How to Create a Budget

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > How to Create a Budget

MJBuddy: Sep 22, 2008; Now I do not know whether I was then a head coach dreaming I was a Saints fan, or whether I am now a Saints fan, dreaming I am a head coach.

Going to be optimistic here and say I think you're addressing your budget issues early enough to avoid catastrophe unless you have a literal catastrophe pop up. Echoing the get your minimums down.

See if you can get access to a credit union. Any family in the military or one associated with your employer is a start. Look at refinancing your car with them. My fiances car was negotiated by her dad and he impressively locked in a 7% interest rate in 2010. A refinance could drop it down significantly and you won't be able to touch your car note seriously for a while because of CC debt so you do want to stress that interest rate.

Phone is expensive and I think youd be surprised how affordable options can be that retain even a lot of luxuries for phone plans nowadays.

E: you have a USAA card? I assume that means you're a member. Look at their loan rates. They're generally the best in market for rates.

MJBuddy fucked around with this message at 13:02 on Jul 23, 2014

# ? Jul 23, 2014 12:59

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 3, 2024 20:49

Cruseydr: May 18, 2010; I am not an atomic playboy.

MJBuddy posted:

E: you have a USAA card? I assume that means you're a member. Look at their loan rates. They're generally the best in market for rates.

He already refinanced through USAA, the problem is that he refinanced the car PLUS potential interest. How that's not illegal I don't know.

# ? Jul 23, 2014 20:02

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

I have an update since my last post in this thread. Here's some success talk.

My budget was way the gently caress out of whack a few months ago. I posted here and Veskit rightly told me I'm spending money like someone who has mental problems. I have since gone to a new system with my wife where we both get 200 dollars every 2 weeks (out of my paycheck) and that's deposited directly into a spending account. We each have our own, and there is no overdraft protection. If we try to spend more money than we have, we just straight up get declined. I've had this happen to me more than once in the past couple of months. We spend this on eating out for lunch, clothing that we don't need (like shoes when our current shoes do the job just fine), games and other entertainment, that kind of thing. Silly money.

After the 200 each paycheck, all of the rest of our money goes into a joint account that we pay bills from. Bills are anything that benefit both of us or is health-related. If I buy a Dremel for my hobbies, that comes out of spending money, but if we both decide we need a circular saw, that's utility money. Other than known bills like monthly doctor visits, absolutely any time we spend utility/joint money, we have to consult the other person and tell them about the expense. This is a great deterrent for spending joint account money on things that are really stupid or unnecessary, because we're not afraid to tell each other that we don't need something.

I run out of spending money fast. Like sometimes, I have a purchase on my mind and when I get paid I am nearly out of spending money the same day I get paid. But the cool thing is, when I'm out of spending money, I manage to go weeks without spending a dime. I eat at home or bring lunch to work or just skip lunch sometimes. I am stopping the use of my e-cigarette because I don't want to spend the money to get new juice, and I am drinking water at work instead of spending the quarter it takes to buy a soda. It's been fantastic.

We are saving money and paying down our debts, but at the same time we feel liberated in our spending. We are being responsible with the amount of money we spend, but when we have money to spend, we're allowed to spend it as irresponsibly as we want, and just not get more. I remember Veskit made a huge deal about the amount of money I spent on games, and that was a legit thing to bring up. Now I spend not quite as much on games, but still a lot, but I am not buying other poo poo on the side, nickel and dimeing myself on Amazon. So overall, I'm spending way less on stupid stuff while not feeling bad about the stupid stuff I do buy.

Anyways that's my update and future success story. Thanks to all the people who said I was being an idiot because I really was, and still sorta am, but now I get to be an idiot with boundaries.

# ? Jul 23, 2014 22:41

Not a Children: Oct 9, 2012; Don't need a holster if you never stop shooting.

signalnoise posted:

I have an update since my last post in this thread. Here's some success talk.

My budget was way the gently caress out of whack a few months ago. I posted here and Veskit rightly told me I'm spending money like someone who has mental problems. I have since gone to a new system with my wife where we both get 200 dollars every 2 weeks (out of my paycheck) and that's deposited directly into a spending account. We each have our own, and there is no overdraft protection. If we try to spend more money than we have, we just straight up get declined. I've had this happen to me more than once in the past couple of months. We spend this on eating out for lunch, clothing that we don't need (like shoes when our current shoes do the job just fine), games and other entertainment, that kind of thing. Silly money.

