GETTING STARTED - Accounts
To begin to get an accurate picture of your finances you will need to add some accounts.
You must enter a minimum of two accounts:
- one banking account, &
- one cash wallet
These are to represent your main bank account and your wallet/purse.
You can add as many accounts as you need to.
CREATE & MODIFY ACCOUNTS
Account types are divided into two types:
ASSETS:
Bank - Savings, Cheque, Cash Management, Overdraft, etc accounts…
Wallet - Budgets Get Real special account type to keep track of cash, ATM withdrawals, and cash expenses.
Other Assets - You will use this is you want to track shares, investment properties etc.
LIABILITIES:
Credit Card - Credit or Store cards. This does not include debit cards.
Loans - For management for all loans for which you can access an electronic statement.
Other Liabilities - Such as a car lease, for which there is no electronic statement.
TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT
- Decide if it’s an asset or a liability
- Select the account type
- ‘Create’ to make account
- Go on to add account behavior
TO MODIFY AN ACCOUNT
Double-click on an account
or Right-click (command click on Mac) on an account
or Select the account, then click ‘Modify’ at the bottom right of the window.
You can not delete an account that has transactions. Instead make the account ‘inactive’, using the ‘make inactive’ option in behavior.
ACCOUNT BEHAVIOR
1. Enter a name to represent that account. Eg .’My Savings’ - you can enter any name you like.
FOR BANKING, CREDIT CARDS & LOANS you will need to enter the details of the institution, this will help decide how statements are imported.
2. Select your institution from the list. Some institutions are more fully supported than others. If your institution is not listed select ‘Other Institution’ and enter the name of that institution.
Once you Select your Institution you will be advised whether your account is maintained. Your account with the institution may or may not have a maintained configuration. You will be notified of this here. (Please note that accounts are maintained, based on their type, e.g. savings with each bank.)
If a maintained configuration is available:
You only need to follow the prompts from the Import File window. You should not need to create your own configuration.
If a maintained configuration is unavailable:
You will need to specify a configuration for this account. Configurations ensure that your transactions are imported correctly. You can specify a configuration by following the instructions from the Import File window, or by directly accessing the Configurations Wizard. (mention template creation service here, or only in configuration help?)
ACCOUNT DETAILS
The details section shows the information specific to that account and its type. It allows you to set spending limits and alerts for your accounts.
There is no details section for ‘Other Assets’ or ‘Other Liabilities’ accounts.
INCLUSION IN BUDGET REPORTS
Credit cards and Wallets allow you to track your spending and withdrawals - these can be viewed in the Budget Monitor.
These limits and alerts can be set for each account, or for all accounts of that type (i.e. credit cards).
To set an alert for a single account: set the options outside of the rounded box.
To set an alert for all accounts of one type: set the options inside of the rounded box.
Max cash/mth: Allows you to set a maximum spending limit for this account in a month.
Always show spend progress: Tick to show your spending for this account (this will display in the Budgets Monitor)
Only show when spend exceeds:
Monthly limit at any time: Will show you when your spending has exceeded your monthly limit.
Weekly spend above limit by more than %: Will show you when your spending has exceeded what it should have been by a percentage nominated by you - say 10%
SPECIFIC ACCOUNT DETAILS
Bank Details
For each of your banking accounts you can set specific details and alerts.
Account Number: The number that you enter here should be your actual account number. You may leave this blank, unless you want to download for import.
Login username: Can assist you in remembering your login details. You may enter your login username here. If you are concerned about securing this information, you might want to password protect your copy of Budgets Get Real.
Alarm if above: If you want to know if your account rises above a certain amount, enter that amount in this box. You will be alerted if the account goes above the value that you enter. Cash commitments uses this value to suggest deposits to another linked account.
Alarm if below: If you want to know if your account drops below a certain amount, enter that amount in this box. You will be alerted if the account goes below the amount that you enter. Cash commitments can suggest transfers to this account so that the balance is never below your set value.
Can write cheques: Tick this box if you can write cheques from this account. If you can write cheques, but don’t tick this box you might not be able to import any transactions with cheques in them.
Credit Card Details
Card Number: The number that you enter here should be your actual number. You may leave this blank, unless you want to download for import.
Login Username: Can assist you in remembering your login details. You may enter your login username here. If you are concerned about securing this information you might want to password protect your copy of Budgets Get Real.
Alarm at: Allows you to set and alarm when your total spending exceeds a certain amount. Sets the maximum balance you wish to use for this card. Cash commitments module will suggest cash transfers from a linked bank account to maintain this limit.
Card Limit: This is the credit limit that you have on the card. It is important to enter this, so that you can get an overall picture of how much money you have, and how much you have access to.
Interest Rate %: If you know the level of interest that you are charged on this card, you can enter it here.
Statement Calculated on Day: Day of the month the this credit card statement is normally calculated on. i.e. includes the transactions for the month to this date. This is not the due date.
Days to Pay Statement: Number of days after statement is calculated that you have to pay in full (to avoid any interest charges),or by which you must have made a repayment.
Loan Details
For each of your loan accounts you can set specific details and alerts.
Account Number: The number that you enter here should be your actual account number. You may leave this blank, but it may serve useful as a reminder.
Login username: Can assist you in remembering your login details. You may enter your login username here. If you are concerned about securing this information, you might want to password protect your copy of Budgets Get Real.
Alarm if above: If you want to know if your account rises above a certain amount, enter that amount in this box. You will be alerted if the account goes above the value that you enter. Cash commitments uses this value to suggest deposits to another linked account.
Alarm if below: If you want to know if your account drops below a certain amount, enter that amount in this box. You will be alerted if the account goes below the amount that you enter. Cash commitments can suggest transfers to this account so that the balance is never below your set value.
Can write cheques: For a loan this option will normally not apply, but is provided in case your institution provides such a facility. Tick this box if you can write cheques from this account. If you can write cheques, but don’t tick this box, you might not be able to import any transactions with cheques in them.
ACCOUNT BALANCES
Balances are mostly calculated from the transactions that you import - but you can set your account balance at any point in time. You can set a balance for all account types, except for cash wallets - their balances are set differently.
TO SET A BALANCE
- Select ‘Enter New Statement Details’
- Enter the date and the balance of the statement
If this is for a credit card, your balance is the amount you owe on that card. This would usually be entered as a negative amount e.g. -1000 if you have spent $1000.
Statement Last Set tells you the validity of your balance. With Budgets Get Real you are not restricted to importing your statements ‘in order’. Because of this you may import earlier transactions after you have imported a current set of transactions. If this is the case you will need to reset your balance to be accurate. If you import ‘in order’ Budgets Get Real will automatically calculate and update your balance.
Note that you need not use the last date & value on your statement (but if you do, be sure that it includes all transactions for that date). You can use an earlier date and then, each time you import new transactions, Budgets Get Real will allow you to compare its calculated balance with that shown by your institution. This can be useful for identifying any inaccuracies.
