Budgetpulse
To define a budget means to outline a plan for expected revenues and expenses in a way that allows wise spending and saving. Budgeting is an important concept for individuals and families to provide a safe level of forecasting of income and expenses and construct models based on their personal goals for saving. Without a budget, most households are just scraping by, and that's just not enough in this day and age.
Budgeting is an important forecasting tool for measuring overall growth and planning for the future. Knowing how to design a budget is not, however, a commonly understood skill. Budgetpulse is an interactive online budgeting tool designed to simplify the way you manage your money by showing you how to quickly and easily define a budget. Once you know where your money is going now, you can more easily design a plan to save more and achieve your financial goals.
Dashboard
The Dashboard page acts as your entry point into the Budgetpulse system with your data loaded. It is divided into two tabs: Budget and Accounts, as described here:
- Budget tab – as you build and maintain your budget, this tab presents a useful overview of expenses and income so you can get an immediate picture of where your budget stands at any moment.
- Accounts tab – selecting this tab shows you a charted overview of all accounts and provides a launching place to view details about any account for any time range you select.
Transactions
The Transactions page is intended to give you a way to see recent transactions, to plan upcoming and recurring transactions, and to add new transactions. This page is divided into two primary sections: Recent transactions (select a time frame) and Upcoming/Recurring transactions.
Add a Transaction
To add a transaction, you have two options:
- Click the Add New Transaction link from the Accounts page, or
- Click the Add New in the Transactions page.
Regardless of your method of arriving at this action, you will perform the same basic steps to add a transaction.
Use these steps.
- Select the transaction type: Expense or Income.
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Type the category type to categorize the transaction. (This is an optional field, see this page for more information.)
- Select the Account affected by this transaction.
- Type a Description of the transaction. For example: car payment or rent
- Click the calendar icon to select the date of the transaction.
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Type the transaction amount (two decimal digits are allowed).
- Type the payee or recipient of the transaction. (This field is optional and usually only useful for expense transactions.)
- Type the check number of the transaction, if applicable. (This field is optional and usually only useful for expense transactions.)
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To split transactions, see this page
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To define recurring transactions, see this page
- Click Submit & Done if you are finished, or Submit & Add Another to add another transaction.
Tips
Notes are useful for annotating transactions, especially for transactions that are somewhat out of the norm. This can help you remember the details about that transaction later.
Edit Transactions
You can edit your transactions at any time, and this can be an important effort to keep your budget and account information up-to-date at all times.
Transactions can be edited directly in each of the transaction tables by selecting the transaction details and using the pencil icon to make changes.
Delete Transactions
Transactions can be deleted by selecting the check box next to the transaction and clicking Delete Selected. Be careful – any transaction deleted may affect one or more accounts!
Edit Transaction Categories
Transactions can be identified and sorted into categories and tagged. To edit a defined transaction's category, or add a tag, select that transaction's category field to see the pencil icon. Then, you can make changes to the category and tag. For information about categories and tags, see
this pageBudget
To define a budget means to outline a plan for expected revenues and expenses in a way that allows for comfortable and wise spending and saving. Before you can do either (spend or save, that is), you have to know what your income and expenses are and when to expect them.
To accomplish a budget, you will begin to define budget items, based on income and expenses. Each of your expenses and income sources will be identified as budget items. These steps should be done in advance of defining individual transactions, so that transactions can be accurately tied to budget items and therefore charted and tracked in a useful way.
Add a Budget Item
Adding budget items is a necessary part of defining a budget, and each item will be used to identify and sort transactions. To define budget items, you will start from the Budget page.
Use these steps:
- In the Add New Budget Item section, select the type of budget item: income or expense.
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Type a category and tag, as necessary. See this page for information.
- Type the amount.
- Click Add.
Adjust Monthly Budget
Your monthly budget is an accumulation of the expected income and expenses for this month. It gives you a way to see actual spending, what's left in the budget and (hopefully not) any amount spent that is over budget. Tracking your budgeted items means to put those items you know are going to occur into your current monthly budget tracking and keep those periodic expenses in a non budgeted, but still viewable list, for later use.
Adjust Monthly Budget
To track budget items means to add those items to this month's budget for review and tracking.
Use these steps:
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To add a currently non budgeted category to the budget, click the plus (+) sign next to the category. The item will be added to the monthly budget and tracking will begin.
- Click Submit to save your budget changes.
Stop Tracking a Budget Item
To remove budget items from the tracking means to put those items into the non budgeted category. This may be done when a debt is paid off, for example, or for periodic expenses that don't occur every month.
Use these steps:
- To remove a budgeted category from the current budget, click the minus (-) sign next to the category. The item will be moved to the non budgeted list for later use.
- Click Submit to save your budget changes.
Edit a Budget Item
You can edit individual budget items to meet your budget goals.
Use these steps:
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To modify the budget amount, you can use one of these options:
- Drag the slider to the left or right, depending on the change, or
- type a different value in the text box at the end of the slider.
Edited budget items will be updated across your dashboard, so charts and lists reflect the change.
