Adding account

[Wade]

I'm new to Moneywell and did a search for my question so please
forgive if this has been asked before. I have a bunch of old
transactions that I'd like to have a record of in Moneywell as it will
be my main financial software. I have some QIF files and such to
import from my bank and credit card. When I do this however, my
balance gets messed up and is wrong because I'm guessing I don't have
every single transaction from the past to make up the new balance?
Before I set up a spending plan and all that, I'd just like to get all
my old transactions into Moneywell and have the balances on each
account be correct. I'm not sure how to make this correct. I set the
starting balance (today's balance on each account) when I began but
when I then import older account transactions, Moneywell changes the
balance. I'm not sure why really. Sorry if this is dense, I just don't
full get it. This is my first time using a financial program, I've
never used Quicken or anything and so I appreciate your patience.

Thanks!

[Kevin Hoctor]

Hi Wade,

You'll need to change the date on your starting balance transaction to
the day prior to your first imported transaction date. If your QIF
file includes transactions back to July 6, then your starting balance
transaction should be on July 5 and you need to change its amount to
the end of day balance on that date.

Let me know if you need more information please.

Peace,

Kevin Hoctor
ke...@nothirst.com
No Thirst Software LLC
http://nothirst.com
http://kevinhoctor.blogspot.com

[Wade]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the reply. I tried changing the date of the Starting
Balance to before my transactions begin, but I don't have my balance
from that point. I tried calling my bank to get it but they said they
don't have it from that far back (2 years ago). I don't know much
about accounting and this is the first time I've used software to
track my finances so wherever possible please be explicit as possible.
My goal is simple (in my mind) to begin using Moneywell. I want to be
able to do the following:

1. Import old QIF/OFX transaction files I've collected from my bank
(knowing I would eventually find software like Moneywell that could
use them)
2. Have my balance match with my bank
3. Then setup a Spending Plan, use the other features, etc

I don't have old paper bank statements to reconcile against though.
When I change the starting balance (deposit) to a larger number ($0.00
to say $2000.00), for the sake of adjusting my balance to the correct
number, my balance goes down. I don't understand this. Shouldn't it go
up being that the starting balance is a deposit? I'm really not sure
what to do here. Would it be better to keep a copy of my old QIF/OFX
files outside of Moneywell but start fresh from today adding
transactions?

[Kevin Hoctor]

On Aug 11, 2008, at 12:23 AM, Wade wrote:

> Thanks for the reply. I tried changing the date of the Starting
> Balance to before my transactions begin, but I don't have my balance
> from that point. I tried calling my bank to get it but they said they
> don't have it from that far back (2 years ago). I don't know much
> about accounting and this is the first time I've used software to
> track my finances so wherever possible please be explicit as possible.
> My goal is simple (in my mind) to begin using Moneywell. I want to be
> able to do the following:
>
> 1. Import old QIF/OFX transaction files I've collected from my bank
> (knowing I would eventually find software like Moneywell that could
> use them)
> 2. Have my balance match with my bank
> 3. Then setup a Spending Plan, use the other features, etc
>
> I don't have old paper bank statements to reconcile against though.
> When I change the starting balance (deposit) to a larger number ($0.00
> to say $2000.00), for the sake of adjusting my balance to the correct
> number, my balance goes down. I don't understand this. Shouldn't it go
> up being that the starting balance is a deposit? I'm really not sure
> what to do here. Would it be better to keep a copy of my old QIF/OFX
> files outside of Moneywell but start fresh from today adding
> transactions?

Wade,

If you trust that your list of transactions is correct and none are
missing, a quick way to get a starting balance is:

1. Import all your transactions
2. Get your account balance at the end of day for the most current
transaction
3. Select all the transactions (click "Transactions" title)
4. Look at the total at the bottom of the window and subtract that
from your current balance
5. Set the starting balance transaction to this difference and the
date to the day prior to your first transaction date

In fact, MoneyWell 1.4 does a trick similar to this when doing a
direct download from your financial institution for the first time.
You also will probably want to mark all those as reconciled so you
don't have to deal with them. Select all the transactions again and
change the Open pop-up in the Transaction Detail to Reconciled.

Peace,

Kevin Hoctor
ke...@nothirst.com

[Wade]

This may be related to my other post on my balance going up instead of
down when withdrawals are added to the account. Using Moneywell 1.3.9.
Thanks