I'm migrating from Mint...

Amethyst64 · February 26

...and even though I'm just one, low-income person going back two years, I now have hundreds of duplicate transactions in my account and they're being classified every which-way. I have no access to a desktop -- I'm stuck on mobile -- and at the rate I'm going based on how far I got today, it will take a week to manually delete every duplicate and fix the categories. I've been at this for hours today, and I'm in tears. I can't seem to find a way to change or delete multiple transactions at once (and "rules" don't seem to apply to this). Is there no easier/faster way to do this?

UrsulaA · February 26

I am sorry to hear you are stuck on mobile for importing. I suggest patience and perseverance for importing, and if possible, borrow a desktop from a trusted party. It will be easier to manage the import. The web app has bulk editing capabilities like bulk delete, bulk edit categories, etc. that the mobile app does not have. https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/3348103-managing-transactions-in-quicken-simplifi#h_d6d3dde47d

If you get access to a desktop, download the Mint CSV, check it for duplicates, delete such duplicates and restart the import process per the support article. https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/8545901-how-to-import-transactions-from-mint

There is hope. I imported about 10,000 transactions for 10 open accounts and 10 closed accounts dating back to 2014 from Mint. I succeeded and took about 8 hours over two days. I checked income, expenses, and expense groups by year.

After the transaction import was done, I imported balance history for my open accounts using the CSV format. This part works in the web app with a desktop.

Amethyst64 · February 26

Ugh, haven't used a desktop in a long time but I'll use one at the library. Question: Since I already imported the Mint data from the CSV file, and got a few hours into the process of deleting & reclassifying stuff before I realized it would take forever, is there a way I can just delete all the Mint info and start over? Also, I know that you can't alter thd CSV file and still upload it, and I no longer have access to Mint. So how can I make the changes you suggest prior to migrating? I can't do Excel or any programs like that.

UrsulaA · February 26

You can delete the accounts and start over. I altered the data in my CSVs before importing as my Mint data had duplicates I needed to clean. I also connected the accounts first and deleted transactions that downloaded from the bank from the Mint CSV to avoid overlap.

You can import first and connect the bank accounts after. Simplifi will avoid duplicates mostly, except with split transactions. Because Mint treats splits as separate transactions but Simplifi does not, this is something to watch for.

The CSV will import successfully as long as the column headings are not altered from the CSV file. Use Google sheets if not using Excel but a program like that is needed to work with CSVs.

Finally, try using bulk edits in transactions from the web app before starting over if you do not want to use Google Sheets or Excel. You may find that using the feature will speed your cleanup.

UrsulaA · February 26

Finally if you need more targeted help, contact support. Simplifi offered Coaching sessions to help new users recently, maybe someone can set one up for you.

DannyB · February 26

Another option is to simply start fresh and not worry about importing the past 2 years of data unless there is an absolutely necessary reason to keep that data available. You will typically download 3 months of your recent historical data. This data will be fresh and imported into Simplifi in a way consistent with Simplifi's structure.

Just a thought.

UrsulaA · February 26

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/29971#Comment_29971

My fresh Wells Fargo connection gave me 2 years worth of data, Capital One did 90 days. The data availability varies by bank.

I like having my data available to see how am I tracking relative to prior years expense wise. I know I spend more in July over summer break with the kids than in February, for example. I also enjoy seeing my net worth history and progress. Balance history is less time consuming to check than transaction history, particularly if it is aggregated in two accounts, one for assets and another for debts.

Amethyst64 · February 27

@Ursula How exactly do I delete the accounts and start over?

Thanks for your help!

