[GNC] Suggestion: add "balance" variable for scheduled transactions

[Stephen M. Butler]

On 4/8/20 11:19 AM, David Carlson wrote:
> Have you reviewed
> https://www.gnucash.org/viewdoc.phtml?rev=3&lang=C&doc=guide


Not recently.  I was a couple years into paying my mortgage when started
using GnC.  At that time I setup the scheduled transaction myself and
noted that there was no way to get the current balance nor the number of
days since last payment.  Haven't reviewed the docs since.

>
> On Wed, Apr 8, 2020 at 1:13 PM Stephen M. Butler <kg7je at arrl.net
> <mailto:kg7je at arrl.net>> wrote:
>
>     I like it. 
>
>     Could you also add "days" as in the number of days from the last
>     posting
>     of this transaction until this posting (assume posting means
>     "effective
>     date of transaction".  This would then allow the user to craft the
>     interest based on number of days and the daily interest rate (fixed
>     value known at time creating the scheduled transaction).  Be sure the
>     "interest" is rounded to the nearest penny and not left fraction
>     of pennies.
>
>     On 4/7/20 10:53 PM, jeanl wrote:
>     > GC people!
>     > The scheduled transaction editor has one special variable "i"
>     which you can
>     > use in your credit/debit formula, and counts how many times the
>     transaction
>     > has posted.
>     > I'm suggesting to add a variable "balance" that would hold the
>     value of the
>     > account (see below for which) at the time the transaction posts.
>     This
>     > balance could then be used to compute interest, and other
>     amounts that
>     > depend on the current balance, within the scheduled transaction.
>     >
>     > The idea is to allow *simple* interest computations for basic
>     fixed interest
>     > mortgage loans that compound monthly (as is typically the case
>     in the US,
>     > but definitely not in the rest of the world).
>     > Here's a typical example: You have a 4% interest rate on a
>     mortgage with a
>     > monthly payment of say $1000 (these have to be known in advance)
>     > Each month the schedule transaction would transfer $1000 from
>     your checking
>     > account (for example) and split that into balance*0.04/12 toward
>     an expense
>     > account "mortgage interest" and 1000-balance*0.04/12 toward
>     reducing the
>     > mortgage account. "balance" would hold the current principal of
>     the loan at
>     > that date.
>     >
>     > This would easily handle mortgage extra payments: If you pay an
>     extra $500
>     > in the middle of the month, that goes toward reducing the principal
>     > (assuming that's how your bank handles it, but that's typical in
>     the US) and
>     > at the end of the month, the interests computed by the scheduled
>     > transactions would be computed accurately according to the new
>     loan balance.
>     >
>     > Again, all this works only if your interests are compounded
>     monthly and not
>     > daily.
>     > The account the "balance" refers to would be automatically
>     detected based on
>     > the nature of the accounts present in the splits (i.e., it would
>     ignore all
>     > accounts except for the liability account, assuming there's only
>     one).
>     >
>     > I understand this is far from perfect, and only applies to a
>     subset of the
>     > users, but for these I believe it could be quite useful. It
>     happens to be
>     > fairly easy to implement, which is why I'm suggesting it.
>     >
>     > I'm welcoming any feedback on this idea.
>     > Jean
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > --
>     > Sent from:
>     http://gnucash.1415818.n4.nabble.com/GnuCash-User-f1415819.html
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>
>     -- 
>     Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
>     Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com <mailto:Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com>
>     kg7je at arrl.net <mailto:kg7je at arrl.net>
>     253-350-0166
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>
>
> -- 
> David Carlson


-- 
Stephen M Butler, PMP, PSM
Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com
kg7je at arrl.net
253-350-0166
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