SEE Finance 2 Users Information Forum

[Markwhy]

I've long been an advocate of SEE Finance 2 being the overall best personal finance software for Mac OS users. The reasons for that appear in other threads. Those of you who have been using it are probably well aware by now that nobody has heard from the developer (Patrick) for at least the past several months as far as I know. Also, a couple of issues seem to have started recently that he hasn't addressed - for example, security price downloads and report exports.

Since most Bogleheads who use personal finance application are probably very dependent on it and understand the pain of transitioning to alternative apps, I am starting this thread as a central place to share information about:
(1) any recent responses from the developer indicating that he is still in business and supporting the software
(2) solutions/workarounds to restore capabilities that have recently stopped working
(3) experiences indicating whether or not the current version of the app works with Mac OS 15 (Sequoia)

If you are SEE Finance 2 user, please post any information you can share on these topics.

My info related to those items above:

(1) The last time I got a response from the developer was in February 2023. No response to several attempts since then.

(2) I believe I have a fix for the report export problem related to a message saying that you don't have a valid license. This seems to affect those who bought the app from the Mac App store. If anyone is having that issue, please post here and I will summarize a fix that has worked for me.

(3) I have not upgraded to Mac OS 15, so I have no experience with that. But I have seen one or two posts elsewhere indicating that the app may not work once you upgrade to Sequoia.

----------

If we get to a point where we confirm that the developer has abandoned the app, then this thread can transition to sharing information about alternative apps that are able to accurately and completely import our SEE Finance data using either the QIF or CSV export formats provided in the current app.

[chaser]

I know a dev who happens to use SEE Finance. He has helped me figure out various things in the past. And once upon a time, I encouraged him to post to this forum to help some other questions about SEE Finance and just to get him to join this community. He told me his account got banned because the admins thought he was a spammer. I think he's mad at me now. But to try to answer your questions myself:

1. I thought I saw a sale or some description update on the App Store this year, indicating the author is at least still doing something with the app. No idea what this means for support.

2. My dev friend helped me with the export license problem. I forgot all the details, but I think he had me delete all the support files found in the ~/Library folders for SEE Finance. Maybe the problem was I once had a non-Mac App Store version which was confusing the Mac App Store version, so it was looking for a license in this case.

3. I haven't tried Sequoia yet. I would also like to know about this.

[Admiral]

Thanks for posting. Long time SF user. Also have not updated to Sequoia. I REALLY hope it's compatible.

Just backed up my files to CSV just in case. Please post if anyone knows if development has stopped. The Website does not indicate that it has.
Not sure what I'd use as a replacement. I really only use it to track deposits and expenses (check register) not for the more complicated finance functions.

[Axle1]

Thanks for posting this. I recently switched from an old version of Quicken to See Finance. I was really hoping it would be around for a long time!

[Markwhy]

IMO, you made the right choice in terms of this being hands down the best Mac OS personal finance software. It's so well written that once the (free) annual update released there are rarely any bug fix releases. Personally, I wish the developer would charge a small annual subscription fee and use it to hire some people to at least answer email support requests. That has really been the only complaint I've had about using for the past few years.

in response to what you wrote ... the developer went silent once before in 2020 when he was sick during the Covid year. He eventually came back and has released updates after each new Mac OS up through last year (fall 2023). While we all waited and wondered in 2020, there were no indications of what was going on either via email or on the product website.

So I think there is a small chance that is what is happening right now and that he might return. He did update the Mac App store earlier this year to post a sale price for the App. But he hasn't yet released an update for the new Mac OS 15.

There is some chatter on the internet about changes having been made to the Yahoo Finance APIs which affected any apps that were still using them to get daily price quotes. I believe SEE Finance has been using those APIs and this may be why that function within the app stopped working in Aug 2024. Apparently, other apps were affected in about the same timeframe. He might be working on a different solution and trying to avoid one that incurs a subscription fee.

Also, many financial institutions are changing to more secure methods of third-party access in response to all the recent cyber attacks. He may also be working on changes to an alternative method for that. Since he seems to prefer updating everything only once a year and making sure the app is rock solid before releasing it, there is some reason to be hopeful. I just wish he would post something to tell all his users whether we should wait for an upcoming update or start looking for an alternative.

