Overview "Spending by Category" Split Transactions (Q Mac)

kaisersozay

For the "Home" category expenses, only the mortgage interest is recorded in Overview. I enter the Mortgage payment as a split transaction - interest (a Category) and principal (an Asset Account). How can I get the Principal amount to show in the pe"ending by Category"?

jacobs

You can't (without some hack of a workaround). Your prncipal payment feels like an expense, but in accounting, it is not an expense — you're reducing an asset (checking) in order to reduce a liability (loan). Transfers between assets or liabilities is not able to also be an expense. 

I suggest you use something other than the Overview for seeing the complete impact of your mortgage payments. You can create a report of expenses, and include in it transfers to the loan account. Or if you use the Budget, you can have it include the transfers to the loan account, to help you gauge your progress on a cash flow basis.