How to manage Transfers in Budget

[Cobra]

In my bank account I can open a deposit account in which to transfer money to use in the future for different purposes.
When I need to use it, I transfer the money from the deposit account to the current account.

In MMEX I have both the current account and the Term account.
The operation is Transfer from bank account to term account using a category to identify the use of that money, for example "Travel"

I expect that in the Budget this amount appears in the category used, but it remains at zero.
I see that this problem is related to all Transfers.

If I lend money to people, I use the transfer from my bank account to a loan account where I find my exposure to this person.
When the money is returned to me, I make a transfer from this loan account to my bank account.
In the balance sheet I would like to keep track of these movements, but they do not appear in one direction or the other.

Where am I going wrong?

[frankieorabona]

In MMEX, transfers between accounts do not affect the Budget because they are considered internal movements of funds rather than expenses or income. This explains why, when transferring money to the Term Account and categorizing it as "Travel," it does not appear in the Budget.

Similarly, when lending money to someone, you move funds from your Bank Account to a Loan Account. However, these transfers are not recorded as actual "expenses" in MMEX, so they do not appear in Budget or in Income/Expense reports.

Why Transfers Do Not Affect Budget:

• Transfers are not expenses – They are internal movements between your accounts.

• The category in a transfer is for reference only – It does not impact budget calculations.

Possible Solutions:
If you want to track money allocated to a specific purpose (e.g., "Travel"), you can:

• Instead of a transfer, record it as an "Expense" from the Bank Account to a "Holding Category" (e.g., "Savings for Travel").
  When you actually spend the money, record it as an expense in the correct category.

If you record the withdrawal as an expense from your Bank Account in a Holding Category (e.g., "Savings for Travel"), you still need to record the income in the Deposit Account to keep the balance correct.
You have two methods:


Method 1: Record the Income as "Savings Income"

• When you transfer money to the Deposit Account, record it as income with a category like "Transfer to Savings" or "Savings Allocation".

• This way, MMEX recognizes that the Deposit Account receives funds, but without treating it as actual earnings.

Method 2: Use an Intermediate Account (Optional)

• Create a Dummy Account called "Savings Allocations".

• Step 1: From the Bank Account, record the expense in a holding category ("Savings for Travel").

• Step 2: From the Dummy Account "Savings Allocations", register a transfer to the Deposit Account.

• This way, the Bank Account registers the expense in the Budget, and the Deposit Account gets the correct balance.

Or use your method but

• Use Custom Reports to include transfers in specific reports.

Let's wait for responses from MMEX experts (gurus) to confirm these suggestions, which I have personally tested in practice.

[Cobra]

I'll try, but your suggestion doesn't convince me.
The bank account and the deposit account are real accounts and have equally real movements.
I take 1000 from one side and put them in the other; a single operation and a single registration in MMEX.
So, I know that those 1000 are used for multiple things: 200 for the travel, 300 for the hotel, 500 for expenses.
I could solve it using categories, but with the transfer I can assign only one category.

If I used expenses, it works from a logical point of view, but:
1) in the income-expense reports there will be expenses that are not expenses; when I have actually made them they will appear 3 times: the first time when I have put 1000 in the deposit account, a second time when I carry 1000 back to the bank account and the third time when I have really spent them;
2) with the bank account reconciliation there will be a huge confusion because there will be fewer operations than those written in MMEX, moreover on different dates.

In my opinion there should be a division of categories such as for expenses and income.
If it were possible, then I would have only one real movement from a bank account to a deposit account, but with different categories (Travels, Hotels, Various expenses).
Obviously then I will have to be able to make reports by category (or more categories) with partial and general totals.

I will do some tests.
In the meantime, thanks for the answer.

[MlinMMEX]

"So, I know that those 1000 are used for multiple things: 200 for the travel, 300 for the hotel, 500 for expenses.
I could solve it using categories, but with the transfer I can assign only one category."

Might be interesting to use Tagging? Seems that can be applied several to a single transfer.
https://github.com/moneymanagerex/money ... ssues/5439