After the 200 each paycheck, all of the rest of our money goes into a joint account that we pay bills from. Bills are anything that benefit both of us or is health-related. If I buy a Dremel for my hobbies, that comes out of spending money, but if we both decide we need a circular saw, that's utility money. Other than known bills like monthly doctor visits, absolutely any time we spend utility/joint money, we have to consult the other person and tell them about the expense. This is a great deterrent for spending joint account money on things that are really stupid or unnecessary, because we're not afraid to tell each other that we don't need something.

I run out of spending money fast. Like sometimes, I have a purchase on my mind and when I get paid I am nearly out of spending money the same day I get paid. But the cool thing is, when I'm out of spending money, I manage to go weeks without spending a dime. I eat at home or bring lunch to work or just skip lunch sometimes. I am stopping the use of my e-cigarette because I don't want to spend the money to get new juice, and I am drinking water at work instead of spending the quarter it takes to buy a soda. It's been fantastic.

We are saving money and paying down our debts, but at the same time we feel liberated in our spending. We are being responsible with the amount of money we spend, but when we have money to spend, we're allowed to spend it as irresponsibly as we want, and just not get more. I remember Veskit made a huge deal about the amount of money I spent on games, and that was a legit thing to bring up. Now I spend not quite as much on games, but still a lot, but I am not buying other poo poo on the side, nickel and dimeing myself on Amazon. So overall, I'm spending way less on stupid stuff while not feeling bad about the stupid stuff I do buy.

Anyways that's my update and future success story. Thanks to all the people who said I was being an idiot because I really was, and still sorta am, but now I get to be an idiot with boundaries.

Glad that you found something that is working out for you, but keep in mind that you've still got around $800 of "silly money" going out the window every month. I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun, but that's still a pretty hefty sum, especially if you're only bringing in $2500 or so a month -- That's practically a third of your earnings that you're throwing at momentary gratification. You say you have an easy time managing yourself when you're out of that money -- why not try reducing that amount? I'm sure you'll find that you don't need to spend $100 a week on frivolities to keep yourself satisfied. If you even just cut that fun money in half, that's $400 a month you could be socking away!

# ? Jul 24, 2014 19:29

signalnoise: Mar 7, 2008; i was told my old av was distracting

Not a Children posted:

Glad that you found something that is working out for you, but keep in mind that you've still got around $800 of "silly money" going out the window every month. I'm not saying you shouldn't have fun, but that's still a pretty hefty sum, especially if you're only bringing in $2500 or so a month -- That's practically a third of your earnings that you're throwing at momentary gratification. You say you have an easy time managing yourself when you're out of that money -- why not try reducing that amount? I'm sure you'll find that you don't need to spend $100 a week on frivolities to keep yourself satisfied. If you even just cut that fun money in half, that's $400 a month you could be socking away!

True, and we should be reducing that amount to 300 or less, over time. Compared to what we were spending this is tightening the belt quite a bit, but I'm sure we can cut out more.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 19:35

Veskit: Mar 2, 2005; I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!

That's great news that things are getting better Signalnoise. I'd recommend though that each time you make this deposit that you chip down the amount that goes in every 2 weeks by 10 bucks until you're at 250 total for you and the misses. Given your income that seems like a fair deal, especially since it'll help you start learning to save up for the bigger things you want in life.

Keep it up though you're way better than you were.

# ? Jul 24, 2014 20:16

Happiness Commando: Feb 1, 2002; $$ joy at gunpoint $$

I would like some feedback on where I stand. I'm doing better than I've ever been since moving out. The investments include shares from Grandma (serious compound interest magic), a Roth IRA, and some lame rear end attempts at portfolio balancing. In the future (end of this year? next year?), I'm going to sell off a bunch of brokerage holdings and buy the minimum of VTSAX to avoid a ton of cap gains taxes all at once.

I've tried YNAB a few times and I find it really hard to work with, I'm not sure why. I know I hate it when after dutifully copying all my spending over from Mint, the balances are always inexplicably off.

