Questions tagged [budget]
for questions that relate but are not limited to, budget planning, budgeting practices, budgeting software.
238
questions
-6
votes
1
answer
113
views
How can I effectively track my expenses? [closed]
How can I effectively track my expenses?
15
votes
5
answers
4k
views
What professional should I seek out to get financial advice on how to make ends meet with my current budget, expenses, and retirement accounts?
What professional should I seek out to get financial advice on how to make ends meet with my current budget, expenses, and retirement accounts?
My situation is that life is hitting us hard and fast:
...
- 303
4
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Get reports on spending from Amazon?
Supposedly I can get a report on my spending on Amazon. For example, this web page describes going to Orders & Lists / Preferences / Reports, but when I go to the same place there is no option for ...
- 9,755
0
votes
0
answers
86
views
GnuCash budget report doesn't add up in multiple currencies
I spend in two currencies and, historically, I chose to create separate
accounts under each expense line for each currency. In future I will do
this differently, employing trading accounts, but what I'...
10
votes
5
answers
4k
views
In the envelope system, how often do I "clear" my envelopes?
I use digital envelope budgeting by creating subaccounts in gnucash and allocating my income between the subaccounts every month.
Some expenses are relatively constant every month. Examples are ...
- 3,201
0
votes
1
answer
112
views
In a budget do you account for expenses of last month in current month?
If I recieve june's paycheck by june 30th Ill be using that paycheck through out the month of july. In a budget then, should I add june income and july expenses in the same column?
thanks
- 63
18
votes
8
answers
6k
views
What are some possible reasons that a heating oil rep would be anticipating oil prices falling?
We are planning on prebuying heating oil this year to avoid high costs if the price rises over the winter.
We can buy now, or wait until fall. The person I spoke to over the phone said she would ...
- 1,737
5
votes
5
answers
5k
views
In a Budget is Saving Considered an Expense?
I created a personal budget with a savings section but I'm not sure if it is considered an expense. Is it an expense, and how do I account for it?
Thank you all for your great insights.
I decided its ...
- 63
0
votes
1
answer
156
views
How to keep track of my total liquid capitals
I want to buy a house, so I need to know how much money + stocks I have. I have three "savings": my bank account, a deposit account and some company stocks (I also have some RSU, but I haven'...
- 717
1
vote
1
answer
628
views
On Mint.com, can I export the "broader" category with my transactions?
Mint categorizes expenses in two ways: in a broad category (such as "Food & Dining" or "Health & Fitness") and a narrow category (such as "Groceries" or "Gym&...
0
votes
1
answer
72
views
What is an acceptable daily expenditure budget for Melbourne Australia? [closed]
this is a very generalist question and I understand will have lot of variables at play. However, I'll try my best to make it as specific as I can.
I'm after an acceptable everyday living expenses ...
- 23
0
votes
2
answers
143
views
Self imposed spening limit on a credit card account
I want to impose limit on my Amex account where I have 4 cards atm. That is let's say I want limit to be 5000 USD per month and when any card will spend 4000 USD than none of the cards should be ...
- 103
3
votes
1
answer
122
views
What expenses should I plan for when considering move to the USA from Europe?
I'm considering a move from Europe to the USA - but I somewhat struggle to compare salaries because of some big differences in living costs. So far when trying to budget life in the USA I got this:
...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
172
views
Adding an Expense subaccount in a budget in Gnucash
I am learning Gnucash to do my household finances. You can easily add subaccounts to a parent account in Gnucash, but I can't figure out how to do it in a budget.
When you create a new budget, it has ...
- 11
6
votes
3
answers
3k
views
Promotion will leave me with a spare $25k. What should I put this towards?
I'm 20, about to graduate college, and have accepted a promotion at my current job that after taxes will leave me with about $25,000 not allocated to anything.
I am already putting aside 15% of my ...
- 246
6
votes
1
answer
628
views
It's official - I've paid off my student loans. Now what?
I paid it off. (Before you congratulate me, I'd like to remind you that I imagine this must be how it feels getting released from prison.)
But now there's $1100/month that I was paying toward that ...
- 198
2
votes
2
answers
163
views
Is there a standard for the "transaction type"?
After designing and using my personal bookkeeping system for quite some time, I realized that it lacks one column: what "type" of transaction it is.
I have made it a smallint called type ...
