Getting Started with Quicken 2003

Transcription

1 Getting Started with Quicken 2003

2 Trademarks Intuit, the Intuit Logo, Quicken, QuickBooks, TurboTax, Quicken Loans, and QuickBase, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Quicken.com, Quicken Brokerage, and QuickPayroll, among others, are trademarks and/or service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries. Siebert is a trademark and/or service mark of Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc. Microsoft and Microsoft Internet Explorer are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. KeyHelp ActiveX control copyright 2001, Keyworks Software/Work Write, Inc. All rights reserved. Quicken contains the GAlib algorithm package by Matthew Wall. Copyright Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Copyright Matthew Wall. All rights reserved. RSA Digital Signature and the RSA Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RSA Data Security, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Quicken contains Macromedia Shockwave Player and Macromedia Flash Player software by Macromedia, Inc., copyright Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Macromedia, Shockwave, and Flash are trademarks or registered trademarks of Macromedia, Inc., in the United States and other countries. All other product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners and should be treated as such. Some names, company names, and data used in examples and help content are fictitious and are used for illustration purposes only. Any resemblance of fictitious data to a real person or company is purely coincidental. Copyright Copyright 2002 Intuit Inc. All rights reserved. First Printing, June Features, Services, Terms, and Conditions All features, services and any terms and conditions are subject to change without notice. Online financial services, including, but not limited to, online account services, online banking, online investing, transaction download, online payment, online bill presentment, and online tax preparation, whether offered by Intuit or third parties, are available only in the United States and require Internet access. These services may vary from participating financial institutions and may be subject to application approval, terms, conditions, and additional fees.

3 Contents Chapter 1Get the most from Quicken 1 Decide how much detail you want to track 2 Learn Quicken essentials 3 Get the most from this book 6 Chapter 2 Manage your income and expenses 7 Learn how Quicken helps manage your finances 8 Decide which accounts to track 9 Add a checking account 9 Enter transactions 10 Reconcile your statement 14 Get answers: Quicken reports and graphs 16 Back up your Quicken file 17 Next steps 18 Chapter 3 Bank online 19 Use online account services for banking 20 Set up online account services 21 Download transactions for banking accounts 24 Make payments online 27 Next steps 28 Chapter 4 Manage your investments 29 Decide how to set up Quicken for investments 30 Set up an investment account 31 Track your portfolio s performance 37 Add a 401(k) retirement account 39 Next steps 40 i

4 Chapter 5 Track investments online 41 Use online account services for investments 42 Set up online account services 43 Download transactions from your brokerage 44 Next steps 48 Chapter 6 Plan for tax time 49 Learn how Quicken helps you plan for tax time 50 Track your paycheck 50 Track your tax-deductible expenses 52 Use the Tax Planner 54 Run tax-related reports 55 Next steps 56 Chapter 7 Determine your net worth 57 Put it all together 58 Track your home value and associated loan 58 Track a vehicle value and associated loan 60 Add other asset and liability accounts 61 Calculate your net worth 61 Next steps 62 Chapter 8 Develop a long-term plan 63 Begin planning 64 Review your plan 65 Modify your plan 65 Next steps 66 Chapter 9 Contacting Intuit 67 ii Contents

5 1 Get the most from Quicken Decide how much detail you want to track 2 Learn Quicken essentials 3 Get the most from this book 6 Welcome to Quicken Thanks for choosing Quicken to help manage your finances! Each Quicken user has different financial goals, sources of income, and money management priorities. The beauty of Quicken is that it is powerful and flexible enough to help just about everyone manage their finances better. This book describes a simple and complete path to setting up Quicken in a way that provides just the information you care about. Use this chapter to learn how Quicken works and to decide how much detail you want from Quicken. 1

