Quicken

Preston · 08-27-2007, 05:26 PM

I use the program Quicken which came with this computer. It's the 2004 version and I'm too cheap to update but it gets the job done.

Since learning to use this progarm it has made my budget much more efficient, plus I am able to do a lot more "what if scenarios" and see how it would affect things in the long run.

I recommend using this program or something similar.. and I'm just wonder ing if anyone else does and what they use it for and if they know any secrets to squeezing more out of it?

I download/log all transactions and have my "checkbook" balanced until Dec 2008 right now... by that I mean I have our mandatory expenses and estimated income all the way up to there and the points where I will be able to pay off certain bills.

sdrjeolsen · 08-27-2007, 05:42 PM

I too use quicken. And, I do the exact same thing, but not quite so far ahead. I'm up through Dec of 07, not 08. I typically "budget" ahead 4-6 month in my register. I love doing my budget that way. I always have a running balance of where I stand months out. I also have an "envelope" amount, a "fuel" amount and a "monthly bills" amount that I enter monthly. Then as I spend gas, pay a bill or fill my envelopes, I deduct it from the amount I had planned in the register.

Because I do it this way, I know if some big expenses come up, I'll need to cut back in other areas to keep from going under. It keeps the big picture in front of my eyes.

I also do a lot of "what if" scenarios in my register. I know on any given date what my balance should be and if I canor should pay something ahead or not.

I thought I was the only one who did that. I have to say, it drives my husband CRAZY that I do that.

monkeywrangler71 · 08-27-2007, 06:16 PM

I'm in love with Quicken. Every day I run scenarios and reports. I can't use the budgeting reports though, because it doesn't work properly in the Mac version (transfers to other accounts show up backwards).

I keep track of our spending in the register, and have all our upcoming income expenses scheduled as soon as I know about them. I also do a lot of other different things.

I use it to track my mortgage. I set my mortgage up as a liability account, input the rates, initial amount and all the payments we have made. It automatically determines how much of each payment is going to interest and to principal, and shows me the payment schedule up until it is paid off. Now I always know what we owe, and I can see what kind of impact extra payments will make.

I also use the forecast button constantly to see where we stand for the next month and to make sure that any big expenses are covered.

I have my husband's paycheque set up as an account, so I can track his deductions separately from the operating accounts. The amount that we take home shows up as a transfer from the paycheque account to the chequing account.

I use the portfolio function to track our investments. I update the fund/share prices and it keeps track of the old prices so that I can tell which investments are going up and which are going down.

I track my husband's business expenses, then double check against his claims to make sure everything is paid.

Telephus44 · 08-27-2007, 08:48 PM

We use MSMoney here - I prefer Quicken, but DH likes MSMoney, and it's one of those things that is not important enough to fight about, IMO. I find that it is incredibly motivating to see the debts go down and the savings/investments go up.

I love the portfolio feature - we have 4 different retirement accounts, 1 529 account, and a DRIP that we track. (Yes, consolidating some of the retirement accounts is on my to-do list).

krissyre · 08-27-2007, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdrjeolsen

I too use quicken. And, I do the exact same thing, but not quite so far ahead. I'm up through Dec of 07, not 08. I typically "budget" ahead 4-6 month in my register. I love doing my budget that way. I always have a running balance of where I stand months out. I also have an "envelope" amount, a "fuel" amount and a "monthly bills" amount that I enter monthly. Then as I spend gas, pay a bill or fill my envelopes, I deduct it from the amount I had planned in the register.

I thought I was the only one who did that. I have to say, it drives my husband CRAZY that I do that.

Me too! Me too! I thought I was the only one who did it this way!

And it drives my husband crazy, too! He doesn't like that he has to scroll up through 6 months of transactions to find out what's going on this week.

But it works for me!

sdrjeolsen · 08-28-2007, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krissyre

Me too! Me too! I thought I was the only one who did it this way!

And it drives my husband crazy, too! He doesn't like that he has to scroll up through 6 months of transactions to find out what's going on this week.

But it works for me!

lol, there is something to be said for driving our husbands crazy now and then, hehehe

He hates that he has to scroll up too and that there is more money in the account than is listed. Usually goes like this "What!! I just got paid Friday how can there only be 500.00 in there???" It keeps him out of the money...shows him its already been earmarked for future expenses. Otherwise it would get spent.

Preston · 08-28-2007, 03:14 AM

I keep my opening page with a pie chart of my expenses for the month, expenses for the year, plus a bar that tells me how I am doing as far as income, gas, dining, and groceries are going for the month and if I need to cool it down in any particular area.

I also have bar graphs to calculate my income vs expenses that let me know which have been my better months... and of course a calendar.

I also have "income year to date" but it isn't very accurate.. I had a newer version of quicker on my old laptop which died in April and the older version of quicken couldn't read the newer file :-(.

But I got everything back on track and we've done really well since June 1.

monkeywrangler71 · 08-28-2007, 10:04 AM

I only started in June, so my year to date stuff is messed up also. Our income, deductions, investments and mortgage are there for the whole year, but the expenses start in June.

I don't use any graphs, but now that you've brought my attention to them, I will

Katybird · 08-28-2007, 12:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Preston

I keep my opening page with a pie chart of my expenses for the month, expenses for the year, plus a bar that tells me how I am doing as far as income, gas, dining, and groceries are going for the month and if I need to cool it down in any particular area.

I also have bar graphs to calculate my income vs expenses that let me know which have been my better months... and of course a calendar.

I also have "income year to date" but it isn't very accurate.. I had a newer version of quicker on my old laptop which died in April and the older version of quicken couldn't read the newer file :-(.

But I got everything back on track and we've done really well since June 1.

I recently began using Quicken. I love the idea of the charts for the opening page to see how you are doing and where you need to back off a bit. Thanks for that tip.