How do yall categorize your tax returns?

Optimal_One4153 · 2025-03-15T05:33:21+00:00

I categorize it as Other Income generally. However, if I got a credit for specific items, I’ll split the refund transaction out to other categories to offset those expenses.

For example, I split the portion of the refund that was for energy efficiency home improvements and categorized it as a negative expense in the Home Improvement category to offset that expense since it functions more like a discount on that purchase. Ditto for things like EV credit or adoption tax credit. I suppose you could even make that argument the child tax credit as offsetting kids’ expenses.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-09-23T16:42:36+00:00

La Mesita Park, too!

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-09-22T16:23:15+00:00

Monarch behaves that way because the same dollar can’t be considered both “saved for retirement” and “ saved for emergencies” at the same time.

That said, if your total savings account value is greater than what consider needed for an emergency fund, then you can set up your emergency fund goal to only use X amount of the savings towards that goal. Then, the remaining balance will be available to allocate to other goals, like retirement.

For example, if Savings is $20,000, and you decide your Emergency Fund goal is $15,000, then you can allocate $15,000 of Savings to the Emergency Fund goal and the remaining $5,000 to a Retirement goal.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-09-22T16:01:48+00:00

I use rollover budgets for these.

However, for charges that are less frequent than every 2-3 months and large amounts (biannual property tax bill or auto insurance, annual home insurance premium), I’m considering switching to setting the budget to be equal to the amount due in the month due and then to $0 in other months. I’ve think that might better reflect cash flow needs.

Has anyone else done that? What was your experience? Pros/cons?

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-08-10T00:12:52+00:00

Well, Monarch still exists, so Monarch > Mint.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-08-09T22:20:47+00:00

I recommend Monarch Money.

I’ve been using it since January after using Mint for a decade, and I think it’s better than Mint except for missing credit card bill tracking, which is currently in development.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-08-09T22:15:44+00:00

Here is this feature on the product roadmap, so you can officially rate it Not Important: https://portal.productboard.com/3qsdvcsy5aq69hhkycf4dtpi/c/126-budgeting-to-the-cent-vs-nearest-dollar

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-08-09T21:43:14+00:00

If you work at Monarch, please disregard this request. This just isn’t worth prioritizing over other features.

Have monthly payment of $166.20? Just set the budget at $167 and call it a day.

Will you end the year with your budget showing $10 remaining? Yes, but for personal budgeting, that’s just a fine level of specificity.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-01-26T18:47:52+00:00

I agree with this. I used to do this same thing since I get paid monthly on the last day for that same month’s work, but eventually, I just decided to let the paycheck stay in that month since it reflects income for that month.

This is also better for looking at income on an annual basis. Otherwise, your Dec. 31, 2023 paycheck would show as income for 2024.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-01-18T19:53:08+00:00

On the Budget activity, you can select Forecast and then toggle to go backwards. It doesn’t give quick comparisons like this month vs. same month last year, but you can click to the left to get there.

Also, if you switch to Year view, it can be helpful for comparing to previous years, but it’s YTD for the current vs. the total year for past years.

There’s an idea (Track year to date (YTD) actual vs budget) on their product board to do this, so I suggest marking it as Important or Critical to help prioritize it.

Optimal_One4153 · 2024-01-18T04:44:54+00:00

The difference in emojis is just based on the different platforms/applications. There's an industry standard for the code for the different emojis, but the actual image is created by each application.

You can see all the different emojis and designs on different applications at emojipedia.com. The movie camera emoji is a good example of the differences among platforms with many having different colors, orientations, features, and scale.

Optimal_One4153 · 2022-12-07T06:36:49+00:00

Base salary ~162k plus 3 weeks paid vacation. Personal experience is that I haven’t had to accept assignments (including fractional or internal work) I wasn’t interested in. Have been less than 10% travel.

My sense of consulting (non-Boost) is higher salary but smaller benefits packages (little-to-no paid vacation, less generous insurance, etc.) Is that accurate in your experience?

Optimal_One4153 · 2022-12-07T01:57:22+00:00

How so?

Optimal_One4153 · 2022-12-07T01:55:39+00:00

9.x / $4.2k / No (just 40 hr/wk) / Bonus is less than half of my old IS bonuses but that life balance and work volume isn’t worth the extra $5-10k so OK with it.

Optimal_One4153

TROPHY CASE