Myth or Fact: 7 Rumors About Simplifi by Quicken
Recently, we did a social media deep-dive and discovered 7 fun rumors about Simplifi by Quicken. 6 are pure myth. Only 1 of them is true.
Can you guess which ones are which?
7 Rumors About Simplifi by Quicken
1. You can’t add your own expenses to your spending plan.
One of the best things about Simplifi is the personalized spending plan you get as soon as you’ve connected your accounts to the app. Simplifi finds your regular income and bills, then calculates what you can afford to spend while keeping your bills covered for the month.
Better yet, it’s automatic and always up to date. You don’t have to calculate anything, and you can see at a glance how much you have left to spend. So, does that mean you can’t add other expenses like groceries or shopping sprees into your plan?
This one’s a myth. You can absolutely add your own expenses using the planned spending feature inside your spending plan. You can even choose whether to add that spending as a one-time event or as a recurring monthly expense.
2. Simplifi doesn’t warn you about unusual activity.
Many financial apps make a point of alerting you when something unusual happens. You might get an alert about upcoming bills, bills that are larger than expected, or if you’re close to your spending limit.
Of course, some people don’t like getting a lot of alerts, so does that mean Simplifi decided to leave them out?
This one’s a myth. Simplifi includes all the critical alerts you need to help you stay on top of your money. It also lets you modify those alerts to fit your needs.
Want to know when you’re 20% away from your spending limit instead of 10%? You can do that. Simplifi even lets you turn off the alerts you don’t want, so you’ll always pay attention to the ones that matter.
3. Simplifi doesn’t offer projected cash flow as a feature.
Projected cash flow is like a crystal ball for your finances.
Instead of only showing you what’s in your account today, projected cash flow would take all your expected transactions, including your regular income and bills, and show you your expected balance tomorrow, the day after that, and well into the future.
Sound impossible? This one’s a myth too. Simplifi by Quicken does exactly that. Of course, it can’t predict the future (yet). Simplifi doesn’t know if you’re going to get tacos for dinner. But it takes what it does know and projects your balances day by day, so you’ll know what you can spend or save.
Click any account in the web app, and Simplifi will show you those projected balances as a graph. On your phone, tap any account and check out the row of upcoming transactions. Below each upcoming amount, you’ll see your projected balance.
4. Simplifi’s watchlists don’t affect your spending plan.
Simplifi’s automatic spending plan gives you an extremely flexible way to stay on top of your spending. In essence, it tells you what you’ll have left after paying your bills this month, and it keeps track of your other spending to make sure you don’t overdo it.
Sometimes, though, you might want to keep up with exactly how much you’re spending in a certain category, at a certain store, or even on a unique tag you made up just so you could keep an eye on it, like “vacation” or “holiday gifts.”
Does that mean those watchlists don’t affect your spending plan?
Actually, this one’s true. Watchlists aren’t supposed to affect your spending plan because that’s not what they’re for.
When you want to add something like groceries to your spending plan, you can do that using the planned spending feature. Watchlists are more like a convenient shortcut, giving you a quick way to see the things you care about at a glance and even get alerts if you want to.
5. Simplifi is just a mobile app.
Simplifi is definitely a mobile app for iOS and Android. But does that mean you can’t access Simplifi anywhere else? What if you accidentally drop your phone in the Pacific ocean and you want to check your finances before you buy a new one? Are you out of luck?
This one’s a myth. Simplifi by Quicken is also available on the web. Log in any time at https://app.simplifimoney.com/login.
6. Simplifi doesn’t care what your bank balances are.
The whole point of Simplifi is to show you all your finances in one place, letting you stay on top of your money in just 5 minutes a week. You couldn’t do that if you couldn’t see your bank balances, so this one won’t be much of a surprise.
This one’s a myth. Simplifi cares about (and shows you) your bank balances. Obviously.
We should also point out that Simplifi doesn’t calculate your bank balances into your spending plan. It only uses your bills and income for that. Why? Because Simplifi isn’t trying to help you spend all the money you have. That’s basically the opposite of money management.
Instead, Simplifi is designed to help you stay on top of your expenses, making sure you’re not spending more than you make.
7. In Simplifi, you can’t carry your underspending forward.
When you manage to save a little extra for the month, spending less than your spending plan allowed, that’s a huge win! Maybe you’ll make an extra contribution toward that vacation you’ve been saving up for, or maybe you’ll tuck it away for a rainy day.
But what if you want to spend it next month? Does Simplifi prevent you from carrying that win forward?
This one’s a myth. If you want to carry your underspending forward, you can. You’re always free to adjust the income in your spending plan however you want. The app just doesn’t carry it forward automatically.
Why not? Because when you get that win, Simplifi celebrates it. It doesn’t assume you want to turn around and spend that money next month. Maybe you want to put the cash toward your savings. Or invest it. Or just leave it in your bank account.
Like everything else about Simplifi, your spending plan is fully customizable. So what you do with your wins—and that growing savings account—is completely up to you.
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About the Author
Erin Michelle Sky
Erin Michelle Sky is a freelance journalist at Quicken covering the holistic human experience in business, career, technology, and personal money management.
She holds an MBA from Georgia Tech and a JD from Emory University, where she was a Woodruff Fellow. Before Quicken, Erin taught math and computer science for Johns Hopkins University, then spent several years working for Fortune 100/500 companies through McKinsey, BellSouth, and Dentons.