Some spending categories are missing - things like car maintenance fund, clothing/housewares, healthcare (eligible through work Oct 1) - that they are missing means I am not paying into or for them. I hardly spend at all right now. I've been paying off my debt really aggressively - even with 0% interest, there is a psychological wellness factor in seeing it gone. I had it up closer to $5,000 recently because of several periods of un- and under-employment and it was really stressful. Ideally, I would like a $10,000-$15,000 emergency fund. I don't know what kind of spending is appropriate as I'm making more money than I ever have before.

Income:
$2650 net per month

Balances:
Checking: $5470
Investments: $52,000

Debt:
$1773, $1600 of which is at 0% interest until October 2015.

Budget items:
$685 Rent
$60 Utilities
$35 Internet (soon to be $0, work will pay for it)
$0 Phone (work)
$40 Car insurance
$60 Gas
$120 Parking
$200 Groceries
$50 restaurant
$20 hair
$20 dentist

In general, I put every expense on the credit card. When rent is due, I pay that and utilities and then pay however much into the credit card such that my checking account has a balance floor of $5000.

I have two large expenses coming up. One of which is closer to a need than a want, the other is absolutely a want that I am still committed to - an $800 workshop in October and what will amount to a $3500 tattoo in 2016 that needs an $1100 deposit to put me on the calendar.

# ? Jul 26, 2014 04:40

PhantomOfTheCopier: Aug 13, 2008; Pikabooze!

Happiness Commando posted:

I would like some feedback on where I stand. I'm doing better than I've ever been since moving out.... I don't know what kind of spending is appropriate as I'm making more money than I ever have before.

Income:
$2650 net per month

Debt:
$1773, $1600 of which is at 0% interest until October 2015.

Budget items:
...
$1290 total

In general, I put every expense on the credit card. When rent is due, I pay that and utilities and then pay however much into the credit card such that my checking account has a balance floor of $5000.

I have two large expenses coming up. One of which is closer to a need than a want, the other is absolutely a want that I am still committed to - an $800 workshop in October and what will amount to a $3500 tattoo in 2016 that needs an $1100 deposit to put me on the calendar.

If you know these items will be due, you should save for them specifically instead of hoping you'll have enough room to fit them on your credit card. That leads to carrying balances and paying interest which seems unnecessary with your current income-to-expense ratio. Instead, use your available monthly funds to construct a plan.

If you adhere to your budget, you'll have $1360 spare per month. Let's suppose you have two months to pay off the card, and you need $800+$1100 in October (you didn't indicate the due date for the deposit). That is, you need $1800 'in September', and another $1900 'in October'. Said another way, you need $900/mo for Aug+Sep to cover the first part, and $634/mo for Aug+Sep+Oct to cover the latter. That is, you need $1534/mo for the next three months to cover those items; therefore, you are $174 short each month. Moving the due date of the $1100 out to November, for example, drops this to $1441/mo. Adding $2400 due 1/2016 to cover the remaining portion of the tattoo comes in at another $400-480/mo. Precise numbers are hard to establish as they depend on your pay date, how much you have saved now, exact due dates, how much you have saved now, and so forth.

Your budget is currently rather tight based on the needs and wants, I would have to conclude. In particular, now that you have more free money, you should avoid falling into the trap of spending it merely thinking you can easily pay off the monthly credit card bill as it appears, because, as the above numbers show, you won't be able to do that for long when these larger items get stuffed on there. A viable budget should offer you a reasonable plan for the future, and, at present, your plan doesn't fully cover your future. The above expenses don't permit you any room to build your emergency fund either.

My advice would seem to be: Get yourself closer to a "balanced budget" now that saves for your planned expenses, otherwise you'll find your credit cards full on decidedly-not-0%-APR junk in a year.

# ? Jul 26, 2014 06:53

Happiness Commando: Feb 1, 2002; $$ joy at gunpoint $$

quote:

Adding $2400 due 1/2016 to cover the remaining portion of the tattoo comes in at another $400-480/mo. Precise numbers are hard to establish as they depend on your pay date, how much you have saved now, exact due dates, how much you have saved now, and so forth.

