Author Topic: How to best set up and use your Mint account?  (Read 1085 times)

DeniseNJ

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How to best set up and use your Mint account?
« on: August 01, 2019, 10:00:50 AM »
I'm trying to get the most accurate and useful figures but would like to know how others set things up.  For example, Mint counts my TSP loans as loans so when I make a payment it goes into my TSP account and my net worth increases by double, the decrease in the loan and the increase in the TSP account.  So I can set the loans as to not be counted but there are other things, like payroll stuff.  If I only make $1,000 in my pay bc a lot is going to my loan and my tsp contributions and FSA, health ins, etc. Mint thinks my savings rate is incredible.  So I put recurring bills for payroll stuff and added an income transaction for the same amount.  Not sure how to do a recurring transaction of income.  Even stuff you do spend money on are really just transfers of wealth--like if you pay principle on your house, you took income and invested into your property rather than spent it on consumer crap.

What Mint pitfalls or inaccuracies are you finding and how are you working around them?  I know it's never going to be perfect but this is my first time tracking my spending and I'd actually like to know where my money is going.  Thanks.

hadabeardonce

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Re: How to best set up and use your Mint account?
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2019, 11:52:39 AM »
I would hope if you have all your accounts connected Mint would see it like this:

(+)10k = TSP Account Balance
(-)5k = TSP Loan
(+)5k = Bank Account

So your overall net worth wouldn't be affected. Then when you make a loan payment, it comes out of your bank account and reduces the loan amount, so you're still neutral.

There are times I categorize transactions as "Transfer" because it hides those activities from Income and Expenses.

DeniseNJ

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Re: How to best set up and use your Mint account?
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2019, 12:24:32 PM »
I would hope if you have all your accounts connected Mint would see it like this:

(+)10k = TSP Account Balance
(-)5k = TSP Loan
(+)5k = Bank Account

So your overall net worth wouldn't be affected. Then when you make a loan payment, it comes out of your bank account and reduces the loan amount, so you're still neutral.
One would think, but it comes out of my bank account and reduces my loan amount, but it also increases my TSP balance so it's counted twice if you don't somehow address it.  Basically my net worth is increased twice bc I owe 5K less (and my income or savings also has 5K less) but my tsp acct has 5K more in it.

Even something like a car payment needs attention.  I would consider a car consumer spending.  But if you spend 10K on a car and you list a car worth 10K, or thereabouts, your net worth is about the same.  And I guess it is, but you could say the same thing about your furniture and your clothes.  You still have them (even though they depreciate) so the asset isn't "gone" but I wouldn't consider that part of your NW, and neither does mint.  I guess I'm just trying to get the truest picture at the end of the year of where my money has gone.  I feel like my savings rate and NW are overstated by quite a bit.  Not sure if old fashioned paper and pen might be more helpful.

economista

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Re: How to best set up and use your Mint account?
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2019, 12:31:14 PM »
The reason it a TSP loan repayment is being double-counted toward your net worth is because your net worth really is increasing by that double amount due to the repayment. This isn't the case with a normal loan where the money goes off into a bank or cc company's account, but with the tsp repayment you are literally paying yourself back and the money is going into your own account, minus the interest cost on that payment. The interest cost portion doesn't show up as a an increase in your tsp account balance.

So paying off your tsp loan shows the money leave your checking account (or paycheck, etc) going into your tsp account, and decreasing your loan balance. The loan balance decrease and the increase in the tsp account itself are both accurate.

 

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