Tracking Money in Savings Account

[Tommy Trussell]

On Wed, Dec 15, 2010 at 4:58 PM, 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!

You may need to speak to your tax accountant to be sure, but I believe
the "expense" of the dentist occurs the day you had the procedure done
(or agreed to pay for it), and the payment plan is a separate
situation between you and whomever is "toting the note."

SO if you got a bunch of crowns on December 1st and put the 9,000
dental bill on a credit card...

December 1: Liabilities:Credit Card:BigCityBank Card: credit (right
column) $9,000
     Expenses:Medical Expenses:Dental: debit (left column) $9,000

Then your payments would go to BigCityBank as part of everything you
owe. If you can afford to pay $3000 for the first bill due in
December, then

December 15: Assets:Current Assets:Checking Account: debit (right column) $3000
    Liabilities:Credit Card:BigCityBank Card: debit (left column) $3000


On the other hand, if you worked things out personally with Dr. Joe
Dentist to pay him $100 per week,

December 1: Liabilities:Doctor Loans:Dr. Joe Dentist: credit (right
column) $9,000
    Expenses:Medical Expenses:Dental: debit (left column) $9,000

then if you pay Joe back $100/week, it would look like:

December 8: Assets:Current Assets:Checking Account: debit (right column) $100
     Liabilities:Doctor Loans:Dr. Joe Dentist: credit (left column) $100

December 15: Assets:Current Assets:Checking Account: debit (right column) $100
     Liabilities:Doctor Loans:Dr. Joe Dentist: credit (left column) $100

... and so forth until the liability is paid

OH I forgot to mention, if you open up the Liabilities:Doctor
Loans:Dr. Joe Dentist account to see what you have paid and what you
owe, the columns will be reversed; your payments will appear on the
left and your charges will appear on the right.


I hope I got the columns right. GnuCash gives helpful colloquial names
for the columns, such as Deposit and Withdrawal for checking accounts,
or Payment and Charge for credit card accounts.
> Wayne
...
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