To be clear, my comments above are just hypothetical reasons for why we haven't seen fixes to the recent issues and why we haven't yet seen the annual update for Mac OS 15.

[Ewarrior]

I have used SEE Finance for many years and really appreciate how well it keeps my finances organized. Saw this thread and figured I'd post. I updated to Mac OS 15 "Seqouia" when it came out. I've noticed two behaviors:

1) The stock prices do not update. I do not believe this is a Mac OS 15 issue as another poster explained this may have to do with some third party API's.
2) When adding or making changes to a transaction the "Save" and "Cancel" buttons are just grey. There is no text within the two buttons. From memory I know cancel is the left button and save is the right button.

I don't really use reports too much so can't comment on that. Other than the two issues mentioned above I haven't noticed any other issues with Mac OS 15.

[Markwhy]

Is your comment about the original SEE Finance or SEE Finance 2?

[scarlioni]

Just adding my experience of SEE Finance 2:

- I haven't heard from Patrick since Jan 2023
- I am running Sequoia and it works fine except for the greyed out buttons and lack of stock price updates (probably an API issue) already mentioned.
- Reporting is OK.

Like others, I am concerned about Patrick and the future of the app, and would - very sadly - be interested in alternatives.

[Markwhy]

Thanks for your input on this.

I did some digging and found that someone, presumably Patrick, did file an annual report for his company Scimonoce Software in Aug 2024. So he may be ok, but that leaves us with no explanation as to why has isn’t responding to anyone. And maybe there’s a slim chance that an update to the app may be coming.

As I posted before, if something doesn’t emerge by the end of this year then I will suggest we use this thread to share information about what might be the most compatible and comparable alternative. For me, being able to import my entire history of accounts and transactions is most important. When I switched away from Quicken, See Finance 2 was nearly flawless on importing thousands of transactions from a QIF export from Quicken.

If anyone learns anything new, please post it here.

Thanks everyone.

[Admiral]

See Finance 2 has been updated, I got the update screen when I opened it this morning.

SEE Finance Version 2.4.1

Released 11/01/2024

Changes Made Since 2.3.0:

Compatibility adjustments for macOS 15.0 Sequoia.
Improved downloading of investment prices.
Fixed an issue with app store purchase verification that could prevent exporting.
Various other minor adjustments and bug fixes.

[Markwhy]

Wow, well that’s a nice surprise. Looks like he addressed both of the app issues many have been experiencing.

[Markwhy]

Wow, well that’s a nice surprise. Looks like he addressed both of the app issues many have been experiencing.

Let’s all use this thread to address any future issues.

[guppyguy]

Just curious, what does everybody like about SEE2? Do you use it to track investments and/or net worth?

[Admiral]

Just curious, what does everybody like about SEE2? Do you use it to track investments and/or net worth?

I use it only as a check/savings register not to track investments. But it has pretty advanced report functions to track cashflows, expense by category/type, and so on. And it's inexpensive.

[chaser]

I use it to track both investments and banking/cashflow. And especially since I started using Fidelity CMA and Fidelity credit card to pay my bills, SEE Finance makes it convenient to track everything since type of thing crosses between the investment and banking boundaries. I like how each account is displayed separately in the left-hand side bar each with its current amount total. It helps me quickly identify which credit cards have a balance due, and how much I have currently have in my payment accounts.

Also, since you can easily create expense and income categories, I like using the report generation feature at the end of the year and tax time to quickly show me all my income (e.g. 1099-MISC, 1099-INT, etc.), or all my business expenses, or other things as an extra sanity check to make sure I didn't miss reporting something on my tax return.

I also like that SEE Finance can handle options and bonds (e.g. my T-bills). Other apps like GNUCash couldn't handle these when trying to import transaction data directly from my institutions.

[Markwhy]

I agree with everything listed by the previous poster. It’s near perfect in tracking income sources and expenses and generating a wide range of tailorable report types. Very convenient and well designed shortcuts that make it efficient to categorize items and reconcile accounts.

Also, very good at tracking investments and earnings with subcategories and tags that allow you to create reports needed for annual taxes and even quarterly tax payments (if you are someone who needs them).

So far, importing has worked all the banks and brokerages and credit cards I’ve used. But I’m expecting possible issues may emerge as financial institutions become less cooperative with third party access to account, in response to recent cyber attacks.

