DISQUS

Consumerism Commentary: Balance Sheet, August 2005

  • Jonathan · 4 years ago
    Looks like you're doing well, good idea comparing the beginning of the year.

    I just check my KBB value for my car and it went up? I remember you said that happened for your Civic. I think I might have just remembered to tick off all the options this time though.
  • monocrat · 4 years ago
    How do you account for your student loan? Money 2004 doesn't seem well equipped to handle the nuances of federal loans.

    Although I only have one lender, because I have subsidized as well as unsubsidized loans, treating the interest rate is difficult. Do you simply take a weighted average of the effective interest rate? Or are later versions of Money and Quicken more adroit at this problem?
  • Flexo · 4 years ago
    Jonathan,

    The value for my car listed at edmunds.com went up one month. It seems to have corrected itself at this point. At the end of the year, I might take a look at the value and adjust each month's depreciation to make it more consistent.

    Monocrat,

    I combine the subsidized and unsubsidized portions just as the lender does. Neither Quicken 2005 nor MS Money when I used that software calculated the interest correctly, but I change the interest amount manually each time I enter a payment. I don't see it as too much of a hassle.
  • Ostrauder · 4 years ago
    I’ve been reading the progress reports people post on their blogs. While some of them are humbling, it is inspiring over all. Are those screenshots from Quicken? With my new found personal finance interest, I’ll be buying a software program. or download one… Anyway thanks for sharing

    Ostrauder
  • Flexo · 4 years ago
    The way I generated the screenshots is by exporting Quicken report data into an Excel spreadsheet which is already formatted.