Roger Davies
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Other stuff I use - GnuCash vs Wave Accounting

2/5/2023

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Last month I shared my favorite (and free) personal finance tracking system using Google Sheets (ssdirect.com/news/personal-finance-management-another-how-to). This month I would like to share more business finance tracking methods (still free) that I have been using in recent years. This is not 'the best of' kind of review. It is only 'what I have found that really works for me'.
  • GnuCash (that I describe as a open-source free-to-use-at-no-cost Quicken clone).
  • Wave Accounting (more like a free version of Quickbooks Online - but with options to pay them for add-on services .. accounting help, online credit card payments, etc).
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GnuCash is a standalone program that runs on your Windows or Linux or even Mac computer. I would have preferred a better more generic program name like 'Where-Did-All-My-Money-Go' but I guess all the good names get taken up early and some lawyer will be asked to sue you for using 'their' program name (can you even trademark the name 'Money'?). GNU is a nerdy recursive acronym used in the Linux world, but don't let that stop you. Cash is a name for that stuff you are trying to track.
  • Getting Started: You download the version that works on your system from gnucash.org/download and run it. Setting up an appropriate accounting chart of accounts (ie the bank accounts you own and the expense and income categories you want to track and use) is a bit daunting at the outset, but you can use the default set and customize it over time. You could hire an accountant I suppose, or ask a grandchild to help you, but I prefer to just do it myself. Dive in! 
  • Using the System: In theory, there is supposed to be a way to download transactions directly from your bank. I do not use this as the setup is arcane and I prefer to access my banking information directly online. I just enter transactions directly into the program as they happen. Actually, I use GnuCash as my backup system to my Google Sheets system and just copy and paste transactions between the two to keep them in sync. The interface is much like a checkbook register for each back account you set up with a date, num, description etc for each transaction. I create a saved report for Balance Sheet and  Profit Loss and use that to monitor account balances. 
  • Pro's: Double entry system. Functions much like my favorite old Quicken program (now obsolete, from my old Windows days) used to e.g. using + or- in date field increments the date up and down. Categories are efficiently entered using Quicken shortcuts e.g. Income:Other is quickly entered using unique start for each section i.e. typing 'in' finds Income, pressing : and then 'o' yields Other for the desired category .. Reports are very customizable - click Options to select which accounts to include, what currency, which dates,  and how to display them. Reports can be saved and reopened as needed. User data changes are automatically saved and backed up.
  • I like the fact that with GnuCash your data is locally stored and accessible even if the internet is down. And even if the internet is working, the website you need may go down itself, but with GnuCash .. happy days. That said, it is  somewhat rare now a days that the internet goes down or that sites stop working or go down for maintenance (but it can and does happen). On the other hand, your trusty old computer could also go poof, so IF you don't have a backup from elsewhere .. so sorry. I like to download my Google Sheets file from the cloud to my local computer as a backup, AND copy my synced GnuCash data file to backup server as well .. just in case.
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More recently, I was also introduced to Wave, a free online invoicing and accounting program at waveapps.com.
  • Owned by H&R Block since 2019, headquartered in Canada, over 2 million users, offers "free-forever" features, unlimited credit card and bank accounts, plus online payment processing for a small fee (if you are in to that kind of thing). Bookkeeping services are also available for an additional fee.
  • Using the System: Wave is web-based, so no installation is necessary. Can be accessed from pretty much any browser. Transactions can be downloaded directly from many banks. Again, I do not use this feature as I feel it introduces potential risk to my banking information (as implemented via an external program called PLAID.. but who ya gonna trust? web browsers)! I enter my transactions directly or upload  from my Google Sheet via the provided "Wave Connect" extension for Google Sheets. If you are any little bit paranoid about security you probably won't want all your information up and out there on the internet anyway. Meanwhile, I am more trusting and have been testing Wave as an additional backup accounting system. The interface is much like Quickbooks online, but free!
  • Pro's: Invoicing is wonderful. Not everybody needs this, but for me it automates the entire process. Setup the template as you like, enter the information, and let it send out emails and tracks payments. Sweet! Business expense tracking is also appreciated, with ability to upload scanned copies of invoices and other free accounting tools. System is available to anyone you choose to grant access to (multi-user: presuming the internet is up and Wave is still running).  The interface speed will vary depending on how fast your internet connection is, but it will always be slower than a standalone program like GnuCash.
  • Some Con's: Not sure how to make a real backup from the cloud. Yes, I know that THEY are doing backups of some sort up there, but what if (the company goes away or changes hands, or the internet is inaccessable for longer periods of time, or I decide to migrate to some other system). No backup except printed reports. Wave is still a learning place for me, but it does weird and wonderful things with my USD vs CAD accounts e.g. thinking $10.16 USD is somehow worth about $53.63 CAN in its reports. It also automatically dumps some of my business sales into it's generic Sales income account when I prefer the specific one I set up for each sub-category business.  Hmmm My workaround for each was to add in an 'in/out correcting transaction' (ie an accounting Journal Entry) to move the amounts from where it ended up to where I wanted it so it matched the way all my other accounting systems worked. This works, but requires extra entries and time. Also, since the system is web based, it takes much longer to enter each of these adjustments .. find the account, wait for page load,  click More > Add Journal Entry, wait for page load, enter information, click Save, wait for page load .. you get the idea. The speed of your internet connection and computer will determine your actual experience, but it is noticably more laggy than either of the other two systems I have been using.
Bottom line. I like parts of each application. I love my Google Sheets system for ability to quickly capture transaction details and provide basic updated Balance Sheet information. GnuCash can be synced fairly easily with the Google Sheet but has more professional reporting with drill down and reporting flexibility. Wave is great for Invoices, but takes more work to sync the transaction data and still has some quirks (for a new user like me .. and of course, is somewhat redundant with the other two applications also in use). Your choice. For a mid to small business, either GnuCash or Wave might be more appropriate. For personal finance or a smaller business, the Google Sheets may be all you need. What say you?
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Why the Elders Quorum Gets the Gym ..

