I think I am thoroughly confused, but I'm not sure it matters. Obviously I
still need to feel my way around the program until I get a better handle on
things. Asset accounts will have to wait--I definitely can't wrap my brain
around that concept, but since I'm not buying anything big these days, or
even doing any major work to my house, I'm not sure it's necessary anyway.

Thanks for your help!

"William R Wood" wrote:

- quote -

What you describe makes perfect sense.

Money is showing you actual "cash flow" in the Transfers into/out of Budget
accounts. Don't be confused. The specific cash flow you are seeing is not
money spent but money moved from checking to savings. You still want to be
aware of this movement even though it does not represent expense or reduce
your net worth. You can also see these items on an Income/Expense report
that shows transfers.

If you don't want to see those transactions you can exclude them from the
budget but I don't recommend it. Double click on the total under Transfers
into or out of Budget accounts. Then right click on any of the individual
transactions that appear in the pop up box and chose Exclude from Budget.
It will disappear but now you have no way of remembering what the
transaction was unless you write it down. You can find the transaction in
the register and un-exclude it later if you want to.

Be aware of another facet of transfers into/out of Budget accounts. If you
really handle you money by the book, highly recommended, you will setup
asset accounts for all significant purchases - house, car, furniture,
expensive stuff like cameras, telescopes, tools, guns, etc. When you buy
this stuff you transfer money from your checking account or better yet a
credit card account to the asset account. That way you have a record of all
the stuff you buy, very handy for insurance and later look up purposes plus
your net worth statement starts to become much more accurate.

These transfers to asset accounts are real expenditures and they will also
show up in the Budget planner under transfers into/out of budget accounts.
And they will show up in the Income and Expense reports that display
transfers. These are real cash flow items that involve money spent but at
least you have something solid and real to show for it, and those items are
beautifully listed in your asset accounts. These items should never be
excluded from the budget planner since they represent real cash that has
been spent on specific stuff, not merely transferred to a different account.

Regards

Bill Wood


"dragonwing" <dragonwing[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:804C54EF-DE59-407C-B4CE-CFFDAB887AEE[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

- quote -

I don't see anywhere where I can do that. I should maybe mention that I am
using Money 2004 Deluxe.




"CanaKiwi" wrote:

- quote -

You should be able to right click on the item and select "Exclude from
budget"


"dragonwing" <dragonwing[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:804C54EF-DE59-407C-B4CE-CFFDAB887AEE[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

In my Bills & Deposits list, I include a monthly deposit into a college
savings fund: this is done as a direct deposit from my checking account. If
I understand the "Accounting 101" concepts, this isn't an expense, because
it's just moving a chunk of my money from one account to another. But it
shows up in my Budget Planner under "Transfers out of Budget Accounts."
Additionally, last month I repaid a chunk of money from my checking account
to another savings account--this showed up as an unbudgeted expense on my
Budget Planner under "Transfers out of Budget Accounts." Does this make
sense? Is there something different I should be doing? I am confused.

Thanks in advance for any help!