gryphonent's dashboard

gryphonent replied on August 12, 2009 15:30 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.6" in Hardcoded Software:

Cool... glad to see you back at work!

gryphonent replied on June 01, 2009 19:53 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.6" in Hardcoded Software:

Understood. However, in terms of reconciliation: all these budgets would show in the list, right? Making the whole list somewhat cluttered. I suggest another color/background for budget items... maybe dark blue or red? Or a separate section for budget items, i.e. all projected expenses within the next four weeks on top? Or maybe a filter to not show budget items?

gryphonent replied on June 01, 2009 11:23 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.6" in Hardcoded Software:

Point taken. Let’s continue that example. I buy the software for $24.95 via PayPal and the budget target is the VISA account. In my ledger the budget will show as a transaction in the Visa account, right? You mention above that budget items show in the accounts and transactions. What happens once the month ends? Can I set weekly, monthly, and yearly budgets? What happens to my monthly budget of $20 for software that has the Visa account as a target once I make a purchase via PayPal? I just feel that reconciliation will be very confusing. However, I’m open for surprises...:)

gryphonent replied on June 01, 2009 10:02 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.6" in Hardcoded Software:

Virgil,

Just a quick note. I’m getting back on your other question hopefully later today. Not sure why you want to design the budgeting feature in the way outlined above. Budgeting should be different from scheduled transaction, i.e. keeping a lid on your expenses regardless how, when, and where they occur. Setting a target on one account or even linking the budget to various accounts won’t do it. Surely, you have found yourself in a situation where you make unplanned and spontaneous purchases. In this case moneyWell should clearly show that I’ve gone over budget in this month if my setting for, say, software is $20 and I’ve just spent $24.95 on dupeGuru ME. However, those $20 should not be shown or considered as planned. Unless I don’t understand something in your description above I believe you’re on the wrong path. Budgets must be set in the expenses accounts. The way you describe it above might look very confusing in the end.

gryphonent shared an idea in Hardcoded Software on May 28, 2009 14:24:

Money Well Bucket Budgeting

I've just purchased the recent MUpromo bundle and checked out MoneyWell. It's a tad too simple for my use and I prefer moneyGuru's ledger way of entering transactions (call me old-fashioned). However, I like Money Well's budgeting feature and the idea of assigning "buckets." In moneyGuru I have to link a budget to an account, which does not make sense if I'm paying for, say, groceries with different credit cards. Money Well instead assigns a budget to the expenses ledger and then tracks how much expenses are allowed before the budget is exhausted, regardless of how I pay for my groceries.

gryphonent asked a question in Hardcoded Software on May 18, 2009 19:30:

Show only reconciled items in date range view?

Is it possible in moneyGuru 1.5 (latest release) to show only reconciled items within a given date range? It seems to me that unreconciled items are included, which makes for a somewhat distorted picture.

gryphonent replied on April 17, 2009 10:33 to the question "Improvement to Running Year View" in Hardcoded Software:

A flag/button sounds fine with me. Would be more convenient as I hate to access the dropdown menu.

gryphonent marked one of Virgil Dupras' replies in Hardcoded Software as useful. Virgil Dupras replied to the question "Improvement to Running Year View".

gryphonent replied on April 16, 2009 10:48 to the idea "Derivative Asset Accounts?" in Hardcoded Software:

Well, the problem is that all airlines/hotels et al have different values. So, in essence I'm only looking for a way to track the status. The realized value can then be calculated when I redeem points, i.e. I decrease the frequent flyer account and then add the value of the ticket both as income and expense to the travel expenses account from which the ticket is booked. That way I realize the full value of each airline/hotel program and moneyGuru does not have to process complex calculations. Let's face it, some of those reward programs are rubbish and we never reach the point where we can redeem something. However, the nature of derivatives is that their value is only realized upon selling the underlying asset. I'd really be looking at a neutral currency with value 0 to reflect those reward programs.

gryphonent shared an idea in Hardcoded Software on April 15, 2009 20:03:

Derivative Asset Accounts?

