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Modeling Real Estate Transactions in Beancount

· 7 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Real estate transactions may constitute the largest financial activity in a family's lifetime. This article explains how to model real estate in Beancount. I treat real estate as an asset and the appreciation of the house as unrealized gain. Additionally, the mortgage is modeled as a liability, and the interest is considered an expense.

Let's assume that Mr. A purchased a luxury home located at 123 ABC Street, XYZ City, CA, 12345 on January 1, 2020, for a price of 1 million. The interest rate is 3.0%, the down payment is 20%, and the loan amount is 800,000.

ItemAmount
Mortgage Amount800,000
Interest Rate3%
Mortgage Period30 years
Total Cost of Mortgage1,478,219.62
Montly Payments4,106.17
Home Insurance1,300 per year (39,000 total)
Property Tax7,500 per year (225,000 total)
Loan Payoff2049 Dec
Total Interest Paid414,219.62

2023-06-09-tracking-real-estate

Create Accounts

Firstly, we treat the house as an Asset. Since the house is being listed as an Asset, it needs to be given a unit. In this case, the unit quantity is only one, it's unlikely there will be multiple, and even if it's the nth house, we would want to record it in a separate Asset. That is to say, one house corresponds to one Asset, and this Asset has a special unit, its value can only possibly be 1.

2019-12-31 commodity HOUSE.ABC
name: "123 ABC Street, XYZ City, CA, 12345"

2019-12-31 open Assets:Property:US:CA:123ABC HOUSE.ABC
2019-12-31 open Liabilities:Bank:US:SomeBank:Mortgage:Loan USD

In the first line here, we defined a commodity unit representing the house. In the fourth line, we defined an Asset account, which holds the commodity unit previously defined as the house. In the fifth line, we defined an account for the lending bank. As it's a liability, it falls under the Liabilities category.

Purchase

With the accounts set up as above, the act of buying a house is equivalent to

borrowing money (debt) + spending money (down payment) = 1 house in asset

The most important reference when buying a property is likely the Buyer’s Settlement Statement, which clearly outlines the flow of money.

2020-01-01 * "Buying the house"
Assets:Property:US:CA:123ABC 1 HOUSE.ABC {1,000,000 USD}
Assets:Bank:US:SomeBankA -100,000 USD
Assets:Bank:US:SomeBankB -101,000 USD
Liabilities:Bank:US:SomeBank:Mortgage:Loan -800,000.00 USD
Expenses:Home:Insurance 1,000 USD
Expenses:Home:Mortgage:Loan:ClosingCost

Here, we're detailing the transaction of buying the house, where money flows out from some banks (used for down payment and other expenses), a loan is taken (adding to liabilities), and a house is gained (added to assets).

Pay back mortgages

Based on the above purchase record, we currently owe 800,000 USD. Due to the interest, and considering that all loans in the US are amortized equally in terms of principal and interest, the monthly payment includes a portion for interest and a portion for principal. In the early stages, the interest constitutes the majority.

To record the loan repayment, all you need to do is check your loan bank's statement. You just need to know how much of the principal you are repaying each month, and the rest is interest. The interest is counted as an Expense.

2020-02-01 * "Mortgage payment"
Assets:Bank:US:SomeBank:Saving:Joint -3,372.83 USD
Liabilities:Bank:US:SomeBank:Mortgage:Loan 1,376.26 USD
Expenses:Home:Mortgage:Loan:Interest

This entry details the monthly mortgage payment which is subtracted from your joint savings account. The repayment of principal reduces the liability, while the interest part is treated as an expense.

Appreciation

If you want to record the appreciation of the property, some people create a separate account[, only recording the appreciation of the current property. Considering that the value of the house may increase or decrease, this appreciation may be negative. The advantage of this is that in the summary of your total assets, these two accounts will be included, one for the value of the house at the time of the transaction, and the other for the current appreciation of the house, thus reflecting the real-time price of the house.

I did not adopt this method, mainly for the following reasons:

  1. The current value of the house can only be an estimate, for reference only, without practical value. Usually, I can only get the evaluation of the property on websites like Redfin or Zillow, and I personally don't think it has high reference value. I also did not consider incorporating these appreciations into total assets in real time.
  2. Personally, I think before the mortgage is paid off, if the cash flow of the house is negative, to some extent, the property is still a liability. Therefore, incorporating it into assets prematurely will give you an illusion of enriched assets and appreciation, and I personally want to avoid this illusion.

