Transforming Fidelity Full View data into a Budget?

[qwerty3656]

I've been reviewing transactions in Fidelity Full View to make sure they've been allocated to the proper budget category (I capture my main credit card expenses and my main online bill pay expenses). So now I have all this good data and want to put together a budget. The budget side of Full View seems a little lacking and the expense side is missing some key data, so I think I'm going to have to download this into some other software.

Any suggestions on what software to use?

[Ole Red 29]

I use an excel spreadsheet. I download the previous months data from my fidelity credit card, one other credit card and bank on the first of each month. Each site, including Fidelity will give you a download in excel format. I then combine all the data into one spreadsheet. Code each line item with one of my budget codes, then move it into my main annual spreadsheet. I have a bunch of graphs and tables that help me better analyze the data. It allows me to track all expenses and not have to share any passwords with 3rd party software.

[qwerty3656]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ole Red 29 I use an excel spreadsheet. I download the previous months data from my fidelity credit card, one other credit card and bank on the first of each month. Each site, including Fidelity will give you a download in excel format. I then combine all the data into one spreadsheet. Code each line item with one of my budget codes, then move it into my main annual spreadsheet. I have a bunch of graphs and tables that help me better analyze the data. It allows me to track all expenses and not have to share any passwords with 3rd party software.

I know the power/value of excel, but for me anyway, it would be a pretty manual process. Especially if I wanted graphs and tables (I'm guessing you have a bunch of look-up formulas, etc?). I'm concerned that if its not somewhat automated, I won't stick to it.

[mrfeh]

I use mint instead of Fido, but the process should be the same...I monitor transactions daily, making sure they are categorized properly. At the end of the year I import them into a spreadsheet, sorted by category.

Been doing this for 5 or 6 years and have a very solid grasp on how we spend money.

[ncbill]

Mint does pretty well for me in classifying transactions into the proper categories.

[chassis]

Excel. The effort and time to build it in Excel is a valuable education in itself. You become more intimate with the data and become a better financial steward in the process.