I have Goodbudget premium account and I have connected/linked my bank account.
How often does the automatic sync occur?
And why does my bank account not match? What’s in the bank consistently?
Also, every time I interact with could budget, my available balance goes up. I’m getting rich.
But I’m also not confident that anything is right.
Years ago, I used to balance my bank account, I stopped that long ago.
Is there really any reason to reconcile if I know I’ve got enough money in my account?
Hi @Cynthia_Dodick Great questions! I’ll address them below.
How often does the automatic sync occur?
The short answer is it depends on your bank. Goodbudget uses a service called Plaid to allow you to connect your Goodbudget Accounts with your bank accounts. But it’s the banks that get to decide when and how often Plaid gets sent information about any new transactions. Once Plaid has new transactions, it sends them to Goodbudget right away.
And why does my bank account not match? What’s in the bank consistently?
Goodbudget only syncs your bank balance once at the time you link your bank accounts. Afterwards, Goodbudget is only adjusting your balance based on the amount of the transactions it syncs down. So, theoretically, your balance should match, assuming your starting balance was correct (and assuming no transactions are missing). But if your Goodbudget Account balance doesn’t match what you have in real life, you can manually adjust it.
Also, every time I interact with could budget, my available balance goes up. I’m getting rich.
Are you confirming your synced transactions? Perhaps you’re incorrectly categorizing them as incomes? If you have an example, feel free to email us with the transaction that raised your Available, so we can take a look.
Years ago, I used to balance my bank account, I stopped that long ago.
Is there really any reason to reconcile if I know I’ve got enough money in my account?
I think it’s personal preference here! For me, personally, I don’t regularly use Goodbudget’s Reconcile feature. But I do make sure that my Goodbudget Account balances accurately match my bank balances. That’s enough for me to know that everything’s accounted for. (I guess that is effectively reconciling, but it’s quicker, and doesn’t require a bank statement.)
Hope that helps!