The method I use to record property appreciation, which will also be discussed later on how to model RSUs. This method is to use a virtual currency unit. Assuming your base currency is USD, we can use USD.UNVEST (it seems that there is no need to create a new Commodity for this) to indicate that this asset is calculated in a special currency. The growth or reduction of this asset will not be recorded in USD. This way, I can achieve my original goal, that is, to record the appreciation of the house, and this appreciation will not be included in the final balance sheet (Balance Sheet).

2020-01-01 price HOUSE.ABC                          1,000,000 USD
2025-01-01 price HOUSE.ABC 1,400,000 USD.UNVEST

You only need to price your property to USD.UNVEST regularly.

So, on Fava's Commodity page, you can track the trend of the reference price of the house. But on the Balance Sheet page, the price of the house is still the price of the house at the time of the transaction. That is to say, your total assets are still your down payment money at that time, plus the principal you keep paying off. The final change of this asset should only occur when you buy a house.

Sell

Because no property has been sold yet and the various miscellaneous fees in the middle are unclear, this is a hypothetical scenario.

Suppose, on January 1, 2025, the property has appreciated to $1,400,000, and some reference data are as follows:

ItemAmount
Balance709,656.20
Agent fee (6%)72,000
Other Closing Fee10,000

Person A decides to sell the property, and the final selling price of the house is $1,300,000.

2025-01-01 * "Selling the house"
Assets:Property:US:CA:123ABC -1 HOUSE.ABC {1,300,000 USD}
Liabilities:Bank:US:SomeBank:Mortgage:Loan 709,656.20 USD
Expenses:Home:Agent:Fee 72,000 USD
Expenses:Home:ClosingCost 10,000 USD
Expenses:Home:Tax 90,000 USD
Assets:Bank:US:SomeBankA

Here it is assumed that 2 out of 5 years are self-occupied, so the appreciation of 500,000 does not need to be taxed. I randomly calculated a number here. In the end, the money that enters Person A's account is $418,343.8, of which 200,000 is the down payment at that time, and about 100,000 in interest has been paid. So, in the end, the book profit for Person A is around 100,000. It is worth noting that my calculation is not fair, after all, Person A has saved rent for these 5 years, and there may be other expenses on the house, such as maintenance, decoration, and so on.

To reflect this in the balance sheet, you can add this pricing.

2025-01-01 price HOUSE.ABC                          1,300,000 USD

Understanding Receivables and Payables in Beancount

· 3 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Hello everyone! In today's blog post, we're diving into the world of Beancount, a double-entry accounting tool that's loved by many for its simplicity and power. More specifically, we're going to talk about two key concepts: Receivables and Payables.

Understanding these terms is crucial to using Beancount (or any double-entry accounting system) effectively. But don't worry if you're a beginner - we're going to break it all down, step by step!

Receivables and Payables: The Basics

2023-05-30-receiveable-and-payable

In accounting, "receivables" and "payables" are terms used to track money that is owed. "Receivables" refers to money that others owe to you, while "payables" refers to money that you owe to others.

Let's take an example:

  1. Accounts Receivable (A/R): Suppose you own a bookstore and a customer buys a book on credit. The money they owe you for the book is an account receivable.

  2. Accounts Payable (A/P): On the flip side, imagine you order a new set of books from a publisher, but you don't pay for them upfront. The money you owe the publisher is an account payable.

In Beancount, these are typically tracked through corresponding accounts. The main benefit here is that it provides you with a clear and accurate picture of your financial position at any point in time.

Setting Up Receivables and Payables in Beancount

The structure of your Beancount file can be as simple or as complex as you need it to be. For receivables and payables, you'll likely want to create separate accounts under your Assets and Liabilities sections.

Here is a simple example:

1970-01-01 open Assets:AccountsReceivable
1970-01-01 open Liabilities:AccountsPayable

Tracking Transactions

Payee side

After setting up your accounts, you can track transactions that involve receivables and payables. Let's look at an example:

2023-05-29 * "Sold books to customer on credit"
Assets:AccountsReceivable 100 USD
Income:BookSales -100 USD

Here, you're adding $100 to your receivables because a customer owes you this amount. Simultaneously, you're reducing your income by the same amount to maintain the balance (since you haven't actually received the money yet).

