Unrealized/Realized Gains and Losses

[Paul Lussier]

In a message dated: 02 Aug 2001 17:48:10 EDT
Derek Atkins said:

>Along this vein,
>
>I'd like it if Gnucash handled loans better.  I'd like to setup a
>'loan' account where I set an initial balance and payment schedule,
>and then I can keep track of the amount of interest and principal paid
>each payment.  That way I can always see:
>	a) how much interest I "spent", and
>	b) my current principal balance on the loan
>
>Perhaps this isn't quite 'depreciation' or 'unrealized gains and
>losses' but it is a similar repeating transaction series over time.

Couldn't you accomplish this by setting up the accounts in a manner 
similar to:

	Liability:
		Loan1:
		    Principle:
		    Interest:

Then, whenever you create a loan payment you split the loan into 
Principle and Interest portions?  That way you could always tell how
much you've paid toward the loan, and how much Interest you've paid?

I know it's not quite the same thing as auto-magically handling a 
loan like Quicken does, but it seems as if it ought to work just fine
for an interim solution.

Of course, if you were going to use this under a "recurring" 
transaction scheme (which, AFAIK, is not yet implemented), then you'd
run into trouble, since typically loan payments are the same split
for each payment.  As the principle portion increases, usually the
interest portion decreases until the loan is paid in full.

-- 

Seeya,
Paul
----
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		and we never stop trying to be better. 
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