Rollover unused Spending Plan money [edited] (10 Merged Votes)
Comments
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I agree there are a lot of potential pitfalls with a rollover feature. I switched from Mint in July 2023 because it became too inconsistent and unpredictable. I suspect some of my frustrations were due to the added complexity of features like rollover and Rules. However, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the Rules system in Simplifi and trust they can be equally successful creating a rollover system.
I would I like to see a rollover system added, but am so new I don’t know how to add my vote. :)0 -
I just tried out [removed] and it seems to be an amped up version of Mint. It has the rollover feature and basically every feature of Simplifi. The downside is the $100/yr after the promo period.
The lack of response or timeline from Simplifi doesn’t give me confidence that this rollover feature will be implemented anytime soon.
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I agree with this. I may use this feature in some categories with non monthly spending but do not want it as a default.
Simplifi User Since Nov 2023
Minter 2014-2023
Questionable Excel before 2014 to present
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That's a good point about complexity causing problems, although I believe that is a programming / architectural failure.
Example: I had an income rule completely take over and combine with another one last week in Simplifi. Made quite the mess of things.0 -
So it seems like quicken wants us to use Saving goals for things like gifts, vacations or expenses that aren’t consistent monthly occurrences or dollar amounts. Some people used rollovers in Mint for things like this which worked well. It allowed you to choose what to rollover or not. So…
I tried to used Savings goals but that falls short in that you have to manually take out funds as you make goal expenses . See the feature request below that refers to taking money from savings direct from the transaction.
I’ve voted for that as well as rollovers since I could probably make it work either way but as of now neither solution is complete.
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What is the ETA on the rollover feature. I have just moved over from Mint to start 2024 and I fully rely on the rollover feature as while my income remains relatively static from month to month, my expenses fluctuate from month to month and I use a monthly Buget approach to plan/save for future expenses. For example I budget my insurance over 6 months, rolling that expense over each month until I actually spend it 6 months down the road. I really have an annual budget that I track monthly. I don't understand how people budget monthly when things like travel, insurance, medical, and even utilities are not consistent monthly expense. I also use my rollover budget to save for unexpected home expenses. Really hope rollover gets here or this app won't work for me.
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I have a non-standard income that means I get plenty of money one month and little to none the next. The available to spend graphic doesn’t recognize that I have leftover money in the spending plan I can use in my available to spend and spending plan for the following month.
Custom income seems like it’s not connected to anything and has the potential to really make my numbers look inaccurate. I will find out in January.
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I think that makes sense for some categories but not others. For example, if I spend $300, more or less, on gas every month, I don't want to get yelled at in February for spending $305 if in January I only spent $290 or $295. Same kind of thing with groceries.
And even with luxuries or something considered an "extra", maybe sometimes I want to treat myself and go $100 over budget and it's fine because the last few months I was $100 (or more) under my budget. Or maybe if I spent extra on a specific category this month (either it was an emergency or I decided to splurge), I can "fix" it by spending that much less next month.
I've read a lot of pros and cons about the suggested rollover feature and the very summarized version is that some people want it and some people don't. So if Simplifi could simply allow the feature to be optional (on a per-category basis), it would allow everyone to run their budgets the way they choose.
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I'll add to this multi-year-long feature request as we're part of the group moving over from Mint where we like to have rollover on budgets from one month to another. For example, we have bills that are every-other month and thus we can split the difference of saving for those which are monthly and those that are bi-monthly to be the most accurate for our category totals. We also like to have a category for holiday gifts which accumulates throughout the year and we can take money from as we purchase gifts for people in August or whatever. Without the rollover, we will have to manually track the rollover amount or adjust the categories' totals to follow the remaining balance.
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I have Cancelled my subscription and gone elsewhere. I hope they read my survey.
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I would like to carry over unused funds from my spending plan in specific category's … Im used to this option from Mint…
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Please add this!!!!!!
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How do I vote?
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On the yellow section on the top of page one of any 'idea' post, click the up arrow under the vote number to vote for, or down arrow to vote against. To cancel your vote, click the greyed-out up/down arrow and it will return to where they're both black @Aptupstairs
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Rob Wilkens0 -
Thanks! They must have closed the vote bc the arrow are gone and it says they are working on it as of Nov. Who knows?
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@EL1234 "I think that makes sense for some categories but not others. For example, if I spend $300, more or less, on gas every month, I don't want to get yelled at in February for spending $305 if in January I only spent $290 or $295."
