Personal finance software - replacing MS Money 2002

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#1481024 29-Jan-2016 08:11

Since I'm just dipping my toes in I signed up for pocketsmith free, tried a manual import of an account and it was 'successful' in importing the only the account number and literally no other data even though I exported a months worth of transactions and it acknowledged a few dozen transactions existed bit they never appeared. I'll need a bit more time to see where I went wrong.

freitasm

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#1481066 29-Jan-2016 09:42

Another point for PocketSmith: Two Factor Authentication.

And I updated my password then I realised my eWallet file had the beta.pocketsmith.com URL... So yes, used it before but not since the original beta. It took some time to categorise the transactions but now I have a dilemma: I transfer my income to my credit card so I have it in credit all the time. Using it to pay for things so I get the rewards points. By default PocketSmith put as "Credit Card Payment" but it's really a Transfer.

I have created a rule to make it a Transfer but wondered if this would skew the budgeting.

Thoughts anyone?

hangon

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#1481080 29-Jan-2016 10:07

freitasm:

Another point for PocketSmith: Two Factor Authentication.

And I updated my password then I realised my eWallet file had the beta.pocketsmith.com URL... So yes, used it before but not since the original beta. It took some time to categorise the transactions but now I have a dilemma: I transfer my income to my credit card so I have it in credit all the time. Using it to pay for things so I get the rewards points. By default PocketSmith put as "Credit Card Payment" but it's really a Transfer.

I have created a rule to make it a Transfer but wondered if this would skew the budgeting.

Thoughts anyone?

look at this another way, why would you have your credit card in credit all the time (then you are not using any credit of your bank and opportunity cost on your own credit not paying off other debt or earn interest), instead of setting up automatic payment to pay it in full at due date?

freitasm

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#1481082 29-Jan-2016 10:12

Yes, could obviously just use it and make a full payment, using the money on account for something else. Perhaps using PocketSmith might give me some insight on how to use this in a better way. Let's see.

hangon

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#1481088 29-Jan-2016 10:25

Then again one needs to be disciplined and make sure have enough balance in cheque account to pay off the balance of credit card...

To each their own, I'll try a few things out but I found MS Money is still good for me.

gcorgnet

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#1481103 29-Jan-2016 10:49

Just setting up PocketSmith now and really like it. Hooked up to live feed to ANZ for 2 normal accounts and 1 mortgage account.

It does seem to get confused with transfers, especially around the payment of the mortgage.

There is a payment of say $2000 every month from my CHQ account to my Mortgage account. This is technically a Transfer as I officially still own the money.
Then, every month at the same time, there is a draw of say $1500 to pay for Interests, leaving the mortgage account moving slowly towards the 0 over time.

How would you categorize this? If I make the 2k a transfer (ie invisible in Income & Expense) and the $1500 a "Mortgage Interest" category, then it doesn't account that I still need to budget for $2k to come out of my account every month...

If I categorise the $2000 as "Mortgage" and the $1500 as "Mortgage interest", then as far as the spending report goes, I have spent $3500 which is wrong.

How would you do this? Any thoughts?

freitasm

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#1481105 29-Jan-2016 10:52

Good question... I'd like to know too.

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mentalinc

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#1481195 29-Jan-2016 13:06

Seems like a flaw in their system that it can't handle a mortgage payment...

Bug report?

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PocketSmith

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#1481327 29-Jan-2016 16:06

Hey all! Glad to see a good discussion here, and thanks for the kind words!

For those of you who need help, please drop us a line at help@pocketsmith.com, or use the 'Help > Contact Support' menu item, and we'll get right back to you. This opens a support ticket with us, and allows us to track our correspondence with you as a team.

@mentalinc We completely agree with you that provisioning an online banking ID for read-only access is the way to go. Some banks in the US already do this, but it's our understanding that some core banking systems can't be adapted to do this.

@batwing Please drop us a line and we'll give you a hand! In the meantime, please try uploading an OFX or QIF file to see if it makes a difference. CSVs are notorious for poor formatting and encoding issues, which could be the reason for the import issue.

@freitasm Your account's locale is determined by the IP address you sign up with. Happy to set your account to NZ for you, just let us know :-)

From what you've written, categorising the movements to your credit card account as a transfer won't skew your budgets, but we're happy to discuss the specifics with you over email.