My only complaint is that you pay once and there are no update charges or subscription fees. As I posted before, I would rather pay the developer a modest annual fee in exchange for having more available support when needed. As strange as that may sound, it would be better than going for long stretches with no help available. The app is so reliable that help is rarely needed. But when it is, you need to be able to get a response.

Overall, still the best financial app available at any price.

[guppyguy]

I also like that SEE Finance can handle options and bonds (e.g. my T-bills). Other apps like GNUCash couldn't handle these when trying to import transaction data directly from my institutions.

Like in individual treasury bills? (And maybe iBonds or
Individual TIPS)?

I downloaded it earlier today and like the interface way better than gnucash. I’m not interested in bank connectivity.

Hey when would an Employment Account type be used? For paycheck withholdings maybe?

[chaser]

Yes, individual treasury bills. When I download transactions from Vanguard or Fidelity, it comes with the identifier such as 912797MA2. SEE Finance fills in the transaction amounts correctly, and if you inspect the specific security, you'll see that SEE Finance also fills out fields like the maturity date, par value, and coupon rate (0% for a T-bill).

I think I filled out all the I-Bonds info manually because I don't think Treasury Direct provided detailed transaction data.

I haven't used an Employment Account type, but I imagine it might be a nice way to keep all those transactions grouped if you do something more than get a direct deposit paycheck. In addition to receiving your paycheck, I imagine it could be useful for tracking reimbursed expenses, where you may have to pay things out of pocket now and they reimburse you later. Or maybe your employment requires you to pay for items directly, without reimbursement, perhaps for buying a uniform or union dues. Or maybe if you get bonuses, tips, or sales commissions on top of your salary.

[Markwhy]

Another surprise. I just received an email response from the developer. He apologized for not being able to respond to my recent emails, but told me that he “hopes to keep the program going for a long time”. While that isn’t a guarantee, at least we know that is his intent. He did tell me that he is doing ok, so I don’t think that his recent absence was due to health issues (as was the case during Covid 2020).

I’ve been able to conduct some good dialogues with him via email in the past few years. So, I plan to try to engage him with suggestions on how to better support us and to communicate with those of us who are dependent on his app for managing our personal finances. If anyone has ideas, feel free to post them here and I will pass them along if he is responsive.

[Markwhy]

Yes, individual treasury bills. When I download transactions from Vanguard or Fidelity, it comes with the identifier such as 912797MA2. SEE Finance fills in the transaction amounts correctly, and if you inspect the specific security, you'll see that SEE Finance also fills out fields like the maturity date, par value, and coupon rate (0% for a T-bill).

I think I filled out all the I-Bonds info manually because I don't think Treasury Direct provided detailed transaction data.

I haven't used an Employment Account type, but I imagine it might be a nice way to keep all those transactions grouped if you do something more than get a direct deposit paycheck. In addition to receiving your paycheck, I imagine it could be useful for tracking reimbursed expenses, where you may have to pay things out of pocket now and they reimburse you later. Or maybe your employment requires you to pay for items directly, without reimbursement, perhaps for buying a uniform or union dues. Or maybe if you get bonuses, tips, or sales commissions on top of your salary.

I have a question about Vanguard downloads for TIPS bonds. When I import VG transactions, The TIPS bond prices come in without applying the inflation factor, which results in market prices being way lower than the actual (i.e. inflation adjusted). So, I have to then change all the TIPS bond prices manually. Are you experiencing the same or am I doing something wrong? When importing TIPS bond transactions from other brokerages I don’t experience that problem.

[chaser]

I haven't done anything with TIPS, and honestly, I haven't done much to track my I-Bonds. I don't actually plan on holding my I-Bonds for the full 30 years. So naively, based on your description, I think VG/SEE are doing the right thing because it sounds like mark-to-market and that sounds like the right thing to-do. Additionally, VG/SEE can't know what future inflation factors will be.

I'm happy to hear the author responded and plans to continue support. It's a fantastic product. Faced with the options of him going out of business or trying to pay him more frequently, I also agree I want to pay him more. SEE Finance gets so many little tiny details and features right that all other programs I've tried don't even attempt to support. And the UI design is excellent. And the program is lightweight because it is a native app, and doesn't suck up all the resources on my computer just to load it unlike many other apps out there today. I can keep SEE Finance open in the background without worrying it is eating all my RAM or CPU in the background.