6 Decide how much detail you want to track Some people use Quicken to manage only their checking account, so they can keep track of their income and expenses. Others use Quicken primarily to download investment transactions from their brokerage and make use of a wealth of analysis, research, and performance-tracking tools. Many people use Quicken to track all aspects of their financial lives, including income and expenses, investments, assets, and loans. If you know what you want to accomplish with Quicken, you can use the following table to see which areas you need to set up. If you would like Quicken to help you identify your goals and then show you the areas you need to set up in Quicken to meet them, you can choose Tools > Quicken Guided Setup. If you want to Save time and effort with your regular banking and bill-paying chores; improve the accuracy of your recordkeeping; understand where your money goes Download transactions as they clear directly from your participating bank or credit card company; pay bills online instead of mailing checks Track the purchase price, change in market value, and performance of your retirement plan or investments; reduce your tax liability; know what your stock options are worth Download investment transactions and holdings information directly from your broker; make informed investing decisions Cut the time you spend each year preparing your tax return; minimize your tax bill Understand the overall state of your financial health Determine when you can retire; save money to send your kids to college; find out if you can afford to quit your job and stay home when the baby arrives Refer to Chapter 2, Manage your income and expenses, on page 7 Chapter 3, Bank online, on page 19 Chapter 4, Manage your investments, on page 29 Chapter 5, Track investments online, on page 41 Chapter 6, Plan for tax time, on page 49 Chapter 7, Determine your net worth, on page 57 Chapter 8, Develop a long-term plan, on page 63 2 Get the most from Quicken

7 Learn Quicken essentials Take a few minutes right now to familiarize yourself with some essential Quicken terms and concepts. You ll see these terms throughout this book and while you re using Quicken. Files Quicken saves your financial information in a data file on your computer. As with other types of files, such as for word processing or a spreadsheet, you store this file in a folder on your hard disk drive. Unlike most other programs, however, Quicken immediately saves your information as you work; you don t need to save the file manually. As with all important data, you should still back up your Quicken file frequently. You ll learn how to back up your data in Chapter 2, Manage your income and expenses. Accounts Within a single Quicken file, you can add many accounts to organize your financial information. You can add one account (such as a checking account) or you can add several accounts (such as checking, savings, brokerage, and so on). You can also add Quicken accounts to track other aspects of your financial life, such as a home mortgage or a vehicle loan. Unless you have a good reason not to, you should set up all of your Quicken accounts within a single Quicken file. That way, you can use Quicken to add reports that reflect your complete financial picture. Initially, you may want to add only a checking or investment account. Later, you can add additional accounts to track more of your financial activities. The types of accounts you can create are shown in the following illustration. Quicken

8 You can add three types of accounts in Quicken, When you add a Checking account, Quicken adds it to the Cash Flow Center. Quicken also adds a link for the account to the Account Bar so you have one-click access to the account, no matter where you are in Quicken. When you add a new account, Quicken groups it with all other accounts of the same type in one of three account centers, which are areas where you can view your data with pertinent tools and reports. Cash Flow Center You ll find accounts for savings, checking, and credits cards in the Cash Flow Center. Use these accounts to understand where your money comes from and (perhaps even more importantly) where it is all going! These accounts are discussed in more detail in Chapter 2, Manage your income and expenses. Investing Center You ll find accounts for investments in the Investing Center. Use these accounts to track the ongoing performance of your stocks and bonds, retirement funds, and other types of investments. These accounts are discussed in more detail in Chapter 4, Manage your investments. Property & Debt Center You ll find accounts for property and debts in the Property & Debt Center. Use these accounts to track financial activities that affect your net worth or bottom line. For example, using a House account lets you track the equity you re building and the loan you re paying down as you make your mortgage payments. These accounts are discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, Determine your net worth. 4 Get the most from Quicken

9 Registers Each Quicken account has a register. The register looks like a paper checkbook register, where you record checks you ve written and deposits you ve made. The Quicken register even calculates your current balance for you. Transactions Within each Quicken register, you enter individual transactions that correspond to your real-world income and expenses. For example, you could enter check number 313 for $99.96 to McCarthy Produce as a payment transaction in your checking account. Similarly, you would enter your paycheck as a deposit transaction in the same account. If you bank online, you can download your transactions directly into the register, so you don t have to enter them manually. You ll learn how in Chapter 3. Quicken

10 Categories To get the most out of Quicken, you should assign one or more categories to each transaction. Categories track the source of a deposit (such as Salary), the reason for an expenditure (such as Utilities), or the name of the account to which you re transferring funds (such as Savings). If you re interested in managing your money in any detail (and getting the most from Quicken reports), you need to use categories. You ll learn more in Chapter 2. Get the most from this book As you read this book, use your own financial data to learn basic but powerful Quicken features. After you complete the tasks in a chapter, you will be able to use Quicken immediately to help meet your personal financial goals. Each chapter builds on the chapters that come before. Before you begin working through a chapter, make sure you ve performed all the tasks and gathered all the recommended materials listed in Before you start and What you will need at the beginning of the chapter. The last page of each chapter contains a list of more advanced features. With the assistance of the extensive Quicken Help system, you can work at your own pace to learn about these features when you re ready to use them. 6 Get the most from Quicken