When the customer eventually pays, you'll record it like this:

2023-06-01 * "Received payment from customer"
Assets:Bank:Savings 100 USD
Assets:AccountsReceivable -100 USD

Payer side

The same principle applies for payables, but with reversed signs:

2023-05-30 * "Bought books from publisher on credit"
Liabilities:AccountsPayable 200 USD
Expenses:BookPurchases -200 USD

And when you pay off your debt:

2023-06-02 * "Paid off debt to publisher"
Liabilities:AccountsPayable -200 USD
Assets:Bank:Checking 200 USD

Wrapping Up

Receivables and payables are at the heart of any accounting system. By accurately tracking these, you gain a comprehensive understanding of your financial health.

This is just a starting point, and Beancount is capable of much more. I hope this blog post helps clarify these important concepts. As always, happy accounting!

Deconstructing a Beancount Ledger: A Case Study for Business Accounting

· 3 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

In today's blog post, we will be breaking down a Beancount ledger for businesses, which will help you understand the intricacies of this plain text double-entry accounting system.

Deconstructing a Beancount Ledger: A Case Study for Business Accounting

Let's start with the code first:

2023-05-22-business-template

1970-01-01 open Assets:Bank:Mercury
1970-01-01 open Assets:Crypto

1970-01-01 open Equity:Bank:Chase

1970-01-01 open Income:Stripe
1970-01-01 open Income:Crypto:ETH

1970-01-01 open Expenses:COGS
1970-01-01 open Expenses:COGS:Contabo
1970-01-01 open Expenses:COGS:AmazonWebServices

1970-01-01 open Expenses:BusinessExpenses
1970-01-01 open Expenses:BusinessExpenses:ChatGPT

2023-05-14 * "CONTABO.COM" "Mercury Checking ••1234"
Expenses:COGS:Contabo 17.49 USD
Assets:Bank:Mercury -17.49 USD

2023-05-11 * "Amazon Web Services" "Mercury Checking ••1234"
Expenses:COGS:AmazonWebServices 14490.33 USD
Assets:Bank:Mercury -14490.33 USD

2023-03-01 * "STRIPE" "Mercury Checking ••1234"
Income:Stripe -21230.75 USD
Assets:Bank:Mercury 21230.75 USD

2023-05-18 * "customer_182734" "0x5190E84918FD67706A9DFDb337d5744dF4EE5f3f"
Assets:Crypto -19 ETH {1,856.20 USD}
Income:Crypto:ETH 19 ETH @@ 35267.8 USD

Understanding the Code

  1. Opening Accounts: The code starts by opening a series of accounts on 1970-01-01. These include a mix of asset accounts (Assets:Bank:Mercury and Assets:Crypto), an equity account (Equity:Bank:Chase), income accounts (Income:Stripe and Income:Crypto:ETH), and expense accounts (Expenses:COGS, Expenses:COGS:AmazonWebServices, Expenses:BusinessExpenses, and Expenses:BusinessExpenses:ChatGPT).

  2. Transactions: It then progresses to record a series of transactions between 2023-03-01 and 2023-05-18.

    • The transaction on 2023-05-14 represents a payment of $17.49 to CONTABO.COM from Mercury Checking ••1234. This is recorded as an expense (Expenses:COGS:Contabo) and a corresponding deduction from the Assets:Bank:Mercury account.

    • Similarly, the transaction on 2023-05-11 represents a payment of $14490.33 to Amazon Web Services from the same bank account. This is logged under Expenses:COGS:AmazonWebServices.

    • The transaction on 2023-03-01 shows income from STRIPE being deposited into Mercury Checking ••1234, totaling $21230.75. This is recorded as income (Income:Stripe) and an addition to the bank account (Assets:Bank:Mercury).

    • The last transaction on 2023-05-18 represents a crypto transaction involving 19 ETH from a customer. This is tracked under Assets:Crypto and Income:Crypto:ETH. The {1,856.20 USD} shows the price of ETH at the time of transaction, while the @@ 35267.8 USD specifies the total value of the 19 ETH transaction.

In all transactions, the principle of double-entry accounting is maintained, ensuring that the equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity always holds true.

Final Thoughts

This Beancount ledger provides a straightforward yet robust system for tracking financial transactions. As seen in the final transaction, Beancount is flexible enough to account for non-traditional assets like cryptocurrency, which is a testament to its utility in our increasingly digital financial landscape.