That's not the point of a budget. A budget reminds you to spend $300 a month on gas every month. If you spend less, you are under budget. That doesn't mean you can spend that much more next month. Or that much much less in the other condition.
$300 is the budget. Planning will never be effective if the budget is flexible.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye1 -
I need this feature. I posted about it in another forum as well. This is helpful for those of us who plan for certain expenses yearly and save monthly for them (i.e. Self-Employment Tax, Vacation, seasonal utilities, etc). This will help others learn to budget beyond the month as well.
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I guess that depends if you use Spending Plans as "this is the max number that you shall spend on this amount in any given month, or face consequences", or as a "this is the general amount to aim for and by listing out my non-really-negotiable expenses, I can more easily see what's left and plan my flexible spending". I use it as the latter. If my car is out of gas but I've used up my gas budget for the month (maybe gas prices went up, or maybe I filled up on the first of the month so this month needs an extra fillup), I'm not going to take off a day of work because I don't have the gas to get there. That wouldn't be a good financial decision.
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@EL1234 Q-Simplifi dies not ask you to take a day off work to meet your gasoline budget. It asks you to consider whether your gasoline budget is realistic.
Q-Simplifi doesn't nag... it points out where your expected spending doesn't align with your actual spending. Your expected spending doesn't change depending on how much you actually spent. But if you consistently spend differently than you plan to spend, it helps you to understand how you should change what you plan to spend.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye1 -
I know, and I can easily adjust the gas budget to a higher amount. That's not my point.
My point is the last paragraph from this message:
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Will it be "budgeting or spending tracking"?
Seems the marketers decided both was the goal:
Note they call it Budget (first) and Money Tracker (spending tracker) second.
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Rob Wilkens2 -
@RobWilk Good find! The two things are, by definition, diametrically opposed.
I resist rollover functionality, even if it's optional, because it introduces unnecessary (even counter-productive) functionality that mostly serves to provide an opportunity for more bugs, even to those who opt out of it.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye1 -
The rollover feature is CRITICAL to how I plan my yearly/monthly budgets. Please add this feature! It's can't come soon enough!
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Yes, @ajbopp and @RobWilk - most are clamoring for this feature. I personally will not use it but a lot of former Mint users want it from going over the various threads. I want the functionality to be optional to the user when it rolls out.
Simplifi User Since Nov 2023
Minter 2014-2023
Questionable Excel before 2014 to present
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Those of you who are against rollover, what do you do to track variable expenses that tend to be seasonal? Do you just not have a Spending Plan for those categories? Do you set an amount that should be the max and then release the extra spending at the end of the month? Do you edit the amount on a monthly basis based on your estimated spending in that category?
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I use a recurring bill for those seasonal expenses or make a one-time adjustment to the category in planned spending for the month needed.
When I used the rollover in Mint, it sometimes did not roll the money to the month I wanted to be in. Was messy for me.
Simplifi User Since Nov 2023
Minter 2014-2023
Questionable Excel before 2014 to present
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I have a Boy Scout clean my driveway after every snowfall. Since I don't know how much it's going to snow or when, I have a Savings Goal that I save for all year long. If it's a good year and not much snow, I put the excess into other savings goals. If it's a bad year and I have to spend more than I saved, then I have hard choices to make in other areas to make up the shortfall.
But the budget doesn't change. After each season I look at how I did on average over the years to see if it makes sense to adjust the savings goal, but the budget doesn't wildly fluctuate from month to month just because a lot of snow falls in January, but very little fell in December.
Anthony Bopp
Simplifi User Since July 2022Money talks. But all my paycheck ever says is goodbye1 -
@EL1234 agree that budgeting is a personal choice with many ways to accomplish it.
Without rollovers, which I used in Mint, I have tried the Spending Plan and use Saving Goals for things like Gifts, Vacations, Home Repairs.
I'm OK with using Savings Goals, but there could be a huge improvement, the ability to link actual transaction spend to reduce the amount you have saved. Adding this might likely eliminate the need for rollover, for me.
I like that
- Savings Goals are part of the Spending plan, so you see a given months, total actual and pending outflow.
- I've learned that I should "contribute" to the plan at the end of the month so I can see "available" funds in the Spending Plan. I know some people might want to save at a different time. End of month works for me.
- I consciously contribute to the Saving Goal (e.g save $50 a month towards the goal) Simplifi adds that up and subtracts from an account I select.
The method to "withdraw" funds is a manual entry and not associated to any transaction. See the post below and vote if it's something you think you'd use. It's in review process I believe but more votes might help.
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