Finance
  Victoria
Confidence in Budgeting and Personal Finance

Accounts

Primary Account...
Finance Victoria utilizes a Primary Account system. This means your budget and all transactions are associated with a single account. This is normally your checking account. As seen above, and on the Budget Overview page, the primary account value is projected based on what you have budgeted for income and expenses. This allows you to alter your budget in future months and ensure you will have enough funds to keep a balance in you account and not spend more than you have. This is a powerful view of your finances to ensure you do not plan to spend more than you have. If you are thinking of buying a new car, going on vacation later in the year, or determining how much to spend on Christmas gifts, plug it into the budget and see if you have enough cash flowing in to cover the expenses. Don't have quite enough? Look at and reduce spending in other areas to make up the deficite. This view will give you confidence in your financial decisions by knowing if you just stick to your budget, you WILL have the money to purchase those items. On the flip side, it may bring to light the fact you are currently overspending as you see how your future account value changes over the next one to two years. As seen to the right, the initial setup of your primary account is extremely simple!

Secondary Accounts...
Your budget and transactions are tied to a primary account but setting up secondary accounts can give you a more holistic view of your finances. A secondary account may or may not be tied to a budget category and you have visibility to the budgeted, actual, and projected account value. If tied to a budget category, changes is that budget will automatically update your projected account value and transactions from previous months will update the actual account value. This is a great way to budget for puting some money towards a savings account every month and see how it will grow over time. Secondary accounts are classified as either a liability or an assett. You can associate an interest rate to a secondary account to get a more accurate view of an assetts projected growth or a liabilities projected reduction. The example to the left shows how easy it is to set up a secondary account. The chart is dynamic so as you make chenges in the account worksheet, the chart will update in real time. If the account is tied to a budget category, you can also see how changes in the worksheet effect your primary account value.


Net Value...
The Account Overview Page shown below shows how you can see the net value of all the secondary accounts that you identify. If you set up accounts for all the assetts and liabilities you have, the net value of accounts equates to your net worth. The account examples below gives a view of the versatility and types of accounts you can set up. Imagine being able to see how your actual spend and future projected spend impacts specific account values and your net worth for the next one to two years. This is truely integrated budgeting that you will not find anywhere but at Finance Victoria.