11 2 Manage your income and expenses Learn how Quicken helps manage your finances 8 Decide which accounts to track 9 Add a checking account 9 Enter transactions 10 Reconcile your statement 14 Get answers: Quicken reports and graphs 16 Back up your Quicken file 17 Next steps 18 Before you start Think about the accounts you want to track in Quicken. This chapter discusses checking and savings accounts, as well as cash and credit cards. What you will need You will need your most recent statement for the checking account that you plan to use with Quicken. If you plan to track savings or credit cards, you will also need the most recent statements for these accounts. 7

12 Learn how Quicken helps manage your finances Before you begin managing your income and expenses in Quicken, you should understand how Quicken tracks financial information. As mentioned in Learn Quicken essentials on page 3, the key to money management in Quicken is categories. Categories are labels that track how much you re spending on particular types of items, such as rent, groceries, or dining. For example, you might use the Clothing category with the following transactions: A check for $ for a new jacket A credit card expenditure of $ for a mail-order scarf A few cash expenditures for new school clothes for the kids, totaling $ Because these transactions use the Clothing category, it s easy to produce a report like the one shown below. (To run this report, choose Reports menu > Cash Flow > Cash Flow.) When you assign categories to your transactions, a cash flow report shows exactly where your money goes. See any surprises? Make it a habit to use categories with all of your transactions. The first time you enter a transaction to a payee, you may need to assign a category. But once you do, Quicken remembers this information and automatically fills it in for you the next time you enter a transaction for that payee. If you want to change the category for some reason, it s easy to do. Quicken also suggests categories for your downloaded transactions. If you move your pointer over the report totals, the pointer turns into a magnifying glass when details are available. Double-click to zoom in on the details. 8 Manage your income and expenses

13 Decide which accounts to track If you want to track your overall income, spending, and saving habits, you need to add more than one Quicken account. Use the following guidelines to help you decide which cash flow accounts to add. (Remember, you should add all these accounts in a single data file.) Checking This is the most commonly used Quicken account. Start with the account into which you deposit your paycheck and from which you pay most of your bills and make tax-related expenditures (such as charitable donations and mortgage interest). Savings Use this account type for standard savings accounts, such as those available at most banks or credit unions. Credit Card Most people track one or more credit cards in Quicken. Start with the one you use most often. If your credit card company supports downloading transactions into Quicken, you may never have to enter your credit card transactions manually. Just download the transactions and verify or assign categories as you accept them into your Quicken register. If your financial institution doesn t support online access through Quicken, see Sign up for a Quicken MasterCard on page 68. Cash If you want to know where all of your money goes, including the cash you carry with you, you can add a separate account to track cash. A simpler way is just to create a category called Cash, and then assign it to ATM transactions and other cash withdrawals in your checking account register. If you do set up a separate account for cash transactions, save yourself some time and track only to the nearest dollar. Of course, you don t have to add all these accounts today. Next you ll add a checking account, but the steps for adding the other types of accounts are almost identical. Add a checking account 1 To see if you have already added a checking account in Quicken, choose Cash Flow menu > Go to Cash Flow Center and, if necessary, click the My Data tab. If there isn t a checking account in Spending & Savings Accounts, click Add Account and continue with the following steps. If you already have a checking account, skip to Enter transactions in the next section. 2 Select Checking and click Next. Quicken

14 3 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. Be sure to identify your financial institution. Quicken determines the services a financial institution offers based on its official name, so be sure to use the official name instead of an abbreviation. If your financial institution is on the list that Quicken displays, select it. If it is not on the list, enter its name. If you don t have a recent bank statement, enter today s date and 0.00 for the starting balance. When you have finished adding an account, Quicken lets you know if your financial institution offers online account services. If it does, using online account services can simplify both the account setup process and your future account updates. If you decide to use online account services, Quicken guides you through the signup process. If you decide not to use online account services, you can skip the online signup process without removing the cash flow account you just added. Congratulations! You ve just added a Quicken checking account. In the next sections, you ll use the register to enter transactions and assign them to the proper categories. Enter transactions Use the following guidelines to help you decide which transactions to enter when you first begin using Quicken. If you reconciled your last bank statement (that is, if you balanced your checkbook), then enter all your outstanding transactions those that weren t cleared on the statement and those that have taken place since you reconciled. If you didn t reconcile your last bank statement, enter only transactions that took place after you added the account. (If you enter any transactions that took place before you added the account, some of them might be accounted for twice once in the amount you entered for the Opening Balance when you added the account, and once when you enter them again.) 10 Manage your income and expenses

