Recurring Deposits Help

I have a recurring deposit of a paycheck that will be a certain amount for
the next 3 months, until the end of the year. Next year, 2005, since my
paycheck will be a different amount, I entered another recurring deposit to
start from January 2005 for a monthly frequency.

Here is the problem:

When I go into the Budget feature in Money 2004, the income section shows
two income streams. One for the current recurring deposit until the end of
2004 and the other one I set to start in January 2005 which throws off the
income amount that I have to spend. It says that I have way more income than
I have.

How thought about just waiting until after 2004 to enter the new paycheck
amount but that defeats the forecasting feature of Money 2004. I want to be
able to forecast future money streams and expenses. How do I enter these
differing paycheck amounts in the Bills and Deposits area and how do I "tell"
Money that I don't want two paychecks and to start the new paycheck amount in
2005?

Thank you very much!

- Lawrence

Chris
Mon Oct 18 20:21:10 CDT 2004

Money assumes paychecks are perpetual. Nothing you can do will change that.
--
Chris Cowles,
Gainesville, FL

"Lawrence" <Lawrence@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:757E8A8B-8B80-4CE6-8ABD-8BADF2DBCD77@microsoft.com...
>I have a recurring deposit of a paycheck that will be a certain amount for
> the next 3 months, until the end of the year. Next year, 2005, since my
> paycheck will be a different amount, I entered another recurring deposit
> to
> start from January 2005 for a monthly frequency.
>
> Here is the problem:
>
> When I go into the Budget feature in Money 2004, the income section shows
> two income streams. One for the current recurring deposit until the end
> of
> 2004 and the other one I set to start in January 2005 which throws off the
> income amount that I have to spend. It says that I have way more income
> than
> I have.
>
> How thought about just waiting until after 2004 to enter the new paycheck
> amount but that defeats the forecasting feature of Money 2004. I want to
> be
> able to forecast future money streams and expenses. How do I enter these
> differing paycheck amounts in the Bills and Deposits area and how do I
> "tell"
> Money that I don't want two paychecks and to start the new paycheck amount
> in
> 2005?
>
> Thank you very much!
>
> - Lawrence

Dick
Mon Oct 18 22:20:07 CDT 2004

BP ignores start and end dates for all recurring scheduled items. M05 could
have fixed this. Instead it added nothing but flash and trash.

The way I deal with these cases is add a "delta" scheduled transaction that
starts as necessary. The "delta" is just the differences from the existing
scheduled item (a little more wages, a little more taxes). This gives good
cash flow predictions and doesn't mung the BP. When you get to the effective
date of the new one, delete the delta transaction and modify the currently
scheduled one.

"Lawrence" <Lawrence@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:757E8A8B-8B80-4CE6-8ABD-8BADF2DBCD77@microsoft.com...
>I have a recurring deposit of a paycheck that will be a certain amount for
> the next 3 months, until the end of the year. Next year, 2005, since my
> paycheck will be a different amount, I entered another recurring deposit
> to
> start from January 2005 for a monthly frequency.
>
> Here is the problem:
>
> When I go into the Budget feature in Money 2004, the income section shows
> two income streams. One for the current recurring deposit until the end
> of
> 2004 and the other one I set to start in January 2005 which throws off the
> income amount that I have to spend. It says that I have way more income
> than
> I have.
>
> How thought about just waiting until after 2004 to enter the new paycheck
> amount but that defeats the forecasting feature of Money 2004. I want to
> be
> able to forecast future money streams and expenses. How do I enter these
> differing paycheck amounts in the Bills and Deposits area and how do I
> "tell"
> Money that I don't want two paychecks and to start the new paycheck amount
> in
> 2005?
>
> Thank you very much!
>
> - Lawrence

Lawrence
Tue Oct 19 17:25:10 CDT 2004

Dick,

Thank you for your response. I am not clear what you mean by a "Delta"
scheduled transaction. The way I had it was one scheduled recurring
transaction that will recur for 3 mos. - October through December 2004. I
also set another recurring transaction to happen starting January 2004 which
will happen every month until the end of 2005. The recurring transactions
that I set in 2005 are different due to me getting a paycheck raise. As you
know, when I go to the Budget planner the Income sections will show two
streams of income - one for each scheduled deposit even though the 2005
hasn't come due yet.

