posted
I have come to the conclusion as a belated New Year's resolution, that this year we need to build a budget and stick to it.
We are working on all these home improvments, and I'm pretty good at guestimating how much we can afford to do in a particular month, but that isn't terribly long term. And we need a better savings plan.
There are a plethora of financial websites out there, but does any one have any idea where some nice common sense planning calculators are?
posted
Is "we" you and a domestic partner? You probably need to collaborate with your partner on it.
Though I'm reminded of something Suze Orman said, that we in America are more comfortable talking about sex than money.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
to suggest completely the opposite, some of our friends did some crazy money saving things before they got married.
the one they told us about: they wouldn't spend a dollar if it had a 'G' on it. it went into a jar or something so they couldn't spend it.
the one thier housemate told us about: no spend week. for an entire week, they were not allowed to spend any money. they'd have to carpool so they didn't need to buy gas. if they ran out of something, they weren't allowed to go shopping for it, so they ended up begging the housemate. if they wanted a soda out of the vending machine, they had to borrow change from someone else.
she told us that in november and i'm still laughing.
now go check your yahoo account. (where there's an email with *NOTHING* to do with this topic )
Posts: 3956 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
at work, can't check yahoo mail. will look when I get home <grin>
As far as "we" goes yes, I do have a domestic partner, Steve, but part of my role in the relationship is to do the checkbooks for both of us because I'm the anal retentive one. I give him a condensed verbal financial summary for the week or month and he is perfectly happy. I used to give him a detailed verbal report, but he really doesn't want to hear it in that much detail! His method of tracking spending was to never balance his checkbook and check his bank web page and believe them.
I have imposed "minimal spending" weeks before, though we do normally allow for gas, but that is mainly from the pinch we are feeling in our finances until the next paycheck. I wouldn't characterize it as being as tight as paycheck to paycheck living, because it isn't quite that dire.
If one of us lost our job we could survive on the other's income alone but cutbacks would be draconian. If it was a long term job loss, Steve would have to downgrade his car to something more economy oriented. (He currently has a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder.)
But while we have one "emergency fund" that we try to forget about (and it should be larger than it is), we don't have any real savings plan implemented at the moment other than than maximizing our retirement contributions at work. The contributions should be adequate for retirement, but does nothing for the time between now and then.
We just bought a house last year (as some of you already know) This makes me much happier even though it lowers our immediate disposable income, because a housepayment isn't money down the drain like rent. It is a sort of investment/savings plan in and of itself, even if it lowers our net worth below zero for the moment. And it is a tax break as well.
We have some college loans, but they aren't excessive monthly payments. We would like to get them paid off faster. I also need to re-finace mine to a constant interest rate. Our credit cards are both low interest, and we plan to pay them off with this year's tax returns, and not use them for a while.
We are probably spending too much indulging ourselves as erstwhile college students since we actually have real jobs and money coming in, and that is where we need to cut back, which is why actually developing a true budget and sticking to it would be useful.
posted
My wife and I have been using Quicken for years. It's got a whole budgeting section where you can set up various items like mortgage, car payment, gas, utilities, entertainment, etc. You just enter what your total income is and then start filling in your categories until you have no money left.
As you pay bills, buy groceries, etc., you enter them into the right categories. It's an easy way to track your budget and see how your doing.
You can also set up separate virtual savings accounts in you regular account. We have things like a car account for saving towards a new car, large household for any big emergencies that might come up, vacation, etc. Every month, we put some money into each one so it's there when we need it.
It became my wife's hobby. We now have about 50 categories. She gets excited everytime our income changes even slightly.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Though the Sam's in our area isn't bad. Actually belong to both. We are executive members at Coscto which means even though you pay more for the membership you get a 2% rebate on your purchases, and a lot more discounts with travel services and stuff. This means we shop there more, and their produce is higher quality anyway. The problem is that the Sam's is arguably closer than the nearest grocery store, and there are a few things like 2L of Coke that Costco doesn't carry.
