Mark, The only caveat I would add is that perhaps you shouldn't just plan your minimum payment as your Spending Plan amount.
Rather, take a different approach--when do you want the debt paid off? What will you have to pay each month to make that happen? Can you make the sacrifices to achieve that goal? Balance your sacrifices and your debt pay-off goals, and prescribe that as the minimum amount in MoneyWell. I have found that when I don't plan for an expense (like Savings), and just put away "what's left over," I don't have anything left over. Money, like other things in life, is a limited resource with many demands on it. If we're not deliberate about how to use it, we will find that we are using it in a way that we would not have planned had we taken a more deliberate approach (I really wanted to pay off my Car loan, but I didn't set the money aside, and instead went out to eat 25 out of 30 nights this month). Therefore, my spending plan needs to be a reflection of my priorities--if eliminating debt is a priority, plan for that, and don't do it as an after-thought. Now, you can still catch additional money on the back-side of the month as well--if you have money left over. But, I'd encourage you to deliberately plan an amount that meets your goals and is doable within your personal lifestyle, sacrifices, etc, when dealing with the limited commodity that money is. Blair On Dec 23, 2008, at 7:33 AM, Jaysen wrote: > > Budget your minimum payment including interest (the $200). You can > still pay more, but it will need to come from your surplus. The idea > with MoneyWell is to let you control expenses and show you where you > are (sorry if that is slightly off Kevin). You can always spend more, > but you will need to "steal from Peter to pay Paul" and MoneyWell will > let you. Here is how. > > 1. Do your spending plan > 2. Allocate income > 3. Over spend in a bucket (over pay your loan) > 4. Find a bucket that has "extra" allocation right now. > 5. "Flow" money from that bucket into the over spent. Easiest way to > so drag the source bucket to the destination bucket. > 6. Indicate how much you are moving from bucket A to bucket B then hit > add. > > Presto. Instant balancing of the flow. > > Hope that helps. > > Jaysen > > On Dec 23, 12:07 am, "mhadja...@gmail.com" <mhadja...@gmail.com> > wrote: >> I was messing around with iBank and it seems to do what I want, >> however, I'm still willing to give MW a shot till the end of the >> week. >> >> What I want to know is my principle balance on the car. I don't need >> it down to the exact dollar, as this amount will change on a daily >> basis since that's how interest is calculated with this loan. >> However, >> I would like it to be more ballpark. So updating it once a month is >> sufficient. >> >> My starting balance is a -xx,xxx >> >> So what your saying is, when you make the payment, you move X dollars >> from your checking into your car loan bucket. Since I pay mine >> differently each month, I can't really budget for this, or can I? I >> have to make at least (eg, $350.00) - anything more goes towards >> principle like I said. So should I set my budget for 350, or should I >> make it lets say double this amount? Most likely I don't plan on >> making more than double payments. >> >> Then when you receive your next months statement, you update the >> interest and principle (doing a split transaction) ? >> >> I'll try that out as i'm doing something close to it, but mine seems >> to involve a few more steps. >> >> Mark >> >> On Dec 22, 11:41 pm, The Watkinson Family <thewatkins...@mac.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi, Mark, >> >>> I take a different approach to loans than the others that have >>> responded. I like that MoneyWell helps me spend only the money >>> that I >>> have by allocating it to specific purposes. However, as your >>> example >>> demonstrates, finance software should do more than that. I refuse >>> to >>> keep two money softwares to track overall net worth as well as keep >>> spending under control, and I have found that MoneyWell will >>> actually >>> do both. >> >>> Consider the fact that both your interest payment as well as the >>> principal payment are Car Loan expenses. >> >>> Here's what I do. When I first pay the bill every month, I don't >>> know >>> how much I am paying towards interest and how much towards >>> principal... I'm just paying the bill. I create this expense as a >>> single transfer from my Checking account to my Car loan account. I >>> put this transfer in the Car Loan bucket. >> >>> Later, when I receive my loan statement, or look at it on-line, I >>> can >>> see how much of my payment was for interest and how much was for >>> principal. >> >>> I edit the original transaction, creating a split. I put "Interest" >>> and "Principal" in the memo of the two split items. The "Interest" >>> item should not be a transfer, but it should be assigned to the Car >>> Loan bucket. "Principal" should be a transfer from Checking to Car >>> loan, and it should also be assigned to your Car Loan bucket. >> >>> This way, your Car loan account will show approximately what you owe >>> on your car loan as far as the principal is concerned (of course >>> this >>> amount changes every day), and you will be able to track your >>> spending >>> with buckets, as well. >> >>> Hope this helps. Please let me know if you need further detail. >> >>> Grace to you, >>> Blair >> >>> On Dec 22, 2008, at 10:08 PM, mhadja...@gmail.com wrote: >> >>>> My monthly payment from the bank is lets say 200 bucks. Each >>>> month, I >>>> pay a different amount, sometimes 225, sometimes 250, sometimes >>>> even >>>> 300. Now any extra over the 200 goes towards principle. >> >>>> So I can't track a steady cash flow because depending on how much >>>> extra money I have left is what I put in towards the car payment. >> >>>> So my 60 month loan should be paid off within 48 months hopefully. >>>> Which makes having to do more work in MW to see my remaining loan >>>> balance as well as track cash flow. >> >>>> Mark >> >>>> On Dec 22, 9:59 am, Kevin Hoctor <ke...@nothirst.com> wrote: >>>>> On Dec 21, 2008, at 7:01 PM, mhadja...@gmail.com wrote: >> >>>>>> Maybe i'm missing something, but my interest goes down each >>>>>> payment as >>>>>> I'm paying more towards principle. It also changes depending on >>>>>> how >>>>>> many days sooner my payment clears. The reason for tracking is to >>>>>> see >>>>>> how much money is leaving my checking account each month, as >>>>>> well as >>>>>> the remaining principle left to pay my auto loan. >> >>>>>> When I receive my statement, it tells me the prior months >>>>>> interest >>>>>> payment, which I tack on to the remaining auto loan balance. So >>>>>> the >>>>>> actual amount owed for my vehicle isn't exact, but its within 100 >>>>>> bucks typically. >> >>>>> But your loan payments are the same all the time, correct? And >>>>> this >>>>> is >>>>> what comes out of your checking account each month so this is what >>>>> you >>>>> are trying to track to control cash flow, right? >> >>>>> What I am saying is, tracking the principal and interest is fine >>>>> but >>>>> excessive work because you are not affecting it unless you >>>>> decide to >>>>> pay more than you calculated loan payment. If you are going to do >>>>> that, then you still will have a static amount going to your loan >>>>> each >>>>> month and you just have to check with the bank to see what you >>>>> balance >>>>> is prior to your last payment because it will get paid off early. >> >>>>>> I'm trying to learn this program and use it to my advantage, >>>>>> but I >>>>>> feel like i'm struggling more to figure this out and having to >>>>>> hold >>>>>> back from a lot of the 2.0 features. >> >>>>> MoneyWell 2.0 will have some great additions but the core >>>>> process of >>>>> managing your cash flow better is already in place. If this is >>>>> what >>>>> you're trying to accomplish or you just enjoy a cleaner register >>>>> manager, then MoneyWell 1.4 should be helpful. >> >>>>> Peace, >> >>>>> Kevin Hoctor >>>>> ke...@nothirst.com >>>>> No Thirst Software LLChttp://nothirst.comhttp:// >>>>> kevinhoctor.blogspot.com > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 no-thirst-software@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to no-thirst-software+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