I don't clearly understand what you mean by creating a delta transaction
because any additional deposit transaction that I schedule will show up in
budget planner as two income streams. Could you be so kind as to clarify
this a little more?

Many thanks!

- Lawrence

"Dick Watson" wrote:

>
> The way I deal with these cases is add a "delta" scheduled transaction that
> starts as necessary. The "delta" is just the differences from the existing
> scheduled item (a little more wages, a little more taxes). This gives good
> cash flow predictions and doesn't mung the BP. When you get to the effective
> date of the new one, delete the delta transaction and modify the currently
> scheduled one.
>
> "Lawrence" <Lawrence@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:757E8A8B-8B80-4CE6-8ABD-8BADF2DBCD77@microsoft.com...
> >I have a recurring deposit of a paycheck that will be a certain amount for
> > the next 3 months, until the end of the year. Next year, 2005, since my
> > paycheck will be a different amount, I entered another recurring deposit
> > to
> > start from January 2005 for a monthly frequency.
> >
> > Here is the problem:
> >
> > When I go into the Budget feature in Money 2004, the income section shows
> > two income streams. One for the current recurring deposit until the end
> > of
> > 2004 and the other one I set to start in January 2005 which throws off the
> > income amount that I have to spend. It says that I have way more income
> > than
> > I have.
> >
> > How thought about just waiting until after 2004 to enter the new paycheck
> > amount but that defeats the forecasting feature of Money 2004. I want to
> > be
> > able to forecast future money streams and expenses. How do I enter these
> > differing paycheck amounts in the Bills and Deposits area and how do I
> > "tell"
> > Money that I don't want two paychecks and to start the new paycheck amount
> > in
> > 2005?
> >
> > Thank you very much!
> >
> > - Lawrence
>
>
>

Dick
Tue Oct 19 18:03:15 CDT 2004

Sure.

Delta is engineering/scientific talk for difference. Let's say I've got a
$1000 gross with a $100 withholding scheduled from now until forever. I
expect a 10% raise in January. (In my dreams.) So, I schedule a transaction,
starting in January, for $100 gross and with, say, $26 of additional
withholding (and on and on for all of the entries). The $100 and the $26 are
the difference, or the delta, between what's already scheduled and what I
anticipate starting in January. This won't stop BP from thinking my income
is $1100 per period (the $1000 plus the $100 delta) from not until forever
(ignoring the January start date) but it will get the cash flow forecasts
right. There is no way to cure BP. It just ignores the dates. This is lame.
They should fix it. I've told 'em. They don't care.

"Lawrence" <Lawrence@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:B4BB70A6-662C-42D6-8EB6-E918A1FD731C@microsoft.com...
> Thank you for your response. I am not clear what you mean by a "Delta"
> scheduled transaction. The way I had it was one scheduled recurring
> transaction that will recur for 3 mos. - October through December 2004. I
> also set another recurring transaction to happen starting January 2004
> which
> will happen every month until the end of 2005. The recurring transactions
> that I set in 2005 are different due to me getting a paycheck raise. As
> you
> know, when I go to the Budget planner the Income sections will show two
> streams of income - one for each scheduled deposit even though the 2005
> hasn't come due yet.
>
> I don't clearly understand what you mean by creating a delta transaction
> because any additional deposit transaction that I schedule will show up in
> budget planner as two income streams. Could you be so kind as to clarify
> this a little more?

Lawrence
Sun Oct 31 17:12:27 CST 2004

Dick,

Sorry so late for my reply. Thank you for the information. I understand
now.

Do you know if Quicken resolves this issue? Do you think that they produce
a better product in regard to this issue? I'lll switch if Quicken is a
better product overall.

