How can I get my balance in MoneyWell to match my bank balance?

Most of the time, your current balance in MoneyWell is off from the amount you see on your bank statement or website because the initial balance is wrong in your MoneyWell transaction list. MoneyWell automatically creates an Initial balance transaction when you use the direct download functionality but if you created your accounts by importing transactions, it may be missing or zero.

If you don't have an initial balance transaction, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the All Transactions bucket is selected
   
2. Select your account from the Accounts list in the upper left
   
3. Make sure the transaction list is sorted in ascending date order, if it's not, click the Date column header to resort the list
   
4. Find out your end of day balance from your bank as of the date of your last transaction
   
5. Scroll to your last transaction and subtract the running balance from the bank balance in step 4
   
6. Add a new transaction and date it the day prior to your first transaction
   
7. Set the payee name to "Initial Balance"
   
8. Set the amount to the value from step 5
   
9. Click Transactions > Make Bucket Optional to check that option

Now your running balance should match your bank statement and so should the balance next to the account. If you have problems seeing a running balance column, read this FAQ for help.

If you are doing this for a credit card or loan account, you'll need to make sure that your initial balance transaction is set as a Charge instead of a Payment because the balance is typically negative (unless you've overpaid and have a balance credit).

If your balance is still not right, you should try reconciling MoneyWell with your bank statement.