[moneydance] Do online transactions expire if not downloaded?

[pursley001@comcast.net]

Eldar Yuzbashev wrote:
> I haven't downloaded the online transactions from my checking account
> for approximately 2 months. If I download them now will there be any
> missed transactions? Does it depend on the bank or on Moneydance or on
> the combination of both? The account is active, about 5 transactions a
> day (debit cards, checks, electronic payments, cash withdrawals). I
> normally do not enter the transactions manually into Moneydance but
> rely instead on the downloads. It seems to me that some on this list do
> not think it's a prudent way of tracking the money. I'd like to hear
> the arguments both for and against this method.
>
>   
Well, the exact details of how each person uses Moneydance to keep track
of their accounts may be a little different and it will really come down
to you having to try different things to find what works for you and
what you're comfortable with.  As for me, I enter all transactions the
same day and in some cases immediately.  Every so often (every week or
two), I do a general comparison online with the bank to see if any
transactions have been missed or if there may be anything unauthorized
showing up.  When the monthly bank statement becomes available
electronically, I download it and officially balance the account.

If you ask how my wife does it, it is different.  She saves the receipts
and enters them in within several days, occasionally glances at the
online balances and transactions to see if anything looks odd, and then
when she gets the bank statement, she balances the account and assumes
any transactions that haven't been entered are unauthorized until she
verifies that purchase.

I guess the first questions you have to ask yourself are -

   1) - How much do I trust myself to enter transactions reliably?
   2) - How much do I trust my bank to look after my interests?  (some banks are better than others)
   3) - How much do I trust my computer to accurately keep track of what I enter?
   3) - Am I really willing to keep make electronically entered finances safe?
   4) - How cooperative is my bank electronically?
   ... and so on.

For a long time when I started using a computer to keep track of things,
I was also doing it on paper using old-fashioned methods for about a
year or more before finally committing everything to being electronic.
Even then I discovered that you have to be very, very careful to take
measures to protect your data.

Well, I tend to ramble on subjects.  So, I think you've gotten the idea
what I'm talking about.

Bradley