Financier Forums

Quote from: Alex on February 28, 2017, 06:04:23 PM
I urge you to use Financier for what it is (and not what it will become). Otherwise, I'm afraid you might be disappointed since I cannot please everyone.

This is a wise statement. Unfortunately, what Financier is today will not work for me. I need several key features, primarily scheduled transactions and a mobile app. Estimating that each of these features will take several months of development time, it is probably best if I cancel my Financier subscription, continue with my YNAB subscription, then check back in a few months to see how things are going with Financier. Good luck everyone!

Quote from: nchrtd on February 04, 2017, 02:35:48 AM

Quote from: ColinG on January 27, 2017, 08:32:58 AM
Yes Alex does a great job but I must admit it is the "one man show" thing that worries me. Is there absolutely no back-up should our worthy dev become unable to work on the software (long or short term)?

This concern is the barrier for me at the moment. I'm still using YNAB4, which works fine for now and for at least a while more, but I'd like to switch to Financier and I've paid the fee. I have no trouble with cyclic development, it's the long term that's holding me back.

Financier is very impressive already, but I'd be very interested in hearing Alex' thoughts on this

Alex has commented on this in previous posts.
https://discuss.financier.io/index.php?topic=204.msg1449#msg1449
https://discuss.financier.io/index.php?topic=61.msg1152#msg1152

This is excellent Alex! This was number 3 on my priority list after scheduled transactions and mobile. Just one modification request... Can the Account, Payee and Memo columns be a bit wider? Thank you for adding this feature.

Sounds like Alex has a busy life with a full-time job, buying a house and recent vacations. That leaves little time for the Financier part-time job. I do wish there was more transparency in what is happening with the product. It would be a nice for Alex to make an occasional forum post on the status of upcoming features.

Quote from: Paul on January 18, 2017, 07:40:05 AM
My nYNAB renewal is due in a couple of weeks so I may just cancel and trust Alex to come up with the goods in Q1 

My nYNAB renewal is also due in a couple weeks. I changed it from annual to monthly. I'll pay the $5.00 per month until Financier has scheduled transactions and a mobile app.

Quote from: asromzek on January 12, 2017, 08:12:09 AM
These Financier employee retreats are getting out of hand!

Snow skiing last month and now scuba diving this month! I like to goof-off on vacation as much as anyone, but I think we need to establish some parameters before the next vacation.

Let's try this in language that @Alex will understand.

if (scheduled_transactions_completed && mobile_app_completed) {
    vacation = "Yes";
} else {
    vacation = "No";
}

This discussion reminds me of a YNAB4 forum post from Patzer back in 2011. At the time I had accumulated large balances in my rainy day and long term savings categories so I could no longer see the need for the rule 4 buffer, but still felt that I should follow the rules and live on last month's income. Patzer's post helped me understand that I did not need to use the rule 4 buffer. I made a note of his post for future reference. Yes, 6 years later I still have it.

---

For me, the buffer is a timing convenience only. It allows me to do my major budgeting once a month, instead of twice (when I get paid) plus some tag ends when the interest posts to my accounts as various times during the month. The buffer is not really a dollar cushion, it's a temporal cushion.

I've said this before, and no doubt I'll say it again: For a budget that is dominated by categories which are spent every month, the buffer is important. It might be the only thing between the budgeter with tight cash flow and an overdraft in the event of a mistake or unforseen increase in expenses.

For a budget that is dominated by Rainy Day categories, the buffer is not terribly important. My budget is dominated by big Rainy Day categories; the stuff I spend every month, regularly, is a relatively small amount of the money I budget each month. Since I don't expect to be spending down all those Rainy Day categories at once, the buffer is truly irrelevant to me from a financial perspective. YNAB would work just as well if I gave each dollar a job as I received it, instead of routing it through Personnel to be processed at the beginning of the month. I route the dollars through Personnel before giving them jobs because it's more convenient to me, not because it's vital that they wait for the job assignment.

It grates on my nerves to see the buffer characterized as a cash cushion, because that's not its job. The whole idea of the buffer being a cash cushion implies that budgeted dollars are spent every month. That could be true in some budgets, but it shouldn't be true in most budgets. In most budgets, there should be categories that are building over time for regular or unpredictable expense outflows. Once these Rainy Day categories are built to reasonable levels, the buffer's role as a cash cushion becomes irrelevant. Its role as a user convenience (budgeting only once) remains.

Patzer

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Quote from: brianr on December 22, 2016, 10:36:10 PM
I like Financier - aka what nYNAB should have been - and want to support the development, provide feedback, and have a new budget tool to rave about to my friends.

I agree with your comment Brian. I have used YNAB since 2008. For years, Jesse and Taylor were doing great things. Jesse was on the YNAB forum engaged with users. Taylor and Rodeo Clown were developing great software and interacting with users on the forum. Then YNAB starting growing and everything changed. Several new people were hired to work on nYNAB and Jesse eventually divorced himself from the forum community. The software changed and I no longer felt like a member of the YNAB family. Then I discovered Financier and it feels like YNAB in 2008. Alex listens to suggestions from the community and great software is being developed. And equally important, I feel like a member of the Financier family.

Quote from: John on December 22, 2016, 07:55:51 AM
To follow up on my original question...how do people handle their RDFs/Savings? Do you have a single account you disperse from as needed (regardless of the reason) or do you set up specific categories?

I have two rainy day funds.
One is "Unexpected Expenses" and is on-budget. This is used for something like an expensive home repair.
The other is "Emergency Fund" and is off-budget. This is a larger fund that is only used for something like a job loss.

Quote from: John on December 20, 2016, 07:19:55 PM
It seems to me just a personal preference to which envelope you want your excess funds to sit in.

This is true.

I will typically zero out utility categories like electricity and water. The excess goes into the miscellaneous category. The miscellaneous category is then used to cover overspending in other categories. If the miscellaneous category grows too large, I will usually find something to spend it on. If I fail to find something to buy, then the money is moved to the unexpected expenses category.

I will let the remaining balance roll over to the next month in categories like groceries and restaurants. In the following month I will budget a little less in the roll over categories.

I really don't know why I roll over some categories but not others. It appears to be an odd habit that I developed.

Like you said, it's personal preference.

This problem has a status of "In Progress".

https://trello.com/c/GO0ahU4n/312-cannot-reconcile-to-0-amount

That works for me Bruce. Collapsing the new bottom master category will allow the original bottom master category to be moved to the bottom position.

I can reproduce this after the original bottom master category has been moved up in the list, it will not move back down to become the bottom master category. This was tested in Firefox 50.1.0 using Windows 10.

The workaround is to move the lower master categories up until the desired master category is at the bottom.

Quote from: Tigerlily on December 13, 2016, 10:14:07 AM
And hoping someone starts a Journals section at some point.

Welcome, there is a Journals section here https://discuss.financier.io/index.php?board=14.0

Quote from: Alex on December 13, 2016, 12:15:07 AM
Actually just went skiing at Mt Hood (timberline lodge) today! In PDX for this week on vacation. 😎

Now that's living the good life! I live between Bend and Sisters. I consider myself fortunate to have the Cascade Mountains in my backyard with all of the great outdoor activities. There should be a big dump of snow on Wednesday. We are expecting 12" in my area. Have a great time skiing this week!