We hope this breakdown helps you better understand the structure and capabilities of Beancount, whether you're a seasoned accountant or a beginner trying to keep track of your personal finances. Stay tuned for our next blog post, where we'll delve further into advanced Beancount operations.

Reintroducing the Free Plan for New Customers

· 2 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

We are thrilled to announce that as of May 1st, 2023, we will be reintroducing the free plan for new customers. This decision comes after making significant improvements to our platform and optimizing our resources in order to better serve all of our customers, both free and paid.

Introducing the New Free Plan for New Customers

The free plan has always been an essential part of our vision to provide an accessible and user-friendly service for everyone. We believe that the changes we've made over the past months will allow us to deliver an even better experience for our users while maintaining the quality of service for our Pro plan customers.

2023-04-28-start-serving-free-users

New customers who register after May 1st, 2023, will have access to the Free plan.

Your support and loyalty have been instrumental in making this reintroduction of the free plan financially possible. It is through your contributions that we have been able to invest in our infrastructure and support systems, ensuring that we can continue to deliver the high-quality service you expect while also expanding access to our platform for new users. Your commitment to our vision has helped us grow and evolve, and we are truly grateful for your ongoing partnership. Together, we are building a thriving community and empowering users from all walks of life to achieve their goals.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We are always here to listen to your feedback and address any issues you may have. Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to providing you with the best service possible.

Beancount Cheat Sheet

· 2 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Example Account Name

Assets:US:BofA:Checking

cheatsheet-en

Account Types

Assets          +
Liabilities -
Income -
Expenses +
Equity -

Commodities

CNY, EUR, CAD, AUD
GOOG, AAPL, RBF1005
HOME_MAYST, AIRMILES
HOURS

Directives

General syntax

YYYY-MM-DD <Directive> <Parameters...>

Opening & Closing Accounts

2001-05-29 open Expenses:Restaurant
2001-05-29 open Assets:Checking USD,EUR ; Currency constraints

2015-04-23 close Assets:Checking

Declaring Commodities (Optional)

1998-07-22 commodity AAPL
name: "Apple Computer Inc."

Prices

2015-04-30 price AAPL   125.15 CNY
2015-05-30 price AAPL 130.28 CNY

Notes

2013-03-20 note Assets:Checking "Called to ask about rebate"

Documents

2013-03-20 document Assets:Checking "path/to/statement.pdf"

Transactions

2015-05-30 * "Some narration about this transaction"
Liabilities:CreditCard -101.23 CNY
Expenses:Restaurant 101.23 CNY

2015-05-30 ! "Cable Co" "Phone Bill" #tag ˆlink
id: "TW378743437" ; Meta-data
Expenses:Home:Phone 87.45 CNY
Assets:Checking ; You may leave one amount out

Postings

  ...    123.45 USD                             Simple
... 10 GOOG {502.12 USD} With per-unit cost
... 10 GOOG {{5021.20 USD}} With total cost
... 10 GOOG {502.12 # 9.95 USD} With both costs
... 1000.00 USD @ 1.10 CAD With per-unit price
... 10 GOOG {502.12 USD} @ 1.10 CAD With cost & price
... 10 GOOG {502.12 USD, 2014-05-12} With date
! ... 123.45 USD ... With flag

Balance Assertions and Padding

; Asserts the amount for only the given currency:
2015-06-01 balance Liabilities:CreditCard -634.30 CNY

; Automatic insertion of transaction to fulfill the following assertion:
2015-06-01pad Assets:Checking Equity:Opening-Balances

Events

2015-06-01 event "location" "New York, USA"
2015-06-30 event "address" "123 May Street"

Options

option "title" "My Personal Ledger"

Other

pushtag #trip-to-peru
...
poptag #trip-to-peru
; Comments begin with a semi-colon

The Magic of Plain Text Accounting with Beancount

· 5 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Discover the Magic of Plain Text Accounting with Beancount

Introduction

2023-04-18-introduction-to-beancount

Welcome to a world where accounting is no longer a daunting task. Today, we introduce you to Beancount, a powerful, flexible, and intuitive plain text accounting tool. Beancount empowers you to take control of your finances by providing a transparent and straightforward approach to managing your money.

In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the basics of Beancount, explain its core concepts, and walk you through its simple yet powerful features. By the end of this blog, you'll have a solid understanding of Beancount and be ready to start using it to organize and analyze your financial life.

