Cash Flow Forecasting Tool

Dick Watson and Chris Cowles, both very helpful posters to this group,
recently alerted me to Money's Cash Flow Forecasting Tool (CFFT) so I am
mentioning it in case other Money users might not be aware how good it is.
I have been using Money since it first came out (don't really remember when
that was) and never seriously looked at CFFT until the past couple of days
after Chris and{*filter*} recommended it.   In fact, I was amazed when{*filter*} said
it was his most used Money feature.  I had tried CFFT years ago and it
produced crazy results and I wrongly concluded that it was another one of
Money's wacky examples of bloatware.  For many years I have used cashflow
analysis to keep from bouncing checks and I managed to basically duplicate
CFFT's results by pre-entering scheduled bills and deposits into my checking
account register about 3-4 weeks in advance.  This allowed me see my
projected account balances and worked quite well.  But the CFFT does the
same thing much easier and it is much more powerful.  My favorite part is
that I can now accurately project cash flow for any period of time in
advance using the custom date range function instead of being limited to the
3-4 week period I was using by manually pre-entering scheduled transactions.

You will need to customize the tool to fit your situation.  In Money 2002,
CFFT is in Accounts and Bills/Cash Flow Review (don't know where it is in
later versions but it should be easy to find).

First pick the account(s) you want to include in your cashflow report:  I
included our checking account and our main brokerage account because they
are the only accounts that receive and disburse the cash we live on.  All
other accounts receive/disburse money using transfers that do not represent
cashflow (which I define as new money in and actual money out).

Then click Customize Cash Flow and check the appropriate boxes:  I unchecked
Display Amounts from Budget under Budget Items and checked Display Scheduled
Bills and Deposits under Bills and Deposits.  [What you check depends on
your own setup.  I have an elaborate budget and a big list of scheduled bill
and deposits.  But we live off a credit card paid in full every month and
most budget items are paid by credit card so checking Budget Items
duplicated many expenses, thus I unchecked it.]  I also checked both boxes
under Other.  Click Done.

You are ready to go and can now display the results and adjust the report
time period to suit your needs.  I mostly use the Custom time period but the
drop down box has useful default periods as well.

The tool is great and shows a graphic display of the cash position in your
selected accounts individually and in combination over the time period you
select.  A numeric listing of transactions and a running balance is also
included so you can see the details.  The tool lets me see exactly when I
must transfer money from our brokerage account to the checking account to
cover bills.  With a little more fiddling I will now be able to compute a
new automatic transfer(s) that should permit our finances to run completely
automatically.  I love it.

Thanks again{*filter*} and Chris!


Regards,

Bill Wood
Fountain Hills, AZ

I use something similar, in Money Deluxe its a Balance Forecast.  I recently 
upgraded and now it seems to average previous 'unscheduled expenses' into my 
forecast.  I want to turn this off, does anyone know how?

Poke around in 'Change cash flow settings' on the left pane of the 'Forecast 
your cash flow' display.
-- 
Chris Cowles
Gainesville, FL

Thanks.  Actually, I was using Budget Forecast.  I then realised I could 
re-do my budget, and cut out all of the irregular expenses from my budget... 
and hey-presto, fixed.

Now I can use the actual Cash Flow Forecast instead of the Budget Forecast, 
and it works fine :)

What version? 

Thanks for the kind comments and the detailed explanation for the group. I'm 
glad this is working out for you. From version to version, Microsoft has 
tried to break this. Used with some understanding what it does and how it 
does it, it can be a very powerful tool.

I have been using the Cash Flow Forecast for several versions and agree that 
it is a very useful part of Money.  I other readers are not familiar, give 
it a look!

Craig

"Dick Watson" < XXXX@XXXXX.COM > wrote in