete scrollable view, with expand/collapse buttons for each section. Thanks for sending links to those discussions where I have added my comments and I have voted where I can.

Regarding my 3rd bullet point, yes, I do understand that Quicken allows you to update budget targets continually, so no problem here. I think my point is that Quicken should encourage users to expect their budget targets to change throughout the month and update them regularly as the month’s spending unfolds, and that a good budget is never static (you spend more in one category, then spend less in another to make up for it). In other words the budget needs continual re-balancing as the month unfolds and the software should consider this. That is all I meant.

Thanks!

Coach Natalie

@donnajean, thanks for the reply and for sharing your feedback on those other Idea posts!

This is what the List View looks like for Planned Spending (the view options are at the top right) —

But if you're looking for that Table View with collapsible rows, I think the Idea post I shared above would fit your needs. 🙂

-Coach Natalie

DannyB

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/37944#Comment_37944

Are you suggesting that this rebalancing should be automated somehow? Are you asking that if you overspend in one Planned Spending category QS should automatically take unused funds from another Planned Spending category and add those funds to the overspent category? How will QS know which Planned Spending Cats to take from in this case.

Or are you asking for a more efficient way to rebalance through the month? For example, include a feature in the 3 dot menu that gives you the means to move funds between Planned Spending categories. If the latter, this is also existing feature request:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/1888/release-partial-amount-of-planned-spending-transfer-available-to-cover-overages-edited

Still, QS does already provide you with the the flexibility to move funds around between Planned Spending Cats though it's a bit cumbersome. You simply select "Edit this month's expense" in the overspent cat and change the amount you want to have available to cover the overage and perhaps a bit more if you anticipate more spending. If you have enough in "Available" to cover this increase, you are done. If not, then select "Edit this month's expense" in one or more of your other Cats with funds still available and adjust them down in proportion to how much you adjusted up in the overspent Cat. In this way you can keep everything green and in balance with your original Planned Spending goals… as long as you also adjust your actual spending in the downsized Cat(s). (Taking the funds from "Available" will, naturally, increase your overall planned spending goal amount.)