Personal Finance Manager Help/FAQ

JDM Software

Estimated Budget

The "Estimated Budget" tab is used to determine a reasonably accurate estimated budget which you can use as spending constraints. You should make up a different estimated budget each year. Select the year in the top-right corner of the window.

Topics

Quick Estimate
Gross Monthly Income
Guideline Editor
Net Spendable Income
Living Expenses
Using Guideline Amounts
Using Estimated Amounts
Surplus / Deficit

Quick Estimate

To obtain a good first budget estimate, first select the "Auto-Update Guideline Percentages" checkbutton near the top of the window.

Next, fill in your total anticipated gross "Salary" under "Gross Monthly Income."

Quick Tip: For quick annual-to-monthly conversions, press <F4> (function key 4) while in an entry field, type an annual amount, press enter, and you can select "Insert" beside the calculated monthly amount to insert the amount into the origin entryfield.

Finally, select "Use Guidelines" in the upper-left part of the window, and all the entries for the "Balanced" column should be filled in and the information bar quantities updated. "Surplus/Deficit" should read $0.00 (or very close to $0.00), meaning you have a balanced budget.

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Gross Monthly Income

Compute your estimated gross monthly income by entering an amount for each of the subcategory fields. These subcategories can be changed if desired in the "Category Editor" on the "Personal Profile" tab by selecting "Income" in the "Category" list and editing the subcategories.

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Guideline Editor

Based on your gross monthly income, the program will determine suggested amounts for each spending category. These guidelines are based on default percentages for certain income brackets. You may need to disregard these numbers depending on your own personal situation. But, in general, it is recommended to keep your category estimates close to these guideline figures.

If you wish to allow the program to make changes to the guideline percentages each time you cross a default income level, select the "Auto-Update Guideline Percentages" checkbutton near the top of the window. If you wish to be informed when you do cross the preset income level boundaries, select the "Advise Guideline Changes" in the upper-right part of the window.

At any time, you can invoke the "Guideline Editor" by selecting the button with that name. This will bring up a window displaying the default recommended percentage, the current set percentage, and resulting guideline amount for each category. Categories you selected in the category editor to be "Gross Deductions" are based on your gross income. All other categories are based on your net income (gross less sum of gross deductions).

You can change values in the editor to reflect percentages you deem appropriate for your personal lifestyle. Selecting "Use Defaults" will put the recommended percentages into the "Current Value" boxes and will update the "Guideline Amount" column in the window but will not set these values in your actual estimated budget. When you are done changing values, you can either select "Close Window" to cancel any changes to the percentages, or you can select "Set Guidelines" to use the new values. Note that percentage totals cannot exceed 100%.

The recommended guidelines are only computed on the default categories. If a category is changed or new categories are added, the guideline will assume zero percent for that category.

Note: The "School/Child Care" guideline will only be factored into the calculations if the "Children" checkbox is selected on the "Personal Profile" page.

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Net Spendable Income

Enter amounts for each subcategory for gross deduction categories under the "Estimated" column. The total is shown above each list beside the guideline number, and the difference between the guideline and estimated amounts for each category is computed in the next column. In general, try to minimize this difference.

Once you see the total for each category and the difference figures, enter a number into the "Balanced" entry field. This is the field which contains your "final decision" regarding budgeting for each category. It does not have to match either the guideline amount or the categorical estimated sum.

Quick Tip: To use all of your "Estimated" categorical summed amounts as your final "Balanced" amounts, simply select the "Use Estimated" button at the top of the tab.

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Living Expenses

Follow the same procedure as for the "Net Spendable Income" above. Enter estimates for each subcategory, observe the guidelines, estimated totals, and difference amounts. Then enter a "final" balanced amount in the last column. Or, if the "Guideline" or "Estimated" amounts are satisfactory, use the "Use Guidelines" or "Use Estimated" buttons at the top of the window.

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Using Guideline Amounts

If you want to use all of the guideline amounts for the "Balanced" column, just select "Use Guidelines" at the top-left portion of the window. The database will automatically update the entire estimated budget using the guideline amounts.

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USing Estimated Amounts

If you want to use all of the summed estimated amounts for the "Balanced" column, just select "Use Estimated" at the top-left portion of the window. The database will automatically update the entire estimated budget using the sums of all the subcategory estimated amounts.

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Surplus / Deficit

This amount in the upper-right portion of the tab indicates whether your income exceeds your estimated expenses or vice-versa. Ideally, this should be $0.00 when you are done with the estimated budget. This may take some rethinking and adjusting to balance.

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