Accounts
The initial Accounts page displays two basic sections: the overview and the summary. The accounts overview displays your current account status, including a graphical representation of the different accounts (supported with a color-coded legend), and the summary section lets you manage:
- Accounts
- Assets
- Liabilities
- and view transaction details
Accounts Overview
The Accounts Overview is intended to give you a full picture – based on a selected time range – of your accounts and where you stand financially.
Net Worth of Accounts = Assets – Debts
Net Change in Accounts = Opening balance – Current balance
The Net Worth and Net Change are based on the selected time range; if you select the "Last 3 months" time period, the net change is the difference between the opening balance of all accounts and the current balance of all accounts for that time period.
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
- To see an overview of your accounts for a different time range, select the preferred time range using the drop-down under Accounts Overview.
The graph, transactions, and calendar will change to correspond to your selection.
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To import or export data as comma-separated value (CSV) files, select the Import/Export data link.
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To see details about each account, click the account in the legend.
As accounts and transactions are added to the system, the Net Worth and Net Change balances will update to reflect those changes.
Accounts Summary
The Accounts Summary is intended to give you a method to easily manage your accounts, assets and liabilities and their relative transactions. This section displays the summary of the data provided in the My Accounts section.
What can you do in this section?
Use this steps:
- To perform inline editing on the account information listed, click any of the items in that row and a pencil icon will appear. Click the icon, type the change, and click Save.
- To delete an account, you can select that account and click the Delete link. Be careful – if you delete an account, all of the transactions related to that account will also be deleted!
My Accounts
This section is where you will add accounts, assets, liabilities and transactions that are reflected in the Account Overview chart and the Accounts Summary listing.
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
- To see a list of accounts in each category, click the plus (+) sign to expand the list. Similarly, to collapse the account list for a category, click the minus (-) sign next to the category name.
- To see a detailed view of each account, expand that category and click the account name.
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To add new accounts, click Add Account (Each new account will then list in the Accounts Summary section.) See this tip.
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To add a transaction to one of the accounts, click Add a Transaction.
- To transfer funds between accounts, click Transfer Funds
When new accounts or transactions are added, the summary section is refreshed to reflect the changes.
At any time, to see the recent, upcoming, and recurring transactions for any account, click that account name and the information will display for you.
Charts
The Charts feature lets you see Income and Expense information represented as bar graphs and pie charts, which can be useful for month-to-month or progressive comparisons. Charts are a useful communication device to give you a visual picture of your income to expense ratio and help you further control and manage your budgeting.
Income Chart
The Income chart displays the various income categories by category, value, and percentage of total value. Pagination is implemented when more than 10 categories of income exist in the report (this is not typical). You can view the income chart in a pie graph or a bar graph, depending on your preference.
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
- To view the data in a bar, line, or pie chart, depending on your preference, click one of those links.
- Select the time range for the data to be displayed in the chart, select a time range in the drop-down with the calendar.
- To view the data related to a particular account, select the account from the drop-down.
- To export the data to a PDF, click that link.
When you are finished viewing the chart, you can click the minus sign (-) to hide the report.
Expense Chart
The Expense chart displays the various expenses in your budget by category, value, and percentage of total value. Pagination is implemented when more than 10 categories of expenses exist in the report (this is a typical scenario). You can view the expense chart in a pie graph or a bar graph, depending on your preference. You can also filter the expenses to view transactions by month (this is the
default), year, or using a custom range by selecting the start and end dates. You can also filter and view expenses by account, which helps you see transactions related to a specific account.
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
- To view the data in a bar, line, or pie chart, depending on your preference, click one of those links.
- To select the time range for the data to be displayed in the chart, select a time range in the drop-down with the calendar.
- To view the data related to a particular account, select the account from the drop-down.
- To export the data to a PDF, click that link.
When you are finished viewing the chart, you can click the minus sign (-) to hide the report.
Income to Expense Chart
The Income to Expense chart presents a visual representation of your income-to-expense ratios and helps you get an idea – at a high level – of where your budget stands. You can view these charts in pie graph, bar graph, and line graph. Pagination is implemented when more than 12 data points are displayed. This chart feature lets you filter the income-to-expense picture by month, 3 months, 6 months, year, or using a custom range by selecting the start and end dates. You can also filter expenses by account.
Based on the time range you select, the data points display as described in the following table.
| If you select this time range ... |
The data points display: |
| 7 days or less |
On a daily basis |
| 14 days or less |
On a daily basis, with every data point differing by 2 days |
| Between a month and 3 months |
On a weekly basis |
| Between 3 months and a year |
On a monthly basis |
| Between a year and 3 years |
On a bi-monthly basis |
| Greater than 2 years |
On a yearly basis |
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
- To view the data in a bar, line, or pie chart, depending on your preference, click one of those links.
- To select the time range for the data to be displayed in the chart, select a time range in the drop-down with the calendar.
- To view the data related to a particular account, select the account from the drop-down.
- To export the data to a PDF, click that link.
When you are finished viewing the chart, you can click the minus sign (-) to hide the report.
