How Does MoneyDance Do This?

[ERD50]

The proof is in your statement: "But I put it back on because I just got tired/lazy of thinking about portion size at each meal." What was it Hemingway said? "Slowly at first, then quite rapidly." I suspect it is easier for any one of us to make corrections in the "slowly" stage than in the "rapidly" one -- laziness aside.

Agreed on the first part, but on the second, whether weight or budget, I look at my account balance every month, and do a quick pencil-paper projection, or I get on the scale (or notice where my belt notch is), and I know I'm out of whack. I knew I was gaining weight and I knew why (I was eating too much). I chose not to bother, I just wasn't motivated enough to stay on my auto-pilot NOR to micro-count calories for each meal.

If I were motivated, I would need to look at corrections. Maybe counting each calorie or each purchase would have anticipated it, maybe not - I'm trying to figure if the micro-accounting is worth the effort.

I guess it's like that old parable of someone walking and looking down carefully placing one foot precisely in front of the other, versus the other guy that looked ahead at a tree for reference, and walked towards it - which one walks a straighter line, or gets to their goal first?


Again, to each their own, whatever works for you, etc. My intent was to learn how these things work for people to see if I was missing out on something, and I don't feel I am.

-ERD50

 

[mickj]

sorry I haven't read the whole thread..

Quicken has a little used feature...

You can buy it every year to get the upgrade, and then request a refund a day later if you are not 100% satisfied.

The amazing thing, I've only been 99% satisfied for my last several upgrades.

 

[Rustward]

sorry I haven't read the whole thread..

Quicken has a little used feature...

You can buy it every year to get the upgrade, and then request a refund a day later if you are not 100% satisfied.

The amazing thing, I've only been 99% satisfied for my last several upgrades.

Ummm . . . You don't really do this, do you?

 

[SVHoper]

I think this thread may answer what some retired people do all day

I used Quicken about 10 years ago and thought it kept a good record of regular company stock purchases... recently I had to revive the old file to write-off the now worthless shares, so that tracking didn't help me make a better decision. I also thought the auto IRR calcs were cool. However, now I only do year end summaries so I can cope with the IRR single cell calc (per fund/share) in a spreadsheet.

Bank of America doesn't do much well, but it has an online budgeting app that allows you to categorize expenditure of bank of America accounts (no importing for us) and make pretty graphs. I did this for 6 months a while ago and found out what I already knew: discretionary expenditure was too big. Unfortunately, this did not help me make better decisions either.

I suspect that there may be a high correlation between better trackers and better budget managers... not necessarily the converse

 

[bigla]

We have been using Quicken for years for both all of the checking accounts and our investments. Have stayed with it despite some of the annoyances. We are still using Q2006. Does anyone have a easy way to convert VG funds to Admiral. Maybe that is an option on later versions?
Thanks
Larry

 

[TromboneAl]

Does anyone have a easy way to convert VG funds to Admiral. Maybe that is an option on later versions?
Thanks
Larry

There's no special option or feature for this; it is treated like selling shares of one fund, and buying another (which is what it is, of course). That is, you download the data, and Quicken asks you for a name for the new account.

In the past I've had this work fine after the downloading, but this time I had to go in there and manually fix up the transactions.

 

[bigla]

Thanks
Larry

 

[target2019]

It is simple and easy and transparent to keep track of major cach inflow/outflows, and the balances of all your various accounts in a simple Excel spreadsheet. Once a month I log onto all the accounts to get the balances and enter them in the spreadsheet. Takes me all of 30 minutes. And I don't enter pennies or even whole dollars. For record keeping purposes I round to the nearest ten dollars.

I use a similar method for expenses and investments. I keep monthly summaries of items. I have paper companies of bills and transactions, and keep them for about 10 years (have a business). What is measured, is managed.

I think we are discussing different types of people. Some measure nothing. Some measure just enough. Some are accountant-like, needing details on everything.

I know from experience that you can miss the obvious when you are gathering data. Since we are frugal, and investigate large purchases, we won't gain much more by knowing a loaf of bread was purchased 6 times this year. We are probably 90% of the way there, just by our inclinations. For instance, we turn off the light when we leave a room. It could be that the last 10% of savings is driven by an-internet capable quicken with smart phone notifications and blue-tooth reminders when you sit down in the car.

To each, their own.

 

[easysurfer]

In some circumstances, I find it easier to go with the detail. Such as with my checkbook. I balance it to the penny because in my mind, that is easier than to decide each time..do I round up, or round down?

Maybe it's just how my mind works. Like the speedometer of a car. Do you prefer a dial indicating your speed or a digital number? A matter of preference.