What is Beancount?

Beancount is an open-source, plain text accounting system created by Martin Blais. Inspired by John Wiegley's Ledger system, Beancount aims to provide a robust and reliable method to manage personal and small business finances using plain text files. With Beancount, you can track your income, expenses, investments, and much more with ease.

Why Beancount?

Plain text accounting offers several advantages over traditional spreadsheet-based or software-based accounting systems:

  • Transparency: Beancount files are human-readable, making it easy to understand and audit your financial data.
  • Flexibility: Beancount can be easily customized to fit your specific needs, and you can use your favorite text editor and version control system to manage your financial data.
  • Portability: Your financial data can be accessed on any device, and it's easy to transfer between systems or share with others.
  • Future-proof: Plain text files are universally compatible, ensuring that your financial data will remain accessible, even as technology evolves.

Beancount's Core Concepts

To use Beancount effectively, it's crucial to understand its core concepts:

  • Transactions: Financial events, such as income, expenses, or transfers between accounts, are recorded as transactions.
  • Accounts: Transactions involve one or more accounts, such as assets, liabilities, income, or expenses.
  • Double-entry bookkeeping: Beancount enforces double-entry bookkeeping, ensuring that every transaction has balanced debits and credits.
  • Directives: Beancount uses a set of directives to define transactions, account openings, and other financial events.

Getting Started with Beancount

To start using Beancount, follow these simple steps:

  • Install Beancount: Install Beancount on your system using the provided installation instructions for your operating system.
  • Create your Beancount file: Create a new plain text file with the .beancount extension (e.g., my_finances.beancount).
  • Define your accounts: Use the "open" directive to define the accounts you'll use in your transactions.
  • Record transactions: Use the "txn" directive to record your financial transactions.

Or simply sign up at https://beancount.io. Here are some plain text accounting examples -

Example 1: Basic Transaction

2023-04-01 open Assets:Checking
2023-04-01 open Expenses:Groceries

2023-04-10 txn "Grocery Store" "Buying groceries"
Assets:Checking -50.00 USD
Expenses:Groceries 50.00 USD

In this example, we open two accounts, Assets:Checking and Expenses:Groceries. On April 10, 2023, we record a transaction for buying groceries worth $50. The transaction reduces the balance of Assets:Checking by $50 (debit) and increases the balance of Expenses:Groceries by $50 (credit).

Example 2: Income and Expense Transaction

2023-04-01 open Assets:Checking
2023-04-01 open Income:Salary
2023-04-01 open Expenses:Rent

2023-04-05 txn "Employer" "Salary payment"
Assets:Checking 2000.00 USD
Income:Salary -2000.00 USD

2023-04-06 txn "Landlord" "Monthly rent payment"
Assets:Checking -1000.00 USD
Expenses:Rent 1000.00 USD

In this example, we open three accounts: Assets:Checking, Income:Salary, and Expenses:Rent. On April 5, 2023, we record a salary payment transaction of $2000. The transaction increases the balance of Assets:Checking by $2000 (credit) and decreases the balance of Income:Salary by $2000 (debit). On April 6, 2023, we record a rent payment transaction of $1000. The transaction reduces the balance of Assets:Checking by $1000 (debit) and increases the balance of Expenses:Rent by $1000 (credit).

Example 3: Transfer Between Accounts

2023-04-01 open Assets:Checking
2023-04-01 open Assets:Savings

2023-04-15 txn "Bank" "Transfer from Checking to Savings"
Assets:Checking -500.00 USD
Assets:Savings 500.00 USD

In this example, we open two accounts: Assets:Checking and Assets:Savings. On April 15, 2023, we record a transaction to transfer $500 from the checking account to the savings account. The transaction reduces the balance of Assets:Checking by $500 (debit) and increases the balance of Assets:Savings by $500 (credit).

These examples illustrate the basic concepts of Beancount's double-entry bookkeeping system. By properly recording transactions, users can maintain accurate records of their financial activities and generate reports to gain insights into their financial situation.

Generating Reports and Analyzing Data

Beancount comes with a set of powerful tools for generating financial reports, including balance sheets, income statements, and more. You can also use Fava, a web-based user interface for Beancount, to visualize and interact with your financial data. https://beancount.io is built upon Fava with MIT license.

