Hi Blair! On Jan 27, 2:35 am, The Watkinson Family <[email protected]> wrote: > MoneyWell doesn't consider deposits throughout the month as > allocations. The allocations in your Allocate Money panel are blind > deposits--I say "blind" because they do not look at or care what the > amount is that is in the bucket. If you said allocate $1000 into > Mortgage, it will do so, every month, as long as you have money to do > when you allocate money, regardless of how much you have. So, I would > reduce your monthly Mortgage allocation by your monthly refund (make > you allocation = Mortgage payment - refund). This is your "out of > pocket" expense for you mortgage. Ok, this matches what I thought I should do, and sort of did but not quite, which only made it more confusing for me :)
> > Then again, I probably should get into the state where it functions as > > a buffer on the bucket. As I still am in the process of paying down > > debt, I'm not entirely sure how to handle this so I appreciate > > anyone's thoughts on this. > > I have found that when trying to prioritize buffers, paying down debt, > and maximizing savings it is best to tackle one at a time--in the > order of most urgent to least. I've been facilitating Dave Ramsey's > Financial Peace University at my church for the last few weeks, and he > recommends starting with a $1000 buffer. Then pay down your debt > using a snowball approach (be aggressive about debt payments/reduction > so you can be out of debt as soon as practical). Then work toward > savings (3-6 months of expenses). This sounds like a really good plan. I didn't really know where to start and my 'do it all at once' approach did not really work... > Here's how I'd approach your situation. As we start February, ensure > that the amount of money in your Mortgage bucket is the amount of your > full Mortgage payment. When you make the Mortgage payment, your > bucket will go to 0. Then, you'll receive your refund, and you will > have an amount available in the bucket as we go into March. Before > allocating the March income, reduce your Mortgage allocation to the > difference between the Mortgage payment and the refund. Then when you > allocate your income in March, the full amount of your Mortgage > payment will again be available to you as you begin the month (the > reduced allocation plus the refund forwarded from the previous month). What confuses me (a little) currently is the 'next month starts in 5/6/7 days' bit, but I think I have my head wrapped around it. I get paid on the 25th and only have my mortgage between the 25th and the end of the month. So I want to do this: I have my very full income bucket and allocate money, but only to my mortgage bucket since that one needs to get used before the end of the month. On the 1st of Feb, I'll press 'Allocate income' again, which means the mortgage bucket gets filled up again (minus the refund amount) which basically means I've allocated the mortgage money one month ahead of time (because it won't have to get paid until after my next paycheck) I could also use the 'next month starts' bit, but I have the impression that when I do, the money will stay in the bucket till February (roll over), and anytime I press allocate income in February it will think I have not yet filled the buckets and it will want to fill them up again, correct? This would also work to get ahead, it just seems like a bit much to start out with because it will want to do *all* my buckets. I get a bit confused, because I get paid just before the new month starts which somewhat feels like being ahead, but in reality, I'm not. Eventually, I'd want to allocate the income from, say, February, for my April expenses, not my March expenses. Does that make sense? Probably means I want to have my buckets filled with twice the amount I have set up in my spending plan by using the 'leaving money in bucket' (roll over) part. Am I completely confused now or do I actually get it? <snipped useful information> > One note about Emergency Savings bucket--I prefer to make it an > expense bucket. Some say, and they think more conceptually, that it > should be an income bucket. However, making it an expense bucket > allows me to automatically allocate money towards it using the > Allocate Income tool in MoneyWell. > > Grace to you, > Blair I already have set up a savings bucket precisely for this reason. This way I can automate it :D Thanks for your help so far! I feel like I know the basics and just need that last piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Cheers, Tanja --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
