The Budget Manager is a tool to set your financial targets and monitor your progress in meeting them. A budget is the amount of money you want to spend on something in a given amount of time. For example you might define a monthly budget of $350 for groceries. Moneydance will calculate the difference between your actual expenses and the budget and show it in Status Graph and Budget Report.

Basics

The best way to understand the Budget Manager's basic features is to start with really simple budgets. Ignore the "Calculate" button for now. You'll have more fun with it later. :-)

Example 1: Weekly budget for Groceries

Prerequisits: Make sure to enable the Status Graph (View > Show Budget Status).

This example assumes that you have an expense category called "groceries" that contains several transactions: $15 yesterday, $32 last week, $101 two months ago.

1. Define Budget: Open the Budget Manager (Tools > Budget Manager). Click "New...". Enter the Budget Name "Budget for Groceries". Click on button with the Plus-Sign ("+") and a new entry will appear in the list. Double-click on the amount "0,00" and replace it with "350". Douple-click on the category an choose "groceries" from the list (or however you called this category). Double-click on the interval and choose "monthly" from the list. Double-click on the Start Date an enter a date two years in the past (this is important!). Make sure the End Date is empty. Choose "Last 365 Days" from the drop-down-list at the Budget-Managers lower right-hand corner. The "Total Expenses" should now display "$148", the sum of your expenses for groceries during the last 365 days. If you select "Last 30 Days", the displayed sum should read "$47".
2. Check Status: In the Status Graph you'll find a drop-down-list. Choose your newly created "Budget for Groceries". Select "Last 365 Days". The resulting graph should be a single blue bar, about half as long as the enclosing box. The sums on the right should read "$148" and "$0".
3. Now experiment with other date ranges. "Last 30 days" should display a shorter bar with a sum of "$47". The sums for "This month" and "This year" will depend on on the current date.
4. New transaction: Now add a new transaction for "groceries": $103 today. See how the Status Graph changes.
5. Budget Report: Click on the toolbar-icon "Graphs and Reports". Pick "Budget" from the list. As Budget choose "Budget for Groceries", as date "Last 12 months" and "Subtotal by Month". Click on "Generate". Compare the numbers with your transactions.

Budget Planning: Interval, Start Date, End Date

Budgets are about making financial plans. When you define a budget, you are looking in the future. How much money will I earn? How am I going to spend it? How much can I afford to spend?

So the very first step is to capture your financial plans. That's the Budget Manager's main purpose. When you select a budget from the list and open it in the Budget Manager, think of it as a financial plan. It is a financial plan!

The Budget Manager gives you a whole variety of intervals to choose from. In the first example we defined a "monthly" budget for groceries. Choose what ever interval most accurately represents your plan. Apply everyday language. If you think of groceries as a "weekly" budget, define it as such. If you plan a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawai, choose "don't repeat". It's perfectly OK to have a wild mix of intervals in your financial plan. (Don't click on "Calculate" yet, just don't.)

While you make your financial plan, you might know that some expenses will change over time. The landlord will raise the rent on October 1st. You'll grant yourself an extra daily allowance during your trip to Hawai.

If you use the Budget Manager as a planning tool, it turns out to be surpringly useful! You can capture everyday expenses and complex (Don't click on "Calculate" yet, just don't.)

Example 2: Rent Increase

Let's say you pay rent. The current rent is $1100/month and it will raise on October 1st, 2009, to $1170/month. The budget would look something like this:

• Amount $1100; Category rent; Interval monthly; Start date (some day in the past); End date September 30th, 2009
• Amount $1170; Category rent; Interval monthly; Start date October 1st, 2009; End date (leave open)

Note that the category "rent" appears twice in the budget!

Example 3: Trip to Hawai

Let's say you plan a trip to Hawai on August 1st, 2009. You'll buy the tickets sometime between now and departure day. You want to spend up to $20/day on dining out, $100/day on a hotel, $300/week on rental cars. You'll be back on August 15th. The budget could look something like this:

• Ticket: Amount $1000; Category vacation:travel; Interval don't repeat; Start date (today); End date August 1st, 2009
• Dining: Amount $20; Category vacation:food; Interval Daily; Start date August 1st, 2009; End date August 15th, 2009
• Hotel: Amount $100; Category vacation:hotel; Interval Daily; Start date August 1st, 2009; End date August 15th, 2009
• Rental cars: Amount $300; Category vacation:travel; Interval Weekly; Start date August 1st, 2009; End date August 15th, 2009

Note that the category "vacation:travel" appears twice in the budget!

Expenses Monitoring: Budget Report, Status Graph

(to be written: how does moneydance calculate numbers: conversion of intervals, start/end dates, bank accounts, ...)

Advanced Techniques

(to be written: Calculate button as starting point vs. manual design; one huge budget vs. many small budget)