As for ideas for him with respect to monetization, I think the two biggest problem points for both him and customers is related to downloading 3rd party data. Updating quotes from Yahoo is a headache because Yahoo seems to change/break their API every so often and they keep dropping hints that they really rather just shutdown Yahoo Finance entirely. My one suggestion to the author about this is maybe he break off this functionality into an optional plugin which has a subscription model. I know there are other 3rd party services that sell API access to ticker data for resale. I know they aren't cheap for a single individual user, but if he can find one with a ToS that allows all his users access to the data through his one subscription, allowing him to amortize his cost across enough paying subscription users for the plugin, this might be a better way moving forward for everybody. If he could get the cost down to something like $5/year for the plugin, I speculate most people would be willing to pay it without much resistance. He would get some repeating income, and he would get a more stable API than what Yahoo has been doing.

I suspect the other pain point is many financial institutions are slowly abandoning the open standard of OFX Direct Connect for downloading connections. Once upon a time, almost all my institutions supported this and I sync'd all my transactions this way. Now, I think I'm down to only 4 institutions left. I don't know the inside baseball of what's going on, but to me, it looks like the institutions dropping OFX Direct Connect are now supporting some new native Quicken protocol, which I think Quicken gets to charge the institutions a recurring fee for, and in some cases these institutions are charging the customers for access to it. Others might eat the cost for their customers. But either way, it is a net-loss for open standards and users of any software other than modern Quicken. I don't see an easy solution to this problem. Users need to tell their financial institutions how much they hate this (it's a complete racket), but I know from personal experience that this falls on deaf ears. But I don't know if it is possible for the SEE Finance author to access this new protocol (if so, he probably has to pay), but if he can, maybe he can develop an additional plugin model to handle these. Depending on how different each institution is and how often each institution likes to break or tweak things, he might even consider selling specific institution plugins for syncing transactions. He might want to do some market research on which institutions his customers use the most and would be willing to pay for.

[guppyguy]

I'd pay more, maybe not a subscription model as I download/import manually (or will, once I'm done with the trial). I rather like the nitch-market the developer seems to be serving, rather than falling in line with all other business models. It might serve fewer customers but the turnover is less. People switch money management systems more often than diets these days, and trying to have all the newest tech must be very capital intensive.

My main concern is if it is a single developer, and the monetary/time trade off is satisfactory, what keeps the platform rolling along over the next 10 years? How easy would it be to export out of SEE to another platform? I hate the GUI of GnuCash but the platform is not going anywhere.

[Markwhy]

I'd pay more, maybe not a subscription model as I download/import manually (or will, once I'm done with the trial). I rather like the nitch-market the developer seems to be serving, rather than falling in line with all other business models. It might serve fewer customers but the turnover is less. People switch money management systems more often than diets these days, and trying to have all the newest tech must be very capital intensive.

My main concern is if it is a single developer, and the monetary/time trade off is satisfactory, what keeps the platform rolling along over the next 10 years? How easy would it be to export out of SEE to another platform? I hate the GUI of GnuCash but the platform is not going anywhere.

Currently SEE Finance is kind enough to allow export of all your data via QIF and CSV formats. At this time, those are the two that make the most sense for moving to another platform. However it’s hit and miss as to how well other platforms do at importing.

My worry is that if the single developer suddenly becomes unavailable at a time where SEE Finance becomes inoperable due to a MacOS upgrade, then how do you export your data?

The workaround I’ve been following is to not upgrade to the new MacOS until I know that SEE Finance is working. With all the bugs in every new MacOS, I usually end up waiting to upgrade until January or later anyway.

[guppyguy]

The workaround I’ve been following is to not upgrade to the new MacOS until I know that SEE Finance is working. With all the bugs in every new MacOS, I usually end up waiting to upgrade until January or later anyway.

This IS a nice piece of software. It appears plain at first but as a lot of options. This does appear to be an unappreciated gem for the Mac.

Remind us again....
How many years did you say you have used SEE? Do you put everything in it or are you still beholden to a spreadsheet somewhere? Manual importing or some kind of connection?

