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Managing Money

thatoneguy82

thatoneguy82

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 23, 2008
1,895
2
Beach Cities, CA
Okay, so I just received a nice state refund and will be receiving a great federal refund in a couple of days. Anyway, I decided to "organize" and be more smart with my money now. Before/now I used it like it was nothing but piece of plastic that. I never went into debt, credit, loans, etc. I make a great amount of money and it's spread through my accounts. I have accounts in 3 different banks and several accounts in each of them. In total, I have about 10 accounts that contain my money.

So, basically what I'm asking is that is there a more simpler way to organize, such as I would use one bank/debit card for certain purchase with a set amount and another with the same. Right now, I'm using MoneyWell (2.0) since it was advertised well(haha) on MacApp Store and the iPhone App link was free. And, it's not really as easy or simple as I thought it would be. The information that it would automatically pull out from the account and put in the app doesn't match when you look online, even if you look at the set time window. Also, there are certain options that I have no idea what they do. So, right now I pretty much just have a rough preview and semi-organization of my money. Is there a better/easier app?

Thanks!
 
*waves* I'm just down the road from Redondo...

Anyways, I manage everything in an excel sheet that I have customized myself, so I can't help there, but something in your post did catch my attention.

I would suggest taking the time to analyze your withholdings for the year so that you have more money on a check to check basis to manage rather than getting refunds at the end of the year. Opinions can sometimes be split on this, of course, but it is worth thinking about.
 
abijnk said:
Anyways, I manage everything in an excel sheet that I have customized myself
Click to expand...

Me too. :cool:

abijnk said:
rather than getting refunds at the end of the year.
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Yes.

Within the laws of withholding, keep the money in an interesting bearing account before you have to send it down the pipe.

Sure, using withholding as some sort of Christmas Club is nice, but it costs you money in the long run.
 
abijnk said:
Anyways, I manage everything in an excel sheet that I have customized myself, so I can't help there...
Click to expand...

Me, three. :)
I've been using basically the same spreadsheet since my first job out of college almost 20 years ago.


abijnk said:
I would suggest taking the time to analyze your withholdings for the year so that you have more money on a check to check basis to manage rather than getting refunds at the end of the year.
Click to expand...

This. if you can be trusted to put money away and save it, don't let the government(s) be your savings account - you'll get more interest (and have access/control over the money) elsewhere.
 
abijnk said:
Anyways, I manage everything in an excel sheet that I have customized myself, so I can't help there, but something in your post did catch my attention.
Click to expand...

That's what I do. Except, mine is very simple (I don't have money :p) - One page is dedicated to income, with different columns for ...how that income was received (Cash, check, EFT, etc), and a date/description column.

Another sheet is dedicated to expenses. Date, description,and different columns for if it was charged on a card, or cash or check, etc.

Then at the bottoms, there are totals.

I'm thinking of putting in current information (Such as current balance in wallet, current balance in stash, current balance in bank account).
 
rdowns said:
Where you been, dude? You'd be lucky to find a CD that pays more than 1%.
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It's all a matter of principle. :p LOL

fireshot91 said:
That's what I do. Except, mine is very simple (I don't have money :p) - One page is dedicated to income, with different columns for ...how that income was received (Cash, check, EFT, etc), and a date/description column.

Another sheet is dedicated to expenses. Date, description,and different columns for if it was charged on a card, or cash or check, etc.

Then at the bottoms, there are totals.

I'm thinking of putting in current information (Such as current balance in wallet, current balance in stash, current balance in bank account).
Click to expand...

I used to use Quicken in that fashion, but the cash-on-hand got to be too much like drudgery.

I also have one neoOffice file, with a sheet for each asset and each liability. These are each linked to a sheet for asset totals only, and liability totals only. I link those two to a trial-balance master sheet, to show my net worth at any time. Except for my 'float', as stated above. ;)
 
dukebound85 said:
I am still hesitant about giving a third party my bank login credentials
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As well you should be. Mint has been deceptive about this in the past, so I haven't looked at them since. IIRC, Mint actually used a 4th party to store the login/password combinations. So, yeah, they could say "Mint never stores your information" all day long, but they sure didn't tell you where it was going either. Pretty sure that 4th party got hacked at some point too.

The current generation is far too sharing with information.
 
I use mint.com to track all of my accounts. I thought about doing the spreadsheet method, but I am far too undisciplined to keep track of every exchange manually. I can't even remember to put my hours at work into my invoice software, so I just make up hours, sometimes weeks later. Keeping up with every financial exchange...no way.

Since mint is linked to all of my accounts (checking and savings, one credit card, one retirement account, one annuity, two managed funds, and three stocks), every cent deposited and withdrawn is automatically tracked. I could not imagine trying to track all of that manually. Of course, when I withdraw cash and use that cash, those expenses are not tracked. But those are minimal enough that it doesn't matter to me. The amount withdrawn is removed from my account. If I really wanted to, I could manually enter those in mint.

On the last day of each month, I take the value form each account and plug it into a numbers spreadsheet. This just gives me a monthly history of total net worth, with graphs and stuff. I also keep track of my bills monthly in a spreadsheet, just to see how they are averaging.

No, for the one above saying tracking the amount in the wallet on a spreadsheet...I say :eek:
 
smithrh said:
As well you should be. Mint has been deceptive about this in the past, so I haven't looked at them since. IIRC, Mint actually used a 4th party to store the login/password combinations. So, yeah, they could say "Mint never stores your information" all day long, but they sure didn't tell you where it was going either. Pretty sure that 4th party got hacked at some point too.

The current generation is far too sharing with information.
Click to expand...

Mint was recommended based on the tax software the IRS recommended. Same makers, I think.
 
I've found I can save more money by using cash for most of my purchases and giving myself an allowance each week. It's a lot easier to spend money by just swiping a bank card. With cash you have to actually see your money decrease and want to make sure you have money left over at the end of the week so you curb your spending.

The costs for extravagances must come from my saving cash alone (electronics, vacations &c). So I have a strong incentive to spend my money wisely and have as much money left over in my wallet at the end of the week. By doing this I have found I am saving money at nearly double the rate I was by managing everything electronically. As my money has an actual physical presence not just a number on a receipt or computer screen.

I still save up money in my bank accounts as they only handle larger stable expenses now (groceries, bills, &c). The real big costs are the little things. $5 here or $10 there really build up fast. When grocery shopping I stick to the list, buy bulk (non perishables), and buy the best price per ounce when brand does not matter. I also make most of my meals which made me a far better cook and saves a fortune.

Whenever practical I buy used or refurbished. This is great for items that have a long useful life but quickly drop in value when a year or two old. Then you can own top of the line appliances and tools for a fraction of the price. This works best for specialty items that people buy because it is neat but then never use. Such as a Kitchenaid stand mixer, Kirby vacuum, Foodsaver vacuum packer.
 
This might be a really stupid question with obvious answer, but why would anyone need 10 different bank accounts? I have one checking, one savings, and a PayPal account. I can maybe see opening one more for business and another strictly for retirement savings, and maybe another for a kids college education but the latter two can still be lumped into a regular savings account.
 
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