Tracking Finances in a digital contactless world?

[Urbandreamer]

I was thinking more along the lines of

wget bank-statement | awk '{print $fields-we-want}' | import-into-ms-money. Possibly with something like a grep in there if the data from the bank are not clean CSV.

Could be a daily cron job, and one might expand it to write a daily log.

Sadly my bank security would prevent any automated download, but I do agree with the concept of writing things once.

I did have an awk script to process my coinbase statement, but they changed the layout as soon as I wrote the script. I'd need something a bit more complicated to handle changes in layout.

Ps sorry for dragging the thread off into computer automation territory, but I do think that such things may be of use when repeating the same operations.

[UncleEbenezer]

I was thinking more along the lines of

wget bank-statement | awk '{print $fields-we-want}' | import-into-ms-money. Possibly with something like a grep in there if the data from the bank are not clean CSV.

Could be a daily cron job, and one might expand it to write a daily log.

Sadly my bank security would prevent any automated download,

How would it tell an automated download from a customer with regular habits who likes to keep track daily?

If nothing else, you could hook into the APIs that support Open Banking, even if the customer isn't supposed to have access to any kind of automation.

I did have an awk script to process my coinbase statement, but they changed the layout as soon as I wrote the script. I'd need something a bit more complicated to handle changes in layout.

Indeed, maintainability is an issue when you're scraping data with no official API or stability promise. You can of course mitigate by implementing your own system with a minimal interface to the third-party system, so when something changes it's only a small, well-defined module in your own system that needs updating. On that test, my minimal one-line suggestion is of course less than optimal

Ps sorry for dragging the thread off into computer automation territory, but I do think that such things may be of use when repeating the same operations.

I'd say it's on-topic, since computer automation is surely the best answer to the original question!

[servodude]

How would it tell an automated download from a customer with regular habits who likes to keep track daily?

having a crappy card reader only log in strategy

[UncleEbenezer]

How would it tell an automated download from a customer with regular habits who likes to keep track daily?

having a crappy card reader only log in strategy

Hence, look up the relevant OpenBanking APIs.

If MS Money doesn't have that capability, I expect there's a third-party plugin (or several) that does.

[sophiiia]

I had the same issue moving away from cash—I eventually switched to categorising contactless payments automatically through an app like YNAB, which syncs directly with your bank. For bigger transactions or multiple accounts, I've heard of people using Corefy or similar platforms to aggregate everything neatly in real time. Makes reconciliation far simpler, as you’re no longer manually entering each payment.

[paulnumbers]

I use quicken which is basically the same thing.

As a general rule, when I get home, I check my credit card on my phone, and input those days transactions. As it's same day, as a general rule I would notice if something were spurious. My system probably only works because I can be bothered to do it once a day.

I shudder at home much time I've spent entering data over the last 25 years. Oh well, at least I enjoyed the mindless repetition.

--opps - i see i've responded to a very old post.

[GeoffF100]

My main bank account processes my Direct Debits. At the beginning of each month, I leave enough money in there to cover them. One of those DDs is for my credit card, which I use for online payments, petrol and large extraordinary payments. I also have a prepaid debit card that I use for small payments in person. My short term cash account has my main bank account and the prepaid card as nominated accounts. The statements for those accounts say it all. I can see my debit card balance on my phone. Everything else is online. My credit card rarely sees the light of day.