[Admiral]

The workaround I’ve been following is to not upgrade to the new MacOS until I know that SEE Finance is working. With all the bugs in every new MacOS, I usually end up waiting to upgrade until January or later anyway.

This IS a nice piece of software. It appears plain at first but as a lot of options. This does appear to be an unappreciated gem for the Mac.

Remind us again....
How many years did you say you have used SEE? Do you put everything in it or are you still beholden to a spreadsheet somewhere? Manual importing or some kind of connection?

I am not Markwhy but have used SEE Finance since Microsoft Money stopped being a thing. So circa 2007ish. It imported everything easily. It also exports to QIF and CSV (which, while not perfect, is good enough).

I don't really manage or track my investments locally except on a very general Excel spreadsheet that I update quarterly: Vanguard and TIAA do a much better job than I ever could with reporting and tracking. (I also don't sell anything very often.)

I use SF to track all expenses and income, and to run reports so I can see cashflow and where the money is going. You can track multiple accounts. Don't know the limit, if there is one. It's simple to add new categories (for example "Venmo deposit" or "Zelle withdrawal") even if they are not included in the program.

[guppyguy]

This IS a nice piece of software. It appears plain at first but as a lot of options. This does appear to be an unappreciated gem for the Mac.

Remind us again....
How many years did you say you have used SEE? Do you put everything in it or are you still beholden to a spreadsheet somewhere? Manual importing or some kind of connection?

I am not Markwhy but have used SEE Finance since Microsoft Money stopped being a thing. So circa 2007ish. It imported everything easily. It also exports to QIF and CSV (which, while not perfect, is good enough).

I don't really manage or track my investments locally except on a very general Excel spreadsheet that I update quarterly: Vanguard and TIAA do a much better job than I ever could with reporting and tracking. (I also don't sell anything very often.)

I use SF to track all expenses and income, and to run reports so I can see cashflow and where the money is going. You can track multiple accounts. Don't know the limit, if there is one. It's simple to add new categories (for example "Venmo deposit" or "Zelle withdrawal") even if they are not included in the program.

Ah so just contributions to and account balances for investments, not each holding? Do you track net worth in SEE?

Problem with all these finance apps is figuring out how much detail one wants to enter and whether it is worth the time in the end.

[Admiral]

I am not Markwhy but have used SEE Finance since Microsoft Money stopped being a thing. So circa 2007ish. It imported everything easily. It also exports to QIF and CSV (which, while not perfect, is good enough).

I don't really manage or track my investments locally except on a very general Excel spreadsheet that I update quarterly: Vanguard and TIAA do a much better job than I ever could with reporting and tracking. (I also don't sell anything very often.)

I use SF to track all expenses and income, and to run reports so I can see cashflow and where the money is going. You can track multiple accounts. Don't know the limit, if there is one. It's simple to add new categories (for example "Venmo deposit" or "Zelle withdrawal") even if they are not included in the program.

Ah so just contributions to and account balances for investments, not each holding? Do you track net worth in SEE?

Problem with all these finance apps is figuring out how much detail one wants to enter and whether it is worth the time in the end.

No. As noted I do not use it for investments, only for checking account(s), and to a lesser extent liquid savings in a bank savings account (though most of my liquid savings is in Vanguard MM anyway). I do not use it to track net worth. As noted, I use Excel to track investment accounts but not each specific holding, I don't care to be that granular.

That said, one CAN easily use See Finance to do that. I just don't care to.

[Markwhy]

The workaround I’ve been following is to not upgrade to the new MacOS until I know that SEE Finance is working. With all the bugs in every new MacOS, I usually end up waiting to upgrade until January or later anyway.

This IS a nice piece of software. It appears plain at first but as a lot of options. This does appear to be an unappreciated gem for the Mac.

Remind us again....
How many years did you say you have used SEE? Do you put everything in it or are you still beholden to a spreadsheet somewhere? Manual importing or some kind of connection?

I've been using SEE for over 5 years. No spreadsheets necessary, though I do use a couple as I'll explain below. SEE is good for two types of tracking that are typically sold as two different types of personal finance apps:

(1) Bank/Credit Card Transactions: I import transactions from bank accounts and credit cards, categorize them all using categories with user-defined subcategories and user-defined tags. With that data, you can generate customized reports over any length of time and with any selection of accounts, categories and/or tags. Very useful for tracking where your $$ are going and generating info needed to calculate quarterly estimated income taxes and year-end annual tax returns. SEE also includes a budgeting function, but I haven't used it.