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/29954#Comment_29954

Amethyst64 · February 27

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/29971#Comment_29971

I need to include at least a year's worth of my prior spending because I need to come up with a budget.

ajbopp · February 27

Here is a good article on deleting accounts

https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/3453929-how-to-delete-bank-accounts-in-quicken-simplifi

DannyB · February 27

That’s the unique genius of Q-Simplifi. You can build your Spending plan using only a few months (or even less) of back data. Q-Simplifi will sift through your last 2 or 3 months of data and identify most if not all of your recurring income and expenses and populate your Income, Bills/Subscriptions (these two sections are flexible and used at your discretion), and recurring transfers. You will of course have the ability to review and edit these, but all your regular, recurring, fixed expenses are now built into your monthly spending plan and Q-Simplifi will show you what is available for your monthly flexible expenses like groceries, transportation, recreational activities, etc.

You can now set up your Planned spending categories and decide how much you want to “budget” for each category for the month based on what is available after accounting for your expected fixed spending.

UrsulaA · February 27

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/30023#Comment_30023

This works to generate about 90% of the budget. If annual expenses like an annual subscription have not been paid in the past 3 months, they will not show up on the budget, which is when a year's worth of data can help.

If the Mint data is too messy, can you keep it in the CSV file and refer to it to back fill annual items in Simplifi for the spending plan/bills as needed? If the approach above works, it can save you import work. I personally like seeing all my history and charts in Simplifi, but to look forward I use 12-13 months of past data to plan at most.

DannyB · February 27

I agree… to a point, but I’m only trying to point out that rather than spend hours and hours trying to reconcile old data especially if you are working with the mobile app, one possibility is to start fresh and build from there. Yes, there are the annual recurring expenses, and I suspect those are mostly known without having a deeper data set and can be easily added in. Having a year or two of data may help identify them, but, again, as far as setting up Q-Simplifi, it might be much less frustrating to start fresh with a clean download directly from the banks over working through 12 or 24 months of data. It’s just a suggested option.

Amethyst64 · February 27

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/30008#Comment_30008

But:

" deleting an account cannot be undone. If you're having connectivity issues, we have solutions for that other than deleting the account....remember that deleting bank accounts permanently removes their Transaction Activity and associated Recurring Series from Quicken Simplifi"

And I THOUGHT I saw somewhere that if you delete an account you can never add it back. So is it even possible to start again from scratch?

ajbopp · February 27

I think that whoever said that meant that if you close an account you can't add it back. Deleting an account removes all traces of it, so you can certainly add it back.

Closing an account just sets the balance to zero and makes the account unable to be edited, so you can't reopen it by trying to add it a second time.

I hope this helps!

Amethyst64 · February 27

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/30112#Comment_30112

Ah! Got it!!

Amethyst64 · February 27

@ajbopp @UrsulaA

Does this help? I am a fish out of water.

ajbopp · February 27

Can you post a screen shot of the simplifi Edit Account screen under Settings → Accounts for your Empower account? Such as...

(As you can see, I set up my own IRA wrong LOL)

DannyB · February 28

Looks like you're getting some good help, @Amethyst64. All this can be confusing especially when things go wrong from the get go.

One suggestion I would make at this point, is that you not add the investment account for now and focus on your actual active cash accounts. You don't need the investment account to use Simplifi effectively and it will only add a level of complexity that you may not want to deal with right now.

After you have the bank accounts that you actively use set up, categories set up, recurring bills/subscriptions sorted out, Planned Spending categories set up and funded, then you can move on to setting up savings goals for your annual/non-monthly recurring expenses. Once these are in place and you have a solid picture of your monthly income and spending you can go back to deciding how to add in your IRA. Personally, I have my IRAs set up manually in Q-Simplifi since I don't really need or want to deal with the transactions in these accounts on a day-to-day basis. Having them added as manual allows me to track the account balances but that's not even necessary to use Q-Simplifi effectively.

The accounts that matter are my cash accounts and credit card accounts since these are the accounts that I use for my day-to-day money matters.

Please let us know how you're doing…

Amethyst64 · February 28

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/30126#Comment_30126

Thank you! There's actually a specific reason I connected my investment account to this, and it's actually fixed now ... I'm still not sure what happened 😅

I'm migrating from Mint...

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