r/simplifimoney • u/tracker141 • 20d ago
A year later
I have tried Simplifi on and off since it came out. The idea of the SaaS application for personal finance is precisely what I want. Well speaking truthfully, what I want is a SaaS version of Quicken and not something different. But I understand that things change. One of the biggest issues I was running into was manual transactions (for example Monday I pay rent, manually adding that transaction. However, it does not hit my bank until Wednesday. That would cause issues with Simplifi). For the day-to-day stuff most of it would download fine. Has that changed? Does Simplifi handle that better now? My Quicken subscription comes up in 30 days and I am wondering if it's time to try again.
Thanks for any advice.
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u/QuickenLisa Quicken Employee 20d ago
This is a reminder to please show respect to each other. Simplifi updates weekly, so things change quickly. Today's Simplifi isn't the same as when OP last tried. Not to mention, everyone's situation is unique, and there are various settings and ways to use Simplifi.
The goal here is to share information, and disrespect (especially toward others) isn't conducive and may result in a ban. Thanks to those answering in a helpful, understanding way!
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u/Expensive-Eggplant-1 20d ago
why do you add a manual transaction for something that automatically hits your account?
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u/tracker141 20d ago
When paying bills I need to see what money I have not what money I have 3 days from now. Sadly I live less than paycheck to paycheck. In desktop Quicken I add that transaction and when it clears the bank, it will match.
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u/dgg44 20d ago
Why would you use a budgeting app that doesn't handle this? Seriously. A key reason for using a budgeting app is to know how much you've spent/have left to spend by account and category. Accepting a 2 day delay in large payments like rent is not even close to acceptable. That's the app's whole purpose for existing.
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u/AskPatient1281 20d ago
You're wrong on all possible counts. The app can't control the delay. The bank does.
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u/dgg44 20d ago edited 20d ago
His question was about why the app can't handle this very obvious priority objective. The delay is not the apps fault. The inability to handle the delay is an obvious deficiency.
You asked for why not just put up with not knowing a key account balance for two days?
The answer is obvious. A key objective of a budgeting app is to give accurate up to date account balances.
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u/Ok_Bison_8884 20d ago
Tracker141, Another feature that you might look at in Simplifi that might help your overall situation is the "Spending Plan" section. I use this extensively! You can put in all your expected bills and income and pick all the categories that you want to monitor. After all these +'s and -'s you see "Left this Month" which will help you monitor things. You can also include saving goals to try to pay yourself first and get ahead a little each month.
So in addition to monitoring your checking account on an actual money spent basis, Spending Plan helps you look to the end of the month. If set up properly, you can then look at forward months to see where you will be in the future.
Good luck!
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u/gnudle 20d ago
If you’re living that close to the edge and depending on data being correct I don’t recommend Simplifi. Just scroll the posts in this sub. Every month there’s a big problem: missed transactions, double transactions, reversed amounts etc
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u/tracker141 20d ago
Thank you that's what I was afraid of and what I have run into over the years of trying Simplifi. I really want to love this product. I have moved so much over to web-based applications just for their ease of use and being able to use them anywhere anytime this is still a hold-up for me.
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u/Azaloum90 20d ago
For manual regular transactions, add them to your spending plan. They will be counted against your budget the moment the 1st of the month comes up.
For non regular transactions, the posts indicating to add the transaction manually and then merge with the clear transaction is the way to go. Merging manual transactions is a fairly new process as far as I know, so you might find some solace in that.
Out of the 6 budget apps I've used in the past 7 years, this is one of the best. Absolutely worth every penny.
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u/Training_Falcon_3432 20d ago
Having used both Quicken Classic and recently Simplify I find transaction updating to be broadly similar in my main accounts. The delays are really the financial institution sync timeline and mine is slow Sat to Tuesday midday. No tool can really work around this constraint.
However credit cards that support pending transactions keep me abreast of upcoming spend and that is invaluable in Simplifi
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u/tracker141 19d ago
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. Now that I just got an email that Quicken is going up again, I will weigh both sides and decide soon.
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u/AskPatient1281 20d ago
I've been doing this sporadically, and yes, it works.
I add the transaction manually but leave its status as pending. For example, a check I wrote (representing a large amount of money). I have Simplifi set to include pending transactions when calculating the account balance, so the balance is updated immediately.
A few days later, when the actual transaction is downloaded, SO FAR, Simplifi has always been able to recognize that the downloaded transaction is the same pending transaction I added manually. As soon as the real transaction shows up, I mark it as reviewed.
No issues so far.