Geldzin2: Charity & Giving

In version 1.6 (build#56), I introduce the concept of charitable giving as part of the financial lifestyle. This is the first unique feature in my app that no other personal financial management system has. The idea is simple: you ought to give away a portion of your earnings to charitable causes and helping others; it will make you happier! There is all manner of research and experience that support the connection between happiness and generosity. You are never truly wealthy until you can give away some of your treasures.

In Geldzin, you provide a percentage that will be earmarked for charitable giving during income distribution (called the charity rate). You also provide the name of the category with which charitable giving can be tracked in your transactions.

Apart from the happiness you might derive from generosity, the category is there to help you track charitable giving for tax purposes as well. The charity category is not included in the budget, as the practice is to deduct charity money and applying the rest to budget priorities. This enables people to consider charity and giving no matter what their income is, and to always be generous as long as there is an income.

Check out the feature at http://jubilee.homeip.net:84/geldzin2/ and login with username "guest" and password "geldzin". Select menu {Guest > Profile}, access the "Charity" tab.

Geldzin2: Debts

In version 1.5 (build #39), I add the ability to begin tracking debts. Only basic information about loans and credit cards (how much is owed, when the next payment is due and for how much) is tracked, needed to devise a debt payment strategy (coming in a later version). On this page, you can also see how many payments are left if you were to pay minimums only.

When making a budget, you also need to account for minimum debt payments per month. If there are debts to pay, Geldzin will show debts in categories/budget under a special category highlighting payments that will need to be done throughout the year, as shown in the screenshot below. This gives you a better picture of what your expense budget should be.

You can preview this feature at http://jubilee.homeip.net:84/geldzin2/ (login as guest with password geldzin, select menu Navigate > Credit Cards & Loans). Note that the guest/demo account is reset each night, so any changes you make will be lost overnight). This application is still in beta.

Geldzin2: Financial Accounts

In version 1.4, I add the ability to begin tracking bank accounts and cash. After you figure out how much you will be spending (see Geldzin2: Categories & Budget), you need to know how much money you currently have and where it is held. Aside from that, you should also know how you use the financial accounts, such as if there are any debit cards associated with them. I attempt to meet these goals in the latest implementation of Geldzin2, as shown in the screenshot below.

In the future, I'll provide a means to connect to banks and download balances and transactions, as well as additional account analysis and reports. I'll also provide reminders for when debit cards expire, and notices for when accounts may run out of money based on historical expenditure trends.

You can preview this feature at http://jubilee.homeip.net:84/geldzin2/ (login as guest with password geldzin, select menu [Navigate > Financial Accounts]). Note that the guest/demo account is reset each night, so any changes you make will be lost overnight). This application is still in beta.

Geldzin2: Categories & Budget

In version 1.3, I add features required to manage categories and a simple budget. All this can be done from a single page, as shown in the screenshot below (with randomly generated data).

At top/left section is where you manage categories. All financial transactions must be itemized (or categorized). In the context of categories, you then can create a budget (as seen at top/right section). A category can have any number of budget items, each specifying budget amounts for each month of the year. Annual and monthly totals are displayed at bottom for convenience and quick reference.

My philosophy on personal budgeting is that a budget should initially be designed around expenses only (as opposed to incorporating income). I take this approach for two reasons: (1) everyone has expenses regardless of income, and (2) knowing expenses first helps shape an informed strategy for obtaining income to cover the expenses. A budget is simply rules on how you plan to use money (and doesn't necessarily mean you have that money). Income should later be considered when balancing the budget (in light of actual financial activity) and for forecasting. Once you know how much you must spend, the question then becomes: "how shall I get all this money?". An expense-only budget also helps bring to the forefront your lifestyle and priorities.