Financial software for virtual sub-accounts?
September 15, 2011 1:16 PM Subscribe
Can you recommend financial software that can deal with virtual sub-accounts?
I've seen this question from a couple years ago, but I'm wondering if there is anything new in this area.
The basic idea is to be able to break down a bank account into virtual sub-accounts and track how much goes into/out of the different sub-accounts. Currently I'm doing this with a spreadsheet, and I'm getting sick of it. Is there good software that will do this? Is Gnucash still the best option? Is this something mint can do?
Other bells and whistles like automatically downloading transactions, tracking investments, an android app, etc might be nice but the sub-account tracking is a key need for me.
I've seen this question from a couple years ago, but I'm wondering if there is anything new in this area.
The basic idea is to be able to break down a bank account into virtual sub-accounts and track how much goes into/out of the different sub-accounts. Currently I'm doing this with a spreadsheet, and I'm getting sick of it. Is there good software that will do this? Is Gnucash still the best option? Is this something mint can do?
Other bells and whistles like automatically downloading transactions, tracking investments, an android app, etc might be nice but the sub-account tracking is a key need for me.
What I think you're looking for is software that does "envelope budgeting". I'm not sure which platform you're on, but on the Mac I use Moneywell and like it. Snowmint CS's Budget (for both Mac and Windows) also let's you set up a bunch of virtual accounts (or envelopes) and track the sub account balances.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 2:15 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by dyslexictraveler at 2:15 PM on September 15, 2011
I use easy money for the android, and simply have everything listed as a separate account, and use transfers between them. It's not ideal, but it works for me. Not sure if it downloads, etc, though.
posted by needlegrrl at 2:18 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by needlegrrl at 2:18 PM on September 15, 2011
Response by poster: dyslexictraveler, thanks for the platform reminder: I use Windows/Android.
posted by medusa at 2:34 PM on September 15, 2011
posted by medusa at 2:34 PM on September 15, 2011
Best answer: I don't know if there's a better option for this type of thing than GnuCash, but I use it and love it. Double-entry bookkeeping is about as old-school as it gets, but it changed the way I look at my finances. It's almost fun.
Typically, instead of breaking the bank account into sub-accounts, you have income and expense accounts. So money transfers will look like this:
3/15/2011 $2000 from "Income: Salary to "Assets: Checking"
3/16/2011 $5 from "Assets: Checking" to "Expenses: Dining"
3/17/2011 $1000 from "Liabilities: Visa" to "Expenses: Car: Service and Repair"
4/10/2011 $1000 from "Assets: Checking" to "Liabilities: Visa"
The transaction is recorded in both accounts at once, so you have a historical record and a sense of your cash flow.
posted by swift at 8:02 AM on September 16, 2011
Typically, instead of breaking the bank account into sub-accounts, you have income and expense accounts. So money transfers will look like this:
3/15/2011 $2000 from "Income: Salary to "Assets: Checking"
3/16/2011 $5 from "Assets: Checking" to "Expenses: Dining"
3/17/2011 $1000 from "Liabilities: Visa" to "Expenses: Car: Service and Repair"
4/10/2011 $1000 from "Assets: Checking" to "Liabilities: Visa"
The transaction is recorded in both accounts at once, so you have a historical record and a sense of your cash flow.
posted by swift at 8:02 AM on September 16, 2011
Response by poster: swift: thanks for the quick primer on double-entry bookkeeping. I had basically invented a retarded version of this without realizing it; learning how to do this properly is going to be great for me.
Seems like GnuCash is a good option; I also learned there is a program called Moneydance that can do double-entry bookkeeping.
posted by medusa at 8:43 PM on September 19, 2011
Seems like GnuCash is a good option; I also learned there is a program called Moneydance that can do double-entry bookkeeping.
posted by medusa at 8:43 PM on September 19, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by pyro979 at 1:36 PM on September 15, 2011