Throwing out ideas for goals, if/when they're implemented.
Basically there are three inputs the user can select (besides scheduled transactions): Budgeted amount, target category balance, and date. You can set goals with up to two of these.
- Budgeted amount only: Fixed Funding type of goal. Budget $X each month.
- Balance only: "Top up." Budget $X - current category balance.
- Date only: DOES NOT COMPUTE... Can't really do anything with this one.
- Balance and date: The program calculates the budgeted amount for you. The option to make this recurring would be a plus.
- Budget and balance: Fixed funding with cap; for example, $50/month up to $200 balance.
- Budget and date: This is where things get weird. I would like to see a "Christmas shopping" type of category calculated off of total funding, but I'm not sure how the innards of that would work. It's the only potential goal type that would have to look back at past months.
I would love to see these on an interactive setup screen--type in one or two parameters, and have Financier tell you what the budgeted amount would be. If the user enters a date first, the other fields should be bolded and a message should appear stating that more information is needed. Once two parameters are entered, the third should be greyed out and inactive.
The only other goal type I'd really like to see is Multiple Goals per category. It would probably be easiest to calculate this from the scheduled transactions. Maybe make that a checkbox option on the same screen: "Automatically calculate based on upcoming Scheduled Transactions." I would want it to look forward 12 months and figure out the minimum funding amount that would let me meet all obligations in that category.
Once the user sets up goals, the numbers would be applied using a "Quick Budget by Goals" option.
I've got one request for goals. Here's my example.
I have a category for my insurance and registration where there are multiple outlays throughout the year. Here are a list of all the outflows throughout the year:
Honda 1 Registration: $203 due in April
Renter's Insurance: $196 due in May
Dodge Registration: $164 due in May
Honda 2 Registration: $127 due in June
Honda 2 Smog: $60 due in June on odd years
AAA Membership: $91 due in June
Car Insurance: $1,963 due in June
Another twist, the amounts seem to change every year. So with that said, I have an excel spreadsheet setup that tells me what my ending category balance should be for each month in odd years and even years.
Initially, I input the amounts owed at each of these intervals, and then my excel sheet calculates for me how much to budget each month assuming nothing changes over the upcoming two years. However, since the amounts periodically change, I have to update the individual amounts, and then it tells me what the ending category balance should be for the current month and what the new monthly budget amount should be going forward. I really hope that goals will integrate this type of goal setting for me and I can delete the extra excel spreadsheet I keep for this category. I know, I could create 8 different categories instead of just 1, however, I want my reporting to tell me how much I spent on insurance and registration, not each individual registration. Further, I like to see the total amount in my "Savings" master category that includes this category, new car replacement, and vacation savings.
Right, that's the functionality I'm hoping for with the Scheduled Transactions/multiple goals per category option.
I think
@isildo covered all of the goal scenarios that I would see myself using. Multiple goals per category would be really nice. Setting a target of $600 for June 2017, and $600 for December 2017 would recommend budgeting $150 per month January - June, and $50 per month July - December. In nYNAB I designated a category for every bill so I could have a goal for each bill. Combining all of that into a single category with multiple goals would be awesome.
Might I suggest for people who budget weekly, allow goals to have a specific end date. When I plan for goals in my current YNAB 4 I divide the amount by however many weeks I have to save for it and then contribute that amount weekly.
In nYNAB the goals were always annoying to me because it expected me to think in monthly terms which I never will do.
You'd get a lot of the way to what I wish YNAB4 did with couple additions connected to scheduled transactions.
- Flag a scheduled transaction as an estimate (mostly cosmetic). If an estimated transaction goes into the register, force me to interact with the amount (maybe just have focused the control and hit enter) before the "accept" action is enabled, so I don't accidentally accept it along with a bunch of other transactions.
- Add "average scheduled outflows" in addition to (or, IMO, in place of) "scheduled outflows this month" in the quick budget controls
This value would consist of two calculations:
- Convert all scheduled outflows to a monthly rate and add up. This poses the obvious challenge that for daily/weekly periods the number of times per month isn't consistent. Convert these to daily, then multiply by 365.2425 / 12 for to change daily rate to monthly. This gives a funding rate that maintains average balance in the long run.
- Look ahead to the month containing the next occurrence of each scheduled transaction, assuming that all transactions occur as scheduled and the funding in any currently-blank month will be the value calculated in (1). If this balance would become negative at any point, divide an amount adequate to cover that shortfall by the number of months until the shortfall occurs (round up), and add that on. This will gradually (but in time) get the average balance up to where there any minimas due to month/week irregularity do not overspend the category, after which this part of the calculation is 0 ever after.
If "average scheduled outflows" is chosen for "fill all empty budget cells" (i.e. for the whole month), leave categories that have no scheduled outflows on or after the month blank. If you go with the YNAB4 convention of 0 == blank, this happens anyway because the calculation comes back 0.
- This blends over into forecasting, but it would also be very nice to have a "Forecast Scheduled" toggle button on the budget view that is basically "show the visible budget months as if they had passed".
- Use the "average scheduled outflows" calculation in place of all blank budget categories containing containing scheduled transactions
- Show the category outflows and balance as if scheduled transactions had been entered the ledger.
- Highlight cells affected by this forecasting in some way (e.g. "penciled-in" font, lighter text color, maybe a color highlight)
Now I can achieve lots of kinds of one-time or recurring goals by estimating the transaction that they'll pay for.