I can't follow this. Assuming I start saving on 1/2015, there are 12 months until 1/2016 so why is that not $200 per month? In any event, I can push off the deposit a few months if necessary. I'd much rather have the appropriate quantity saved before dropping the cash than building up a CC balance again. Is there a guideline towards how quickly I should be building my emergency fund up? I feel safe in my job and obviously I'd rather be prepared if I start feeling unsafe.

Edit Am I doing this right? I need to watch the YNAB videos again

Happiness Commando fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Jul 26, 2014

# ? Jul 26, 2014 07:32

PhantomOfTheCopier: Aug 13, 2008; Pikabooze!

Happiness Commando posted:

I can't follow this. Assuming I start saving on 1/2015, there are 12 months until 1/2016 so why is that not $200 per month? In any event, I can push off the deposit a few months if necessary. I'd much rather have the appropriate quantity saved before dropping the cash than building up a CC balance again. Is there a guideline towards how quickly I should be building my emergency fund up? I feel safe in my job and obviously I'd rather be prepared if I start feeling unsafe.

Edit Am I doing this right? I need to watch the YNAB videos again...

Oh dear, I definitely read that as 1/2015, calculated it as being due on 1/2015, yet typed 1/2016. Wow.

Also, you're not required to use YNAB to post in this thread. :colbert:

# ? Jul 26, 2014 09:07

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

Okay, here's the top level view:

33, married, 2 kids (3 years old and 3 months old)
Monthly net after taxes: ~9000

Debts:
3.3k on my car, 2013 Kia Optima
2k on her car, 2011 Hyundai Veracruz

Both cars were bought used and are in pretty good condition.

I contribute 3% which is matched, so that's about 6600 annually into my Simple IRA.
My wife contributes 3%, can't remember what portion is matched, so I think that's 2k or 3k going into some sort of plan.

Here is the budget, I've been doing this in YNAB for about a month now. My wife is paid early in the month so that's why there's already income for August being budgeted. We plan to officially start discussing things once the month is over.

I know there's a lot of waste here, but fortunately I have excuses and rationalizations for almost everything. Fire away!

# ? Jul 28, 2014 03:27

EugeneJ: Feb 5, 2012; by FactsAreUseless

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

Okay, here's the top level view:

33, married, 2 kids (3 years old and 3 months old)
Monthly net after taxes: ~9000

Debts:
3.3k on my car, 2013 Kia Optima
2k on her car, 2011 Hyundai Veracruz

Both cars were bought used and are in pretty good condition.

I contribute 3% which is matched, so that's about 6600 annually into my Simple IRA.
My wife contributes 3%, can't remember what portion is matched, so I think that's 2k or 3k going into some sort of plan.

Here is the budget, I've been doing this in YNAB for about a month now. My wife is paid early in the month so that's why there's already income for August being budgeted. We plan to officially start discussing things once the month is over.

I know there's a lot of waste here, but fortunately I have excuses and rationalizations for almost everything. Fire away!

Do you own your home? I'm not seeing rent/mortgage.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 03:40

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

EugeneJ posted:

Do you own your home? I'm not seeing rent/mortgage.

Yes, we paid it off maybe 6 months ago. We paid 170k 5 years ago and it's probably worth about the same today. I think Zillow says 180k but that seems high.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 03:53

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

Pay off the car and start saving 15% gross for retirement ASAP. I'd have the car paid off by Oct1 and then save 15%+ for retirement starting Oct1,

# ? Jul 28, 2014 04:51

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

SiGmA_X posted:

Pay off the car and start saving 15% gross for retirement ASAP. I'd have the car paid off by Oct1 and then save 15%+ for retirement starting Oct1,

We might be close to that already. I've already contributed 5500 to my Roth, and we are budgeting to put the max in hers for this year by the end of the year. 15% would be 24k. I would say including the Roths we are on track for 19k. My company doesn't allow you to change your simple ira percent more than once a year, so as far as I know once her Roth is maxed we won't have any more tax shelters to contribute to. So it sounds like we need to put another 1k into a taxable account a month to hit 15%.

Is there any significance to 15% of gross? If we stuck with that, what would the implications be for our retirement?

