K.I.S.S.

Technomutt · August 25

I'm yet another Mint refugee and glad I found Simplifi. But I gotta admit, there are quite a few features here that I simply don't feel a need to use. I started using the suggestions for recurring bills, but felt it just created more busy work so I deleted them all and don't use Bills & Payments at all anymore. Nor do I bother with Spending Plan, Savings Goals or Spending Watchlist. For me, I like to Keep It Simple (S*****). I would have posted this as a reply to Mrsterry's post "Vent - time consuming over time", but that post is closed. I hope they see this post.

I'm in my 60's, and feel I have a pretty good grasp on my finances. I check Simplify maybe twice a month. (web version only) I realize you have to visit at least monthly to keep your transactions up to date. I track 6 banking accounts, 2 assets and 2 loans. I understand the limitations of tracking loans in Simplifi and hope this improves with time. The most important feature for me is the reports, specifically viewing net income over time. To that end, I wish "last 12 months" was a choice like it was in Mint. But for as infrequently as I visit it's easy enough to change manually.

I've only recently started visiting this community, and was quite happy to learn that transaction splitting is now possible. If it's been possible since January, I completely missed it. I will definitely start using this moving forward. The Zillow integration is a great addition. So is the credit score reporting. In fact, if you add Kelly Blue Book, you will have completely replaced Mint!

Keep up the great work!

RobWilk · August 25

I use bills and payments (recurring) frequently for one reason - it enables the cash flow forecast to show balances into the future factoring in those upcoming charges. Otherwise, I stopped using savings goals in any real sense (I have savings goals, but they're mostly ignored), I like the spending plan but for me the 'net income' report works just as well (except that doesn't include upcoming bills) since my goal is to spend less than i have in income each month.

UrsulaA · August 25

I echo @RobWilk for the use of bills and payments. For savings goals, I use those for saving goals that are a one time expense. To ensure I have enough in the budget for expenses that are lumpy and recurring (example entertainment), I use the rollover budget feature to ensure I can use unspent funds from prior months. I use the watchlists for expenses as I want to ensure I keep below a target I set each month. My goal is also to spend less than what I make each month.

Coach Kristina · August 25

Hello @Technomutt,

Thank you for coming to the Community to provide your feedback! Since you mentioned you'd like to see a "Last 12 months" option added to the net income report, you may find this Idea post interesting:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/2334/add-last-12-months-to-reports

If it's something you'd like to see in the future, please add your vote! Ideas that get enough votes may be implemented in the future!

You also mentioned you'd like to see improvements to loan tracking. Did you have any specific changes you'd like to see? There are a couple Idea posts for improving loan function that you may find interesting:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/2807/what-if-analysis-for-loans-edited

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/2137/ability-to-manage-and-track-transactions-and-details-on-loan-accounts-edited-1-merged-vote

I hope this helps!

Technomutt · September 1

Just wanted to add a footnote to this. I recently received a refund for a returned item. It is listed as Personal Income in the transaction history. I thought this might be a good time to learn about the refund tracker. But this feature won't let you select a date prior to today. Seems like it's only for anticipated refunds. Long story short, I simply created a sub-category under Personal Income called Refund, changed the transaction to use it, and put a note in the transaction stating the date of the original purpose. This works well enough for me.

UrsulaA · September 1

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/40207#Comment_40207

Yes, you are correct regarding the refund tracker, it works only for anticipated refunds. I track some refunds by using a positive amount to the corresponding expense category. For example, I spent $50 in Shopping at Wal-Mart on 8/15 and got a refund for $25 in Shopping at Wal-Mart on 8/30. I enter the transaction as +25 in the amount and use the category as Shopping. That reduces my shopping expense by the $25 refund. This works well enough for me.

Your approach also works, it is nice that Simplifi is flexible to accommodate different users.

RockLee · September 1

I would cut my pinky off for a "12 month" option on reports, and maybe even my right pinky if it remembered that setting on future sessions. Please upvote these as mentioned above.

I don't use the Savings Plan or Savings Goals. Fortunately you don't have too… I really just want to track spending. I have found the Watchlists do this well (and it defaults to 12 months???). Unfortunately, Watchlists are awkward with income and they don't work at all with Brokerages.

SRC54 · September 1

@Technomutt Welcome to Simplifi and to the community. We probably have some things in common. I just turned 70 and have been using Simplifi about 3 years now. At first I didn't use the Spending Plan, and it took me a while to get the hang of it and to appreciate it. I have more accounts than you but don't use half of them.

One difference is I update daily and often add my transactions before they are downloaded, which can cause some problems as Simplifi is really intended for you to download first. Of course, I have several manual accounts and there is no downloading them.

As @UrsulaA and @RobWilk mentioned, Bills and Payments are very useful if you like to keep up with what might be coming next month or next year. I don't use Savings Goals but sometimes I do use the Watchlist just to keep an eye on certain expenses.

K.I.S.S.

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