Monthly budget

[npaden]

Fidelity has an app that links to my bank account that is Wells Fargo and links with my credit card which is Chase and uploads all the transactions and makes an attempt at categorizing them for me. If it gets them wrong I can setup a rule for future transactions that are similar. Does this for income and expenses. It is free. It keeps everything updated daily if you get it linked up. It also links to my Merrill Lynch 401k plan. For some accounts that don't link you have to manually update them. For some reason one thing I can't get it to link to is my wife's ROTH IRA that is in Fidelity also. It isn't joint so they can't seem to understand that I would like to link it to our overall financial.

 

[TOGIE]

Mint?

okay, i'm not loving mint so far.

unless i'm not understanding how to use it yet.

I want the app to give me line item totals by month

January:
Food and Dining - x dollars to date
Groceries - x dollars to date

it's just showing me total spent and transactions and account totals. they're categorized, but it looks like i'd stil lhave to sum categories by myself on a calculator or spreadsheet.

 

[AvidIndoorsman]

okay, i'm not loving mint so far.

unless i'm not understanding how to use it yet.

I want the app to give me line item totals by month

January:
Food and Dining - x dollars to date
Groceries - x dollars to date

it's just showing me total spent and transactions and account totals. they're categorized, but it looks like i'd stil lhave to sum categories by myself on a calculator or spreadsheet.

The web version is way more powerful than the phone app. The phone app is great for monitoring activity across all your account, the web version is where you can actual see the totals by category.

 

[TOGIE]

The web version is way more powerful than the phone app. The phone app is great for monitoring activity across all your account, the web version is where you can actual see the totals by category.

hella

 

[TOGIE]

The web version is way more powerful than the phone app. The phone app is great for monitoring activity across all your account, the web version is where you can actual see the totals by category.

wait do i have to set budgets for each line item for it to tally it? that's what it seems like?

where can i find said summed monthly line items?

 

[NEWHunter]

I tried a budget for a few months after I got out of school but that fell by the wayside relatively quickly. I’ve always been a saver and lived well below my means. My wife saves too, but not as much as I do. She balances me out some, as I could probably be classified as a miser if left up to my own devices - I’ve been using the same rifle and shotgun for over 25 years. The planner in me still runs numbers to make sure we are good on big purchases like cars and houses.

One of things I do to help with the saving is prepare an annual PFS/balance sheet in lieu of a budget. This allows me to track our progress towards THE GOAL - retirement by the time I’m 60. It also helps my wife, who’d like to spend more, see the progress we are making. When I can show her our net worth went up over $100K YOY she sees the payoff of the financial/wants sacrifices we are making. That $1,000 she wanted to spend on a new couch a couple of years ago is still there, only now it’s $1,400 (yes, I know that couch will now cost me $1,250).

There’s another tab on the spreadsheet that projects retirement balances by age given different rates of return and income streams. The spreadsheets help me track progress towards that retirement goal, having the house paid off by 55, and 80 acres of hunting land by 45.

And credit cards are great tools. If you can exercise the restraint, use them!

 

[TOGIE]

The web version is way more powerful than the phone app. The phone app is great for monitoring activity across all your account, the web version is where you can actual see the totals by category.

wait do i have to set budgets for each line item for it to tally it? that's what it seems like?

where can i find said summed monthly line items?

nvm i found it. trends by category.

i'm an impatient MF

if what i want is not immediately obvious to me i'm walking out the door. stuck that one out though. phew.

 

[44hunter45]

We've done Dave Ramsey, and Larry Burkett before that. Along the way we had to learn the difference between debt and investment. I busted my butt to pay off a 2 1/4% 15 year mortgage and now wish I had invested all those extra house payments. I may have hit the magic retirement number years ago. But you know the saying, "If momma ain't happy.... "
This thread is about budgeting and I don't want to hijack it with the, " Pay off the house" rabbit hole.

