[Obelix]

in reply to: Import format (QIF/OFX)? #3631

Would the import be automatic from the bank or would we need to get a QIF/OFX file to import?  My bank allows Quicken and MSMoney to connect and update automatically, but doesn’t allow me to download anything but CSV.  If we have to provide the file ourselves, I would have to include CSV as an option.

[Obelix]

in reply to: Marking actual vs planned (consolidation) #3576

that sounds like a good way to handle it.  Kind of elegant in forcing a check for unpaid rather than paid. lets people who don’t use the check/indicator ignore the whole issue.  Would you allow a user setting that automatically checked all entries as unpaid when they were entered?  That would allow those who wanted to use it to generate entries that would be auto marked as unpaid instead of having to manually do it.  Or the alternative is to only mark those that are older than today’s date.  Of course then you would have to have an extra setting that declared a transaction had specifically occurred so that old accounts would’t get remarked as unpaid the next time a reevaluation of entries was run to detect entries older than today.

As to the duplicate entry amounts,  I actually had that exact thing happen to me the day after I posted that.  I had bought 2 different items from 2 different thrift stores.  both marked at $25+tax.  One check came through before the thanksgiving holiday.  the other didn’t.  I had to look at the check images to see which one cleared so I could adjust the calendarbudget entries to match.

Anyways, thanks for all your hard work.

[Obelix]

in reply to: Holidays/ Bank Holiday Marking #3593

OK, what if you avoided general holidays, but included/allowed national/regional bank holidays?  I think somewhere else you mentioned possibly watching for entrys falling on weekends and sliding them to a day when the bank is open when setting up reoccurring bills/income.  A national bank holiday should behave just the same.  You could allow the user to apply the auto slide(and then choose forward or backward depending on the specifics of the entry) or ignore the issue of weekends/holidays as part of the entry setup.  You could still rely on country “packs” for different countries/areas.  These could easily be provided by the users, or gathered from online sources.  The first “pack” would be “Weekends”.  Of course that assumes that all banks everywhere follow the weekday schedule for processing transactions.  I assume thats true, but I don’t know for sure.

[Obelix]

in reply to: New Reports #3606

That sounds like a neat idea.  i would go for the line chart with expenses line and income line so you could easily see where they intersected.  It seems like it should be easy to just have 1 chart that showed an entire year(or more?) projected.  Projection for a month is easily seen on the calendar itself.  Projections for shorter than a year will look the same as for a year and just leave empty space on the plot.

Also would be interesting to consider allowing more than one account on a chart.  If, for example, you had a money market account that is used for tucking savings into as an emergency fund, by setting up a repeating entry to move money to that account, you could look at it’s projected growth along with your regular cashflow lines.  Have to think about that one.  It might cause more grief (for Eric)than it’s worth, but it could be handy for some people.  Anyone else think multi-account plots might be useful?

Over all, the chart is a good idea I think.

[Obelix]

in reply to: Marking actual vs planned (consolidation) #3574

Hmm I like your plan.  I submit to you that having a little checked icon or mark on the entry can be used alongside your plan and let a user know that they are in good standing up to that point.  That check can also be used by a user that hand reconciles their account.  You are correct that right click isn’t used much, but it’s being used more(google maps for example).  You could put the user activation of the check on entry edit screen(along with a note about the right click) and as a right click option.  its a one/two time learning experience that I think users will pick up on quickly.  Plus from then on, you open up a whole new menu area for your use.

Oh, one little fly in the ointment.  What if you have users who have constant amounts being taken out from multiple places?  like writing allowance checks to your teenage kids as an example.  if one of 3 checks for $50 clear CB(calendarbudget) may not know which one it was.  I admit tho that this type of occurance will be rare, but anytime you have multiple bank entries that match you could mistakenly clear the wrong one.  Perhaps you need to check for that when you parse the bank statement and alert the user.  you could even go so far as to present them with a popup displaying the bank entry info in question and the multiple matching entries from the calendar and let them decipher and select the correct entry to reconcile.  There’s a few extreme cases you’d have to test out for, but it could be done

[Obelix]

in reply to: Mouse Wheel #3583

OK, how about this.  Only keep that summary updated to the current month.  it’s only speculation into the future anyways.  When it really matters is THIS month.  maybe you could  also put the month name beside the Categories label at the top.  Perhaps users could scroll/move around and the current calcs are for whatever month the user specifically focused on last.  Defaulting to the current month.  Changing to the dominant month in the displayed calendar.  whichever month had more days/weeks shown could claim the Categories list. alternately, leave it on the current month unless they browsed into the past.  Alternate 2, if they picked the month from the dropdown it would focus the Categories as it focused the calendar.  Ooh, here’s a better idea, put a dropdown box next to the Categories header to select the focus.  You could include all months/years (“Dec ’07” style) back to their first entry and I guess forward to their last.  If you allowed autochanging by some method as they moved the calendar, it would need to auto update itself.  of course if you always wanted the calendar and the Categories to be aligned, then you could just print the Month/year next to categories and use the dropdown you already have to select month (and I guess year unless you added a year spinner as well).

[Obelix]

in reply to: Future Feature List #3543

I’d like to suggest an adaptation on one of the options to work on.  You have listed to work on tracking and paying off the debt with the biggest interest %.  I would also suggest having an option to alternately pay off the smallest debt first.  By doing that it frees up a chunk of cash that can be put towards the next biggest debt and then so on.  Its not the best way in a strictly financial sense, but it allows the person to actually SEE progress (Well, Honey, thats one credit card paid off).  Its more about building momentum and excitement as the person sees the accounts cleared.  Its called the Debt Snowball.  I got this idea from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University study. 

Just my two cents.

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