Virgil,

This might be somewhat out of the scope of moneyGuru, but I find myself always in a position where I’m tracking derivative values/assets such as frequent flyer accounts or hotel programs. No kiddin’, but when you travel a lot those points do add up and provide value that can be used for tickets, upgrades, or shopping. My question is, whether a form of currency could be added to moneyGuru that has effectively “zero” value, allowing me to use moneyGuru for reconciling those derivative assets. At present it seems I cannot “create” my own currency value for account but have to select an existing one from the list.

An alternative, which I’m using at the moment, is to create an account that has a low exchange value to my home currency. Just thought to chip in with this idea to expand the scope of moneyGuru slightly.

A comment on the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.5" in Hardcoded Software:

May I also ask for Delta $ to be renamed into Delta ∑... I am not using the US Dollar as main currency. – gryphonent, on April 13, 2009 16:25

gryphonent replied on March 29, 2009 14:39 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.5" in Hardcoded Software:

Virgil,

An idea I proposed earlier, but it seems to have gone lost: Credit Limits. It would be great to have that figure, if any, shown in each account next to the title of the account. Potentially, also a highlighted line (blue, orange) that shows when the limit is exceeded. Or some other warning.

gryphonent asked a question in Hardcoded Software on March 13, 2009 15:43:

Improvement to Running Year View

Would it be possible to have the running year project in the chart below future income/expenses for up to three months... but show in the table/ledger itself the status of each account as of now, i.e. the red line in the chart? At the moment the net worth and all ledgers show in the overview the status as it is projected into the future. This is tremendously irritating when quickly looking at an account and its balance.

gryphonent replied on March 02, 2009 00:02 to the question "moneyGuru 1.4 feedback" in Hardcoded Software:

Thanks Virgil. Glad that my comments help to improve moneyGuru. Keep up the good work.
I take your point re. colum sorting... however, at least to me it is something that just seems natural as soon as I see a column and table data. Whether it is a database or spreadsheet. Users just have come to expect that functionality.

gryphonent asked a question in Hardcoded Software on March 01, 2009 12:47:

moneyGuru 1.4 feedback

Virgil,

Thanks for version 1.4! Great work! Two questions though:

a) when I delete an account, does moneyGuru ask me if I want to assign all transactions to another account? I.e. if I have transactions associated to an expenses account and want to merge it with another expenses account, can I do this? Liquid Ledger offers this functionality and I'm not sure how moneyGuru does handle these situations;

b) will we eventually see a sorting by open/unreconciled transactions? Or sorting by date/name/payee et al in the account view? I'm truly missing this feature and always find myself clicking in the date column, expecting it to be sorted in ascending or descending order (and remembering my preference when I close the window/application).

gryphonent replied on February 14, 2009 16:46 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.4" in Hardcoded Software:

I think the font for the labels is too large. Love the new icon.

Virgil, just wanted to remind yo about adding in version 1.4 the function for remembering which ledger/account is hidden between startups...:)

gryphonent replied on January 25, 2009 12:31 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.4" in Hardcoded Software:

Great Virgil. Thanks so much for your great support. Sorry to hear about your laptop... I hope you've got AppleCare. I never go without on a laptop.

gryphonent replied on January 24, 2009 10:49 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.4" in Hardcoded Software:

Virgil,

I have some accounts that I keep tracking and that I don't want to have necessarily in my net worth view. One of them are my state pension funds (I have worked across the world and have more than one to track), which I paid into but don't have access before retirement. The other type are accounts that reflect 'loans' to a friend whom I don't expect to repay those (but still want to keep a track of). Not sure if this are common use cases, but I think moneyGuru should remember the setting of each account when quitting the app. You could have a small note in the menubar or graph stating 'X accounts shown, Y accounts excluded.'

gryphonent replied on January 24, 2009 01:24 to the update "Upcoming: moneyGuru 1.4" in Hardcoded Software:

Virgil,

I'm running the latest beta built 1.4 and it seems that the app does not remember accounts that I have selected to be excluded from the net worth calculation (by clicking on the table icon next to the account). Once I save all these "deselected accounts" are selected again. Am I missing something?

gryphonent replied on January 08, 2009 14:44 to the idea "Ideas on how to improve moneyGuru" in Hardcoded Software:

Ideally the transaction date should be reflected when the transaction is entered and the statement date in a separate column when the transaction is reconciled.