Conclusion

Embrace the power and simplicity of plain text accounting with Beancount. By understanding its core concepts and following the steps outlined in this guide, you'll be well on your way to managing your personal or small business finances with ease and precision. As you grow more comfortable with Beancount, you can explore advanced features and customizations to tailor the system to your unique needs.

Whether you're looking to track your spending, plan for the future, or gain insights into your financial habits, Beancount offers the flexibility and transparency needed to achieve your goals. With its user-friendly approach, Beancount has the potential to revolutionize the way you manage your finances and empower you to take control of your financial future.

Now that you have a solid foundation in Beancount, it's time to embark on your plain text accounting journey. Say goodbye to cumbersome spreadsheets and convoluted software, and welcome the world of Beancount. Happy accounting!

Enhancing Your Beancount Experience with Custom Links and Queries

· 3 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Beancount, the double-entry accounting system beloved by developers and finance nerds alike, is powerful in its simplicity. But for those who want more control and faster navigation inside Fava, Beancount’s web interface, custom sidebar links and SQL queries can take your workflow to the next level.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to:

  • Add quick-access links to Fava’s sidebar
  • Use SQL queries for advanced filtering and analysis
  • Customize your workflow for monthly reviews or anomaly detection

Why Customize Fava?

Fava is already a beautiful interface for viewing your Beancount ledger, but as your journal grows, so does the need for better shortcuts and smarter queries.

Pain points this solves:

  • Navigating through time ranges repeatedly
  • Filtering transactions across nested accounts
  • Spotting negative balances or anomalies faster

Let’s start with improving your daily workflow with simple sidebar shortcuts. These links appear in Fava’s left sidebar and can take you directly to filtered views like this month’s transactions or last month’s income.

Add these lines to your Beancount file:

2021-01-01 custom "fava-sidebar-link" "Current Month" "/jump?time=month"
2021-01-01 custom "fava-sidebar-link" "Last Month" "/jump?time=month-1"
2021-01-01 custom "fava-sidebar-link" "Clear All" "/jump?account=&time=&filter="

What They Do:

  • Current Month: Opens the transaction view filtered to the current month.
  • Last Month: Instantly jumps to the previous month—great for end-of-month reviews.
  • Clear All: Resets filters, showing all entries again.

These shortcuts eliminate manual time input and make your Fava experience feel more fluid and personalized.

🔍 Custom SQL Queries

For deeper insight, Fava’s SQL interface is incredibly powerful. Here’s a query that finds all negative balances in accounts that match a pattern—perfect for flagging unusual or problematic transactions.

SELECT account, units(sum(position)), sum(position)
WHERE number(units(position)) < 0
AND account ~ '.*:BCM:.*'
AND date >= DATE(2021,12,9)
AND date < DATE(2022,1,9)

Breakdown:

  • account ~ '.*:BCM:.*': Filters accounts containing :BCM: in their name.
  • number(units(position)) < 0: Flags negative balances (e.g. overspent budgets).
  • Date filters narrow the result to a specific 1-month window.

Use cases:

  • Spot errors like duplicate expenses or incorrect postings
  • Audit a specific vendor or category
  • Quickly extract actionable insights for budgeting

While Fava doesn’t allow direct links to custom queries, you can create a monthly review habit by:

  • Using the “Current Month” link to start your review
  • Opening your saved queries tab in another pane
  • Reviewing both simultaneously—filter first, then dig deep

This combo helps you catch anomalies before they spiral and ensure your ledger stays clean.

Final Thoughts

Beancount is minimal by design, but small enhancements like these bring huge gains in efficiency. Whether you’re reviewing your budget, debugging strange balances, or simply saving clicks, custom links and SQL queries give you more power and less friction.

Bonus: If you're using Fava’s custom reports, you can even build full dashboards tailored to your personal finance rituals.

Ready to take control?

Start small: add the “Current Month” link. Then build your own queries. Your future self will thank you.

Want more tips like this? Subscribe to our newsletter or explore more Beancount recipes at Beancount.io.

Forecasting Future Transactions in Beancount

· One min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

There is a plugin for beancount to forecast future recurring transactions. How to apply it in beancount.io? Put the following content into your ledger file.

; import the plugin
plugin "fava.plugins.forecast"

; add a monthly HOA fee
2022-05-30 # "HOA fee [MONTHLY]"
Expenses:Hoa 1024.00 USD
Assets:Checking -1024.00 USD

2022-05-30-forecast-plugin

And then, you will see the forecast in Net Profit chart.