Budget analysis is personal analysis. It is marriage analysis. I doubt I have to quote this to any DR or Burkett fan. -- "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." - Matthew 6:21 -- Even for the completely un-religeous, it takes some intestinal fortitude sometimes to look hard at the pie chart and see which slices are the biggest. No matter where you are on the "roadmap", it pays to check the pie chart often. After 35 years together, about the only friction MRS and I have left is our money priorities. We have to schedule a regular level set on this to keep paddling the same direction.

I use credit cards because I cannot be trusted with green money. I've tried all kinds of tracking tools, and still never know what hole it went down. It is so easy to keep the cards paid off and they track themselves. The Alaska Airline miles from it pay for one or more trips a year.

I agree with whoever said tedious journaling methods are destined to fail. I run spreadsheets all day for work. I could build the most wonderful XLS to track every penny. But it would feel like work.

Ironic that this thread popped the day I was doing a cost analysis of my 2021 Alaska trip. I was expecting a Christmas windfall that did not come. Now I have to charge up the 2023 Alaska war chest with sweat and thrift. This means rolling up my sleeves. I will plan the funding like I plan my backcountry calorie counts. No new Sitka or other gear. I'm sticking with the time tested stuff. The new BHA Weatherby in 6.5 WBY RPM will go in the back of the safe. The cost of scoping it, acquiring ammo components and working up loads might be the difference in having a fall trip or not. No new fly rods and gear. Last year's will be good enough. I have everything I need to get my M70 7mmRM Hammer load workups done. Thank God.

The real lesson is to spend less money acquiring and more money doing.

What an analysis of my spending shows is that I can spend a ton of money $40 at a time. I could sell my reloading hoard and pay for a couple of trips. But what if TSHTF? I'm looking at the pile of stuff I've put together for rifles I was going to build, but haven't, and I SMDH.

Stay tuned on that.

When I quit spending almost $3K a year on snuff, I was sure that would finance my adventures and keep me alive long enough to enjoy them. Healthier and happier, YES! Quit virtually all coffee in 2022, but I never was a $3 a cup guy anyway. But if you don't know where your saved money is going, it will end up somewhere else.

 

[TOGIE]

dave ramseys only correct thing about mortgages is the 20% down IMO

half the reason i believe he tells peopel to do 20% down on a 15 year is to get them to think twice about if they can afford home ownership.

but i'm not gonna pay extra into my 30 year mortgage. i'd rather that money end up in roths and the brokerage acccount invested in VOO for the next 20-30+ years.

and you can pay off a 30 year in 15 and have the lower interest to boot if 15 is what you wanted

 

[2rocky]

I have to admit budgeting and sticking to it is NOT one of my strengths. I enrolled in Dave Ramsey last year and downloaded Every dollar but I did not apply it in a consistent manner. I did not use it effectively.

This year I got hit with increased expenses without adequate reserve $ . Hay went up, Insurance went up , Inflation kicked my ass.
I'm really hoping to get my $hit together financially.

I need to put together a household budget with my live in GF. She just got a new job and has levelled up financially, I need to determine what her contribution to the household expenses should be...

 

[44hunter45]

dave ramseys only correct thing about mortgages is the 20% down IMO

half the reason i believe he tells peopel to do 20% down on a 15 year is to get them to think twice about if they can afford home ownership.

but i'm not gonna pay extra into my 30 year mortgage. i'd rather that money end up in roths and the brokerage acccount invested in VOO for the next 20-30+ years.

and you can pay off a 30 year in 15 and have the lower interest to boot if 15 is what you wanted

I hinted at it in my post, but my wife and I did not agree on this. Some smart guy on here said once that peace is better than justice. (or being right. sometimes. )
If you are married, you both have to work together on money. I learned the hard way that brings a LOT of peace.

Once you are living within your means as a couple, the equitable use of discretionary funds still needs to be worked out. Regretfully, MRS45 does not want a walleye boat.

 

[TOGIE]

I hinted at it in my post, but my wife and I did not agree on this. Some smart guy on here said once that peace is better than justice. (or being right. sometimes. )
If you are married, you both have to work together on money. I learned the hard way that brings a LOT of peace.

