Quicken users out there?? I have a question.

[KatieJ]

I have been using Quicken for years,but there must be a better way to do what I want to do with it.

I save money each week for taxes, insurance, car repair fund, college fund, etc.. in what I call a hold fund. Then when I actually spend the money I have to go back and delete those hold funds in the amount that I spent..

It is tedious. Is there a function in the Quicken program I can utilize to make this process work easier for me?

[Ferdie]

I use Quicken for my checkbook only. I keep our hold fund in a savings account so it doesn't show in Quicken. I put the money into our hold fund, (savings) on a monthly basis and record the transfer from checking to savings as a transfer in Quicken. Once a year when I pay the bill I transfer the money back into checking and record the payment as an expense.

 

I keep track of our hold account in Excel, but you can track it manually on ledger paper, too. Each column represents the specific fund: house ins, car ins, prop. taxes, emergency fund. On the ledger paper I show the savings going into the fund each month and the payment going out once a year.

 

This method is tedious, too, so I can't wait to see what others say.

[Tutor]

If I am understanding you correctly, you have various accounts/ funds listed in Quicken. On pay day, you transfer some of that money to an account labeled "hold fund" in Quicken and want to know how to show that you took money out of that account and used it to pay whatever you were saving it for. Is that correct?

 

If that is what you want to do, you can use the "transfer funds" function to transfer the funds from your hold fund to whatever account you are using to pay the bill. This would give you a record of when the money was transferred and you can write a memo with info concerning what you transferred it for. HTH

[KatieJ]

Well, not exactly.

 

I leave all the money in my checkbook, and when DH gets paid, I make an entry that says, Car hold fund, or college tuition hold fund...and then when I pay the car insurance or the college tuition, I write a check and use the appropriate memo for record keeping. I then have to go back into the college tuition hold fund and delete that same amount of money. In other words, these hold funds I use are not permanent entries..just a way of organizing the money on paper until I need it.

It's like putting cash into an envelope marked car insurance, or college tuition..

[Tutor]

You could still use the transfer feature on Quicken for this. You could just set up "accounts" for college, car, insurance, taxes, etc and transfer the money you are setting aside into them then transfer it back when you are ready to pay it. The money isn't really going anywhere; you are just organizing it for yourself visually. Quicken doesn't care if the accounts it tracks are real or not. I know many people who set up Quicken with a checking account, savings account, and then lots of little accounts to use as "envelopes" for budgeting purposes.

[coffeefreak]

We had the same problem. It was compounded by the fact that we download our accounts directly from the bank to reconcile. Quicken does not like "fake accounts." Here's what we do:

 

1. Open up another checking or savings account. We have a savings because we don't have to withdraw that often, and we earn more interest than in a checking account.

 

2. Go to Crown Financial Ministries and print off their savings allocations worksheets. (Or make your own on Excel).

 

3. Keep track of everything by hand. So, for example, if you're depositing $100 toward education, $100 to savings, and $50 toward life insurance, you're total savings deposit is $250. You'll see it in quicken as a transfer of $250 into another account, but you're Excel spreadsheet will show which each part goes to. Then, when it comes time to pay the Life insurance, you'll withdraw the money and take it out of the Life Insurance category on your worksheet so you'll know where the money went.

 

Clear as Mud? :D

Blessings!

Dorinda

[KatieJ]

You could still use the transfer feature on Quicken for this. You could just set up "accounts" for college, car, insurance, taxes, etc and transfer the money you are setting aside into them then transfer it back when you are ready to pay it. The money isn't really going anywhere; you are just organizing it for yourself visually. Quicken doesn't care if the accounts it tracks are real or not. I know many people who set up Quicken with a checking account, savings account, and then lots of little accounts to use as "envelopes" for budgeting purposes.

 

But then don't I have the same problem with having to delete all the entries? My friend sets up lots of fake accounts to track her credit cards and what not..but I have not done that. I do it all in the check book entries.

[KatieJ]

We had the same problem. It was compounded by the fact that we download our accounts directly from the bank to reconcile. Quicken does not like "fake accounts." Here's what we do:

 

1. Open up another checking or savings account. We have a savings because we don't have to withdraw that often, and we earn more interest than in a checking account.

 

2. Go to Crown Financial Ministries and print off their savings allocations worksheets. (Or make your own on Excel).

 

3. Keep track of everything by hand. So, for example, if you're depositing $100 toward education, $100 to savings, and $50 toward life insurance, you're total savings deposit is $250. You'll see it in quicken as a transfer of $250 into another account, but you're Excel spreadsheet will show which each part goes to. Then, when it comes time to pay the Life insurance, you'll withdraw the money and take it out of the Life Insurance category on your worksheet so you'll know where the money went.

 

Clear as Mud? :D

Blessings!

Dorinda

 

I understand what you are saying, but I don't see that as being easier than what I am already doing. I was just hoping that Quicken had some feature I wasn't aware of.

 

Thanks for your input tho!

[coffeefreak]

I understand what you are saying, but I don't see that as being easier than what I am already doing. I was just hoping that Quicken had some feature I wasn't aware of.