Forecast Plugin

The tag [MONTHLY] above means it will recur forever. If you have more conditions to apply, try [MONTHLY UNTIL 2022-06-01], [MONTHLY REPEAT 5 TIMES], [YEARLY REPEAT 5 TIMES], or [WEEKLY SKIP 1 TIME REPEAT 5 TIMES].

Revolutionizing Personal Finance Management with Beancount.io

· 4 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Beancounters traditionally use command-line tools or self-host servers with private networks, where they have to operate through a computer or a general-purpose text editor on mobile. Beancount.io reduces hassles by bringing open-sourced Android and iOS mobile apps and a secured cloud so that your ledger is now a few taps away from your fingerprint.

Beancount is a computer language that enables double-entry bookkeeping in text files. Once you define financial transactions in the file, it will generate various reports. Martin Blais, the designer of this language, argues that command-line bookkeeping has many advantages - It is fast, portable, open, and customized.

We strongly agree with the argument and share the feeling of empowerment brought by beancount language. And we wanted to do more - introducing the technology to more people. It means that we have to improve the usability and make it more accessible to a broader audience.

2022-01-08-instant-access-to-your-beancount-cloud-ledger-anytime-anywhere

Not everyone is a command-line enthusiast, and this is why we build Beancount.io - the personal finance manager for everyone. Here is how it works:

For heavy-duty work, beancounters could still use their computers to edit or view the ledger with their browsers visiting https://beancount.io or syncing with Dropbox. This keeps the flexibility of the command-line tools, while not losing the cross-device access of the cloud-based solution.

For daily light-weight operations, such as instantly adding an entry, beancounters could use the mobile app to connect to the secured cloud.

Mike Thrift, a backend engineering working on this product, says

I used to set up a reminder every day for myself to open my laptop and input records to my bean files. Now, with beancount.io, it is way easier for me to modify my ledger whenever I need it, even when I am outdoors purchasing something in the store.

Zhi Li, a software engineer from Facebook, tells us

I have migrated all my beancount files to beancount.io, and now it works perfectly for my day-to-day usage. I have paid for Pro features like automatic data backup, but I feel there are more things you guys could do to improve the service.

You could sign up now at https://beancount.io/sign-up/ or download iOS or Android App. We streamlined the registration to collect as minimal information as we can from you to bootstrap the service. Then you will get a preset empty ledger that is ready for you to add an entry right away.

FAQs

Would beancount.io sell my ledger data to any third party?

  • No. We are committed to keeping your data secured and private, and we will never sell your ledger data.

Is my data secured?

  • Yes. We protect your email and ledger with AES256, your password with BCrypt, and your network requests with SSL.

Is my ledger data end-to-end encrypted?

  • No. Due to technical constraints, we still have to decrypt your data into memory when indexing the ledger file in production servers. Therefore, we restrict direct access from any of our team members. Unfortunately, we cannot do this in Intel's SGX or any security vault due to high costs.

Is this a reliable service I could trust for the incoming few years?

  • Yes. We initially launched Beancount.io on July 4th, 2019, and it has been more than two years that we have operated the service securely and reliably. Therefore, we have no reason not to continue the service in the future.

Can I request new features and sponsor the project?

Introducing Multi-File Support in Beancount

· 2 min read
Mike Thrift
Mike Thrift
Marketing Manager

Many of our customers have been asking us how to add multiple files to one ledger since February. They need the file structure to archive or categorize transactions. So, finally, after a couple of months of work, we are glad to announce the feature is released for free.

Here is how to use it:

File > create a new file

2021-09-24-multi-file-one-ledger

Go to the file editor tab on the left navigation sidebar. And then, follow the "File" dropdown and click "Create a new file".

File > create a new file

Name your new file

Give your file a valid filename and save it. All filenames must be ended with ".bean".

Name your new file

Include the file

Here is a crucial step, you have to include the newly-created file in main.bean.

For example, if you added stock.bean, then specify include "stock.bean" in main.bean.

Include the file

Refresh and navigate to file

Refresh the page, and you will see the file appears in the "File" dropdown.

Refresh and go to file

Rename or delete the file

When navigated to the file, you could rename or delete it in the "Edit" dropdown.

Rename or delete the file

Having troubles?

Ask questions in https://t.me/beancount.