Recommend a software tool for personal expense budgeting and investment tracking

[albireo13]

I want analyze my expenses, not create a budget. I have several budget spreadsheets I've made.
I've just downloaded the entire years 2018 transactions from our checking account. This is where the money flows through. It's a big xml file. I want to go through it, assign categories and see where all the money went.

 

[target2019]

I want analyze my expenses, not create a budget. I have several budget spreadsheets I've made.
I've just downloaded the entire years 2018 transactions from our checking account. This is where the money flows through. It's a big xml file. I want to go through it, assign categories and see where all the money went.

We do similar, in Excel. The data download is in Excel (CSV) format. XML is another format, and any spreadsheet program can use the data. You'll need to add your category somewhere in the downloaded table. Then you can filter/analyze as much as you wish.

 

[pb4uski]

Hi,
I am new at excel and would love to see an example of your expense spreadsheets. Any good examples out there?
I've put together a basic budget but, now want to analyze our spending over 2018. I just downloaded the data from our bank, BoA.

FWIW, these are the categories that I use:

		Monthly					Annual
		Required	Essential	Optional	Total		Required	Essential	Optional	Total
Housing	Mortgage
Housing	Home Insurance
Housing	Property Taxes
Housing	Propane
Housing	Firewood
Housing	Electricity
Housing	Snowplowing
Housing	Maintenance and repairs
Household	Food and groceries
Household	Gardening
Household	Spending money
Household	Clothing
Household	Gifts
Household	Donations
Transportation	Maintenance and repairs
Transportation	License fees
Transportation	Gasoline
Transportation	Car insurance
Transportation	Boat insurance
Transportation	Jet-ski insurance
Transportation	Snowmobile insurance
Personal and Health Care	Doctors
Personal and Health Care	Dentists
Personal and Health Care	Prescription Drugs
Communications	Telephone
Communications	Mobile Phone
Communications	Television
Communications	Internet
Personal Insurance	Long Term Care Insurance
Personal Insurance	Health Insurance
Personal Insurance	Health Insurance Subsidy
Personal Insurance	Dental Insurance
Personal Insurance	Umbrella Insurance
Recreation and entertainment	Travel
Recreation and entertainment	Sewing
Recreation and entertainment	Skiing
Recreation and entertainment	Snowmobiling
Recreation and entertainment	Golfing
Recreation and entertainment	Hockey
Recreation and entertainment	Movies
Recreation and entertainment	Dining Out
Miscellaneous	Miscellaneous
Total		-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-
Total excluding mortgage		-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-

 

[albireo13]

Yes, the download is a CSV file. I sucked it into Excel and converted it into XMLS actually.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

Thanks for the two spreadsheet templates tmm99.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

We do similar, in Excel. The data download is in Excel (CSV) format. XML is another format, and any spreadsheet program can use the data. You'll need to add your category somewhere in the downloaded table. Then you can filter/analyze as much as you wish.

I do this today on an annual basis today. Thanks for sharing your approach.

 

[WhenIsItTime]

FWIW, these are the categories that I use:

Monthly

Annual

Required

Essential

Optional

Total

Required

Essential

Recreation and entertainment

Travel

Recreation and entertainment

Sewing

Recreation and entertainment

Skiing

Recreation and entertainment

Snowmobiling

Recreation and entertainment

Golfing

Recreation and entertainment

Hockey

Recreation and entertainment

Movies

Recreation and entertainment

Dining Out

I really like these categories!!