21/4/2023

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I have always wondered why there is the HC Room and the RS Room in our Chapels but no EQ Room .. this is why!
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Source: Cassell's Compact Latin English English Latin Dictionary Cassell & Co. Ltd 1963
The gymnasium is the "place for philosophical discussion" .. so now you know. That is where we EQ types are to hang out. Is it too soon to start calling the EQ President "Master Gymnasiarchus"?
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Personal Finance Management - Another how to

19/4/2023

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Other the past several years I have been using an online spreadsheet to manage my finances. It started with a monthly template which was added to, modified and refined into a yearly running check register that I find quite useful today. I have made a sample template to share with interested family and friends (that is you now)!

If you do a search for 'google sheets personal finance templates' you will discover 100's or even 1000's of free templates offered up. Many are more complicated. Some are more colorful. I don't know if my new offering will be of much interest, but it is what I use and I like it. Simple and effective. 

The link to this sample template is found at:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iq9vZ41E43QfR_JEQj_MQjXvyboBKd2ybWG7Fnr8uTs/edit?usp=sharing
where you can simply 'save as copy' and start customizing it to fit your needs.
Pros:
  • Using it as a google sheet allows me to access and update from any computer/device/phone in the world, although a desktop computer is most convenient.
  • Entering details as soon as possible allows me to remember and document the what and why .. not as much 'honey, what did we spend $xxx on three months ago?'. 
  • Recurring transactions are easily copied and reused .. just insert new line, copy, paste, update dates and info.
  • Split transactions are fairly simple .. just add one line for each part of the split. eg 20 of 100 to Grocery and 80 of 100 to Merchandise ..
  • Completely customizable - if you want 1000 expense categories, you can. If you have 100 bank accounts, you can have those tracked as well.
Cons:
  • Completely customizable - if you mess up .. oops. However, Google Sheets does have a nice undo/history feature that can help you un-mess-up ..
  • No auto offsite backup .. although Google Cloud is backed up .. if you ever lose your Google account or credentials you may be in trouble. I like to download an offsite copy to use as a local spreadsheet backup just in case. Easy! Click File > Download > OpenDocument or Excel and save the .ods or .xlsx file to your local computer
  • Not a double entry system .. so as a workaround I just use the Transfer category and TWO offsetting entries for bill payments and the like eg "100 expense for Bill Payment in Checking" and "100 income for Bill Payment in Credit Card 1" with same dates .. it seems to work.
  • You MAY have to learn how to use or just get around a spreadsheet - ouch
  • You MIGHT get addicted to knowing just where your money is going and how much you have left!
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Grandpa Davies Calendar Ideas

31/1/2023

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In the great covid shutdown, I was in quarantine and a bit bored .. so I asked myself:
  • What if there were 13 'months' in a year + 1 extra 'year day' each yearend plus 1 extra 'leap day' every leap year (about 1.25 days/year) Let's call the new 'months' a 'cycle' of 28 days and let's call the extra cycle/month 'newSol' at mid-year Why? Because the earth circles the sun every 365.25 days in a year. 13 'months' x 28 days is 364 .. only short those 1.25 days
  • Week numbers 1-52 will correspond to Cycles 1-13. Every few years a 'Week53' will occur, like a 'leap week' ..
  • Seasons simplified: A full-year is 52 weeks, half-year is 26 weeks, and a quarter-year (a season) is 13 weeks .. ignoring 'leap week's
  • So what would that look like? Say if my week started on Sunday .. like in USA/Canada
  • What would an automatic Calendar generating spreadsheet look like?
So glad you asked! My  answer was:see docs.google.com/spreadsheets
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Happy 6 years Since Trek

26/6/2020

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Happy Six Years Since Trek (in July 2020)

To My Good Trek Family Children, where ever you are today!

