On Mar 3, 2009, at 5:53 PM, Levon wrote: > Having started using MW at the beginning of the year, I set everything > up and entered the opening balance for my checking account as of Jan > 1. I then started pulling transactions in from my bank set up > buckets, set up my spending plan etc. However, I see that my "Salary" > bucket, is off from my bank balance, because my opening balance > apparently has been rolled over into my Salary bucket somehow. I had > a significant expenditure for a car repair in January ($1500 charged > to a credit card that has already been paid off), that I have been > carrying as an "overdraft" in my automobile bucket, thinking that > after a few months, the amount I had allocated per month for Auto > expense to that bucket, would eventually bring it back to zero. > However I also see that if I were to drag my salary bucket over my > automobile bucket, and zero it out, then my salary bucket would be > much closer to what my actual checking account balance is showing. So: > > 1. Is it normal for an opening balance get rolled into the salary > bucket?
Hi Phil, Only if your opening balance is your available cash at that time. Very few people have exactly their bank balance to spend. Usually there are pending transactions that haven't cleared or extra money that is around the house or in other accounts that need to be included. Instead, I recommend removing the bucket assignment from your starting balance transaction and make sure the bucket optional flag is set (right-click the transaction to check). Then use the Edit > Change Cash Flow Start Date panel to enter in all your spending money as of the first of this month and then go from there. This will put the correct amount of cash you have to spend in your Salary bucket and it should add up to your available cash less any pending transactions. > 2. Is the correct thing to do, to drag the salary bucket over the Auto > bucket and zero it out? (Still trying to get to grips with the right > "conventions" for MW usage). I'm not sure what you mean by this. Dragging and dropping one bucket onto another is a great way to move money around but if you are trying to allocate all of your income, it's easier to use Allocate Income after setting up your spending plan. > 3. Should the Salary bucket (after you flow out your paycheck to fill > the expense buckets, usually be about equal to the running balance in > checking?) > This depends on how much cash you have in various accounts and outside of your bank (you pocket cash should be included in one of your income buckets as well). If you have one account that you spend out of and you're current with all your transactions, then it should be very close if you add in pocket cash. > By the way, this is the first time I have ever been able to > meaningfully analyze my expenditures like this, in any meaningful > fashion, and actually enjoy the process. So kudos for that Kevin. Thank you very much! Please check out our videos to get more details about setting up your cash flow. Peace, Kevin Hoctor No Thirst Software LLC [email protected] http://nothirst.com http://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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