15 Open the register If your checking account register isn t displayed, choose Cash Flow menu > Go to Cash Flow Center. In the My Data tab, in Spending & Savings Accounts, click the account you want to open. You can open your accounts from the Account Bar or from Spending & Savings Accounts in the Cash Flow Center. Click this arrow to open and close the list of accounts. Quicken opens the register and selects an empty transaction. Click these tabs to switch between the account register and overview. Click this field to begin entering a transaction. Click this field to assign a category to the transaction. Click this button to save the transaction. Quicken

16 Assign a single category to a payment transaction In most cases, you assign the full amount of a transaction to a single category. 1 Enter a date, a check number, a payee such as AnyTown Electric, and a payment amount. (You can use the mouse or the TAB key to move from one field of the transaction to the next.) 2 Click the Category field and select a category such as Utilities from the dropdown list or, if Quicken has assigned a category for you, verify that the transaction includes the appropriate category. (If you don t see the Category List, click the small arrow to the left of the word Memo. ) If you don t see a category that reflects the purpose of the transaction, you can create one. Click Add Cat in the category list box and enter the information that Quicken requests. You can use the category for any transactions you add from now on. 3 If you want, enter a memo for the transaction. 4 Click Enter to save the transaction. When you click Enter to save a transaction, Quicken updates your data file on your computer s hard disk drive. That means that you don t have to save the file yourself. However, it s a good idea to back up the file to another location from time to time; you ll learn how in Back up your Quicken file on page 17. That s it! You ve entered your first Quicken transaction. Keep going to learn about entering other kinds of transactions. Assign multiple categories to a payment transaction Sometimes you need to assign two or more categories to a single transaction. This is called a split transaction. 1 In an empty transaction at the bottom of the register, enter a date, a check number, a payee, and a payment amount. 2 Click the Split button in the lower-right corner of the transaction. Click the Split button to split one transaction into multiple categories. 12 Manage your income and expenses

17 Quicken displays the Split Transaction dialog box. There are three categories assigned to one transaction. The [Petty Cash] line is a transfer to your cash account. 3 On each line, select a category, enter a memo (optional), and enter the amount to be assigned to the category. Repeat until you have split the transaction among all the appropriate categories, and the sum of their amounts equals the transaction total. You can enter percentages instead of amounts. For example, to split a transaction 25/75 between two categories, type 25% in the Amount column of the first row instead of a dollar amount. When you move the pointer to the next line, Quicken calculates the percentage amount and recalculates the second split line to represent 75% of the total. 4 Click OK to save the split information, and then click Enter to save the transaction. Transfer funds to another Quicken account If you have set up multiple Quicken accounts within the same data file you can transfer funds between them. For example, if you write a check to pay a credit card bill, you can transfer the payment amount from your checking account to your credit card account. The balance in the credit card register will then reflect the payment you just made. If you have not set up multiple accounts in Quicken, skip to Enter a deposit in the next section. 1 Enter a date, a check number, the credit card name as payee, and a payment amount. 2 Click the Category field and scroll to the bottom of the category list. The names of all your Quicken accounts appear in [square brackets]. 3 Select your credit card account from the list, enter a memo (optional), and then click Enter to save the transaction. Quicken

18 Enter a deposit 1 Enter a date, click the Num field and select Deposit from the drop-down list, and then enter a payee such as Income Tax Refund and a deposit amount. Note: Use the payee field for a deposit transaction to identify where the money came from. 2 Assign the deposit to a category or split it among multiple categories, enter a memo (optional), and then click Enter to save the transaction. On an ongoing basis Once you set up your accounts in Quicken, enter all new transactions as they occur. That is, each time you write a check, make a deposit, or transfer funds, enter that information in Quicken. Also, reconcile each new bank statement you receive with your Quicken account, even if you ve never reconciled a statement before (see Reconcile your statement in the next section). Reconciling ensures that your Quicken account accurately reflects all your banking activities. Reconciling is a great way to catch transactions that you forgot to enter. Note: If you didn t enter any existing transactions when you set up the account, you ll probably have several transactions to enter the first couple of times you reconcile your statements. If you don t want to enter transactions in your register manually, consider banking online with Quicken. You can go online, download all your transactions, and let Quicken enter them in your register for you. Banking online is explained in detail in the next chapter. Reconcile your statement When you receive a statement for an account that you are tracking in Quicken, reconcile the statement with your Quicken data. Reconciling ensures that your Quicken data is correct and can also help you discover any errors on your statement. You can reconcile a statement for almost any type of cash flow account, including checking, savings, and credit card. 14 Manage your income and expenses