# ? Jul 28, 2014 12:18

MJBuddy: Sep 22, 2008; Now I do not know whether I was then a head coach dreaming I was a Saints fan, or whether I am now a Saints fan, dreaming I am a head coach.

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

We might be close to that already. I've already contributed 5500 to my Roth, and we are budgeting to put the max in hers for this year by the end of the year. 15% would be 24k. I would say including the Roths we are on track for 19k. My company doesn't allow you to change your simple ira percent more than once a year, so as far as I know once her Roth is maxed we won't have any more tax shelters to contribute to. So it sounds like we need to put another 1k into a taxable account a month to hit 15%.

Is there any significance to 15% of gross? If we stuck with that, what would the implications be for our retirement?

What's the interest rate on the car loans?

# ? Jul 28, 2014 14:15

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

MJBuddy posted:

What's the interest rate on the car loans?

2.45 on the Kia and 1.95 on the Hyundai.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 14:46

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

We might be close to that already. I've already contributed 5500 to my Roth, and we are budgeting to put the max in hers for this year by the end of the year. 15% would be 24k. I would say including the Roths we are on track for 19k. My company doesn't allow you to change your simple ira percent more than once a year, so as far as I know once her Roth is maxed we won't have any more tax shelters to contribute to. So it sounds like we need to put another 1k into a taxable account a month to hit 15%.

Is there any significance to 15% of gross? If we stuck with that, what would the implications be for our retirement?

It's an easy to suggest number based on current income and expected retirement withdraw amounts. If you have another 32 years in the work force and get 8% returns on investment, at 15% of 160k, you'll retire with ~3.2mil, allowing you to withdraw about 128k and not impact the account balance.

SiGmA_X fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jul 28, 2014

# ? Jul 28, 2014 18:35

MJBuddy: Sep 22, 2008; Now I do not know whether I was then a head coach dreaming I was a Saints fan, or whether I am now a Saints fan, dreaming I am a head coach.

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

2.45 on the Kia and 1.95 on the Hyundai.

I don't think you should stress clearing these loans off your books early. Conservatively you can beat those rates in almost any portfolio over a long enough period.

# ? Jul 28, 2014 22:50

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

MJBuddy posted:

I don't think you should stress clearing these loans off your books early. Conservatively you can beat those rates in almost any portfolio over a long enough period.

Okay, that makes sense. For both cars, if we paid the minimum it would be about 350 a month, about 200 a month less than what we'd been putting towards them.

I didn't think it was relevant to budgeting so I left out our investment accounts, but we have a decent amount saved for retirement already. Between all our investment accounts we have around 340k, the problem is between the two of us we have 10 distinct accounts, (not including cash accounts), and that's after we consolidated a few. That's including the 529's, old rolled over SEPs, a joint taxable account and then another taxable account with 100k that's managed by an independent advisor that my dad uses (they take 1% of assets a year to manage it). I have no strategy other than index funds and target retirement date funds, and each account mostly consists of whatever I spent 10 seconds thinking about and then bought with no regard for balance. If I even remembered to buy anything, I went two years in a row funding my Roth but forgetting to buy anything.

The point of all that is that in the past it's been more convenient and simple to pay off debts even if it's a terrible idea. The alternative is adding to the byzantine pile of equities. I'm also afraid to consolidate holdings because if I sell stuff I no longer want to buy the stuff I do want I'll probably trigger an insane tax bill. When my advisor buys and sells stuff I let TurboTax Premier figure out all the cost basis stuff and just pray that it's doing them correctly.

I know this is the ultimate first world problem, I just feel like somehow I got myself stuck and the best way to deal with it is to just ignore all the old decisions until I retire, and have a consistent plan going forward. Of course that's basically how I got here in the first place.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 00:26

Henrik Zetterberg: Dec 7, 2007

Maybe I read this wrong, but are you paying someone 1% to hold your money in an index/target retirement fund?

# ? Jul 29, 2014 03:43

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Maybe I read this wrong, but are you paying someone 1% to hold your money in an index/target retirement fund?