(2) Investment Tracking: I import transactions from my brokerage firms and assign SEE categories and tags for dividends, interest and short and long-term gains. Again, this info necessary info for all income tax computations. SEE can auto or manually update prices for individual stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and individual bonds. With that, it shows an integrated view of your portfolio organized by accounts and holdings. If you also add other assets, you can track net worth.

With (1) and (2) above being combined in one app, it tracks cash flows between banks, credit cards and brokerages which is useful. In 5+ years, I’ve never encountered a bug (other than the recent two that just got fixed) or had the app crash. Can’t say that about any other MacOS app I’ve owned, including my Apple apps.

I also like that you don’t expose your data or account passwords to the SEE developer. You do have to give the SEE app your account password if a brokerage uses Direct Connect. If you want to be super-careful, you can delete the password from SEE after each Direct Connect and then change it on your brokerage website to ensure that the SEE app can’t secretly exfiltrate that password.

Where do I augment with spreadsheets and what SEE does not do …

It doesn't do fine grain asset allocation analysis by aggregating all your Mutual funds and ETFs with individual stocks/bonds to give you aggregate asset allocation with low-level details based on the composition of each fund (e.g. similar to Morningstar X-ray). I maintain a custom spreadsheet with information I import from Morningstar to generate some simple aggregation stats and for calculating AA rebalancing amounts.

Also, If you own TIPS bonds in taxable accounts, you'll probably need a spreadsheet to calculate TIPS "phantom taxes" that arise from the inflation adjustments. Most people don't buy TIPS in taxable accounts to avoid having to do this, because brokerage firms generally don’t provide this information - other than at EOY as a component within your 1099-OID and 1099-INT amounts.

Bottom line is that for complete income/expense tracking and investment tracking, IMO you really don’t need spreadsheets to augment SEE. Also, when using spreadsheets to create info needed for quarterly and annual income tax calcs (to augment Turbotax), SEE can easily generate the data you need via its report generation.

*** Note the info in this response is based on how SEE Finance 2 functions in SUMMER/FALL 2024 with the current state of bank and brokerage connections. These connection methods are currently in flux in ways that are making it more difficult for all personal finance apps to import transactions and other data. Some of what is written in this post may change as specific brokerages change the way they operate in ways that could impact SEE Finance import functions in the future ***

[guppyguy]

This IS a nice piece of software. It appears plain at first but as a lot of options. This does appear to be an unappreciated gem for the Mac.

Remind us again....
How many years did you say you have used SEE? Do you put everything in it or are you still beholden to a spreadsheet somewhere? Manual importing or some kind of connection?

I've been using SEE for over 5 years. No spreadsheets necessary, though I do use a couple as I'll explain below. SEE is good for two types of tracking that are typically sold as two different types of personal finance apps:

(1) Bank/Credit Card Transactions: I import transactions from bank accounts and credit cards, categorize them all using categories with user-defined subcategories and user-defined tags. With that data, you can generate customized reports over any length of time and with any selection of accounts, categories and/or tags. Very useful for tracking where your $$ are going and generating info needed to calculate quarterly estimated income taxes and year-end annual tax returns. SEE also includes a budgeting function, but I haven't used it.

(2) Investment Tracking: I import transactions from my brokerage firms and assign SEE categories and tags for dividends, interest and short and long-term gains. Again, this info necessary info for all income tax computations. SEE can auto or manually update prices for individual stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and individual bonds. With that, it shows an integrated view of your portfolio organized by accounts and holdings. If you also add other assets, you can track net worth.

With (1) and (2) above being combined in one app, it tracks cash flows between banks, credit cards and brokerages which is useful. In 5+ years, I’ve never encountered a bug (other than the recent two that just got fixed) or had the app crash. Can’t say that about any other MacOS app I’ve owned, including my Apple apps.

I also like that you don’t expose your data or account passwords to the SEE developer. You do have to give the SEE app your account password if a brokerage uses Direct Connect. If you want to be super-careful, you can delete the password from SEE after each Direct Connect and then change it on your brokerage website to ensure that the SEE app can’t secretly exfiltrate that password.

