From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Madhu Rao Subject: Re: Personal Finance in org-mode? Date: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 20:45:22 +0530 Message-ID: <0B46E9F9-663E-43D8-B12C-E67693A4FF44@gmail.com> References: <76059376-9C24-41B6-A7F1-B0F556781669@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v930.3) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LtNsm-0001oT-6o for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:15:36 -0400 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1LtNsh-0001n2-Fh for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:15:35 -0400 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=44227 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1LtNsh-0001mu-Ae for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:15:31 -0400 Received: from yx-out-1718.google.com ([74.125.44.158]:62683) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1LtNsh-0007ev-24 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 11:15:31 -0400 Received: by yx-out-1718.google.com with SMTP id 3so1587146yxi.66 for ; Mon, 13 Apr 2009 08:15:30 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: 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: Matthew Lundin 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 Hi Matt, Thanks for these links. > >> 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: > Yes, this is pretty much what I was intending to keep track of. I did setup something similar to the outline below. Also, a remember capture, with tags and property query for entry and the category: ("Finance" ?f "** %^{Title} %^g \n %u %^{HOW_MUCH}p %^{CATEGORY}p" "~/ Org/Finance.org") > ,---- > | * 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. Yes, this will suffice. I will start off with using column view and see how this scales. Thanks for your notes. Regards, Madhu > > 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