Once you are living within your means as a couple, the equitable use of discretionary funds still needs to be worked out. Regretfully, MRS45 does not want a walleye boat.

absolutely. i think when it comes to having 500 dollars to throw at an investment account each month or the principle on your home either one is sound, smart, and wise.

but dave ramsey sure does act like the only thing on earth that could matter for ones success in this life is that you pay down your principle.

though i appreciate dave ramsey because he's not giving wealth advice. he's helping the masses not be complete dumbasses and live financially sound lives. and most of the masses would not be able to handle putting 500 dollars in the stock market each month without royally effing up i'm sure.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Dave Ramsey when he was younger..

Instagram

www.instagram.com

 

[SAJ-99]

I tried a budget for a few months after I got out of school but that fell by the wayside relatively quickly. I’ve always been a saver and lived well below my means. My wife saves too, but not as much as I do. She balances me out some, as I could probably be classified as a miser if left up to my own devices - I’ve been using the same rifle and shotgun for over 25 years. The planner in me still runs numbers to make sure we are good on big purchases like cars and houses.

One of things I do to help with the saving is prepare an annual PFS/balance sheet in lieu of a budget. This allows me to track our progress towards THE GOAL - retirement by the time I’m 60. It also helps my wife, who’d like to spend more, see the progress we are making. When I can show her our net worth went up over $100K YOY she sees the payoff of the financial/wants sacrifices we are making. That $1,000 she wanted to spend on a new couch a couple of years ago is still there, only now it’s $1,400 (yes, I know that couch will now cost me $1,250).

There’s another tab on the spreadsheet that projects retirement balances by age given different rates of return and income streams. The spreadsheets help me track progress towards that retirement goal, having the house paid off by 55, and 80 acres of hunting land by 45.

And credit cards are great tools. If you can exercise the restraint, use them!

Do you have kids? Nothing blows up a plan like kids.

 

[TOGIE]

Do you have kids? Nothing blows up a plan like kids.

after finalizing this years preliminary budget two days ago i'm considering yanking, yet again, my plan to do wyo general elk all because of the new baby.

no time like the present though. hunt while you can. burn those points. I know, i know.

but also, i can do multiple elk hunts in colorado for literally probably 1/6 the total cost.

what would Hunt Talk do?

 

[WildWill]

Dave Ramsey when he was younger..

Instagram

www.instagram.com

Ok I love Dave Ramsey but that right there's funny. "My wife's boyfriend got her pregnant I'm here to speak at a church event I'm a member of the church of scientology". Man say what you want but that guy tells you everything you need to know about him in the first 5 seconds.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

after finalizing this years preliminary budget two days ago i'm considering yanking, yet again, my plan to do wyo general elk all because of the new baby.

no time like the present though. hunt while you can. burn those points. I know, i know.

but also, i can do multiple elk hunts in colorado for literally probably 1/6 the total cost.

what would Hunt Talk do?

I think it depends a lot on what you want out of it. Some things are relatively replaceable or easily replicated, some are not.

 

[Nick87]

Dave Ramsey when he was younger..

Instagram

www.instagram.com

That got better and better

 

[WildWill]

after finalizing this years preliminary budget two days ago i'm considering yanking, yet again, my plan to do wyo general elk all because of the new baby.

no time like the present though. hunt while you can. burn those points. I know, i know.

but also, i can do multiple elk hunts in colorado for literally probably 1/6 the total cost.

what would Hunt Talk do?

Go to Wyoming and just explain college degrees are over rated when they hit 18. Seriously go as soon as possible the tag is cheaper now than it will be in the future and your points will never be as valuable as now if the quota cut happens it'll seriously devalue your points. Might be one of those instances where by trying to save money your actually costing yourself more in the long run.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

after finalizing this years preliminary budget two days ago i'm considering yanking, yet again, my plan to do wyo general elk all because of the new baby.

no time like the present though. hunt while you can. burn those points. I know, i know.

but also, i can do multiple elk hunts in colorado for literally probably 1/6 the total cost.

what would Hunt Talk do?

Stick with original plan. The answer to your cost equation isn't going to improve anytime soon. And the time and cost commitment of a child will only increase as the years go on.