As a result of the rebate thing we make most of our big purchases at Costco. We got the good quality laminate flooring we installed in the bedroom at Costco for a song. We plan on getting the flooring for the rest of the bedrooms there too. The Sam's laminate was technically cheaper (like $0.75/box) and came in more colors, but only had a 15 year guarantee rather than a 25 year guarantee. Also the Coscto flooring was textured with grain like real wood and more non-slip than the Sam's stuff. The 2% rebate for last year ended up exactly covering our membership fee for this year, so it works out pretty well.
posted
I have used both Quicken and Microsoft Money. Although there are some features I actual like BETTER with Money, for now I am using Quicken almost exclusively. Because I work for a bank, and it is compatible with downloading my transactions from our online banking directly into Quicken to update and reconcile. (I used to hate balancing my checkbook, but now this makes it easy!)
I also carry VERY LITTLE cash -- as close to nil as possible -- and use my debit card for everything. That way, as it loads into Quicken, I have to CATEGORIZE each and every expenditure. If I have cash and just spend cash, I never keep track of where I spent it.
By using debit card/checks for everything (except morning coffee) I can get a really clear picture of exactly where my money is going over time.. (too much in the 'out-to-eat' dining category).
posted
We are both debit card addicts. If I actually took out cash, even if I spent it on food, I would put it in the "unnecessary luxury" expenditure column over anything else.
One of our checking accounts will load into either quicken or money, but it looks like Quicken would be easier. The other one, unfortunately doesn't look like you can, from the web page. But I can cut and paste it into excel in columnts without any difficulty. Is it easier to take something from excel to quicken or money?
posted
We categorize all the cash too. Well, most of it anyway. We just get receipts with the purchase. You can do a split on a withdrawal meaning if you withdraw $20, you can put some of it in eating out, some of it in gas, whatever you need.
Before you buy it, take a look at the local ads. If you do your taxes yourself, you can generally buy TurboTax and get Quicken for free with it. Similarly, I think TaxCut will get you Money for free.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I have used Quicken for years, and I don't think it interfaces with spreadsheets very well. We've also had trouble with downloads. Getting more than one of the same old transactions and so forth. But that was in the early years of online banking. Things could be better now.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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In answer to your question -- it is much simpler to take something to/from Excel to Microsoft Money than to Quicken -- for OBVIOUS reasons -- they are both Microsoft products!!
I used to teach both Quicken and Money. Money has a feature allowing you to export directly to Excel if you want (and vice versa) but QUicken doesn't. THat is one of the things I miss now that I use Quicken.
People really track their expenditures after paying bills????
Wow.
It's not enough just to pay bills on time and plop a little into savings?
I mean, I have a basic budget of needs (bills) that are met each month, but what else should I be doing? My work has two different retirement plans (I contribute to both), I own my car free and clear (would like to upgrade) and yes, I do rent. But I don't have the time/disposable money/willing skilled partner to help take care of home and property.
I just got that promotion and I know I need to figure something out, because frankly, I have been living month to month. However, I switched medical plans (less out-of-pocket expense), no more private school tuition and added a rather considerable amount to my gross from the income.
Should I be seeing a financial consultant for planning?
Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Tracking your expenditures month to month is an excellent way to see where you are spending your money. If you know where you are spending your money, you can see if that meets up with your goals and needs for money. Say, like Tom and I for example...we know we have a fairly large entertainment budget. Once we start including expenses for a new baby, we know that this is one of the areas of our budget that can be trimmed.
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:People really track their expenditures after paying bills????
Wow.
It's not enough just to pay bills on time and plop a little into savings?
Tsk tsk. This is why Americans have one of the lowest savings rates among industialized nations.
My parents were amazing budget wizards. Their trick is simple, every month, they automatically deposit 20% of their income into a money market or staggered CD account. They also contribute the maximum amount to their company IRAs and 401k plans. They also never use credit cards. If they can't pay for something this month in cash, they simply do not buy it.
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
"Their trick is simple, every month, they automatically deposit 20% of their income into a money market or staggered CD account. They also contribute the maximum amount to their company IRAs and 401k plans."