All the stuff I've invested myself is in index/target retirement. The advisor stuff is invested in different things, I haven't looked at it for a few years until just now:

code:

IWR ISHARES RUSSELL ETF MIDCAP  $9,144.51
ICF ISHARES TR COHEN & STEER    $6,733.505		
IXJ ISHARES TR GLOBAL ETF       $10,877.855
EFA ISHARES TR MSCI EAFE ETF    $6,456.205	
IWM ISHARES TR RUSSELL 2000 ETF $18,084.805
PID POWERSHS EXCH TRAD FD TR    $3,577.905
POWERSHS QQQ TRUST SER 1        $9,677.005	
SPY S P D R S&P 500 ETF TR      $21,758.005	
XLY SECTOR SPDR CONSUMER FD     $6,025.505	
XLP SECTOR SPDR TR CON STPLS    $4,456.005

It looks like a bunch of broad funds. Still not worth the 1%. It's going to be an awkward conversation taking it out though, because this is the adviser my dad uses, and this money is all inherited from his mom. So he will definitely find out and be grumpy that I caused him to lose face with the people who manage his money.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 04:49

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

You're paying way too much for nothing tho.

I would move your non-current-company retirement funds into Vanguard. Roll it all there. Cheap and easy to buy index funds (and others) from there. Both retirement and taxable.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 06:39

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

SiGmA_X posted:

You're paying way too much for nothing tho.

I would move your non-current-company retirement funds into Vanguard. Roll it all there. Cheap and easy to buy index funds (and others) from there. Both retirement and taxable.

Everything that I can move is in Schwab right now, including the adviser stuff. I know Vanguard is the best, but I feel like Schwab's offerings are competitive and switching would not be worth the paperwork. I don't like the fees for buying Vanguard Target Retirement date funds, so recently I've been buying the Schwab ETFs and in some cases the expense ratios are lower than the equivalent Vanguard funds.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 11:38

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

Everything that I can move is in Schwab right now, including the adviser stuff. I know Vanguard is the best, but I feel like Schwab's offerings are competitive and switching would not be worth the paperwork. I don't like the fees for buying Vanguard Target Retirement date funds, so recently I've been buying the Schwab ETFs and in some cases the expense ratios are lower than the equivalent Vanguard funds.

IMO you have too much money to buy target date funds, unless you're just super lazy. I would do Vanguard Admiral funds.

I don't know much about Schwab funds. What type of ER/fees do you pay them?

# ? Jul 29, 2014 17:39

AbsenceVsThinAir: Jan 29, 2007; Maybe you do not even *smell*? That is sad.

*Smelling* *pretty colors* is the best *game*.

SiGmA_X posted:

IMO you have too much money to buy target date funds, unless you're just super lazy. I would do Vanguard Admiral funds.

I don't know much about Schwab funds. What type of ER/fees do you pay them?

No fee to purchase schwab etfs/mutual funds, and if you look here you'll see they have some of the lowest cost etfs for passive investing (SCHB and SCHX along with other SC's are Schwab's). There may be differences in the bid/ask spread or in the completeness of the coverage but I don't think that alone is worth switching.

I'm not necessarily lazy, but with two little kids it's hard to guarantee I'll always have the energy to focus on rebalancing year after year.

This is kind of off the topic of budgeting so maybe I'll post something in the investing thread.

# ? Jul 29, 2014 23:35

SiGmA_X: May 3, 2004; SiGmA_X

AbsenceVsThinAir posted:

No fee to purchase schwab etfs/mutual funds, and if you look here you'll see they have some of the lowest cost etfs for passive investing (SCHB and SCHX along with other SC's are Schwab's). There may be differences in the bid/ask spread or in the completeness of the coverage but I don't think that alone is worth switching.

I'm not necessarily lazy, but with two little kids it's hard to guarantee I'll always have the energy to focus on rebalancing year after year.

This is kind of off the topic of budgeting so maybe I'll post something in the investing thread.

If I were you, I would move all my money to one place (you seem good on that front - once you fire your fund manager..) and make a spreadsheet to do the rebalancing for you. Then you go and do the buy/sell as needed once or twice a year. It took me about 15min to rebalance my Roth and 401k earlier this month. Granted that's only two vehicle's with 1 mutual fund and 5 ETF's in them, but still. Not too bad.

