[GNC] How to "Reserve" money?

[Stephen M. Butler]

Almost sounds like an escrow account that your mortgage company might 
have you pay into monthly in order to pay your insurance and property taxes.

In my case I convinced the mortgage company to trust me!  (Owed less 
than 50% of the house value.)  So I set up the bank savings account as a 
parent account to three children:
         Emergency Fund -- set amount I hold in reserve for the unexpected.
         Sinking Fund -- to hold a monthly transfer of funds to cover 
all the larger one-time expenses throughout the year (insurance, 
property tax, long-term-care, etc).
         General Fund -- for the earned interest and other items I want 
held in savings .

You could expand the list.  Just be sure to do the monthly 
reconciliation to the parent account so that the total matches the 
balance reported by the bank.  As an Asset you can easily transfer money 
out to handle the original purpose for which you needed the to reserve 
the funds.

I do have a scheduled transaction at both the bank and in GnuCash to 
transfer a set amount each month from Checking to Savings (and Sinking 
Fund in GnC).
--Steve

On 1/17/25 13:58, Derek Robinson via gnucash-user wrote:
>   This sounds like what an accountant would call an accrual and is in fact the fundamental transaction in accrual accounting. If I understand correctly:
> - You know you owe the money- You do not immediately have to pay the money
> The accountant would debit an expense and credit a liability, so that the expense is incurred now (in general expenses are recognized when you know you owe, not when you actually pay them) and the liability appears on the balance sheet, decreasing your net worth at the time you recognize the expense. When you pay the money you would credit your bank account and debit the liability, so that the liability is erased as you pay the money. Net worth does not change - both assets and liabilities are decreased by the same amount in this second transaction.
> Contrast this with cash accounting, where you just know in your head that you owe the money, but you only record the transaction when you pay it. This is bad!
> In practical terms consider a separate bank account for situations like this, so you don't accidentally spend money you in fact owe.
>     
>
> This is more accounting/procedural than about Gnucash=2E
>
> Suppose I had an amount of money that I needed to protect so that it was a=
> vailable for a future occasion=2E What would be the "preferred" way to do t=
> his=2E
>
> I could create the transaction in the account ledger and future date it=2E
>
> I could create an expense transaction, but not future date it, and then wh=
> en the time comes, repay it=2E
>
> I could transfer it to either an asset or liability account, and when the =
> time comes, repay it=2E
>
> I'd be interested in your thoughts=2E
>
>
>    
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