for questions that relate but are not limited to, budget planning, budgeting practices, budgeting software.
1
vote
1answer
44 views
How to account for income from the previous year in an annual budget?
I'm trying to do the books for a small not-for-profit organisation. In particular, I'm trying to make a budget for this year (Jan-Dec 2013), using GnuCash. However, a large part of the funding for ...
4
votes
3answers
96 views
Should I lease, buy new, or buy used?
I'm looking for an answer based on quality(they don't make 'em like they used to), price(are new cars even worth the $), and/or reliability/low maintenance (where leasing is attractive) which option ...
1
vote
2answers
55 views
Show liability payments with expenses?
In GnuCash Liabilities are separate from expenses, which makes sense. However, this makes it difficult to get a useful budget report or expenditure report since it does not include my largest outgo, ...
0
votes
0answers
34 views
What are my options for mobile+cloud+web finance applications that handle budgeting, investments, and transactions?
This is primarily relevant to the United States.
I've tried:
USAA
Fidelity (FullView 3rd party tool)
Mint.com
Yodlee MoneyCenter
The problem with ALL of these is that I can't import transactions ...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
Mortgage-based budget spreadsheets?
Got my first pre-approval on a mortgage loan, for an amount much larger than I thought I would.
At first glance, it looks like more than my conservative mind would think is reasonable to spend on a ...
2
votes
3answers
83 views
Is there any “Personal” Finance app that allows 2 administrators?
I'm an advocate of marriage meaning together in everything.
Sometimes even work. But i've had some trouble finding a "Personal" finance app that would allow me to make shared budgeting and allow ...
4
votes
1answer
113 views
Personal finance management: precise or approximately?
I've started my personal finance management a couple of weeks ago and I'm having a problem with monetary adjustments. I have three possible solutions (two precise and one approximately):
take in ...
10
votes
3answers
330 views
Am I financially ready to move out with my boyfriend?
Background Information:
I am 24 years old
Graduated from University 2 years ago
Currently working full time at a bank in downtown for the past 1 year
Living at home with my parents
My parents ...
2
votes
2answers
78 views
Organizing finances and assigning a number to each record type
I hope someone can help re-word my question... but I'm looking for a numeric or alphanumeric system to help me categorize income and expenses by type. I'm not interested in a system that separates ...
4
votes
3answers
197 views
What are the primary expenses I should account for in my budget upon college graduation, apart from this list?
I'm 22 and about to graduate from college in Chicago, Illinois with a bachelor's degree in a few months, and I'm creating a detailed budget based on my anticipated expenses. After significantly ...
3
votes
1answer
219 views
Personal Budget for Young Adult
I've read a bunch of posts about how to create a portfolio, investments when starting out on your career. I know that a lot (almost everyone) goes through the same kind of things that I'm going ...
1
vote
2answers
122 views
Budget planning for students
I hope this question is a good fit for the site.
So, I have just been accepted at a university (UK) and being 18 I don't have much experience planning budgets and certainly not for anything longer ...
4
votes
2answers
301 views
How much should I spend on my expenses such as housing, groceries, entertainment, ect?
This is more of a hypothetical question I have been curious about. I am looking for a general answer for the average person not a specific answer tailored to my exact situation. So I will not be ...
9
votes
6answers
259 views
Are my monthly commited expenses out of whack?
Okay, my wife and I struggle with our finances and we are trying to get them in order.
My net pay is approx $1300 every two weeks (my wife does not work)
That is after health insurance premiums
...
3
votes
2answers
152 views
When using a zero-based budget, how do I account for money already in my bank account?
We are transitioning to a zero-based budget. My question is, how do we account for the money we currently have in our bank account? We haven't been a super-strict budget and I think this "pad money" ...
6
votes
3answers
304 views
Are savings counted as part of expenses in a personal budget?
When I budget for me, I usually count savings part of the expenses.
Is it the correct way to do it? Because of this, when I look at my budget at the end of the month, it feels like my expenses are a ...
