Tracking Money in Savings Account

Anthony Dardis adardis at gmail.com
Wed Dec 15 18:33:35 EST 2010


A couple of thoughts:

(1) Think of your dentist debt as initially coming FROM the dentist  
(Liabilities:Dentist) and going TO Expenses:Healthcare:Dental. Then you  
pay the dentist by a transaction FROM Assets:Current:Checking TO  
Liabilities:Dentist. (You don't need to set up an opening balance.)

(2) Your account structure looks like it's (way?) too complicated. You  
need an account for checking and one for savings (Assets:Current:Checking  
and Assets:Current:Savings). You need Expenses:Healthcare:Dental. You need  
Liabilities:Dentist. You need something like Income:Inheritance. I think  
that's it, for this transaction.

(You REALLY don't want the Income account as an asset: it's Income.)

If you haven't already, you might have a walk through the Concepts guide  
at gnucash.org: it's a kind of tutorial that gets you to enter sample  
transactions for a lot of situations.

Hope that helps




On Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:58:04 -0500, Wayne Bird <wrbird at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> OK, another scenario, same situation:
>
> This is what actually happens:
> I receive an inheritance check for $aaa.Deposit the inheritance check  
> into savings.Owe dentist $bbb.Need to make $ccc monthly payments from  
> checking acct until debt is paid off.I'm using the inheritance money  
> that's in the savings acct, therefore I need to first transfer the money  
> from my savings acct to my checking acct.  Then I write a check to the  
> dentist.
> This is what I do in GnuCash:
> Accounts to set up:
>
> Assets:Bank:CheckingAssets:Bank:Checking:Healthcare:Dental
>
>   Assets:Bank:SavingsAssets:Bank:Savings:InheritanceIncome:Inheritance
> Expenses:Healthcare:DentalLiabilities:Dentist
>
>
> Enter $aaa deposit in the Assets:Bank:Savings register to transfer from  
> Income:Inheritance to Asset:Bank:Savings:Inheritance (I can enter this  
> transaction using either the Income:Inheritance register or the  
> Asset:Bank:Savings register)Enter $bbb in Equity:Opening Balances  
> register to transfer $bbb from Equity:Opening Balances to  
> Liabilities:Dentist.  This creates the account to show how much I owe  
> the dentist.
> Enter $ccc withdrawal in the Assets:Bank:Savings register to transfer  
> from Assets:Bank:Savings:Inheritance to  
> Assets:Bank:Checking:Healthcare:Dental (this action will decrease my  
> savings acct balance by $ccc and increase my checking acct balance by  
> $ccc)Enter check withdrawal of the amount of $ccc from  
> Assets:Bank:Checking to transfer $ccc from  
> Assets:Bank:Checking:Healthcare:Dental to Expenses:Healthcare:DentalNow  
> I'm stuck with how to decrease Liabilities:Dentist account.  Where did I  
> go wrong?
> Thanks for your help!
>
> Wayne
>
>
>> Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:40:01 -0500
>> Subject: RE: Tracking Money in Savings Account
>> From: derek at ihtfp.com
>> To: wrbird at hotmail.com
>> CC: derek at ihtfp.com; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> Please remember to CC the list on all replies..
>>
>> On Wed, December 15, 2010 2:35 pm, Wayne Bird wrote:
>> >
>> > OK Derek,
>> >
>> > Given the correction of no "Add paycheck to Income:Paycheck" and only
>> > Expense:Movies, this is what I understand:
>> > Enter split transaction in Asset:Bank for my paycheck.  Part of the  
>> split
>> > will consist of a transfer from Income:Paycheck to Asset:Bank:Movies.
>> > When I buy a movie, I will transfer from Asset:Bank:Movies to
>> > Expense:Movies.
>> >
>> > Now if I wanted to see how much accumulated money I've spent on  
>> movies,
>> > all I would need to do is look at the balance of Expense:Movies.  If I
>> > wanted to know how much money I have to spend on movies, then I just  
>> need
>> > to look at the balance of Asset:Bank:Movies.
>> >
>> > Are the two above paragraphs correct?
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>> > Wayne
>>
>> -derek
>>
>> >> Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 13:14:50 -0500
>> >> Subject: RE: Tracking Money in Savings Account
>> >> From: derek at ihtfp.com
>> >> To: wrbird at hotmail.com
>> >> CC: daniel3ub at gmail.com; warlord at mit.edu; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> >>
>> >> Hi,
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, December 15, 2010 1:00 pm, Wayne Bird wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> > Hello Daniel,
>> >> >
>> >> > Ah, this seems to be a bit different then what Derek was saying.   
>> If I
>> >> > understood Derek correctly (the big "if"), he has two accounts for  
>> the
>> >> > same item; Asset:Bank:Movies and Liability:Expense:Movies.  So
>> >> > transactions would go something like this: Add paycheck to
>> >> > Income:Paycheck; transfer Income:Paycheck to Asset:Bank:Movies.
>> >> Purchase
>> >> > movie, transfer Asset:Bank:Movies to Liability:Expense:Movies
>> >>
>> >> Not quite.  For one thing there's no such thing as "Add paycheck to
>> >> Income:Paycheck".  The first step is purely "Transfer from
>> >> Income:Paycheck
>> >> to Assets:Bank".  Also, there is no such account as
>> >> "Liability:Expense:Movies".  It's purely "Expense:Movies".
>> >>
>> >> > If I understand what you're saying, there is only one account,
>> >> > Liability:Expense:Movies.  So transactions would be as follows: Add
>> >> > paycheck to Income:Paycheck; transfer Income:Paycheck to
>> >> > Liability:Expense:Movies.  Now when I purchase a movie what do I  
>> do?
>> >> I
>> >> > can't transfer from Liability:Expense:Movies to
>> >> Liability:Expense:Movies.
>> >> > I'm sorry if am a bit dense (or a lot), please hang with me and  
>> I'll
>> >> get
>> >> > it.  And I've read a lot of the documentation before I started this
>> >> > thread.  So I guess that proves how dense I am:(
>> >>
>> >> This is absolutely the WRONG way to do it.  There is no Liability  
>> here.
>> >>
>> >> > Wayne
>> >>
>> >> -derek
>> >>
