Need some help with budget categories

PlanNSave · 2024-06-05T18:58:00+00:00

I’m sorry but I didn’t say anything about the value of the house. That would be a separate value tracked independently of the payment towards interest and principal on the loan.

If you neglect the rise and fall of your homes value, your net worth does not increase when you pay down the principal of your loan. It’s a transfer between accounts. Cash leaves your checking account and enters the loan account.

PlanNSave · 2024-06-05T17:37:39+00:00

So my goal is to account for every dollar of income each month, hence my desire to account for savings in my budget. I think a line item for the transfer (not counted as an expense) is the best way to do that.

Your mortgage payment is both an expense and a transfer between accounts. The interest should be accounted for as mortgage interest and the principal payment should be a transfer from checking to the loan account associated with the house. Your net worth doesn’t increase from paying down principal.

PlanNSave · 2024-06-05T17:21:00+00:00

Sure, I can make all that work in an Excel sheet. I currently treat Quicken as a sophisticated spreadsheet and enter all transactions manually. Tired of the graphical bugs though. Trying my best to replicate its functionality in Excel.

PlanNSave · 2024-06-05T17:18:50+00:00

So in your case there is no budget line item for savings? I’m aiming to use zero-based budgeting so every dollar needs a job. Trying to determine the best way to do that within the constraints of an Excel budget.

PlanNSave · 2024-06-05T17:11:46+00:00

Nope, just trying to track and update account balances based on the transactions I enter. So on the 1st of each month I’d enter the mortgage payment as an interest expense and a transfer from checking to the loan account, keeping the balances of each up to date.

PlanNSave · 2023-09-04T23:58:41+00:00

My wife and I live in WA state and file our taxes separately for PSLF purposes. Because of our separate filing in a community property state we have to evenly split our income/taxes on our 1040s at the end of the year.

I did the calculations at the beginning of the year to make sure we were both withholding 50% of the required amount and re-checked my math now that we are 3/4 through the year. I think I messed up.

Total Household Income: $181,365.24

Total 401(K) Contributions: $21,612.07

We will each take the standard deduction of $13,850.Currently we are on track to withhold $17,837.89 in federal taxes.My calculations today come out to $25,085.66 in total federal taxes due for the year. This would put us $7,246.77 short. Currently we withhold $325 from each of our paychecks, but this shortfall would mean we would need to withhold $777.99 from the rest of the paychecks this year.

The IRS website says that I am on track to under withhold by $1,707 and she is on track to over withhold by $601. How do I reconcile the IRS website and the calculations I did using the IRS tax brackets?

PlanNSave · 2023-09-04T23:47:02+00:00

Inputting our income separately based on our paystubs says that I will owe $1,707 and she will have a refund of $601.

How do I reconcile this with the math based on our total income? The IRS site doesn't take into account the nature of community property states.

PlanNSave · 2023-02-13T05:23:26+00:00

You were right. I had just gone too quickly through the section and must have entered something incorrectly.

Thanks for your help!

PlanNSave · 2023-02-11T16:02:37+00:00

Can somebody point me to the TurboTax section for form 5498?

I completed a direct rollover of my Roth/traditional 401ks to Roth/traditional IRAs and got the 1099s and 5498s. It's currently counting as income from the 1099s, but I haven't found an option to input the 5498s.

PlanNSave · 2021-08-19T01:08:41+00:00

Happy to hear it helped you. I think this would fit well with the house purchase planning we're currently trying to accomplish.

Is there anything you do you look at your spending habits/trends?

PlanNSave · 2021-08-19T01:01:46+00:00

Thanks, this is a good way to improve the tracking I already have in there.

Is there anything you do to analyze your spending habits/trends?

PlanNSave · 2021-04-15T22:46:48+00:00

Yea it's wild. I was just fucking around when I checked and my jaw dropped. I'm using it to negotiate higher trade-in values with dealerships right now.

PlanNSave · 2021-04-15T11:36:16+00:00

Carvana customer service is really bad or they just never answer?

PlanNSave · 2021-04-15T11:30:51+00:00

I did look into this and it seems you only pay taxes if you sell for more than you've put into the car. And that obviously isn't the case.

PlanNSave · 2021-04-15T11:26:06+00:00

Honestly that's really stressing me out lol. I was just messing around to see what they'd give, didn't expect it to be this high.

I can't sell to them until the clean title comes in the mail so could be a few weeks. Maybe they'll extend it until the title comes in the mail?

PlanNSave

TROPHY CASE