- 37
0
votes
2
answers
174
views
How do I assign dollar value to different life activities like vacation, health so I can prioritize them [closed]
Most of us think in terms of what's profitable to use and what's not. It's easy to apply to business related expenses because you know how much money it will bring you back.
But there are other things ...
- 103
1
vote
1
answer
125
views
When budgeting how do you take into account that some income is bi-weekly yet some expenses are on a specific day of the month?
I'm tackling a problem with budgeting in that I'm unsure if I should be making a budget from my weekly/monthly/yearly expenses and income. My income is paid bi-weekly on Friday but I have rent and ...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
76
views
How do I budget with cash surplus spending in mind? [closed]
I'm setting up a budget for my small business. We have been accumulating cash, but have not been budgeting up to this point, so are trying to get everything in order.
I've created a conservative ...
- 103
22
votes
11
answers
8k
views
What is the purpose of budgeting if all I need to do is look at my bank/credit card statement?
I have read over Reddit's wiki on budgeting. I rarely pay with cash so I already have a record of transactions I made with payment cards. My pay stubs are e-mailed to me. So what's the point of ...
- 1,109
2
votes
3
answers
145
views
Optimizing Savings Allocations
I am currently trying to decide the best way to allocate my savings, and I would appreciate your input. I am trying to budget roughly based on the idea of using 50% of my post tax income for ...
- 121
-4
votes
1
answer
116
views
Why is mandatory vehicle test and vehicle lifetime a part of the union budget? [closed]
Why is the vehicle test and vehicle lifetime included here. What has the vehicle to do with the Union Budget?
https://thedailyguardian.com/union-budget-2021-voluntary-vehicle-scrapping-policy-and-its-...
- 861
-1
votes
2
answers
168
views
A doubt in definition of banks
"Banking means accepting money for the purpose of lending or investment,of deposits of money from the public,repayable on demand or otherwise,and withdraw able by cheque,draft,order or otherwise.&...
- 861
0
votes
1
answer
71
views
What is this index all about? [closed]
Why did this index touch so high when our finance minister annouce the privatisation of 2 PSBs and one insurance bank?A detailed answer to this will be most welcome. She did not name any but why would ...
- 861
1
vote
1
answer
105
views
What is the meaning of the phrase "National Asset Monetisation Pipeline"?
Tabling the Union Budget for 2021-22, Ms. Sitharaman said:
Monetising operating public infrastructure assets is a very important financing option for new infrastructure construction.
This has been ...
- 861
2
votes
1
answer
189
views
What does this mean,"Reinvigorating Human Capital"?
This was one of the six pillars of the Union Budget for the year 2021 for my country.It would be great if someone can explain me this.
- 861
1
vote
2
answers
139
views
Feedback on ways to stick to a budget
Earlier this week I made a conscious decision to only spend $50 per month on Amazon to cut back on unnecessary spending. I was thinking a way to achieve this would be to just add crap to the shopping ...
- 13
13
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How can I budget a 'conditional reimbursement'?
To start off, I don't know the correct term for this situation, which limits my research options. I have looked for 'conditional loan', 'conditional reimbursement' and such, but none of the results ...
- 233
4
votes
3
answers
506
views
Do card bonuses lead to increased discretionary spending compared to more basic cards?
Some credit cards offer bonuses on spending in particular categories, such as cashback bonuses or "free" upgrades. These credit cards tend to come with an annual fee. A consumer may ...
- 3,201
15
votes
11
answers
2k
views
How should I save for a down payment on a house while also maxing out my retirement savings? Is that not feasible at my income level?
I see questions and answers like this one that make a very good point:
Keep in mind it is easy to get a loan for a car, or for a house, or to pay for college; but very hard to get a loan for your ...
- 1,948
-4
votes
9
answers
1k
views
Can I become financially free without budgeting? [closed]
I just learned about what a budget is and how to make one, however, I simply do not see myself doing one or even like doing it.. I feel it is simply not exciting.
- 61
1
vote
1
answer
870
views
How to spend money from a Goal in Mint.com?
I have been using Mint.com to budget for a few months & am trying to figure out how to use the "Goals" feature correctly. When you finish saving for a goal, how can you tell the app/...
- 153
19
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Can I hedge my household expenses using the financial markets?
