From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Matthew Lundin Subject: Re: Personal Finance in org-mode? Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:59:10 -0500 Message-ID: References: <76059376-9C24-41B6-A7F1-B0F556781669@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LtMh2-0008VH-Ae for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:59:24 -0400 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LtMgw-0008Te-40 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:59:23 -0400 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=49636 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LtMgv-0008T8-Io for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:59:17 -0400 Received: from out2.smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.26]:42986) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LtMgv-0007wZ-5O for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:59:17 -0400 In-Reply-To: <76059376-9C24-41B6-A7F1-B0F556781669@gmail.com> (Madhu Rao's message of "Mon\, 13 Apr 2009 14\:49\:53 +0530") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Madhu Rao Cc: emacs-orgmode Org-Mode Hi Madhu, Madhu Rao writes: > Has anyone tried to configure org in a personal finance manager mode? > I looked in the mail archive, but couldn't find any related posts. These threads contain some ideas about tracking finances in org-mode: - http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/10234/focus=10249 - http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/9663 - http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.finance.ledger.general/838 > I thought org-mode with some remember capture templates will do that > stuff rather efficiently. It depends on what you'd like to accomplish. For a robust accounting solution (i.e., something that can easily tracks all your finances and can spit out data in all sorts of ways) I would second Carsten's recommendation of John Wiegley's ledger. For a while, I tried a home-brewed double bookkeeping solution in org mode using properties and columns. I used a small subtree for each transaction with one subitem for the debit and one for the credit, with properties spendtype, account, assets, liabilities, income, equity, expenses. The structure of the tree was as follows: ,---- | * Accounts | ** April | *** [2009-04-13 Mon] Transaction Name | **** [2009-04-13 Mon] Debit | **** [2009-04-13 Mon] Credit | *** Opening Balances... `---- The sum of all my accounts could then be viewed by invoking column view on the Accounts heading. Particular accounts could by summed up by using agenda views and org-collector. The problem here, of course, is that once you have a large number of entries, it takes a lot of CPU cycles just to generate an account summary, since org-mode has to climb the entire outline tree and grab all the properties. In the end, I settled on ledger because of its power, speed, and flexibility. Best, Matt