Hey, Tony, I wasn't really referring to the on-going process of what to do when get a check, but rather when you setup MoneyWell.
For example... You have $500 in checking, and $100 on a credit card. Your actual cash available is $400, not $500. Because you plan on paying off this credit card on a monthly basis, when you initially assume your cash availability to start tracking your finances with MoneyWell or with an envelope system, you must take the credit card balance into account. Suppose you were going to start an envelope system using the above scenario. You can't take $500 and put it into envelopes, you have to leave $100 available for the credit card bill. Therefore, you can only put $400 into envelopes. In the same way, you have to make only $400 available in MoneyWell when initially getting started. Two ways to do this: 1) Assign the starting Cash Flow amount to $400 2) Assign the starting balance of both the credit card and checking account to an income bucket Now, when making purchases on the credit card, those would be assigned to the appropriate buckets. When paying the credit card, it's a transfer from checking to credit without assigning the transfer to a bucket. For example: You make an additional $50 in purchases on your credit card before making a payment: Buckets total $350 Credit Card $150 Checking $500 Now, you can pay off your credit card and you'll have $350 in checking. But you can see that at all times, the sum of your credit card balance and checking account balance is the same as the total amount of money available in buckets. Does that make sense? Blair On Apr 4, 2009, at 10:41 AM, Tony wrote: > > "you must account for the Credit Card balance when initially setting > up your Cash Flow" > > I'm not sure what you mean or how I do that. Say I get a $500 check. > Deposit it into my Checking Account. On that deposit transaction, I'm > also selecting the Salary Bucket for that amount to go to for > spending. Is this the correct way to do this? Not sure how to > allocate only $400 of it to the Salary Bucket. > > On Apr 4, 10:09 am, The Watkinson Family <[email protected]> > wrote: >> On Apr 4, 2009, at 12:31 AM, Tony wrote: >> >> >> >>> "but I believe the tips from the video tutorial and the Debt Payment >>> bucket should only be used if you have credit cards with balances >>> that >>> you are NOT paying off in full every month." >> >>> The problem I see, with this alone is that if you do not reflect >>> these >>> transactions in an Expense Bucket, then the Salary bucket will not >>> decrement, and you could end up spending more than you actually have >>> in your checking account. >> >>> Example 1 >>> Checking balance = $500 >>> Credit Card (you pay off each month) balance = $100 >>> ------ >>> Salary Bucket = $500 (starts out same as checking balance) >> >> Tony, the Salary Bucket would actually be $400--you must account for >> the Credit Card balance when initially setting up your Cash Flow. >> This was how Lance was saying he initially set up his document, by >> subtracting his credit card balance from his cash available. >> >> Does that make sense? >> >>> Then, you transfer $100 from checking to pay off your credit card >>> without assigning a bucket. >> >>> This is what I see in Money Well >>> Checking = $400 >>> Credit Card = $0 >>> ------ >>> Salary Bucket = $500 >> >>> Am I not understanding how to appropriately document a payoff of a >>> credit card that I don't carry a balance from month to month? >>> I'm afraid my Salary Bucket still shows I have $500 to spend, when >>> in >>> reality, I only have $400. >>> I'm sure I'm missing something. Someone please explain. >> >>> Thanks >>> Tony >> >>> On Apr 3, 7:11 pm, Lance <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> I use credit cards for everyday purchases but I always pay the >>>> balances in full each month so I never pay any interest. I do >>>> this so >>>> I get rewards and the additional benefits that come with purchases >>>> made on my credit card. >> >>>> When I watched the video tutorials on the web site, the example >>>> only >>>> used the checking and cash account balances in the starting cash >>>> flow >>>> balance because you shouldn't make savings or credit cards part of >>>> your "available funds". On the mail list, there are also many >>>> mentions >>>> of creating "Debt Payment" buckets to handle credit card payments. >> >>>> This led to some initial confusion on my part, but I believe the >>>> tips >>>> from the video tutorial and the Debt Payment bucket should only be >>>> used if you have credit cards with balances that you are NOT paying >>>> off in full every month. >> >>>> In my case, I actually need to include the credit card balances >>>> in my >>>> starting cash flow balance. This effectively negates part of my >>>> checking account as those funds are reserved for future credit card >>>> payments and should not be available for spending. >> >>>> In addition, when I download my transactions and see the credit >>>> card >>>> payment, I do NOT assign it to a bucket on either side and >>>> therefore >>>> have no need for a "Debt Repayment" bucket (since I track my credit >>>> card accounts in MoneyWell). >> >>>> For anyone else in this same situation, did you handle it the same >>>> way? >> >>>> Thanks, >>>> Lance > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
