Budgeting Software / Suggestions to Import Bank Account Statements?

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  eranda on 09/08/2019 - 12:21

  2 years ago, I also had the same exact question. So I tried finding matching budgeting tool for me, then I was considering quicken, at that time it was just onetime fee lifetime application, but now it has a yearly subscription. However, any way I didn't go with that. I tried some excel templates as well. Neither worked out for me.

  Then stopped searching the internet and think of making my own excel but the pre-planned way. I created multiple accounts, for example, 1 account for the car's fixed expenses.

  Maintenance
  Parking
  Rego

  And another account for all the insurance costs, home, content, car
  Another one for Kids expenses.

  So when I get the salary, I made automatic transfers to those accounts.

  Now when I look at the excel sheet, I know how much money I have for that particular thing.
  Only thing I'm doing is updating that excel regularly when I take money out of those accounts.

  For day to day expenses, I have another account. have a fixed amount every salary and that's it for Fuel and Grocery. Wife needs to manage that account. :)

  And another 2 accounts for savings and as a backup account. We use backup account's money to pay credit card expenses (if we do)

  Anyway, this might not you need, but I found this way you know what exactly your fixed expenses and how much you have to spend flexibly. The first year was a pain, as all the accounts get emptied.

  Just sharing my idea. But I personally don't like to give my bank online login details to a third party company.

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  Alan6984 on 09/08/2019 - 20:00

  I go with Excel too - you can do exactly whatever you want, and you just download the statement file from the bank, and, if you want, you can make it as fully automated in Excel as you like.

  The only thing you'd have to do occasionally is code transactions that you haven't already set up to be recognised, but over time they get rarer and rarer of course.

  I would also note that, giving your bank login details to anyone else is almost certainly a breach of the agreement that you have made, and would, it seems to me, make it very difficult, if not impossible, to ever claim that a transaction that you did not approve was actually not approved by you.

  Alan.

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  [Deactivated] on 10/08/2019 - 10:22

  giving your bank login details to anyone else is almost certainly a breach of the agreement that you have made

  It will depend on the software maker. The big names like MYOB, Xero, etc. and the long-established developers like MoneyWorks are probably okay by the banks, but some unknown one-off bedroom-based developer with an app you download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store is going to be more of an issue.

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    Alan6984 on 10/08/2019 - 12:17

    Reputable players like MYOB and Xero (I'm not familiar with MoneyWorks) do not ask for your login credentials - they have you give permission via a bank form, and then get the data direct from the bank.

    That is a completely different situation.

    Alan.

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      [Deactivated] on 10/08/2019 - 14:55

      Those were really just examples of well known brands. I didn't know for sure whether those particular apps actually asked for such details at all. For the online-accessed apps it probably makes better sense that way since the users don't need to bother continually downloading bank statements, etc. from the bank to only then have to re-upload them to the accounting app.

      MoneyWorks is an accounting app aimed more at businesses. It's available for macOS and Windows, as well as apparently now some sort of "cloud" option. It has been developed by a New Zealand company called Cognito for nearly 30 and is used worldwide, but despite being probably the best and easiest-to-use accounting app available, relatively few people actually know about it. They also used to make a simpler home accounting app called CashWorks, but that doesn't seem to exist any longer. An organisation I used to work for was a sort-of unofficial tester for their new versions in the early days.

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  SpiltMilk on 24/08/2019 - 09:09

  YNAB. Can't sync NZ accounts, but I don't have a problem doing a manual import 1-2 times a week.

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  gonka on 25/08/2019 - 17:24

  Although it's a bit dated Microsoft Money Sunset - http://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=2073… - is free now and pretty good at handling budgets and categorising spending. It doesn't download directly from NZ banks but can import from OFX, CSV or QIF files which most NZ banks can export. You can install it even if you never had Money installed before, and it still works on Windows 10.

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  magicmarker on 29/08/2019 - 07:27

  I use iXpensit to log down all my spending and then use the categories at the end of the month to import into an excel spreadsheet. I paid a one off fee for the app. Wasn't very expensive if I remember correctly.

  I've recently tried to find an app which would have a web interface so that I could see a breakdown on the computer and compare month by month. Viewing on the phone was too difficult. The ones I've found all have a yearly subscription. I'd pay a one off fee, but not too keen on subscriptions.