Where do I augment with spreadsheets and what SEE does not do …

It doesn't do fine grain asset allocation analysis by aggregating all your Mutual funds and ETFs with individual stocks/bonds to give you aggregate asset allocation with low-level details based on the composition of each fund (e.g. similar to Morningstar X-ray). I maintain a custom spreadsheet with information I import from Morningstar to generate some simple aggregation stats and for calculating AA rebalancing amounts.

Also, If you own TIPS bonds in taxable accounts, you'll probably need a spreadsheet to calculate TIPS "phantom taxes" that arise from the inflation adjustments. Most people don't buy TIPS in taxable accounts to avoid having to do this, because brokerage firms generally don’t provide this information - other than at EOY as a component within your 1099-OID and 1099-INT amounts.

Bottom line is that for complete income/expense tracking and investment tracking, IMO you really don’t need spreadsheets to augment SEE. Also, when using spreadsheets to create info needed for quarterly and annual income tax calcs (to augment Turbotax), SEE can easily generate the data you need via its report generation.

*** Note the info in this response is based on how SEE Finance 2 functions in SUMMER/FALL 2024 with the current state of bank and brokerage connections. These connection methods are currently in flux in ways that are making it more difficult for all personal finance apps to import transactions and other data. Some of what is written in this post may change as specific brokerages change the way they operate in ways that could impact SEE Finance import functions in the future ***

Thanks!

[Markwhy]

I have used SEE Finance for many years and really appreciate how well it keeps my finances organized. Saw this thread and figured I'd post. I updated to Mac OS 15 "Seqouia" when it came out. I've noticed two behaviors:

1) The stock prices do not update. I do not believe this is a Mac OS 15 issue as another poster explained this may have to do with some third party API's.
2) When adding or making changes to a transaction the "Save" and "Cancel" buttons are just grey. There is no text within the two buttons. From memory I know cancel is the left button and save is the right button.

I don't really use reports too much so can't comment on that. Other than the two issues mentioned above I haven't noticed any other issues with Mac OS 15.

Has the new SEE Finance fixed the bugs you experienced with Mac OS 15 Sequoia? Is SEE Finance fully functioning now?

[Markwhy]

Has anyone used the new SEE Finance version and confirmed that the issues with Mac OS 15 Sequoia have been fixed? Is SEE Finance fully functioning now?

If so, please let everyone on this forum know if it's safe to upgrade to Sequoia 15.1 knowing that their use of SEE Finance won't be impacted.

[chaser]

I upgraded a week ago. I haven't noticed any problems so far.

[Admiral]

It works fine on Sequoia. Cannot speak to downloading stock (or other) data.

[rbrb]

I can no longer schedule transactions, is anyone else having this problem? I doesn't work on either of my Macs. When I choose "Scheduled Transactions" I only get the calendar view now and don't have the option to see all my scheduled transactions or add new ones. The entire menu above the calendar is now blank. Have others experienced this and have you figured out a work around? This is my favorite use of SEE Finance, the ability to schedule all my bills and see when things are due. I have upgraded to Sequoia.

[rbrb]

Actually, in frustration I tried just clicking in that blank space and with luck I can sometimes hit the "hidden" menu items. If anyone has a working SEE Finance transactions screen, could you post a screen shot of the menus above the calender or list so I can see approx where I should click to try to engage the different menu items? They are there, just not visible. Thank you!

[rbrb]

Sorry I have figured it out. If anyone else is having this problem, if you click in the blank space on the far right at bottom of empty top banner you will get the search bar. Right above that is a click bar that should read "setup" or "pending". it is that button that is missing. So if you click on the far right a bit above the missing search bar it should switch to "setup" rather than "pending". Hope that helps others.

[Markwhy]

I don't know if this is helpful or not, but just to add to what you documented ....

I never knew there was a calendar view for Scheduled Transactions. When I go to Scheduled Transactions, it's already in list view (which is the view I've always used) and everything looks to be there and it appears to work normally. When I then go to the View menu, I see the "as Icon" and "as Calendar" choices, but they are grayed out. Only the "as List" option is available which, as I said, is the view that I'm in.

I assume that the other two View choices should not be grayed out? Maybe that is another bug related to the problem you are having?

