Transfers TO and FROM accounts within the BUDGET (Q Mac)

QMac User
QMac User Member ✭✭✭
edited October 2023 in Budget and Planning Tools

Transfers TO and FROM accounts within the budget should not be included under INCOME or EXPENSES within the budget. Transfers between accounts should be held out separately in their own section within the budget titled TRANSFERS. TRANSFERS are not considered income or expenses.

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  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta

    By default, Quicken does not include transfers between accounts in budgets because, as you note, they are not income or expenses. But for many people, something like paying a mortage or an auto loan or putting money aside for savings feel like expenses, because they're a part of your monthly spending. So Quicken allows you to take a cash flow view by including selective transfers as categories of expenses (or income) if you want them to show up in your budget.

    For many people, transfers To and From accounts should not be included in the budget. But for those who are trying to measure their spending against their inflows, it makes sense to add things like loan payments or regular planned savings to their budget. And so I think it makes sense to count these pseudo-expenses in the total of expenses. People want to see income minus expenses and know if they're ahead or behind their plan. If Quicken were to separate out transfers in budgets, it would make that impossible. (By contrast, transaction or summary reports in which users choose to include transfers do segregate transfers as a separate section below income and expenses.)

    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • QMac User
    QMac User Member ✭✭✭
    Thank you for your comments. I mostly agree. However I do believe that separating a section for transfers in the budget would still be helpful because blending the transfers with income and expenses skews and inaccurately depicts the actual income and expenses. Simply add the net transfer amount in the transfer section to the income and expenses sections whether it is net positive or net negative. It can be done and would make the budget view more helpful and accurate.
  • Austin@
    Austin@ Mac Beta Beta

    Personally, I would not want this changed. I rely on transfers being included in my budget for the things @jacobs mentioned (mortgage payment, auto loan payment, the money I set aside for savings each month). These things aren't technically expenses, but they feel like expenses, and I want them to count against my monthly budgeted income so I make sure I am spending less than I make (with my "spending" including the money I put toward these transfers).

    If I want a truly accurate view of my income and expenses without transfers in the mix, I look at the Dashboard or an income/expense report, but for the purposes of budgeting, I want them to be treated like expenses. And it does this perfectly with how it behaves currently.

  • QMac User
    QMac User Member ✭✭✭
    I must not be explaining myself well because we want the same thing. I want what you want. And the software offers this right now. But the problem is that it puts transfers to into income and transfers from into expenses. And this just isn’t right. I just want a subtotal and separate section for the transfers so that my total expenses and total income are not displayed incorrectly. All transfers could be displayed in a separate section at the bottom of the budget and not combined into income and expenses.
  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta

    @QMac User What you're asking for is the way reports work. Reports conform to the technical accuracy of transfers not showing as income or expenses. But the budget is based more on a cash flow viewpoint. As @Austin@ says, transfers for loans or savings feel like expenses for tracking how one's actual income and expenses are faring versus their plan. If I have a $2,000 monthly mortgage payment, I want to see all of that in my budget as an expense, even though a large chunk of it is actually a balance sheet transfer from an asset to a liability.

    I think it makes sense the way it's currently implemented, and utilizing the budget along with an income & expense report allows most users to view their data in different ways that meet most needs. @QMac User I do understand you want something different. It's fair to ask the developers to make such a change, and I'm just explaining why I think such a change in the budget is not something most users would want.

    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • QMac User
    QMac User Member ✭✭✭
    edited April 2023
    Thanks for your opinion. I truly do understand what you are saying. I was a big proponent of adding transfers to the budget for all the reasons you have stated. I just don't like the way it was implemented. And I really think there is value in what I'm proposing and most people will in fact like it.

    The budget summary would look like this:

    INCOME

    EXPENSES

    TRANSFERS. (this can be a net positive or negative total)
    Transfers TO
    Transfer FROM

    DIFFERENCE (or better said NET INCOME after expenses and transfers)

    And there would be a separate section for transfers in the detailed line items like income and expenses, not blended together with income and expenses.

    This still gives everyone what they need plus the ability to not have their income and expenses reported incorrectly.

    Yes, you could probably rig some report to do this but having this in the budget tool is even more helpful.