Financier Forums

I signed up for the Amazon card yesterday.  I already had a Prime membership, so this looks like a nice way to defer a portion of the sales tax on purchases. Plus the $70.00 credit is no bad thing.

When I withdraw cash from the bank, the withdrawal transaction gets categorized appropriately - I usually know why I'm getting cash.  I don't bother tracking cash received unless it's a large amount (greater than $50.00). And if it is a large amount, I usually deposit it in the bank - I don't carry a lot of cash as a rule.

Florida has no state income tax, but I don't know about inheritance taxes.  I think I will plan to hire an estate-law attorney when this comes to pass.

I was more worried about the feds - never want to get on the bad side of the Infernal Revenue Service.

My father in law recently told us that he's leaving my wife 20% of his estate (the other 80% going to his current wife - my wife's step-mother).  My father-in-law says that this 20% is currently worth about $300,000.00 and may well be more, depending on how long he lives.

My wife intends to take the money and set it up in trust for her niece. Yes, the psycho brat niece.  I think this is a TERRIBLE idea, but it will be my wife's money and she can do what she wants with it.

My understanding is that when my wife gets the inheritance, it will count as income for us for that tax year and we will have to pay taxes on it the following spring.  Is this correct? If so, is there some relatively simple formula for how much the tax hit will be?  Is there any way to minimize it?

Six-pack of Darjeeling loose tea
New work shirts
"Failure is not an Option" - Gene Krantz

I'm really looking forward to import of OFX files. That's the only thing I need to make the switch permanently.

One problem I've found with file import in YNAB - and I mention it here so you can be aware.  Let's say I transfer $50.00 from checking to savings.  When I import both accounts, the transfer appears twice in both registers.  It doesn't get recognized as a match.  YNAB's response was "delete the duplicate transaction."  My stance is that the software should be smart enough to see the possible duplicate and ask about it.

My wife and I voted last week (the first day the local polls were open).

This is the most vitriolic election I can remember.  I won't be sorry when everything shakes out.

Ace Money - This was far and away my favorite for a long time. If it were still being actively developed, I'd still be using it.  It truly was an awesome program.

Microsoft Money -  I had the pay-for version for several years and I still have the free version installed.  It's fatal flaw, to my aging eyes, is the inability to customize the UI to make it easier to use - I can barely read it any more.  It also is a spending tracker, not a budget.

Quicken 2016 - Quicken's biggest advantage for me is that it does one-click transaction import from all my financial institutions.  This makes it easy to keep track of account balances. I don't like the nagging to buy more features and updates, and I really don't like the "budgeting" function.

Mint - This one's nice for one-stop overview of one's financial picture, but it's a lousy budgeting tool.  I still use it to track my off-budget account balances.

Budget - An implementation of the envelope method of budgeting.  Had lots of potential, but the developer isn't interested in fixing bugs.  It hasn't been updated since 2012.

YNAB4 -  Love this program for budgeting, but it's being sunset as of December this year.  I suspect the Dropbox function will cease to work next year some time.

nYNAB - No. Just no.

I've poked around on ancestry.com too, but I find their rates usurious and refuse to pay them.  Instead, I do web-searches on family names and dates and have got pretty good at finding things.  Last week, for instance, I found my dad's senior high-school yearbook online.  Got a picture of him from when he was 18, and got to read an essay he wrote that year.

Flash and sparkle.  No substance.

How about simply adding a third "category" of "Custom Date"  where the user can simply input a date.  Keep current month and next month, obviously.  That would be useful for people who are budgeting more than 2 months out, and would dovetail nicely with the multi-month view, IMHO.

I've been recommending it on /r/personal finance and handing out the link to various and sundry coworkers.

Financial acronyms that aren't specifically related to budgeting.  These are probably not the best definitions, so feel free to clean them up.

APR - Annual Percentage Rate:  The interest rate on loans and credit cards. 
FICO score - Credit rating. The score ranges from 300 (abysmal) to 850 (splendiferous!).  A higher score generally means you can get better terms when seeking credit.
PMI - Primary Mortgage Insurance:  Usurious monthly fee charged by lenders to screw borrowers out of more money.  Ahem.  An insurance policy that pays the lender if the borrower defaults.
YMMV - Your mileage may vary.  Extremely true with financial advice as everyone's circumstances are different.
IANAE - "I am not an expert" - disclaimer when offering advice.

Suggestion:  Explain the "red arrow to the right" - or note that it's explained in another tutorial.

I would like a check number field that I can show/hide on demand.

When my checks clear my bank, they show up as Check 304 for the payee.  I go to my bank online, pull up the check image, and pull the actual payee information.  But I'd like the check number available so I can easily find the transaction again if I get into a dispute with someone that I've written a check to.

I write 3 or 4 checks a month.  Lately I've been writing more because I've had some work done on the house, and I've paid the contractor with checks.

It is NOT a high priority, but it's something I would like.