Budget for the coming year

getmore4less

suse* wrote: »

It isn't so I can hide the whole amount, but so I know if I have 1000 in a savings account how much of that 1000 is saved for car tax, or insurance, or holidays or whatever. So that way I don't spend something I had already planned for something else by mistake.

I think I have found something that works sort of the same as how quicken did and this video helps explain it. I will have to see if I can get a voucher or something to get the software cheaper after the trial if I can set it up so it works how I hope it will.

http://www.youneedabudget.com/support/video/handling-savings-in-ynab

With MSMoney you use a budget and track category spending(not accounts) to deal with where money has come from and gone to.

separate the money and where it is(account) from the categories you spend/save.

Use split transactions for account transactions that have multiple categories (like a Tesco bill).

It is all about the categories/budgets not the accounts.

YNAB is poor in comparison to MSMoney.

FireWyrm

Every single month and sometimes in the middle of the month too. I plan every spend, every penny, every account. I know the balances of all accounts, where the money is allocated and what for. I have long term savings pots that are reviewed monthly (and checked for being on target) and short term running accounts split by expenditure type. I have a forecast spreadsheet and I have been experimenting with MS Money. I have MoneyDashboard.com as well which shows an up to date dashboard of all my accounts and the spending categories. I can pull reports and see what I spent where and how much with running totals. My paper accounts in a book hold the information on every single ad-hoc transaction and is reconciled against the bank at least monthly. I keep monthly statements for all creditors, bills and utilities and forecast the money required to cover those at the end of the year ready for next (I've just done this). All of my accounts send weekly balance text messages as well as the critical ones being set up for max/min alert messages. I always pay attention to each one comming in.

I dont think you're going far enough myself :-)

datlex

InsideInsurance wrote: »

I prefer paying by DD than SO as it saves me when I don't spot a small change in payment details and so don't get hit with late payment fees etc and many organisations still give discounts for DD payment.

Having to do self assessment, where my companies tax year ends etc it makes more sense for me to do it quarterly but offset from the year by a month (ie Jan, April, July, Oct). Things are fairly stable at the moment so it doesnt take much to do other than factor in the inevitable rise in utility bills etc

I use SO to transfer funds from one account to another I pay bills from. My DDs go from this "bills account". I get paid weekly so this SO has to be sufficient to cover the monthly bills. This was the SOs I set up. Few things change each year so have to adjust the payments - some things up and others down. Since paydays vary with bank holidays, I have to set up the SOs accordingly.

datlex

opinions4u wrote: »

Annual review around pay rise time. Not bothered for the last two years!

I'm guessing you didn't get a pay rise the last two years? Hope you do in 2014.

datlex

FireWyrm wrote: »

Every single month and sometimes in the middle of the month too. I plan every spend, every penny, every account. I know the balances of all accounts, where the money is allocated and what for. I have long term savings pots that are reviewed monthly (and checked for being on target) and short term running accounts split by expenditure type. I have a forecast spreadsheet and I have been experimenting with MS Money. I have MoneyDashboard.com as well which shows an up to date dashboard of all my accounts and the spending categories. I can pull reports and see what I spent where and how much with running totals. My paper accounts in a book hold the information on every single ad-hoc transaction and is reconciled against the bank at least monthly. I keep monthly statements for all creditors, bills and utilities and forecast the money required to cover those at the end of the year ready for next (I've just done this). All of my accounts send weekly balance text messages as well as the critical ones being set up for max/min alert messages. I always pay attention to each one comming in.

I dont think you're going far enough myself :-)

Ah but how can you tell how far anyone is going lol.


In all seriousness. I use a separate tab in a spread sheet from which I have a formula which deducts each transaction from my available funds. I then cross check it has appeared correctly on my online account. (can take a couple of days) For credit card transactions (rewards cards), I straight away transfer the money sufficient to cover the transaction into a third account which is then used to pay this when the bill is due.


I then even without transactions expected double check balances of all accounts most days to check no unexpected transactions.

Frogletina

Frogletina wrote: »

I also prepare my budgets and I have my spreadsheets ready for action in 2014.

I finalise everything on New Year's Eve and check my bank and cash balances, and fine tuning my budget.

Although I also check my accounts monthly, my favourite budgeting and accounting time is the one I do on NYE.

My yearly accounts are now finalised :j

MisterMotivated

Frogletina wrote: »

I also prepare my budgets and I have my spreadsheets ready for action in 2014.

I finalise everything on New Year's Eve and check my bank and cash balances, and fine tuning my budget.

Although I also check my accounts monthly, my favourite budgeting and accounting time is the one I do on NYE.

I do the exact same thing.:D Good to know I'm not the only one. I take note of all my bank balances, share/pension values, etc, on NYE. I now have a fresh and shiny new super-spreadsheet, somewhat improved from the 2013 version, but currently rather bare looking, with only £23.31 income so far and £62.25 expenditure.