kyrie_eleison
New member
Ok /r/personalfinance, rather than complaining about all of the terrible solutions for PF software out there (see below), I'd like to offer my best take on an Excel template to reddit for your pleasure & amusement. ...Both personal and professional reasons, I think we need to keep banging away at this kind of thing. Also, I feel strongly that this needs to be in the public domain.
So, what to do? How about the following procedure:
First -- Use an Account Aggregator such as Mint/Yodlee/Quicken/PowerWallet, etc. should be used to track all of your stuff & auto-categorize most of it. ...You really don't need to get absolutely everything, but try for at least 80-90% of monthly spending to start with (a good amount will repeat).
Second -- Input Category Totals to Spreadsheet (maybe once / month), e.g. Excel or Google spreadsheet for analysis, planning & forecasting. ...Now, as long as you keep the categories under control, and label any oddballs to a "Miscellaneous" or something, you should be able to hand-enter the category totals from Mint.com etc. very quickly. ...You should be able to get by with only entering 6 or 8 or 10 numbers this way, once per month.
Third -- Once in the speadsheet template, then you can do some actual planning
...Here are perhaps some good parameters. What do you think of them, or can they be improved upon?
(A.) Need data summarized by MONTH.
(B.) Maybe optimal to have 1-2 yrs of historical data to start with, and perhaps 3-5 yrs of current + projected future. ...In a decent Excel sheet, we can use the "Data - Group" option to collapse any blank time periods.
(C.) How about a total of either 4 sections or 4 sheets/tabs: Income Stmt's, Balance Sheets, a Dashboard for Ratio Analysis, and maybe a Cash Flow or Reconciliation tab for checking that things match up.
If you're all with me so far, here's a link to the Excel template, which has been adapted from one at SCORE. The I/S & B/S tabs are pretty much done, and some notes are on the other two tabs for now.
Finally, there are a couple of other templates on the sidebar, and there are any parts/pieces/ideas that can be combined, let's try 'em out! Thanks.
Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3wwsnylUOH3OGR4ZFlOdl84M1E/edit?usp=sharing (Sample Data Included)
Problems/Issues with Available Approaches for Personal Budgeting:
As we all know, the available software & systems out there are mostly deficient. For example:
(1.) Quicken -- Generally reviled by most due to bugs, incessant updates, faulty math, & issues with privacy, etc.
(2.) "Professional" Financial Planning software -- Typically only does yearly planning, maybe with a focus on retirement and/or insurance. Also, way too cumbersome to be useful to almost any of us. ...Also note that the kingpin of the field, MoneyGuidePro has announced Yodlee integration to happen this year: ...you can assume that this will not be a low-cost option for clients...
(3.) Android/iPhone App's -- Most require hand-entry of all transactions, ala YNAB (You Need a Budget), etc. etc. ...There is a certain value to the entry process, but most will quickly tire of that.
(4.) YNAB -- Well, this may be the best available current solution, but it's also not free and doesn't auto-sync your transactions.
(5.) Banks/CU's/Fidelity online app's for budgeting/tracking -- These are rapidly improving, but generally either only (a.) follow transactions for the specific bank, or (b.) have other barriers to be more broadly useful.
(6.) Online Account Aggregators (Mint.com / PowerWallet.com / Yodlee.com, etc.) -- These are great, but may only be a part of the solution. ...I'm going to argue that one should be used to total & track your transactions, but just tracking is not the whole game.
So, what to do? How about the following procedure:
First -- Use an Account Aggregator such as Mint/Yodlee/Quicken/PowerWallet, etc. should be used to track all of your stuff & auto-categorize most of it. ...You really don't need to get absolutely everything, but try for at least 80-90% of monthly spending to start with (a good amount will repeat).
Second -- Input Category Totals to Spreadsheet (maybe once / month), e.g. Excel or Google spreadsheet for analysis, planning & forecasting. ...Now, as long as you keep the categories under control, and label any oddballs to a "Miscellaneous" or something, you should be able to hand-enter the category totals from Mint.com etc. very quickly. ...You should be able to get by with only entering 6 or 8 or 10 numbers this way, once per month.
Third -- Once in the speadsheet template, then you can do some actual planning
...Here are perhaps some good parameters. What do you think of them, or can they be improved upon?(A.) Need data summarized by MONTH.
(B.) Maybe optimal to have 1-2 yrs of historical data to start with, and perhaps 3-5 yrs of current + projected future. ...In a decent Excel sheet, we can use the "Data - Group" option to collapse any blank time periods.
(C.) How about a total of either 4 sections or 4 sheets/tabs: Income Stmt's, Balance Sheets, a Dashboard for Ratio Analysis, and maybe a Cash Flow or Reconciliation tab for checking that things match up.
If you're all with me so far, here's a link to the Excel template, which has been adapted from one at SCORE. The I/S & B/S tabs are pretty much done, and some notes are on the other two tabs for now.
Finally, there are a couple of other templates on the sidebar, and there are any parts/pieces/ideas that can be combined, let's try 'em out! Thanks.
Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3wwsnylUOH3OGR4ZFlOdl84M1E/edit?usp=sharing (Sample Data Included)
Problems/Issues with Available Approaches for Personal Budgeting:
As we all know, the available software & systems out there are mostly deficient. For example:
(1.) Quicken -- Generally reviled by most due to bugs, incessant updates, faulty math, & issues with privacy, etc.
(2.) "Professional" Financial Planning software -- Typically only does yearly planning, maybe with a focus on retirement and/or insurance. Also, way too cumbersome to be useful to almost any of us. ...Also note that the kingpin of the field, MoneyGuidePro has announced Yodlee integration to happen this year: ...you can assume that this will not be a low-cost option for clients...
(3.) Android/iPhone App's -- Most require hand-entry of all transactions, ala YNAB (You Need a Budget), etc. etc. ...There is a certain value to the entry process, but most will quickly tire of that.
(4.) YNAB -- Well, this may be the best available current solution, but it's also not free and doesn't auto-sync your transactions.
(5.) Banks/CU's/Fidelity online app's for budgeting/tracking -- These are rapidly improving, but generally either only (a.) follow transactions for the specific bank, or (b.) have other barriers to be more broadly useful.
(6.) Online Account Aggregators (Mint.com / PowerWallet.com / Yodlee.com, etc.) -- These are great, but may only be a part of the solution. ...I'm going to argue that one should be used to total & track your transactions, but just tracking is not the whole game.