Investing thread is probably calling your name

I also feel that there was a tool mentioned in the investing thread that will do suggested rebalances for you. I think even Quicken does it, but I'd have to double check. Maybe I'll remember to look tonight/tomorrow.

# ? Jul 30, 2014 02:43

Happiness Commando: Feb 1, 2002; $$ joy at gunpoint $$

Does anyone have any Excel budget templates they could recommend?

# ? Jul 30, 2014 23:47

Suspicious Lump: Mar 11, 2004

Does anyone recommend personal budgeting software that is not YNAB? I need something more powerful or rather more customisable than YNAB.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 07:42

posh spaz: Jul 25, 2014

Suspicious Lump posted:

Does anyone recommend personal budgeting software that is not YNAB? I need something more powerful or rather more customisable than YNAB.

Excel? What do you need it to do, exactly? I might be able to help you out if you're Excel illiterate.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 08:01

Suspicious Lump: Mar 11, 2004

I can probably do a decent excel spreadsheet but I was after something with an android app (or rather logging transactions on the go). YNAB is good but it locks you into rigid system. I've been bitching about it in the YNAB thread.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 10:50

PhantomOfTheCopier: Aug 13, 2008; Pikabooze!

Suspicious Lump posted:

I can probably do a decent excel spreadsheet but I was after something with an android app (or rather logging transactions on the go). YNAB is good but it locks you into rigid system. I've been bitching about it in the YNAB thread.

As far as I know,* the only Android apps where you get something akin to automatic transaction tracking are going to be Mint, YNAB, or something specifically from one's bank. If you want some true budgeting, you're probably going to need Quicken for small business or something equivalent, and there won't be a matching app for a product of that type. Most of the Android apps and things like Mint or YNAB are for people just getting started, and their customer longevity either lives in some convenience element (such as the automatic appearance of tracked expenses) or vendor lock-in (such as a non-translatable, customized approach to money shuffling). As you mature in your personal financial needs, you're likely to find that manual entry and an application that offers the extreme of customization is best, because there are invariably simple features not offered by those trying to turn a profit from the masses.

I used Money for a while, ages ago, then Quicken, which I outgrew. That was followed by a bit of Excel and other spreadsheet-like tools, but I eventually switched to a proper database to get past the errors intrinsic to a system where one uses a pointer (mouse) to enter numbers and formulas.

Most people seem to use a combination of Mint and Excel.

* Which probably isn't much.

p.s. I stay out of the YNAB thread because I would just troll the poo poo out of it, but I'll go read some of your posts there to see if I can offer any budgeting advice for your scenario. The first post I gave a glance, haha, yes, I have six physical accounts which are active enough to be on my standard ledger. My monthly income is divided thirty ways. I suspect I'll be able to offer some suggestions.

PhantomOfTheCopier fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Aug 5, 2014

# ? Aug 5, 2014 14:06

posh spaz: Jul 25, 2014

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

I eventually switched to a proper database to get past the errors intrinsic to a system where one uses a pointer (mouse) to enter numbers and formulas.

I spend like, maybe 15min a week entering receipts in my Excel spreadsheet. I have no idea what kinds of "errors" you need overcome. Isn't this a thread for like, normal human budgets?

# ? Aug 5, 2014 14:11

spwrozek: Sep 4, 2006; Sail when it's windy

posh spaz posted:

I spend like, maybe 15min a week entering receipts in my Excel spreadsheet. I have no idea what kinds of "errors" you need overcome. Isn't this a thread for like, normal human budgets?

I guess you could transpose the numbers. I think you could just download the date from your bank and use drop downs to categorize it and use a look up function to find all the transactions.

I just type in the vendor and the cost and then link it to the right category. I might spend an hour a month but most of that is a bunch of side debt calculations and determining allocation of extra resources.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 14:58

posh spaz: Jul 25, 2014

spwrozek posted:

I guess you could transpose the numbers. I think you could just download the date from your bank and use drop downs to categorize it and use a look up function to find all the transactions.