Apparently farmers can hedge against high raw material prices and low crop prices by using financial instruments such as forwards and futures. Can I use financial instruments to similarly hedge my ...
- 16.9k
9
votes
7
answers
4k
views
How much should retail investors spend on financial data subscriptions?
Retail investors can subscribe to financial data portals such as Morningstar Premium, Yahoo Finance Premium, Value Line, etc. Is there a general guideline on the maximum amount one should spend on ...
- 16.9k
0
votes
1
answer
125
views
Is $133 USD per month once critical living expenses are covered considered poverty-level living in the USA?
I have just finished programming a computer program which takes all my known, fixed incomes (sadly only one: welfare) and expenses (rent, food, medicine, basic Internet) for the last three months, ...
0
votes
4
answers
432
views
Am I missing anything from this budget?
Background: My wife and I are thinking of purchasing a new home. The cost of the home (1.8M) maxes out our cash reserves, after taking into account the extra money required for moving and then ...
1
vote
3
answers
155
views
What is a practical way of tracking expenditures?
The goal is to start tracking expenditures, create target limits for each category, and then try to keep to them. They only way progress can be made with this is if the expenditures are accurately ...
- 709
2
votes
4
answers
519
views
Monthly budget - deferred expenses from savings vs Income? How to manage?
Background:
My wife and I have put a monthly budget together using the Google Drive Budget Template. Pretty standard - Income section and Expenses section with rows allocated in each.
It makes most ...
- 21
0
votes
0
answers
44
views
Appartment Rent in a monthly budget [duplicate]
Good day;
I'm making a Monthly budget to keep track of where I spend my paychecks. I stumbled upon the rent part; would that be considered a debt? Since it's basically something that I "accept" I'll ...
- 282
1
vote
1
answer
336
views
What's the double-entry bookkeeping method for tracking a Safe-to-Spend balance and amounts saved towards goals and expenses?
The bank Simple has three great features:
Safe-to-Spend
Goals
Expenses
The Safe-to-Spend balance is pretty simple: it's just the balance in your checking account minus the total amount set aside for ...
- 160
33
votes
8
answers
10k
views
Why do personal finance apps focus on outgoings rather than income
I am looking at using a money management app, rather than just my own Excel spreadsheet, for my personal finances.
The way I've always thought about my money is "I have a fixed amount of income which ...
4
votes
4
answers
460
views
how to budget for random annual expenses in a monthly budget
I have a solid monthly budget, but I'm noticing that every few months a significant expense is needed (car tabs/registration, identity protection service, precious metals account fee, a trip to see ...
- 453
20
votes
12
answers
11k
views
How to manage expenditure when billing cycles and paycheck cycles are not aligned?
I get paid on the 15th and the last of the month and my husband will be getting paid weekly when he starts a new job after the one he has been working at for 25 years will be closing soon.
How does ...
- 335
1
vote
3
answers
253
views
Security risk of using a budgeting app connected to bank accounts
I've been tracking my budget the old way for a few years now by using Excel spreadsheets that have my checking account ledger and monthly expenses broken down to categories. But I have noticed more ...
0
votes
1
answer
120
views
Search for budgeting app / web service handling automated sync and multiple currencies [closed]
I went trough quite a few budgeting web services / phone apps with the features below and could only found one (PocketSmith), but it suddenly stopped syncing EU banks. It would be great to have any ...
- 179
20
votes
10
answers
7k
views
How to save money by shopping at a variety of grocery stores?
I am living close to a mall with several grocery stores. I would like to save money on the food I buy. I have tried using apps that show me the best prices, ads, and coupons from multiple stores, but ...
- 1,109
56
votes
20
answers
15k
views
Are there any financial disadvantages to living significantly "below your means"?
By living "below" your means I'm asking about spending significantly less than you could, rather than living "within" your means which of course is sensible if you are able to do it!
So for example:
...
- 576
3
votes
4
answers
541
views
Using credit cards to implement budgeting when you don't have income
My spouse and I are between jobs right now as we are transitioning to new career situations. Our financial situation is stable and our prospects are good, but we will be without steady income for a ...
- 3,699
3
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Strategies to earmark money for large expenses
Like most people, we have several large expenses that we only have to pay once or twice a year like homeowner's insurance, car/home repairs and improvements, and saving money for a vacation. What's a ...
- 1,746