Thanks for the reply. Do you have any insight on how often people tend to download their non- ofx transactions?
Also, on the collapsible buckets idea, Mvelopes solves the "hidden" numbers bit by not hiding them at all. When the group is collapsed, it shows the sum of the underlying envelopes next to the "root"? envelope. So this at least gives you a visual of + or - in the overall group, which I think minimizes the potential for danger, although admittedly doesn't eliminate it entirely. I do like the cleaner look and more screen real estate for the rest of my buckets - most of which would not be in groups anyway. Kevin M On Dec 10, 12:25 am, Kevin Hoctor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Dec 9, 2008, at 10:46 PM, kmacstuf wrote: > > > I just downloaded v1.4 on Monday and have been playing around and > > getting familiar with it. I am currently using Mvelopes which I like > > quite a bit, but don't like the ongoing expense associated with it. > > I've been waiting for the OS X version of YNAB, but I think Moneywell > > might really be the ticket. I have a couple of questions though and > > would like a little guidance. > > Hello, > > Welcome to MoneyWell! As a bit of background, I created it after being > frustrated trying to use Mvelopes, which for me, is great in concept > but didn't fit my execution standards. I didn't want to use a browser > as my interface and didn't like monthly fees either. > > > > > 1. Using Mvelopes, I am used to having my transactions downloaded for > > me every day. For various reasons, I have 3 main credit cards that I > > use and pay off each month, plus 4 checking accounts, 3 savings > > accounts, a mortgage and a line of credit. All of these accounts > > download automatically in Mvelopes. In MW, I have only been able to > > get my credit card accounts to download automatically. I can export > > transactions for the other accounts from their respective websites > > using either Quicken or csv formats. Importing them works just fine. > > My first question is for those of you who are used to downloading > > transactions, how often do you do it? I can imagine that the > > frequency could be dependent on any number of factors, but I'm > > thinking that going to 4 different institutions and downloading 7 > > different accounts every day would get old really fast. But I think > > that doing it any less frequently than weekly might not be often > > enough. Any recommendations? Also, what would it take to get my > > banks to support ofx? > > The advantage Mvelopes has is that it uses technology to scrape > transaction information from non-OFX enabled financial institutions. > This is expensive to manage and maintain and is one reason why they > have monthly fees. All you can do is ask (or complain) to your bank > that you want direct connect functionality and see if they will add > it. We are working to support any financial institution that will > allow MoneyWell to talk to them. > > > > > 2. My second issue / question is with so-called "collapsible > > buckets". I think for the most part my "buckets" are pretty minimal, > > but I have a couple of "sub-envelope" categories that I use in > > Mvelopes. Expanding them out to separate buckets in MW would give me > > a lot of buckets with similar sounding names / purposes. For example, > > instead of having 3 envelopes for the kids' allowance, I have an > > "allowance" envelope and 3 sub-envelopes, one for each kid. This is > > useful since the amount we pay in allowance differs for each child > > (based on age etc.) so it helps me remember what we owe them. I > > realize that it really only boils down to a display thing (on Mvelopes > > too), but collapsing these groups does free up some UI real estate. > > This is not a deal-breaker by any means, and I understand the "keep it > > simple" philosophy for budget buckets, but we all like to do things > > slightly different from each other and I think this would be quite > > handy. The bucket group would be just a heading, and the sub buckets > > would really be the "buckets". You could show a little sideways > > triangle next to the group that you could click on to expand / > > collapse the group just like in Mail, for example. I don't think you > > would really need much more from a functionality standpoint than that > > - at least from my perspective, it's just a UI thing. > > This comes up a lot and I'm pretty stubborn about it because I found > the risk of having hidden numbers more dangerous than the visual > benefit of a collapsed buckets list. When I used Quicken, I had > categories three levels deep and thought it was helping me until I > imported that information into MoneyWell and saw what a mess it really > was. I had no idea how poorly I was categorizing my expenses and how > much I was ignoring. > > Take a peek at some of our articles and videos (they need updating to > the 1.4 visuals but the content is still worthy) and you'll learn more > about why MoneyWell is designed the way it is. > > > By the way, I'm really enjoying getting to know a nice piece of > > software that hopefully I'll be friends with for a long time! > > Please let me know if you have any other questions. Thanks for > checking out MoneyWell! > > Peace, > > Kevin Hoctor > No Thirst Software LLC > [EMAIL PROTECTED]://nothirst.comhttp://kevinhoctor.blogspot.com > > Check out our MoneyWell video > tutorials:http://nothirst.com/moneywell/tutorials/ > > Join our user forum to learn about new > releases:http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "No Thirst Software User Forum" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
