Annual Planned Spending or other options besides Monthly [edited] (2 Merged Votes)
Hey so I just want to say that I LOVE the new "planned spending" feature. That did it for me and finally made Simplify something I can see myself using long-term for budgeting purposes. This was a much-needed and much-appreciated feature, so thank you!
One suggestion I have for that new feature is to include other options besides just "monthly" and "one-time." Things like veterinary expenses, car maintenance, etc. are things we need to plan for but which don't happen every month. And it would be annoying to have to re-create those planned expenses every year. We know they're going to happen every year so this would allow us to plan for them.
Comments
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Hello @chanceryder25,
Thanks for taking the time to visit the Community to share your feedback regarding Planned Spending!
I have gone ahead and turned this into an Idea post so that other Users can vote on it. Please be sure to add your vote as well!
-Coach Natalie
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If you'd like to see this ability added to Simplifi, please be sure to navigate to the first post in this thread and add your vote!
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I would also like to see this feature. I itemize my paycheck so that I can track various deductions (e.g., health insurance, investments, disability insurance, life insurance, etc.). I have added those deductions as a monthly Planned Expenses so that I know what I am truly left over with for any given month.
However, I'm paid every two weeks, which means that 2 months out of the year (when there are 3 paychecks), my Spending Plan is skewed because those paycheck deductions aren't incorporated into the planned spending accurately.1 -
Currently only have ability to add planned spend monthly.
Would like the ability to toggle between an annual and monthly spending plan and add different categories. E.g. user can create monthly spending plan for items such as food, groceries, auto & transport. But also can add ANNUAL spending plan for larger discretionary items that are not usually ongoing on a monthly basis (e.g. travel, shopping etc)
1. User should be able to set a monthly planned spending of say $2000/month on food = $24,000/month annually.
2. User should also be able to add an annual planned spending of say $10,000 for the year on travel.
And then be able to track MTD expenses or YTD expenses against the relevant planned spend2 -
I seek the same feature. The planning of monthly expenses has been given a functionality but of annual expenses, it's not apparent how simplifi helps one gain insight.1
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Agreed. Example billed car insurance bi-annual May & November, should be able to enter those values in each month. This would accurately track the proposed spending.1
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Yes please! Annual - especially annual savings goals.1
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Yes, because now I have to deal with 2 different software1
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Yes please, this would be a huge enhancement!2
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this would be great - and a stand out feature to other budget trackers. I keep searching for things that allow me to set an annual budget for exactly the example of "travel" or "vacation" and can't find anything. The budget tracker then says I am over or below, but really we set a lump sum aside every year for travel1
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This would be so helpful. I vote yes for this feature!2
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Absolutely needed ASAP. Simplifi is simply not very useful without a feature to "see" a full year.1
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An Annual View of the Spending Planner is not only a complete necessity, but also a no-brainer from a development effort to user value ratio (if such a ratio exists). In other words, there is no significant additional software development required, Simplifi simply just needs to add in an additional VIEW to see all Income, Bills, Subscriptions + Planned Spending consolidated into an Annualized view. From a user point of view this would be revolutionary to answer the simple question "Am I theoretically earning more than I spend on an annualized basis". From a planning point of view this is simply way more valuable (and practical) than any one specific month. Been looking over the various threads and this request and related discussions have been going on for over a year now in the various threads. Here is one more humble request from yet another Simplifi user to please bring in the Spending Planner Annualized View 🙏🏽0
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Just keeping this thread alive. I'm trying to simplify (haha) my finances, and liked everything about Simplifi in the past except for not handling quarterly/annual/irregular expenses. I canceled in the spring, but came back to see what was new. I'm surprised this is still outstanding; there was a lot of interest in this a year ago.0
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This would be a great feature! I really hope they add this 😊
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Hi all!
Point of clarification for this string.
It seems to be there are several topics mixed in here:
- Original request to add more frequency options for recurring transaction ( @chanceryder25 )
- The ability to set up a paycheck with deductions as a split recurring reminder ( @MrGood )
- A practical, integration of annual/non-monthly expenses ( @cczh and others)
The way I read the original post/feature request, @chanceryder25 is requesting more frequency options to be added to recurring transactions "besides 'monthly' and 'one-time.'" This post was made in October 2020 and I started using Simplifi in January 2022. The current frequency list includes many more options than apparently it did back in October 2020 so so it appears this request has been addressed (except maybe adding a "Custom" option, though I'm not sure how that would be helpful.)
The annual/non-monthly expense issue has come up in other posts/threads and especially here:
This has become an almost year long conversation and has roots much deeper in the history of this forum - being able to plan for and include non-monthly and annual or semi-annual expenses in the Spending Plan.
As for an annualized view perhaps this has been partially addressed when Simplifi added the ability to see the Spending Plan out to 12 months. However, I think the idea above is a more comprehensive "one page" view perhaps.
Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer0 -
@DannyB I think they wanted more options for recurring 'planned expenses' (in the spending plan) and not recurring transaction options. Maybe I'm reading it wrong. To that extent, I don't think the original post was addressed.
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Rob Wilkens3 -
A +1 on this multi-month or annual spending items. For example, I may only pay for a property tax payment once every 6 months, or an insurance premium every 12 months. For either of these items, it is so important to save across the prior months to make this multi-month payment - otherwise, no monthly spending plan can handle this "one-time" hit on the budget and stay in the green.
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A custom option would be helpful, because people have amazon subscriptions that are irregular frequencies. I have an Amazon subscription for filters for my dogs' water bowl set for every 3 weeks because it's a three pack. That is not an available frequency option, and a custom option would be all encompasing.
Edit: Also, I have mosquito treatment applied to my yard during the spring and summer months. That is an irregular frequency that could be acccounted for in a custom setting.
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I had already voted for this, but could use it again…
Annually I have a vacation-related purchase expense, which isn't on a particular day (it's when it's convenient for all parties to purchase, since we need to coordinate).
IF it were a set day, I could do recurring bill.. But recuring planned expense annually allows me to account for this better without losing track from year to year.
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Rob Wilkens0 -
I would love to see the ability to have custom frequencies for planned spending for things like planned birthday/Christmas spending, Car registration/inspection/maintenance, etc. I feel like those don't belong in the bills/subscriptions section, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Also, is there a way to see those one-time planned spending expenses without having to go month-by-month? Do they show up somewhere else outside the Spending Plan?
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If you go to your Bills and Payments and the All Recurring tab, you'll get a list of the ones you have set up that includes the next date, frequency, payment amount and annual amount.
From your examples, I do like Car Registration there. Its a specific bill amount and frequency. But the rest, yea things like birthday gifts, car maintenance, etc are all more things I would want an annual allotment for that comes from an annual budget because there is no guaranteed date, amount, or number of transactions. I've lobbied for an Annual version of the Spending plan to be able to incorporate things like these. Watchlists may work for seeing how much you have spent in that category, but they don't give you the big picture of your annual income vs total expenses.
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I have some expenses that occur once every two or three months (trash bills), and some that occur once or twice a year (property taxes). It would be nice if in the spending plan we could have a series where we specify how frequently an expense occurs, rather than having just the option of making it monthly or a single occurrence.
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This is what the Bills & Payments area does. You can set your bimonthly or semiannual items up as bills there with the proper cadence and then they will show up in the appropriate month's spending plan. As opposed to just setting up a planned spending amount.
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