8
votes
2answers
193 views
Should I do my budgeting in dollars?
I'm from India and earn in Indian Rupees. Should I do the math on my finances in USD?
The reason I ask this question is because INR lost value recently - quite a bit. So, for example, would it be ...
4
votes
2answers
258 views
Should I keep online bill-pay confirmation numbers?
I pay some bills/credit cards via website or over-the-phone payment systems. These systems give you a confirmation number/reference number.
Is there a point to recording these confirmation numbers?
...
12
votes
4answers
537 views
Can someone help me understand my student loans?
I have more loans than these but I am wondering how to handle these three (all with the same bank):
3%, last payment ~$36, current balance $6153, original amount $5500, payoff balance $6170
2.5%, ...
1
vote
1answer
146 views
Governments Debt/GDP and Budget (deficit/surplus), how to read the figures to decide what bonds to buy?
After searching for hours on Google I found these two great tables (theya are also sortable):
list of Government Debt to GDP ratio
list of Government budget (I took hours to find this because I ...
0
votes
1answer
157 views
Is a budget comprised of expenses, and/or revenue?
From the book website for Economics Principles in Action by O'sullivan::
States have two budgets: an operating budget and a capital budget.
But from Wikipedia:
A budget is generally a list ...
1
vote
2answers
148 views
What software do you recommend for Creating a To-The-Penny, To-The-Day Budget?
Most personal budgeting advice seems to be close but not exact.
Budgeting tends to be monthly. Transactions are often bi-weekly, every 30 days, every three months. If paid bi-weekly, some months ...
12
votes
1answer
403 views
Multi-user, non-US personal finance and budget software
Hija,
I realize that there are any number of these questions on here. I didn't manage to find one that related to my specific situation, however.
First, I am outside mint.com territory.
Second, I ...
4
votes
4answers
192 views
Repaying Debt and Saving - Difficult Situation
I apologize ahead of time if this is too simple a matter for this Stack Exchange. My mother has been in a sticky financial situation for a while now, and I was hoping to get a little bit of help, and ...
2
votes
1answer
80 views
Open budgets in open data
I heard about the idea of open data which aim is to provide various data from governments.
Will data about the government budget (money gained mostly from taxpayers), finances, spendings be available ...
1
vote
3answers
350 views
How to budget or gain control of daily spending if suffering from OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder)?
I want to get better at saving money as I am a spendthrift. I am not always able to control myself since I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I am not able to spend money wisely since ...
1
vote
3answers
81 views
give free budgeting advice
Recently some of my friends (separately) asked if I could give them any specific advice or hints for managing their budget by looking at their earning and spending. Should I only dispense the standard ...
13
votes
7answers
502 views
Pay off credit card debt or earn employer 401k match?
Should a person with high credit card debt pay it off before contributing to a 401k with matching?
11
votes
7answers
239 views
How can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner?
I've helped a few people in my family get their finances in order, just with very basic tips and with money-saving tips I've gleaned from personal experience. I think I've made a significant ...
9
votes
6answers
1k views
Should I have separate savings accounts for various savings goals?
I have read through some personal budgeting articles and saving tips. Most articles and books mention saving money for emergency funds, large purchases, etc.
Should emergency funds and saving funds ...
3
votes
2answers
111 views
Ask for credit decrease
My wife and I are having problems budgeting with our credit cards. We are trying to use our debit card, but while we can focus for a short period we have problems getting the discipline to keep the ...
7
votes
9answers
445 views
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions?
I recently got a credit card which is linked to an airline, and has a flyer points program for every dollar spent on the card in each billing period.
Wanting to make the most of this, I started using ...
3
votes
2answers
210 views
I am moving to a new city. How do I plan and prepare - financially - for the move?
I am planning to move to either Maryland, near D.C., or Boston at the end of the school year for work. I have salary quotes for both jobs already, so I can plan around a specific income number and how ...
3
votes
3answers
115 views
Logistics of managing the daily budget
My wife and I have historically struggled with managing our budget. Not because our money priorities are out of whack, or we have too much debt, etc. Rather it's just a time issue.