The Net Worth chart is intended to display your current net worth – that is your total assets minus any debts or liabilities. You can view this chart as a bar graph or a line graph, and it typically gives you an idea of your overall net worth, growth or loss, over time. You can filter your net worth chart to display particular ranges in time by month, a 3-month range, a 6-month range, a year range, or a custom range by selecting the start and end dates.
What can you do in this section?
Use these steps:
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To view the data in a bar, line, or pie chart, depending on your preference, click one of those links.
- To select the time range for the data to be displayed in the chart, select a time range in the drop-down with the calendar.
- To view the data related to a particular account, select the account from the drop-down.
- To export the data to a PDF, click that link.
When you are finished viewing the chart, you can click the minus sign (-) to hide the report.
Tools
The Tools page lets you import and export your budget data from or into these formats:
- Quicken or MS Money (.qfx, .ofx, or .qif formats), versions 2007 or later
- CSV (spreadsheet format)
Exporting Data
Using the Tools page, you can export data to comma-separated values (CSV) files, when necessary.
Use these steps:
- Select an account name (or all accounts) from the list.
- Select the transaction type (or all transactions) from the list.
- Click Export.
The CSV file is generated without headers.
Importing Data
Using the Tools page, you can import data from the following software programs and formats into your budget:
See the section appropriate to your import data file type.
Using the Tools page, you can import data from Quicken or MS Money (.qfx, .ofx, or .qif formats) versions 2007 or later, into your budget.
Use these steps:
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From the Tools page, click Browse and locate and select a file to be imported.
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With the file selected for import, select the account into which to import the data.
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Click Import.
If duplicate data is found in the imported data, a warning message displays to let you know. You can view the duplicates, if you like.
If data is found to pre-date the opening date of the account, a warning message displays to let you know. You can choose to view and even import those pre-dated transactions if you like.
After a successful import, the Transactions page displays.
Using the Tools page, you can import data from comma-separated value (CSV) file formats into your budget. For this import file type, selecting an account is not necessary as the account will be selected from the account column in the inbound CSV file.
With this import file type, users will
download a template for importing first.
Use these steps:
- From the Tools page, click Download sample template for importing CSV data. (Read the header notes for additional information and requirements for import data format.)
- Click Browse and locate and select a file to be imported.
- Click Import.
If duplicate data is found in the imported data, a warning message displays to let you know. You can view the duplicates, if you like.
If data is found to pre-date the opening date of the account, a warning message displays to let you know. You can choose to view and even import those pre-dated transactions if you like.
After a successful import, the Transactions page displays.
Goals
The goals page is intended to give you a way to easily set up a goal you are trying to save money for. It also can be a way to collect money towards your goal, even, or organization in one place. There are two types of goals you can create, a private and public goal.
Private
Add a Goal
To add a goal…
- Type the description to categorize the goal.
- Type the amount required as your goal’s target.
- Select the target date you would like to meet your goal by.
- Type the monthly contribution (optional).
- Select what day you would like the monthly contribution to recur on (optional).
- Select the source from which you would like to fund your goal.
- Click submit.
Edit a Goal
You can edit the details of your goal at any time. The details of the goals can be edited by directly moving the mouse cursor over the details, then clicking on the pencil icon to make changes.
Click the green arrow next to your goal to have more options appears.
Add Money: Click and you will be able to add money to your goal and choose what account the money comes from.
Contribution Summary: Click to view the full contribution details of your goal. You will view the date money was contributed, who contributed, the funding source, and how much. This section will help you track your progress and contributions over time.
Edit: Click and it takes you to a new page where you can view your goal information you entered and can make any changes necessary.
Delete: Click and you can delete the goal.
Public
To add a goal…
- Type the description to categorize the goal.
- Type the amount required as your goal’s target.
- Select the target data you would like to meet your goal by.
- Type the monthly contribution (optional).
- Select what day you would like the monthly contribution to recur on (optional).
- Select the source from which you would like to fund your goal.
- Click the Public bullet.
This will bring you to a new page where you will see all the information you just entered there. You will now see the option for how you would like to collect money.
- Check Amazon, Paypal, or both as options to collect money from and enter your account information associated with the respective service provider.
* Check “Other contribution methods” if you would like to privately set up a different collection method with everyone you contact.
- Click submit and done.
Edit a Goal
You can edit the details of your goal at any time. The details of the goals can be edited by directly moving the mouse over the details, then clicking on the pencil icon to make changes.
Click the green arrow next to the goal to have more options appear.
Add Money: Click and you will be able to add money to your goal and choose what account the money comes from.
Contribution Summary: Click to view the full contribution details of your goals. You will view the date money was contributed, who contributed, the funding source, and how much. This section will help you track your progress and contributions added and received from others over time.
Email to friends: Click this and a new page appears. Add all the email addresses of friends, family, colleagues and others who you would like to ask to contribute money. Write a message explaining what you are asking money for, or use the generic message above. Then click submit.
* Everyone who you email will receive a code to be able to send money and view the goal. Nobody else will be able to send money or view the goal without the access code.
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