Ability to automatically contribute to Savings Goals [edited] (5 Merged Votes)
Why is that I have savings goals that reduce my spending plan total, but it won't automatically "contribute" for me each month? So then I have to go to the savings plan tab, remember how much was the monthly amount that I earmarked for the plan, and then contribute to it manually. This should all be a pretty streamlined process but it becomes more evident to me everyday that savings goals is such an afterthought of a feature.
Either savings goals should be automatically contributed from the spending plan, or I should be able to click a button next to each savings goal within the savings plan to contribute automatically.
Comments
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Hello @jvipatapat,
Thanks for posting this! We really appreciate the feedback regarding these features and how we can better integrate and streamline this process for our Users.
Please be sure to add your vote!
-Coach Natalie
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Can you add auto save to saving goals so you don't have to. Manually do. It thanks
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It would be helpful if simplifi. Auto saved money to our saving goals i instead of doing it manualy
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Please vote this in
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Hello @jbegley27,
Thanks for taking the time to post your request here! Don't forget to add your vote!
-Coach Natalie
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+1, but I'd like to take it even a step further. We transfer a % of our paychecks to savings every pay day. It would be fantastic to be able to attach that transaction and have it accounted for in the contribution goals. Particularly for those of us that have paycheck amounts that change depending on hours worked, over-time, etc.
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This is exactly what I expected from the Savings Goal feature. (automatic contribution). Hope it gets updated soon.0
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Actually this could be pretty easy to do with an addition to the Recurring entry. In the Recurring entry add a drop down box that lists your goals so you can chose the goal you wish to contribute to.
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Thank you for all of the features you've added over the past year, especially for goals. There is one lingering issue that holds me back from going 100% in on Simplifi though. Currently I have to manually open Simplifi every month and contribute to all of my goals.
Let's say I have several goals, including vacation, christmas spending, etc. I also use goals for large annual bills like car insurance or Amazon Prime. Car insurance is significant because it's a lot of money, so I need to account for it in the monthly budget. It needs to be reflected in my spending plan, so that when the time comes, I'll have the money to pay for the car insurance.
For some reason, you can't automatically contribute to the goal every month, which is surprising to me. The customer service rep I talked to even thought that contribution was automatic. I might miss a couple months, get off track, and end up spending money I shouldn't be spending. I realize there are notifications, but even so, it would be much for efficient and convenient if it was just done for me. Is there something I'm missing?
Also, I realize I'm using goals for a bill... but I'd still like automatic contribution for things other than bills, like christmas spending.
And yes, I realize there is no actual money being transferred between accounts.
Thanks for the consideration. I really need this!
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Automatically contribute a fixed amount of money to a savings goal or spending plan whenever simplifi detects a paycheck direct deposit.0
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Agree with @jvipatapat and the others. This functionality is critical!
It's a proven method of building wealth over time; to consistently save little bits each and every month, repeatedly, indefinitely. In searching for new budgeting software, the lack of a way to automatically / repeatedly contribute to Savings Goals is one of my critical requirements and is causing me to question if Simplifi will really work for us.
While I'm new to Simplifi (still in my 30-day trial), I've been using Quicken Desktop since 2014 and it does have this functionality. For a real world example, lets say I have one (1) $200 deposit going directly into my Savings Account each and every paycheck - every two weeks. Then, in Quicken Desktop, I set up six (6) automatic, recurring Savings Goal contributions:- $100 into a "Car Replacement" Savings Goal
- $50 into a "Home Maintenance" Savings Goal
- $20 into a "Appliance Replacement" Savings Goal
- $10 into a "Education" Savings Goal
- $10 into a "Computer Replacement" Savings Goal
- $10 into a "Whatever" Savings Goal
Simplifi, please add Savings Goals to this list when adding transactions to the "Upcoming" tab.
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1D8YfFPnGwOK6GsmDdKYShnYPLz0cNglR
Is there any update as to the status of this request? Is it being considered? Worked on?
Thank you.Chris
Spreadsheet user since forever.
Quicken Desktop user since 2014.
Quicken Simplifi user since 2021.1 -
Hello @Flopbot,
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback on the ability to automatically contribute to Savings Goals!
Unfortunately, this one is not on the roadmap yet, as far as I'm aware. I have gone ahead and passed this along to my Team, however, as I do see the significant number of votes and feedback that we've received for this feature request.
We do, however, have another Idea post for the ability to create Recurring Transactions for your Savings Goals, and to make them a part of your Spending Plan, that's 'In Progress': https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/382/recurring-transaction-for-savings-goals-and-make-it-a-part-of-my-spending-plan-edited/p1?new=1
It's very possible that when this feature is implemented, it may allow for automatic contributions; fingers crossed! Please be sure to stay tuned for future updates!
-Coach Natalie
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Thanks Coach Natalie,
There appears to be something wrong with the vote feature on that page...the up/down arrows are missing on my screen...I am logged in.
https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/382/recurring-transaction-for-savings-goals-and-make-it-a-part-of-my-spending-plan-edited/p1?new=1Chris
Spreadsheet user since forever.
Quicken Desktop user since 2014.
Quicken Simplifi user since 2021.0 -
Hello @Flopbot,
It looks like the referenced Idea post has been closed for voting, as it is marked as 'In Progress'. Once we start working on implementing a Feature Request and the Idea Status gets updated accordingly, the post becomes closed to additional votes.