Daughters: Hope, Faith, Charity, Grace, Mercy, Harmony and Felicity
and Sons: Lehi, Ammon, Mormon, Mosiah and Nephi

​Ma says we love you and miss you all .. and I concur. 

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​A Time of Change April 2020

12/4/2020

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Magrath, AB rdavies@ssdirect.com

We find ourselves today in a hopefully temporary global pandemic currently making it impossible for us to meet together physically in extended family groups, nor in our church groups, at conferences, and even in our holy temples. Many have lost employment and entire industries are at a standstill. Governments are busy printing money to help us somehow weather the current storm. They urge us to ‘stay home’, to ‘self-isolate’ and ‘flatten the curve’. Health care and other essential workers are risking their own lives and bracing for the expected flood of newly afflicted. Hand sanitizers, medical masks, and gloves are unavailable for purchase. Shortages and cases of hoarding are not uncommon occurrences. We use words like; astonishing, unprecedented, unknowable to describe our predicament. 

Yet, I propose that these events are not unknown nor unexpected to God nor to his ‘prophets, seers and revelator’s. Since I was a child (decades now) we have been counseled by church leaders to prepare: to obtain and maintain a food storage (and a good supply of toilet tissue), to avoid and get out of debt, to strengthen individuals and family organizations, and more recently to focus on ‘home centered, church supported’ study manuals. With 2020 hindsight, we now start to see just some of the reasons why.

In our Come Follow Me study this week we read of King Benjamin where he called the people together but that they could not all hear his words ..
5 And it came to pass that when they came up to the temple, they pitched their tents round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another.

my 2020 version: And it came to pass that when it was time for conference, they were confined to their homes round about, every man according to his family, consisting of his wife, and his sons, and his daughters, and their sons, and their daughters, from the eldest down to the youngest, every family being separate one from another due to the greatness of the pandemic.

6 And they pitched their tents round about the temple, every man having his tent with the door thereof towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their tents and hear the words which king Benjamin should speak unto them;

my 2020 version: And they tuned their devices toward the temple, every man having his screen thereof pointed towards the temple, that thereby they might remain in their homes and hear the words which the prophet should speak unto them;

7 For the multitude being so great that king Benjamin could not teach them all within the walls of the temple, therefore he caused a tower to be erected, that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them.

my 2020 version: For the pandemic being so great that the prophet could not teach them all within the walls of the temple nor in their churches nor stake centers nor places of assembly, therefore he had caused a communication tower to be erected, that thereby his people might hear the words which he should speak unto them.

8 And it came to pass that he began to speak to his people from the tower; and they could not all hear his words because of the greatness of the multitude; therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be written and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice, that they might also receive his words.

my 2020 version: And it came to pass that when it was time to speak to his people from the conference center; and they could not all hear his words because of the greatness of the pandemic; therefore he caused that the words which he spake should be recorded and sent forth among those that were not under the sound of his voice, that they might also hear and see and receive his words.
​
Prophets communicate what they learn from God to us; not every thing they are shown but what God wants and permits us to understand in our current time of need and with our current capacity to understand. When we obey his commandments we are always blessed and will ‘prosper in the land’. We will be prepared and able to serve those around us.

In years past, prophets provided the written word for us to study and ponder. Only a small portion of all those writings have survived to our day. More recently we were able to both read and hear those messages. We have the text and audio versions of the standard works – the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price and modern church magazines. Today we can read, hear, and also see again all these messages online on demand at any time over and over again – a marvelous work and a wonder available at the churchofjesuschrist.org website (and found on Google and YouTube and more).

Prophets, seers and revelators throughout all times from Adam to Enoch and Abraham and John, from Lehi and Nephi  to Mormon and Moroni, and even today from Joseph Smith to President Nelson I believe, are shown what they need to know for their day and beyond. In fact, that is the definition of those words. In summary: A prophet is a teacher of known truth; a seer is a perceiver of hidden truth, a revelator is a bearer of new truth to bring us closer to God and Christ.