This trick is simple if, in fact, your salary is high enough that you don't need 35% of it.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I disagree with weaning yourself off your credit and debit cards. However, do not under any circumstances use them other than the means of cash you have on hand that month and never carry a balance. You do have to watch out, though, because as we found out, a good credit card record keeps increasing your available credit and you can ruin your credit report by having too much available credit.
We hardly ever carry cash and always pay with our Discover card because of the cash back. Also, as several other people have mentioned, the statement is easily downloaded into Microsoft Money so that you don't have to itemize your expenditures yourself.
Edit: I agree with the automatic withdrawls from your paycheck if you can get them as well. These are often pre-tax, which is nice. You can also get pre-tax expense accounts for medical expenses which can help some if you are on regular medications or expect to have any medical procedures done during the year.
Another tip is when you pay off a debt to move the money you were paying each month to that debt to a savings plan of some sort. You have already budgeted with this expense in mind and so you won't miss the extra income if you put it away before you realize you have extra to spend.
quote:Second, try to wean yourself from your debit and credit cards.
I also disagree with this. But perhaps because I DON'T use my debit card to just get cash at ATM's (except rarely). Because cash is so hard to track. I use the debit card constantly, but only for actual purchases (in lieu of writing checks, which I HATE to do). My debit charges usually hit my bank the same day or next day, I download my new transactions daily, and am always aware of current balance, as well as where it is going.
I don't own even a single credit card. (although my Visa debit will work as one in some cases).
posted
To clarify: I said we are debit card addicts, which does not mean credit card addicts. There is a major difference. Debit is money you have, credit is money you don't. We do have a balance on our (low interest)credit card from a trip to Houston to a wedding that we took last year. However we have been consciensciously (sp?) paying it down and should get all of it paid off with our tax returns this year.
What I meant by "debit card addict" is that I will always use my debit card if it is an option in lieu of writing checks or using cash. I will write checks for the bills, because several of the utility companies charge you a fee for a direct withdrawal which isn't worth it compared to the price of a stamp.
So I want to hear more about the featers of Quicken vs. MS Money. Particularly from Farmgirl who has both. What I've heard so far about quicken sounds better but if I'm going to need excel download capablility obviously Money would be better!
posted
We also use Quicken to organize our lives. My wife and I often joke that we could tell the story of our marriage simply by running an expenditure report in Quicken and seeing what we bought and when.
I agree that the debit card is a very nice thing. All our payments quickly show up on our bank's website, and we can download the transactions as a Quicken (QIF) file and import them directly into Quicken. If we wanted to pay a few dollars a month, we could download directly from the Quicken application and skip the step of going to the website in the browser. We use the debit card for every transaction we can, which is most of them.
We try to automate every payment we can. I believe every single one of our monthly payments (mortgage, utilities, gas, ISP, etc.) is automated. We have gotten onto the equal payment plans for utilities and gas, and that lets us budget easier throughout the year, and softens the blow of big winter heating bills (although it makes the summer payments higher). The result is that we never make late payments because we forgot to buy stamps or lost the stub.
Cash goes through my pocket like water, and is untrackable. If you're doing any kind of categorized budgeting, you learn to use cash as little as possible. I think the only thing I get it for is to leave tips when we go out to eat.
Thank goodness for my wife's organizational skills, because if it had been left to me we'd be doing the old call-up-the-bank-every-two-weeks-to-find-out-my-balance thing I did as a bachelor.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
I already mentioned the virtual savings accounts you can set up. We set them up for things like gym memberships, AAA membership and other costs that occur maybe once or twice a year. We just put a few dollars or however much it works out to in the account every month and when the bill is due, the money is there. That way, we don't feel like we're getting hit with a big bill that's going to take away from something else.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Has anyone tried using Quicken with BankOne? I know Bankone is one of the larger banks in the country, so there should be some sort of compatibility. But, that is the account that I can only figure out how to get the info by cutting and pasting in to excel.