One person has ...
11
votes
6answers
2k views
Should I pay off my 50K of student loans as quickly as possible, or steadily? Why?
I was an idiot in college. I basically just used student loans and got very few grants. I also spent way too much time in there. I now have two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree. About 7 ...
10
votes
9answers
495 views
Does it make sense to buy a house in my situation?
I've been in a pretty crappy financial situation. I've described my situation in detail in the past and I am greatful for all the great advice I have received here.
Since asking that question 8 ...
6
votes
2answers
299 views
What's the difference between 'cleared' and 'reconciled' in my financial accounting software?
Been using GNUCash for the past four years, and I'm slowly learning the more advanced features over time. Until now I've never needed to bother with future dated transactions, but recent large ...
4
votes
4answers
118 views
How much to spend on housing if I don't have transportation expenses?
I was looking at some estimates for housing costs that said that rent should be 25% of your spendable income and total housing cost about 33%. Mine are much higher at 32% and 40% respectively.
I was ...
7
votes
5answers
153 views
Hidden costs I should be aware of when booking cruises?
we're about to book our first cruise.
One of the reasons we want to do it, is essentially it's a cheap way to go on a nice, relaxing holiday.
Doing my research, I know that generally, things such as ...
21
votes
7answers
694 views
How to help a financially self destructive person?
My ex-wife is a mess, financially speaking. After the divorce, her house that she won in the divorce was foreclosed on, filed for bankruptcy, owes money to pretty much everyone that tried to help her ...
0
votes
3answers
356 views
Where do I find free personal budget forecast tools?
This is not the same as Personal budget forecast/tracking solution. I want FREE tools. Ideally, I would like to send a CSV file and have it analyze and forecast the data for me, with options for ...
3
votes
1answer
85 views
How do I manage a savings account for various (non-monthly) lump sum costs?
I already have a savings account with my bank, and save regularly on a monthly basis as part of a budget. However, I often find myself saving for particular items, say a future trip, or next year's ...
2
votes
1answer
94 views
How to properly use a personal income/expense sheet for budgeting (or more)?
I am just beginning to set up a personal income/expense sheet on a daily basis. After a month, I have a bunch of raw data in it.
Due to lack of experience, I am not sure how to use this record. Do ...
9
votes
2answers
576 views
Personal budget forecast/tracking solution
I am using mint.com for tracking my money, and it works quite well, with one exception: mint.com is mostly backward-looking, i.e. it captures only stuff that already happened. So I am looking for a ...
4
votes
3answers
97 views
What kinds of expenses should I have separately in family budget?
What kinds of expenses should I have separately in family budget? Like food, medications, transport, clothes, housing, kids, personal expenses, sports, flat maintenance, loans, rent. There are simply ...
3
votes
4answers
98 views
How to plan in a budget for those less frequent but mid-range expensive buys?
Like bicycle or new laptop or something like that. Not very expensive but quite expensive in comparison with day-to-day goods.
2
votes
5answers
220 views
Best low-overhead ways to keep budget (factoring in my personal constraints)
All,
I'm am about to re-enter real life after 7 years as a Ph.D. student, and I want to manage my money better this time. My understanding is that controlling your expenses using a budget is the ...
3
votes
4answers
90 views
Multi-Account Budgeting Tools/Accounts/Services
Every time I get paid, I take some of the money and allocate it for certain uses. I track this in a spreadsheet. This works fine, but it's not what I want in the end. Basically, I think what I want is ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Mint.com: How to set up savings line items in budget: As expense, income, or neither?
This question is really more specific to Mint.com since I do all of my personal account management there. In the Budgets tab, I always have the unaccounted transactions at the bottom of the page where ...
7
votes
5answers
113 views
How do I budget for heating & cooling?
I'm revisiting my budget and the amount I have slated for electricity was off by roughly 30 dollars or 50 percent. I live in an all electric apartment, no gas or fireplace. Here in Kansas we get cold ...