>> >> > From: daniel3ub at gmail.com
>> >> > Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 14:43:43 -0200
>> >> > Subject: Re: Tracking Money in Savings Account
>> >> > To: wrbird at hotmail.com
>> >> > CC: warlord at mit.edu; gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> >> >
>> >> > Hi, Wayne.
>> >> >
>> >> > Actually, you are working with Income and Expenses accounts, but  
>> you
>> >> > didn´t know it :)
>> >> >
>> >> > What I´d do:
>> >> > Create a Liability account for every category you have. These will  
>> be
>> >> your
>> >> > envelopes.
>> >> > In your paycheck transaction, create a split for each category you
>> >> have,
>> >> > pointing towards the corresponding Liability account.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Every time you expend some money, create a transaction in the
>> >> > corresponding liability account, with the split pointing towards  
>> the
>> >> > corresponding Expense account.
>> >> >
>> >> > Also, reading the docs Derek suggested is aways a good idea ;)
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Good Luck!=====
>> >> > Daniel Trezub
>> >> > http://www.gameblogs.com.br
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On 15 December 2010 14:07, Wayne Bird <wrbird at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Thanks Derek for your reply!
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Yes, define "standard accounting method" -- good question:)   
>> Granted,
>> >> > everyone has their own way of doing things, however it appears the
>> >> most
>> >> > common method is tracking assets, income, expense, etc. where  
>> income
>> >> is
>> >> > viewed separately from expenses.  For example, my paycheck would  
>> just
>> >> go
>> >> > into an income account and that's it.  Then I would track all my
>> >> expenses
>> >> > through various expense accounts.  On the other hand,  I have  
>> always
>> >> used
>> >> > the envelope system, divvying out my paycheck into these various
>> >> > categories.  So these categories (or accounts) can be seen as both
>> >> income
>> >> > (because I'm splitting my paycheck/income into these categories)  
>> and
>> >> > expense (because I'm purchasing items from these categories).   
>> This is
>> >> > what makes the most sense to my little brain:) and that's why I'm
>> >> having
>> >> > difficulty with "standard" accounting methods because they have to  
>> be
>> >> > separate.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > I'm sure I'm making this more difficult than it should be, so if  
>> you
>> >> > please continue to with me I'll use the suggestion of subaccounts  
>> that
>> >> > each of you made and go from there.  I haven't had a chance yet to
>> >> look
>> >> > into this, but I will soon.  So as Derek, as John Mason stated, is
>> >> your
>> >> > checking account just a placeholder for all the subaccounts?  What
>> >> John
>> >> > stated made sense to me and this is what I'll try first.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Again, thanks all of you for holding my hand through this!!  I  
>> greatly
>> >> > appreciate your help.  As I continue down this road I'm sure I'll  
>> have
>> >> > more questions.
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > Wayne
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >> From: warlord at MIT.EDU
>> >> >
>> >> >> To: wrbird at hotmail.com
>> >> >
>> >> >> CC: adardis at gmail.com; jmason at masondrywall.com;
>> >> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> >> >
>> >> >> Subject: Re: Tracking Money in Savings Account
>> >> >
>> >> >> Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2010 10:09:24 -0500
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> Wayne Bird <wrbird at hotmail.com> writes:
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> > Thanks so much for your help!  I will continue to play around,  
>> and
>> >> I'm
>> >> >> sure I'll be back with more questions.
>> >> >
>> >> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >> > Though I used the envelope system in the past, it seems that's  
>> not
>> >> the
>> >> >
>> >> >> > standard accounting method.  I tweaked MSMoney for years in  
>> order
>> >> to
>> >> >
>> >> >> > make it "act" like an envelope system and I don't want to tweak
>> >> >
>> >> >> > GnuCash to do this, I'd rather just learn how GnuCash is  
>> designed
>> >> to
>> >> >
>> >> >> > be used and use it accordingly.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> Define "standard accounting method"?  It's certainly one way that
>> >> many
>> >> >
>> >> >> people do it.  GnuCash doesn't need to be tweaked to do this.  In
>> >> fact
>> >> >
>> >> >> it's somewhat designed to support this!  See, for example, the  
>> "Open
>> >> >
>> >> >> Subaccounts" option on the reconcile dialog.  This lets you  
>> reconcile
>> >> >
>> >> >> a Bank Account with subaccounts.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> You can also look at the Budget features of GnuCash, but I've  
>> never
>> >> used
>> >> >
>> >> >> them myself so I cannot comment on them.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies.
>> >> >
>> >> >> > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All.
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> -derek
>> >> >
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> --
>> >> >
>> >> >>        Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
>> >> >
>> >> >>        Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
>> >> >
>> >> >>        URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
>> >> >
>> >> >>        warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > _______________________________________________
>> >> >
>> >> > gnucash-user mailing list
>> >> >
>> >> > gnucash-user at gnucash.org
>> >> >
>> >> > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
>> >> >
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>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >
>>
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