 

Thanks for your input tho!

 

Nope, sorry. It's one of our biggest complaints about Quicken. That and I don't like how ridged the Debt calculator is.

 

Blessings!

Dorinda

[Sharon in SC]

But then don't I have the same problem with having to delete all the entries? My friend sets up lots of fake accounts to track her credit cards and what not..but I have not done that. I do it all in the check book entries.

 

I use fake accounts. After determining how much $/month I want sent to that fake account (for car/boat taxes/insurances, etc), I set up a regularly scheduled monthly debit for that amount to be deducted from checking and placed in that fake account. Then, when one of those bills come due, I transfer the bill amount from that fake account to checking and subsequently write the check from the checking account. This way, my checking balance never reflects more than I actually have to spend after this monthly debit (i.e. those expenses) are accounted/planned for and I can readily see how much $ has accrued for that type of expense by just checking the balance in the fake account. I've been doing it this way for years and this system has worked fine for me.

[lighthouseacademy]

Actually, quicken does have a feature for "fake accounts" that it doesn't mind at all, even if you download your transactions. I have a "fake" minimum checking account balance. It hides it from me in my register, but when I reconcile, it takes it into account... so my online reconciled account will say Online Balance: Current Balance: Ending Balance: (I pay bills and postdate them when they will post since I do bill pay too). My minimum checking is only reflected in the Online balance but not in my "current balance" tally.

 

The way to do it is go to Planning and then Savings Goals. Set up a Savings goal. When you want to "hide" money, you transfer to the savings goal account. When you need to bring it back, you transfer it back. No deleting entries.

[coffeefreak]

Actually, quicken does have a feature for "fake accounts" that it doesn't mind at all, even if you download your transactions. I have a "fake" minimum checking account balance. It hides it from me in my register, but when I reconcile, it takes it into account... so my online reconciled account will say Online Balance: Current Balance: Ending Balance: (I pay bills and postdate them when they will post since I do bill pay too). My minimum checking is only reflected in the Online balance but not in my "current balance" tally.

 

The way to do it is go to Planning and then Savings Goals. Set up a Savings goal. When you want to "hide" money, you transfer to the savings goal account. When you need to bring it back, you transfer it back. No deleting entries.

 

Which version of Quicken do you have? Maybe I need to upgrade:confused:

[lighthouseacademy]

Which version of Quicken do you have? Maybe I need to upgrade:confused:

I have 2007

I had 2003 and used that just fine too... but then it was no longer supported and wouldn't do the online banking downloads so I upgraded to 2007.

I love it. It is much better than 2007 was.

[HiddenJewel]

But then don't I have the same problem with having to delete all the entries? My friend sets up lots of fake accounts to track her credit cards and what not..but I have not done that. I do it all in the check book entries.

 

Why would she need fake accounts for credit cards? They are true liabilities that you would create an account for. You can also set up your mortgage and any other debt or asset you have in addition to your checking accounts.

Edited April 7, 2009 by HiddenJewel

[coffeefreak]

I have 2007

I had 2003 and used that just fine too... but then it was no longer supported and wouldn't do the online banking downloads so I upgraded to 2007.

I love it. It is much better than 2007 was.

 

We have 2007 too. I'll have to look at it closer, but I probably won't change it at this point. I really like the ledger system. I thought it would be easier with all the fake accounts, but I earn so much interest with everything in a savings account, It just works better.

 

Thanks for the tip!

Dorinda

 

PS I think they're going to make us buy again in 2010. Maybe we should start a wish list of everything we want:D

[KatieJ]

Why would she need fake accounts for credit cards? They are true liabilities that you would create an account for. You can also set up your mortgage and any other debt or asset you have in addition to your checking accounts.

 

I think she enters every transaction in detail so she can track her spending. I enter all my Costco purchases, for example, as an AMEX expense just to be sure I have the money set aside for that bil when I pay it once a month. So I understand the fake account scenarior, just haven't set it up yet and I am really sure I don't want to start another ledger system.

[HiddenJewel]

I think she enters every transaction in detail so she can track her spending. I enter all my Costco purchases, for example, as an AMEX expense just to be sure I have the money set aside for that bil when I pay it once a month. So I understand the fake account scenarior, just haven't set it up yet and I am really sure I don't want to start another ledger system.

 

Gotcha. I thought she had actual credit cards and was setting them up as fake.

[KatieJ]

My DH just suggested I go to Quicken.com and see if there is a user support board and there is. I shall go ask my questions there and see what the answers are. We are using a 2002 or 2003 edition, which is our 2nd upgrade, but maybe it needs upgrading again.

[Sharon in SC]

I think she enters every transaction in detail so she can track her spending. I enter all my Costco purchases, for example, as an AMEX expense just to be sure I have the money set aside for that bil when I pay it once a month. .

 

This is what I do (have separate accounts set up for whatever credit cards I use). Every purchase gets listed on the appropriate card so all I have to do is deduct credit card totals from checking balance to know what my real balance is.

[HiddenJewel]

If you have Quicken Deluxe or higher, you have the savings goal option. I have 2006 Basic and I would have to upgrade to have that feature available.