Quarterly pay in varying amounts

Jeffro14

I get quarterly pay that's automatically deposited and that's different amounts each time. When my quarterly paycheck appears in spending plan income, I delete it, then "pay" myself 1/3 each of the quarter's three months. Example: say i get a January 15 paycheck for $21k net. I delete it and set recurring income of $7/mo. When the April 15 quarterly paycheck arrives, we'll say it's $24k net, so I delete it and change the recurring $7k monthly income to $8k monthly income.

Should work with one-time bonuses etc too.

I'm fairly new to simplifi, so folks do you think this will work?

Thanks!

PS not familiar with how these communities work, so I posted this somewhere else a few minutes ago, probably incorrectly--sorry!

UrsulaA

Welcome @Jeffro14 - thanks for your post and welcome to Simplifi. Your workaround described above works for your variable income.

Simplifi also allows the user to set up a custom income amount. I like your method as it allows you to pay attention to the transaction coming in and process it as needed.

We are here to help. I remember one of your prior posts regarding Mint imports. Glad everything got cleaned up for you.

Jeffro14

Thanks Ursula!

I do have a related question. I've been using paycheck amounts net of taxes, so I wouldn't have to mess with all the tax issues. Do most users use gross paycheck amounts and then expense the taxes? (I'm not going to be using Simplifi in connection with my tax return)

UrsulaA

Most users use net pay from what I see here. I read posts here about users using gross pay and getting mixed results with it. I personally use net pay and use Simplifi's reports to tag tax deductible expenses.

Jeffro14

Makes sense. Thanks again!

Jeffro14

Another comment for quarterly pay fluctuating-amounts Spending Plan (see my other post in this thread): an alternative to deleting the paycheck from transactions is to simply exclude it from the Spending Plan. Seems to have exactly same effect either way, but by just excluding the paycheck, then it still does appear in transactions, so you can at least see it.

UrsulaA

Do you exclude the paycheck from the spending plan and then enter custom income for the spending plan? If so, you can have your quarterly income divided by month to spend.

Jeffro14

Yes that's what I do. Exclude the quarterly $21k paycheck from spending plan, then manually "pay" myself $7k/mo in spending plan.

I have to manually calculate monthly "pay" by dividing the net paycheck amount by 3. Same for an IRA RMD (which is one-time, annually), except you divide total by 12 (or the number of remaining months) rather than by 3.

It'd be handy if QS could include a feature where user inputs amount and number of months, and QS spreads it, ie, does the division.

UrsulaA

@Jeffro14 - you can post your idea as a feature request

Idea: Give users options to divide custom income amount by number of months

Content: "It'd be handy if QS could include a feature where user inputs amount and number of months, and QS spreads it, ie, does the division."

Below is a link outlining how to post an idea

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/998/creating-and-voting-for-ideas-in-the-community

Jeffro14

Has QS come up with a better solution to my workaround to my budgeting problem? I get paid every quarter, different amount each time. QS doesnt have a way to do a monthly spending plan in such a situation. So, I exclude my quarterly paycheck ($21k, for example) from spending plan, then manually "pay" myself $7k/mo in spending plan. Thus, I have to manually calculate monthly "pay" by dividing the quarterly net paycheck amount by 3. S

It'd be handy if QS could include a feature where user inputs amount and number of months, and QS spreads it, ie, does the division.

DannyB

@Jeffro14

Here’s an idea, whether it is practical or not I have no idea, but this is basically how my monthly retirement account draw works for me.

What if you opened a savings account and have your quarterly income deposit there. Then set up a monthly automatic transfer from this savings account into your checking account in the amount of whatever you decide is practical for your monthly income. In Simplifi this monthly deposit can be set up as monthly recurring income.

You could even open a high yield account so you can collect a bit of interest on the balance sitting in the savings account until transferred to your checking account.

You can either connect Simplifi to this savings account and mark it to be excluded from your Spending Plan or leave it out of Simplifi since your income will be tracked via your monthly recurring income deposits. You would have to still adjust the monthly transfer amount quarterly or leave it the same and save any extra from high pay quarters to make up the difference in low pay quarters.

Again, just an idea.

Jeffro14

Thx Danny. That sounds like a good idea, better than my present workaround. I'll try it. -Jeff