I use a system very similar to Dave's, but only because I just can't keep everything straight if it's all in one account. I'm hoping that the "savings goal" tracking that Kevin is working on will solve that for me because it really is tedious to have 5 different savings accounts to keep track of my hay savings, emergency fund, travel fund, veterinary savings and insurance savings. All of those get new money allocated to them every month, and some months they have money taken out and put back into checking to cover payments.
If all of my long-term savings are lumped into one account, it becomes very challenging to make certain that all the buckets are accurate and that I haven't made any mistakes in allocation, withdrawal, or assigning transfers. Sure, if I don't screw up then all the buckets are right but I haven't managed to go an entire 2 months without an error of one of those types yet. -Trish On May 15, 2009, at 8:23 PM, The Watkinson Family wrote: > > Looks good to me.... > > The crux of your setup lies in the fact that you have multiple savings > accounts, each intended for a specific purpose. Furthermore, it > appears that you treat all of your Savings accounts as "omitted > accounts." In other words, money that is in these savings accounts > isn't made available for usage in buckets. The fact that you have > three savings accounts with three different purposes helps answer the > question, "What's all the saved money for?" It helps you know what > money has been "allocated" for gifts, summer expenses and rainy days. > > For those that maintain only one savings account, it may be necessary > to include the savings account in the bucket system and use the > buckets to categorize money that has been saved in the savings > account. Though this setup has its own disadvantages. > > I create an account that I use as a placeholder to divide my bucket- > accounts and my omitted accounts, that I name with all dashes: > > Checking > Credit Card 1 > Credit Card 2 > --------------------- > Summer Savings > Infrequent Savings > Rainy Day Fund > > I use this to serve as a visual reminder as to whether I need to make > the bucket optional or whether I should include the transfer in the > bucket system. > > Thanks for sharing your setup... > > Grace to you, > Blair > On May 15, 2009, at 6:03 PM, Dave Hirsch wrote: > >> >> I have been using MoneyWell for a few months now, and have tried a >> number of different ways of dealing with savings. I've read a great >> many ways to handle this, and none have given me everything I wanted, >> but now I've found a good solution, I think. >> >> Here's my basic picture: I have two credit card accounts, checking, >> and a number of savings accounts (described more here: >> http://groups.google.com/group/no-thirst-software/browse_frm/thread/9d41a0f0aea0044f?hl=en&tvc=1) >> . >> The savings accounts are for unexpected expenses, summer income, and >> other goals, and are real accounts managed by my credit union. >> >> I want a solution that satisfies these constraints: >> - Lets me quickly see that my bucket balance is equal to my non- >> savings account balance (to ensure I haven't made some stupid >> mistake) >> - Doesn't require me to have any expense buckets that are designed to >> go permanently negative. >> - Allows me to omit selected accounts from bucket-based >> consideration, >> such as Summer Savings (so I don't think that I have that money to >> budget and spend) >> >> Here's what I'm doing now: >> 1) Any transactions that put money directly into an omitted account >> get no bucket (right-click on transaction for "Make Bucket >> Optional"). >> 2) Any transactions that transfer money from checking into a bucket- >> optional account get classified as a Savings bucket, and then income >> gets immediately flowed into that Savings bucket to cover it. >> 3) Any transactions that transfer money from an omitted account into >> checking get classified as an income bucket ("Other Income"). >> 4) In the summer, I will periodically "give myself a paycheck" by >> transferring money from Summer Savings account to Checking, and this >> will be bucketed as "Other Income". >> 5) In order to cover unexpected expenses, I will transfer money into >> checking, and call it "Other Income" as in (4). >> 6) Payments to credit cards have no buckets. >> >> I think this will work for me. Perhaps the description will help >> others. >> >> -Dave >>> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