That's a really good idea. I don't usually have more than 50-ish transactions per month. How many categories do you have? I currently have 7 but I need to make a new budget anyway when I get back to the States.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 15:18

Nocheez: Sep 5, 2000; Can you spare a little cheddar?; Nap Ghost

I love what my Credit Union provides on their website. It's called Compass, and it makes categorizing everything really easy. They keep adding new modules/functions, and can pull in outside accounts if you want to track your retirement accounts, credit card debt, etc. It even has a mobile app (that is somewhat lacking, but it works in a pinch).

I'll try to post some screenshots later when I'm on my home PC.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 15:55

PhantomOfTheCopier: Aug 13, 2008; Pikabooze!

posh spaz posted:

I spend like, maybe 15min a week entering receipts in my Excel spreadsheet. I have no idea what kinds of "errors" you need overcome. Isn't this a thread for like, normal human budgets?

That is correct, and normal humans have a tendency to screw up the simplest of things, particularly when they are terribly boring, redundant, or otherwise "have worked every time in the past". If you read the Slow Motion thread, you'll find something like an actuary and someone trying to show him how to create a better spreadsheet for personal finance, and you'll see that they both screw up:

PhantomOfTheCopier posted:

It's because his spreadsheet was not calculating the sum properly...

You managed to get within a few bucks because your debt total is wrong...

And the update correcting the error. All those quick little buttons for auto-accumulation, count()s, averages, summations, and so forth, are terribly easy to short circuit in an application like Excel. It promotes treating the interface like a game, similar to some other personal finance software I could mention.

For budgeting and expense tracking, it might well be argued that the first and foremost requirement is "Simple double-entry requirements are inviolable". In particular, if a transaction moves $10 from 'drugs' to 'sex', there should be no situation in which the first didn't decrease and the second increase. Using a ledger, the trial balance and profit-and-loss sheets are used to ensure that all entries are appropriately matched, so the system can be short-circuited if one doesn't use those as checks. In Excel, you may forget to insert a new row, or may insert it in the wrong place, and suddenly your accumulated expenses doesn't match your actual outflow.

# ? Aug 6, 2014 01:33

PhantomOfTheCopier: Aug 13, 2008; Pikabooze!

Suspicious Lump posted:

I can probably do a decent excel spreadsheet but I was after something with an android app (or rather logging transactions on the go). YNAB is good but it locks you into rigid system. I've been bitching about it in the YNAB thread.

Another quick glance at that thread suggests you're encountering what most new users of YNAB encounter: Reasonable expectations are not going to be met by that software because you're creating a problem for yourself. In particular, the software works wonders if you follow their procedures; anything else is wrong. My personal issues with YNAB fall entirely around their philosophy, not as much around the actual application, so the only thing I can say here is that you should search for a different solution if it's not meeting your needs, and before you get locked into something you consider substandard.

There's one major item you reveal that I think pretty much throws out YNAB as the best choice: "I get paid fortnightly". YNAB is very specifically monthly, so you're in luck if you get paid monthly or biweekly, but fortnightly paychecks have the added amusement of those thrice-paid months. If you have a defined budget for your income, you can still enter the correct category portions when you're paid (as you're already a month ahead), but it will probably not give you a good picture of your true progress since you'll be running slightly in the red most months (or in the notable black all months, depending on how you allocate your income).

For tracking your expenses occurring monthly, or to reign in superfluous spending in your "allowance", YNAB can help. That doesn't mean it needs to know about all your accounts or all your money.

# ? Aug 6, 2014 05:17

Suspicious Lump: Mar 11, 2004

What the gently caress do you do for a living? You're correct in every instance and you've even predict what I'm planning on doing; remove certain categories that are redundant in my eyes and use it to only track my expenses.

Thanks for the advice Mr Phantom, I appreciate it!

P.S Yes human will make errors and it's surprising how many errors are actually made. In my job, data entry for a in an access database repeated twice before it is submitted. Even THEN errors are still made.

# ? Aug 6, 2014 05:52

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 3, 2024 20:49

posh spaz: Jul 25, 2014

Yes, you might make errors when you enter your expenses, but that's why Jesus invented account reconciliation. I do agree, in principle, that double-entry bookkeeping is a good idea, but only for people who actually know how that works.

Does anyone have experience with Gnucash and their Android app?

posh spaz fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Aug 6, 2014

# ? Aug 6, 2014 08:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > How to Create a Budget

«‹›36 »