Thank you again!

- Lawrence
"Dick Watson" <littlegreengecko@mind-enufalready-spring.com> wrote in
message news:OjtxQ$itEHA.2664@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> Sure.
>
> Delta is engineering/scientific talk for difference. Let's say I've got a
> $1000 gross with a $100 withholding scheduled from now until forever. I
> expect a 10% raise in January. (In my dreams.) So, I schedule a
> transaction, starting in January, for $100 gross and with, say, $26 of
> additional withholding (and on and on for all of the entries). The $100
> and the $26 are the difference, or the delta, between what's already
> scheduled and what I anticipate starting in January. This won't stop BP
> from thinking my income is $1100 per period (the $1000 plus the $100
> delta) from not until forever (ignoring the January start date) but it
> will get the cash flow forecasts right. There is no way to cure BP. It
> just ignores the dates. This is lame. They should fix it. I've told 'em.
> They don't care.
>
> "Lawrence" <Lawrence@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:B4BB70A6-662C-42D6-8EB6-E918A1FD731C@microsoft.com...
>> Thank you for your response. I am not clear what you mean by a "Delta"
>> scheduled transaction. The way I had it was one scheduled recurring
>> transaction that will recur for 3 mos. - October through December 2004.
>> I
>> also set another recurring transaction to happen starting January 2004
>> which
>> will happen every month until the end of 2005. The recurring
>> transactions
>> that I set in 2005 are different due to me getting a paycheck raise. As
>> you
>> know, when I go to the Budget planner the Income sections will show two
>> streams of income - one for each scheduled deposit even though the 2005
>> hasn't come due yet.
>>
>> I don't clearly understand what you mean by creating a delta transaction
>> because any additional deposit transaction that I schedule will show up
>> in
>> budget planner as two income streams. Could you be so kind as to clarify
>> this a little more?
>
>

Dick
Sun Oct 31 17:32:36 CST 2004

I have no recent Quicken experience with which to judge how they'd handle a
case like this. Based on all of the reports and what little I have played
with various versions of Quicken over the years (when a new one has come
bundled on a machine I've been playing with primarily) I don't think it's a
better overall product than Money through 2004. My negative reaction to M05
is documented at http://umpmfaq.info/Money2005.htm. I can't say if Quicken
2005 is going in a better direction, but I despise the direction Money
appears to be going in.

One other issue I should point out for the archives and for the sake of the
rant: if you are trying to use the technique I described for a case where
the deltas add up to a "negative" paycheck, Money02 through 05 will not
allow is. It insists a scheduled paycheck must be positive, even though you
can enter a negative one in the register with no such restriction. Examples
of why I wanted to schedule two negative paychecks for next year: my
benefits costs increase the first of next year--some before tax, some after.
To forecast the net cash flow impact, I wanted to schedule one of these
"delta" transactions. My wife is going to increase her 401k contribution to
max out the new allowance for 2005. This has tax impacts. To forecast the
net cash flow impact, I wanted to schedule one of these "delta"
transactions. In both cases, Money was smarter than me and refused to
cooperate. It said that a negative paycheck was "invalid". Invalid, my eye.
And it's not invalid if you enter it in the register, either. The
workaround? Tell it to leave unassigned the difference between the negative
total of the splits an the positive value of the paycheck that it insists
on. Then schedule a bill for twice the "delta" amount with no category. Cash
flow will work out. When you get to the point where you can edit the real
series to account for these things, you delete both of these "wedge"
transactions.

Wish list item: Every transaction that can be entered need to be able to be
scheduled. It's inexcusable that this is still not the case.

"Lawrence Smith" <LawrenceSmith97@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23mE4e85vEHA.2012@TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Dick,
>
> Sorry so late for my reply. Thank you for the information. I understand
> now.
>
> Do you know if Quicken resolves this issue? Do you think that they
> produce a better product in regard to this issue? I'lll switch if Quicken
> is a better product overall.
>
> Thank you again!
>
> - Lawrence