4

I recently made an IRA contribution for this year. I use Mint for financial tracking and it seems strange that it counts the $5K contribution as a simple expense, despite it also being able to see my investment account receiving a complementary increase.

Financially speaking is it still an expense so I should just leave it like that? The big negative red bar in the monthly net income graph then sticks out :P Or: am I subtly misusing Mint; can I tweak something to make it show up better?

Improve this question
5
  • 3
    It is not very good at matching transactions between accounts, I have this problem too....
    – littleadv
    Dec 27, 2012 at 5:12
  • 1
    Thirded. Mint is not savvy at understanding some of my retirement accounts.
    – MrChrister
    Dec 27, 2012 at 8:00
  • A retirement account deposit should be balance sheet neutral. First it was in savings or checking, then, it's in the IRA. Moving money literally from one account to another doesn't affect your bottom line that moment.
    – JTP - Apologise to Monica ♦
    Dec 27, 2012 at 23:11
  • Mint is not very good at a LOT of things.
    – JohnFx ♦
    Dec 28, 2012 at 3:09
  • I have the same issue. When making a contribution from my checking to my Roth, I end up with two transactions, not a simple transfer. Also, my budget I set up does not pick up the contribution. Very frustrating. I have tried to override the transaction in the deposit in my Roth my adding a new category for transfer, but it won't stick.
    – user12982
    Feb 7, 2014 at 19:20

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

This is just a case of Mint not categorizing correctly. You can simply recategorize the line items as "Transfer" in order for them to be considered neutral.

Improve this answer
2
  • Works somewhat, but then you can't budget for IRA contributions. :/ Oh well.
    – Nick T
    Dec 28, 2012 at 23:36
  • 3
    Use the goals to budget for savings. You can setup a goal linked to your ira account and can see it just like any other budget item.
    – Kellenjb
    Dec 29, 2012 at 4:02

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.