[so after typing this I was thinking, Bankone is one of the largest banks in the country, surely you can download somehow!] I went back and fished around and low and behold, you can select download activity from a screen I rarely look at!] So both of the bank accounts concerned can download to either Quicken or MS money. I'm leaning towareds Quicken especially because I already have turbotax!
posted
Well I bought Quicken Premier last night. It had a few more features that I liked compared to the base model and there was only a $10 price difference.
I then stayed up until the wee hours entering in about 2/3 of the data and linking accounts. They have a setup wizard that helps somewhat, but I had to learn by muddling around a bit too.
Our home loan isn't downloadable into Quicken which is annoying, but virtually everything else is. Half the accounts can direct link and direct download which is really convienent. The other half I have to manually download right now, though I think I should be able to change that on most accounts.
I would reccommend getting Quicken (or other financial software) BEFORE your finances get complicated, because input will be considerably easier than when you have home loans etc to worry about. Then you just add as you go rather than having initial nightmare input sessions.
It was also interesting on this Quicken version that when I entered in my 401k mutual funds it gave a rundown of how they compared in fees and taxes compared to other similar rated funds. It is nice to know but in a 401k I don't have many options for changing either so I'm stuck with what I've got.
posted
BannaOj: We switched from Quicken 98 to Quicken Premier earlier this year. There's lots of improved features that we like, such as the budgeting feature, but it seems like the program has lots of little bugs. It drives my wife, who tends to be on Quicken more than me, up the wall sometimes. Quicken 98 was so stable, and we were so used to it. But hey, progress. It's still an awesome program and it's been the big difference in our finances over the years.
Twinky: Don't wait till you graduate! One of the things I wish they would require in college, much more than Biology 101 and Health Sciences, is a good set of courses in personal finance, taxes, bookkeeping, and budgeting. They should not let college students graduate without learning that stuff. Even a college graduate with an English degree and a "temporary" job at a restaurant needs to know how to manage money.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
AJ -- glad you like your new Quicken program.
I couldn't really advise one over the other (quicken vs. money) because they both have a lot of the same features and it comes to a Ford vs. Chevy kind of view -- people like whichever one they are most used to!
I think as you use it and learn all it's features, you will really really like being about to download from your bank and have everything automatically update. Sure makes banking a lot easier than in the old paper-statement & reconcilement days.
quote:One of the things I wish they would require in college, much more than Biology 101 and Health Sciences, is a good set of courses in personal finance, taxes, bookkeeping, and budgeting
I agree with this! My sister and I have both used Quicken show our kids how to track their own accounts. The ability to do simple things like showing them a pie chart that shows what is taking the biggest "bite" of their money is very enlightening for them sometimes!
posted
yeah it does seem a little "buggy" in spots. On the other hand I have a healthy dislike for microsoft, which is one of the reasons why I went with Quicken. And microsoft products are far buggier in general!
The biggest bug i've found is that one of my sites claims it is now compatible for quicken downloads while quicken doesn't recognize it yet. I figured I could go online and find a update of some sort at the quicken website.
posted
My bank has it set up where you can connect directly to the bank from Quicken's Online Transactions feature, but you have to sign up with the bank and it costs $2.95 per month. Have you tried contacting your bank to see if you have to sign up and get special access privileges?
Fortunately, my bank also lets me download transactions from the bank website into a Quicken QIF file, which can then be imported into Quicken. It's a few more steps, but it saves $2.95.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Actually it was a 401k mutual fund website giving me problems, not a bank. I can download to a quif. The problem was that I accidentally downloaded some transactions twice and it didn't edit for redundancy and totally messed up my balances. Also Quicken keeps putting up nastygrams saying "in the next edition of quicken you will no longer be able to use quifs." Because they want you to direct connect to the bank I guess which often makes them money.
With one of the banks (Bank One) the service is free, it logs to update in via your already existing online account. With the other bank there is some fine print about "bill pay" that I don't want because it costs money. I was too delirious last night to figure out what was free and what wasnt. As it is you can do one click from the website and it auto updates your info
posted
well they are threatening it in the 05 edition. It won't remove the ability from any of the previous editions. I don't think you really need to upgrade this thing every year so it shouldn't be a huge deal.
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