We agree with @hangon. Your bank may give you the option to 'Pay your bill' which settles an outstanding (but not total) amount. The remainder is interest-free until the next billing period, which gives you the opportunity to keep that money in an interest-bearing account.

@gcorgnet Glad to hear you're enjoying the experience so far! We would categorise your situation in the first manner described:

- Make a $2000 transfer, e.g. "Mortgage payment"
- Make a $1500 expense, "Mortgage interest"

The $2k is still a budget (albeit a transfer one) which means that it is still accounted for and will appear in your CHQ account. The *actuals* categorised to transfers are ignored in your income and expense totals (as the money has just moved), but the budgets will still show a $2k expense from your CHQ account and a $2k income into your Mortgage account. This means that when you view each account's forecast independently, the relevant mortgage payments will show. They just cancel each other out in the cashflow when you have a combined view of your accounts.

We've also received your support ticket and will send you this response there too. Please hit us up if you need any further clarification!

Cheers guys, and have a great weekend.

ANglEAUT

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#1481492 29-Jan-2016 20:55

PocketSmith:

Hey all! Glad to see a good discussion here, ...

Hi.

I see that you are currently busy with a beta for iOS app. Any plans for a Windows phone app?
30 years projection? Wow. Can I go back in history and see how the projection changed because of my usage?
Any Kiwisaver integration / component

I'm nearly convinced.

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PocketSmith

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#1481699 30-Jan-2016 11:55

@IcI Our Android and iOS apps are built on NativeScript, which allows us to deploy on multiple platforms off a single codebase. They've skipped support for Windows Phone 8/8.1, but have an open issue for Windows 10: https://github.com/NativeScript/NativeScript/issues/254.

We have our fingers crossed! In the meantime, please cast your vote for Windows Phone at our feedback forum here: http://psmth.to/o0.

PocketSmith has rolling forecasts, which updates your projections based on your current bank balances. You can also set up 'what-if' scenarios and see a historical comparison of your actuals vs forecast performance; all of which are useful tools for decision-making.

We support some investment accounts in NZ and are working on support for Kiwisaver feeds with our data provider, but this could take a while as they respond to the level of demand. In the meantime, you can track your investments manually as assets on the Net Worth page. This will sit alongside other non-bank-feed assets and liabilities like property, vehicles and loans. You can learn more about Net Worth on our knowledgebase, here: http://psmth.to/0D.

If you'd like to get creative, come use our API! Check it out at https://developers.pocketsmith.com. We'll be adding the ability to update balances of Net Worth assets remotely, so if you're geeky and want to script something that scrapes and updates your assets and liabilities, it'll be possible soon.

mentalinc

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#1481745 30-Jan-2016 13:41

PocketSmith: working on support for Kiwisaver feeds with our data provider

Does this mean that there is another third party between pocketsmith and the banks which are being provided with login credentials?

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ANglEAUT

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#1481862 30-Jan-2016 16:19

PocketSmith: @IcI Our Android and iOS apps ...

Thank you for the response.

One more question please.

Do you allow customisation of the categories that spending can be classified as?

TIA

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

BuzzLightyear

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Ultimate Geek

#1481866 30-Jan-2016 16:40

freitasm:

Another point for PocketSmith: Two Factor Authentication.

And I updated my password then I realised my eWallet file had the beta.pocketsmith.com URL... So yes, used it before but not since the original beta. It took some time to categorise the transactions but now I have a dilemma: I transfer my income to my credit card so I have it in credit all the time. Using it to pay for things so I get the rewards points. By default PocketSmith put as "Credit Card Payment" but it's really a Transfer.

I have created a rule to make it a Transfer but wondered if this would skew the budgeting.

Thoughts anyone?

It should be fine. If marked as a transfer it will not show in your reporting (there is an option under category setup where you can specify this).

PocketSmith

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#1481937 30-Jan-2016 20:14

@IcI Yes indeed, you can customise your own categories or choose from an available template. You can also label your transactions for additional identification, and create saved searches to quickly pull up reports based on your criteria. Please check out our knowledge base at https://psmth.to/kb if you're interested in learning more about PocketSmith's features.

@mentalinc Yes, we use Yodlee, who are also Xero’s provider for non-partner bank feeds. Your login details are passed securely to Yodlee and not stored by PocketSmith. We have an article that explains more about our Bank Feed Service, and Yodlee, at https://psmth.to/feed-sec

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