Why does Simplifi say I have available money when I don't?
September was our first full month using Simplifi. I was suspicious all month long about the "Available" amount it was showing, as it seemed far more extra money than we have had in the past. (We have been keeping track of our finances for 14+ years in Excel, so I have a pretty good idea about this.) I did find a few things I'd failed to include in the plan throughout the month, but couldn't really find a good way to figure out what was truly going on until we closed out the month. Per Simplifi, we had (in round numbers) $120 still available at the end of September. However, when I add up the amounts set to roll over to the next month and the amount set aside in our bank account for savings goals, and subtract it from my October 1 bank balance, I get -$425! Why does Simplifi think I have $545 more than I actually do? That amount doesn't match the amount for my rollovers or my savings for goals. (Both are about twice that.)
It's super helpful to have all my transactions auto-import, and to be able to easily create new categories, tag things, etc. But it's all worthless if it's telling me I have extra money when, in fact, I am seriously in the hole.
Comments
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just know the spending plan has ZERO to do with balances. Use the cash flow forecast for that. With the spending plan, if you do not rollover, it will simply tell you if you spent less than that month’s income.
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Rob Wilkens1 -
I can accept that it doesn't use my bank balance for anything. But if I have, for example, $5000 in income in a month, and $5500 in bills, planned spending, and savings, why is it telling me I have $100 available instead of that I'm $400 in the red?
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It shouldn’t show $100 available. It should show -$500 available. If your SP includes more spending then income you should be seeing a big red donut and a negative available.
As a planning tool, the Spending plan for each moth starts out with what you tell it to start with, as you know. Would you be willing to share a screenshot of your SP showing the discrepancy?
(One thing that does come to mind and this is a long shot, but if you have any income that comes in as a transfer, it wouldn’t show up as income but will be added to the bottom line of your Income after bills & savings section.)
Going back to your initial post and question, it’s hard, or perhaps not helpful to try and correlate the Spending Plan available/left at end of month with your real world accounts. When I look at my Spending Plan, at the beginning of each month, I’m looking at a hypothetical and at the end of each month I am looking at an actual. But I am only looking at that one month unrelatedly to all previous months and all following months. On the other hand, my real world accounts are completely integrated with all previous months/dates up to the current day.
I hear your question about the Spending Plan telling you that you have extra money when you don’t. The Spending Plan should only tell you the results of your planned income and expenses including savings contributions for any given month and whether you are in the green or in the red based on the data you include.
Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer1 -
@monkeybudget I see you accepted Danny's answer. Did you find the culprit? Was it a transfer that was being ignored?
Steve
Quicken Simplifi (Safari & iOS) Since 2021
Quicken Classic (MacOS) Since 20090 -
@SRC54, not sure how it got marked as me accepting the answer. I was out of town for a week and am just getting to look at answers now. I've spent a bunch of time making a spreadsheet, looking at everything, and I'm still not really sure of the answer. I think it may have something to do with rollover amounts and savings contributions, but I'm still not sure. Honestly, I can't wrap my head around how savings goals work, especially when it comes to spending saved money. If the saved money is subtracted from my August income, but then I have a transaction in September that's meant to be paid for by taking money out of my savings goal, my understanding is it doesn't put that money back in as "available" even if I withdraw it in Simplifi. I also can't figure out, if I tell Simplifi not to include a savings goal in the spending plan if that means that I doesn't deduct money I actually contribute, or only that it doesn't take in to account a planned contribution.
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@DannyB see below for a screenshot of what it was telling me about September:
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One other thing that may have muddied the waters: There was a transfer of about $1600 it is counting as income that was actually moving money from an account we were closing to our normal account. This money was already allocated under our old system to what, in Simplifi, would count as either rollover or spending goals. So maybe Simplifi was assuming the rollover part of that was available money?
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@monkeybudget The transfer is marked as a transfer and not income? I'm sure you checked.
I never could figure out any use for Savings Goals. I just leave my surplus right where it is until I physically move some to a Savings Account. Our local banks don't offer much interest so I leave it in my checking account a while as I actually get more interest that way then move it to a National Bank online.
If you think the Savings Goals have messed you up, you can just delete them all and start over. I do see the Orange Triangle in the gif so you have either gone over budget somewhere or have some leftover money not released for spending or Rollovered.
Sorry I am not much help.
Steve
Quicken Simplifi (Safari & iOS) Since 2021
Quicken Classic (MacOS) Since 20090 -
Per Simplifi, we had (in round numbers) $120 still available at the end of September. However, when I add up the amounts set to roll over to the next month and the amount set aside in our bank account for savings goals, and subtract it from my October 1 bank balance, I get -$425! Why does Simplifi think I have $545 more than I actually do? That amount doesn't match the amount for my rollovers or my savings for goals. (Both are about twice that.)
As mentioned earlier (see also @RobWilk 's comment) the Spending Plan is a planning tool for a given month. I agree that there should be a correlation between your Spending Plan over time and your actual bank balances, but the correlation will not be one-to-one as an actual accounting system might produce (e.g. Quick Books, Quicken Classic, a well-built accounting system in a spreadsheet app).
The screenshot of your Planned Spending summary appears to be accurate for what it is designed to do: You had X amount of net income and after fixed expenses, included transfers and Savings Goal contributions you had $4006.11 available for your flexible Planned Spending and any unplanned spending. After all those expenses were accounted for (including the overspending in one of more planned spending categories) you were left with ~$120. This is not an accounting of your actual bank accounts and QSimplifi is not saying here what you should or should not have in your real world accounts. It's simply reporting that in September, working with and only with September's income and expenses, you had a positive outcome for the month.
As far as Rollover amounts in the Spending Plan and in what funds are available in your bank account - trying to keep that all straight was why I elected (after trying rollover for a couple of months) NOT to use rollover in any of my Planned Spending categories. It's difficult to keep track of those "rolled over" funds outside of the Spending Plan.
As for the $1600 transfer, it's easy enough to mark that money to be excluded from the Spending Plan for September if you indeed you don't want it to affect your September plan. Open the transfer transaction and check the "Exclude from Spending Plan" check box and save. This will remove the $1600 from the September Spending Plan and perhaps give you a more "accurate" picture.
Danny
Simplifi user since 01/22
”Budget: a mathematical confirmation of your suspicions.” ~A.A. Latimer0