I'll wait a bit to see if anyone else adds anything more about this. Then if we are collectively convinced we found a bug. I will try to get the attention of the developer (who did recently reach out to me).

[Markwhy]

It works fine on Sequoia. Cannot speak to downloading stock (or other) data.

I've been using the new version of SEE with Sequoia for a week or two now and everything seems to be working, including downloading ticker data and importing transactions from those that I've been downloading from before.

[Admiral]

Both my views work, list and calendar (though I too have never even used the calendar view. Interesting).

I am on Version 2.4.1 (1040). Not on Sequoia, however, still on Sonoma 14.6.1 (23G93) so my message above was an error, I have not upgraded yet.

[rbrb]

Ah, it does work when I am in list view. The top menu area shows all the choices. It is just when I am in calendar view that they disappear. I LOVE calendar view, but until it is fixed I think I should stick with list view!

[swtdvm]

Have been using SEE version 2.4.1 (1040) with Sequoia 15.2 with no issues until 12/24/24 at which point I can't download investment information from Vanguard: unknown error SCSFHTML 302. Tried deleting account information and re-entering and now get "error connecting to Vanguard FID 15103" and "unknown error SCSFHTML 302" messages. Of course Vanguard says their end is fine and have not heard back from SEE.

Any suggestions? Thanks

[Markwhy]

What method were you using to download? Were you using the built-in direct download within SEE? Or downloading a QFX file from Vanguard.com and then importing that into SEE?

[swtdvm]

The built-in. After deleting account downloads, I can't even get anything.

[Markwhy]

I never used direct downloads with Vanguard when I used to have an account there. I didn't know it was possible. I was always able to download all my account transactions from them in a QFX file and then import that file into SEE. It was a pretty quick process and I liked that I didn't have to enter my account password into SEE.

While waiting to see if the SEE developer will fix the problem you're having, you might try the QFX download alternative.

[chaser]

Have been using SEE version 2.4.1 (1040) with Sequoia 15.2 with no issues until 12/24/24 at which point I can't download investment information from Vanguard: unknown error SCSFHTML 302. Tried deleting account information and re-entering and now get "error connecting to Vanguard FID 15103" and "unknown error SCSFHTML 302" messages. Of course Vanguard says their end is fine and have not heard back from SEE.

Any suggestions? Thanks

I also have experienced this problem. I dug a little into it, and I think it broke around the end of October or early November. I also found some posts on the Quicken forum that it broke for them too.

I'm fairly convinced Vanguard changed/broke something on their end. I don't think SEE can do anything to fix this. I've been planning to contact/complain to Vanguard, but they removed composing new Secure Messages, so I must call them or chat with them through normal business hours, which has been hard for me to do during this holiday period.

[bajnat]

I'm new to See Finance 2, transitioning away from Quicken 2015. I just set up my accounts at the beginning of December and am having the same issue with downloading Vanguard .qfx files. Pretty sure the issue is coming from Vanguard.

[guppyguy]

Is there a way to <tab> backwards in a transaction?

Also, how does one adjust the value of a piece of residential real estate within the software?

[Markwhy]

My way of adjusting values of capital assets is to enter a transaction of the change in value and categorize the transaction as an unrealized capital gain (negative value for decline in value).

[guppyguy]

My way of adjusting values of capital assets is to enter a transaction of the change in value and categorize the transaction as an unrealized capital gain (negative value for decline in value).

Is that a category you created (unrealized capital gain) or pre-defined?

My home is a "Real Estate" asset type.

The other thing I am still trying to wrap my head around is in net worth reports if you choose, lets say a monthly interval, the column will read 1/1/25. If I make the adjustment on 12/31/24 or 1/1/25 it is reflected in the 1/1/25 column. If I record the adjustment 1/2/25 it will show up on the 2/1/25 column. So the end of the month is really the 1st of the next month (maybe there is a preference I am not seeing).

[chaser]

Is there a way to <tab> backwards in a transaction?

Shift-Tab
(This shortcut is a Mac standard default built-in that should work on most apps, particularly Mac native apps.)

Also, how does one adjust the value of a piece of residential real estate within the software?

I haven't done it with real-estate, but in the Portfolio section (either Securities or Holdings tabs), you can directly edit the current mark-to-market price by changing the price in the Price column.