On Apr 4, 2009, at 4:10 PM, Lance wrote: > On Apr 4, 1:33 pm, Kevin Hoctor <[email protected]> wrote: >> You need open transactions to be counted because before your account >> is reconciled, you need to know that you've already spent the money >> and it's out of your account. >> > > But isn't this the purpose of the buckets? If you respect your bucket > balances when spending, why do you need to know your "projected" > account balance? It seems like it would be more useful to know your > actual balance. > Lance,
There are two layers in MoneyWell. The register layer where you have to make sure you are reconciled with your bank statement and the buckets layer to manage your cash flow. The register layer needs to be correct so you know you have all the correct transactions that occupy your buckets. > >> The reason your transaction date is used is because you need to >> consider this amount out of your account from the moment you write a >> check or, again, you could double-spend it. >> > > Again, isn't this the purpose of buckets? Going back to the > "Understanding MoneyWell" video tutorial, there are two distinct > layers: the physical bank transactions and the non-physical money > flows. It seems like in this instance, MoneyWell is combining these > layers, which is somewhat confusing to me. > You can't verify that you have all your transactions entered correctly if you only look at the buckets layer. MoneyWell is blending these layers but each is still separate. You can change your cash flow tracking without damaging your register. > >> The account balances in the upper left will never include pending >> transactions because they are not real until you tell MoneyWell that >> they are current. >> > > Yes, as they should. My point is that they should not affect the daily > balance either, since this feels inconsistent. > But you need a way to see a future balance and that's the point of pending transactions. If you want them to not affect the daily balance, simply hide your future transactions. > >> As I stated, cleared is useful for downloads and imports so you know >> that a transaction has "cleared" your account. Once you reconcile it, >> you are confirming that the transaction in MoneyWell matches your >> bank >> statement. >> > > Ok, so you essentially treat "Open" and "Cleared" as the same thing > with the only difference being that "Cleared" means it was downloaded > versus manually entered? If this is the case, it seems like there is > no true "Open" status that fits the description in my original post. > MoneyWell's "Open" and "Cleared" both follow my description of > "Cleared". I guess this means we should always using "Pending" for > transactions that have not yet posted if we want account balances to > match up. > Now you sound like you're just trying to pick a fight. Both are open transactions but one lets you know that the bank has seen it as cleared. Why wouldn't you want to know which transactions came in from a direct download or an import versus those that you have entered manually? >> I prefer to keep their transaction date the same since it tells me >> when the transaction occurred. Many transactions clear later that >> they >> happen but I still want my account to show that the money is used as >> of that date. I don't believe Quicken does it any differently. >> > > I'm not sure what Quicken does but if the date you enter for your > transaction is not the date it posted to the account, how can you ever > check that your account balance matches what you expect? > That's why you reconcile your account. > Also, when I download transactions from my credit card, they show the > posted date. Are you saying you would actually go through every > downloaded transaction and manually change the date to actual > transaction date? > No, I'm saying that I wouldn't touch them. The date I manually record transactions is the date I take that out of my bucket. When I download the transaction, the cleared date gets set properly. In that way, I have both. > I have the same problem with using MoneyWell transfers for credit card > payments. Typically the transfer on the CC side posts a few days > before it does on the checking side, so I'm forced to use to 2 > transactions rather than a linked transfer (otherwise my daily > balances don't match). I assume you just do a transfer an deal with > the fact that the balances don't match for a few days? > No, you are not forced to create two transactions. You can create a transfer and just change the one date if you'd like. > >> The daily balance at the bottom of the window is reporting the >> projected amount for the date of the transaction. >> > > Yes but I fail to see how this number is actually useful to anyone > other than for ensuring it equals your bucket balance at all times > (which you feel is actually unnecessary). > > If I want to know how much money I have available to spend, I look at > my buckets. Why would I look at the account balance? If I'm looking at > the account balances, I think I would be expecting to see some > representation of the physical bank transactions layer. This is > precisely what I need if I am trying to catch or correct any mistakes > I have made. > > I guess I'm still not fully understanding something here. I think you are over thinking this. MoneyWell gives you several ways to view your money so you can make informed decisions. Looking at the Accounts table should always give you the "bank" amount and you can use the daily balance to check on bank balances up to the current date or into the future. Peace, Kevin Hoctor [email protected] No Thirst Software LLC http://nothirst.com http://kevinhoctor.blogspot.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "No Thirst Software User Forum" group. 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