You can, however, follow the post for any updates, as well as bookmark it so that you're automatically notified of any changes.
I hope this helps!
-Coach Natalie0 -
Really a miss that you have to MANUALLY put money toward a savings goal (virtual savings account). Would be great to be able to put $5/week into a savings goal for my son and daughter for their allowance. Not useful given I have to go in manually to do this.0
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I'd like to note that missing this feature means the post/article about Simplifi supposedly working for zero-based or envelope-style budgeting really isn't accurate. Given zero-based (Ala YNAB) would require many savings goals, having to perform manual steps for each additional goal is not scalable to that level without massive overhead.0
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Agree that the savings goal feature needs a way to track actual transactions toward this goal. I have it automated with my bank to take a set dollar amount each month and move it to my specified savings account. Would love to see that I could link that transaction when it appears to the savings goal. It would seem like I should be able to since when I set up the savings goal I selected the account which would house the savings at my bank.Love the app and it’s so close to finally being a one stop app for balancing accounts, budgeting and future planning!2
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Really I'm just looking for retirement goals. I want to specify a list of accounts to automatically count toward the savings goal. Mint had this feature and it was really nice.
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+1 on this. The savings goal feature isn’t useful at all in its current state.
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Agreed. When I realized this didn't happen automatically, I just deleted all the Savings Goals and just added the custom aggregate number to my Savings Plan. It's not helpful if I need to take on the manual reconciliation of all transactions. For now, I have the savings account named according to the goal, and can view the balance in my account list. But I'd really love to use Savings Goals, as there is something inspiring about seeing that goal out there, the total, and the progress bar.
To add, contributing automatically isn't just the "contribution" but also when the account earns in interest. That's also something to be reconciled manually today. For anyone with lots of savings accounts for a half dozen goals, not sustainable.
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Having Simplifi automatically divert money from my accounts into savings goals would be disconcerting at best, and dangerous at worst.
I can't imagine the motivation for having this be automated. It would cause me to totally abandon savings goals (which I still use despite several other, far more serious issues)
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye0 -
100% concur. I have a monthly transfer from checking to savings. Would be great for this to be linked such that it automatically contributes to the savings goal.
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When you have many savings goals, it is very inconvenient that you have to contribute to each one separately every month. I would like the contributions to be divvied up automatically, or at least with a single button press each month.
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This is open since Sep 2020 and the best alternative provided a year later is "Recurring Transactions for your Savings Goals"
I'm a new user currently evaluating Simplifi. Is there a technical or a product limitation preventing you from automatically tracking saving goal? You can see the exact amount has been added to the "specified" account linked to the goal. What is preventing from adding this feature out of curiosity?
Hope you consider adding this feature soon or just considering giving us the option to remove the goals tab as it servers no useful purpose.
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I'm not familiar with the development of simplifi, but a quick browse through this forum suggests that this is a priority issue. There are a LOT of higher priority issues challenging the dev team at the moment.
Could you provide real world examples of why the Savings Goals are useless? I personally find them very useful, even though I acknowledge there are shortcomings. But this has never been one of them, for me, so I'm interested in your use case.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye0 -
quick browse through this forum suggests that this is a priority issue.
If it was a high priority it wouldn't take three and a half years to add this feature.
There are a LOT of higher priority issues challenging the dev team at the moment.
this is a CRUD application with bunch of external integration and is displaying that data in graphs/charts from outside looking in but sure it could be challenging for some dev teams.
Could you provide real world examples of why the Savings Goals are useless?
For me its useless because its does not automatically recognize that I'm moved money to the designated account that is associated with the goal. What is the point of associating a goal to an account if it cannot even recognize the exact amount has been transferred between account even though it can see the transaction? Makes no sense to me why one has to contribute to the goal manually.
I understand others may enjoy logging in every month and typing the goal amount and clicking contribute satisfying, I don't.
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Yes, automation should always be the goal. If I wanted to have to type everything out, I would still be using excel to manage my finances. And new automation is always optional so lets not get overly dramatic and talk about how adding it is going to prevent anyone from continuing to use savings goals.
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As per the challenge to "A LOT OF HIGHER PRIORITY ISSUES…"
Here's a good example:
-Just Added Credit Score Feature (which some want to take further) in the last 30 days, This is something marketting can use to sell the product to new customers.. .It sounds like they 'need' to get this on the mobile app which is probably a priority,
-Work underway now to add Zillow Integration (I think they said contract signed [with zillow i presume], and development work well underway) - this will also be a feature they can put on a marketting page to sell the product to new users. Many incoming mint users were "demanding" this feature.
But:
-IF they added "Transfers your money automatically to virtual savings accounts [savings goals]" - that would be a lot harder to put on marketting material as a reason to buy the software. It's a useful feature, possibly, but it's a harder sell to new customers. It's kind of like the "more recurring date options" feature which finally got done, it was lower priority so it took a couple of years, but it did greatly enhance the product for existing users.
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Rob Wilkens2 -
one of the selling points for Quicken Simplifi was savings goals. Had I known it required manual entries all the time, I may not have subscribed.
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Hey everyone!
Our product team is looking to hold 45-minute sessions to go over how automatic contributions to Savings Goals would work in Quicken Simplifi. If this is a feature you're interested in and you'd like to be a part of the process, click the link below to schedule a session!
We look forward to working with our users on this enhancement!
-Coach Natalie
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