The rebellious children of Israel were led by Moses and given a lesser law to live (with the Aaronic priesthood and the Old Testament). Christ established a higher law in his church (with the Melchezidek priesthood and the New Testament). Today we have the Book of Mormon and living prophets. Under their direction, the traditional structure of the ‘The Church’ is undergoing a tender, careful redirection with renewed focus on individuals and families in a ’Home Centered, Church Supported’ organization. While we need the church and it’s priesthood organization to provide us sacred covenants and authorized ordinances, it’s function is to support rather than to replace the family as the key unit of the eternities. The church is here to bring individuals to Christ and to link their families together in this world and in the next. Wards and stakes are important but temporary, arbitrary, and changeable institutions. They can and have changed over time. Christ centered families linked forever within the holy temple are to bring us back to God and to our/His family. We are his children, he loves us unconditionally. We desired to grow and learn and to be like him and chose to come here as part of the plan to achieve that goal. But as ‘children’, we need to learn and grow and mature – through experience within our growing eternal family units. These units are inclusive rather than exclusive. We are all children of God and ‘the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children’ as re-emphasized in the The Proclamation on The Family (Sep 1995). 

The function and purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ in relation to the family is further clarified in the new Bicentennial Proclamation to the World on The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Apr 2020). ‘God loves His children in every nation of the world. God the Father has given us the divine birth, the incomparable life, and the infinite atoning sacrifice of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.’ The family of God starts with the Family of Adam and continues through to each of our own. We need to bring souls to Christ, starting with our own and our own families, but also including all men in all ages. Hence the three-fold purpose of the Church to: 1. Proclaim the Gospel 2. Perfect the Saints and to 3. Redeem the Dead.

rdavies@ssdirect.com (how I spent my Sunday on 12 Apr 2020)
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Hot or not

30/10/2019

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To my temperature challenged family in the far south. A °C vs °F primer. In Canada, at 0°C water freezes, so here anything below zero is by definition 'freezing'. I find it interesting that -40°C = -40°F but no one down there has any concept of how cold that really is. I do, as I have experienced that and worse (down to -60°C I was told) while working up on the Arctic Ice .. north of the magnetic pole .. in the mid 1970s .. helping search for oil .. and that, my friends, is a run on/away sentence. On the other hand, I have installed an air conditioner in my dining room for those 3 muggy weeks in July that can sometimes get over 32°C, my personal overheating limit.

Here is a link to a Google Sheet I have borrowed and formated that compares Fahrenheit to Celsius for you. Enjoy
.. and not only does this guy look alot like I used to .. he makes a lot of sense. It's not rocket surgery .. scientific fact!
Be cool like Canada! We all use the metric system up here .. reference: full special at drybarcomedy.com/robertmac (pay to view site)
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Happy 5 years Since Trek

2/7/2019

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Happy Five Years Since Trek (in July 2019)

To My Good Trek Family Children, where ever you are today!

Daughters: Hope, Faith, Charity, Grace, Mercy, Harmony and Felicity
and Sons: Lehi, Ammon, Mormon, Mosiah and Nephi

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Talk: Pride M5 Aug 2018

26/8/2018

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When Bro Karren asked me to speak in church, he gave me the option of speaking on the topic of Pride or on Humility. I told him I had much more experience with the one vs the other, and so I will devote my talk today to the subject of .. Pride. Well, perhaps we will touch on a bit of both: What about - ‘Prideful humility’ vs ‘Humble pride’?

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Happy 4 years Since Trek

15/4/2018

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Happy Four Years Since Trek (in July 2018)
.. this missive started March 2018 .. and hopefully it reaches each of you sometime before July ..

To My Good Trek Family Children,

Daughters: Hope, Faith, Charity, Grace, Mercy, Harmony and Felicity
and Sons: Lehi, Ammon, Mormon, Mosiah and Nephi

Charity gently reminded me she hadn’t seen a letter from us recently, so I was re-motivated to take pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and attempt to touch base with you all once again. We trust this letter finds you each in good health and condition. It is now coming on four years since our wonderful trek experience with you. The next generation youth here are now preparing for a 2018 Moroni’s Quest experience, which I suppose will be just fine .. but just not really the same as what we experienced with you out on the trail pushing our family handcart up hill and down dale, over ruts and around and through potholes, puddles and rivers, with hot days and cold nights in the shadow of the Old Chief mountain.

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    Roger Davies

    My mom (and my grandkids) couldn't be at all my public speaking assignments, so I post them here for them/her and you to read ..

    Disclaimer: These thoughts are not official church policy and in the end are but my own current ideas on the subject(s) 'mingled with scripture'. Regardless, I hope they are of some value to you, dear internet browser.

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