19 1 Open the account register and click Reconcile. Quicken displays the Statement Summary dialog box. If you ve reconciled before, Quicken remembers the opening balance for this period. Enter the statement s ending balance and any interest or bank charges. 2 Using your bank statement, enter the requested information, and then click OK. Compare the opening balance that Quicken displays with the opening balance on your statement. If they aren t the same, change the opening balance displayed in the Statement Summary dialog box to match that on your statement. The first time you reconcile an account, Quicken may not have correct opening balance information. You should always make sure the displayed balance matches your statement; when you re finished reconciling, you can have Quicken make any needed adjustments in your register. Quicken displays the Statement Summary window. Click to put a check mark next to each transaction that appears on your statement. 3 Click each transaction that appears on your statement. This marks it as cleared in Quicken. (When you finish reconciling, these transactions will have an R in the Quicken register s Clr column.) It s a good idea to check off each transaction on the paper statement as you go along. Quicken

20 4 If there is a transaction marked as cleared in the Statement Summary window that does not appear on your statement, click it to remove the check mark. 5 If there are any transactions on the statement that you don t see in the Statement Summary window, enter them in your register. Click New, enter the transaction, and then click Return to Reconcile. 6 When the Difference shown in the lower-right corner of the window is 0.00, click Finished and, if you want, print a reconciliation report. Then continue with Back up your Quicken file on page 17. If the Difference shown in the lower-right corner of the window is not 0.00, decide how you want to resolve the discrepancy. You may have forgotten to enter a transaction, or accidentally entered one twice. For example, perhaps your financial institution has recorded a service charge or dividend that you haven t entered into Quicken yet. For information about resolving reconciliation discrepancies, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter reconciling. If the Difference still is not 0.00, your best bet is to click Finished and let Quicken add an Adjust Balance transaction for you. Get answers: Quicken reports and graphs If you have assigned categories to your transactions, you can create reports to see where your money goes. 1 Choose Reports menu > Reports and Graphs. The Reports and Graphs window contains topics on the left and shows reports related to the topics on the right. 2 Choose How am I spending my money? on the left, and then select Itemized Categories on the right. Choose a topic from the list. Then select a report. 16 Manage your income and expenses

21 3 Change the date range for the report if necessary, and click Show Report. Quicken displays a report that reflects your income and expenses, based on the categories you assigned when you entered transactions. As you enter more transactions, these reports become increasingly useful. 4 (Optional) If you plan to reuse this report, saving the report can save you time. While you view the report or graph, choose Save Report, give the report a unique name, and specify the center in which you want to add a link to the report. The next time you want to open the saved report, you can do so from the My Reports section of the center you specified, or you can choose Reports and Graphs menu > Saved Reports and Graphs, and then choose the report you want to open. If you want to access the report with a single click, you can also add a link for the report to the toolbar by clicking the Customize button in the toolbar. For more information about adding saved reports to the toolbar, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter toolbar, and select customizing. Spend some time experimenting with reports to get an idea of the different kinds of financial information that Quicken can provide. Try customizing a report to change how it is laid out or the scope of information it includes (saved reports retain their customized settings). Notice that when you run another report, the original report is minimized in the taskbar at the bottom of the screen so you easily return to it at any time during your Quicken session. Back up your Quicken file Quicken saves your file on your hard disk drive each time you enter a new transaction. However, you should back up your Quicken data regularly so you always have a copy in case of a hardware failure or a computer virus. You have two options for backing up. 1 Choose File menu > Backup. Quicken displays the Quicken Backup dialog box. Quicken

22 2 Choose the backup location you prefer: To back up to an external disk (such as 3.5-inch, Zip, or Jaz disks, as well as CD-Rs or CD-RWs), select Disk, enter the drive letter if necessary, and then click OK. Quicken backs up the file, then displays a message telling you that the backup was successful. To back up to an Internet location, select Online, and then click OK. If you have already subscribed to the online backup service, the service encrypts your data and sends it to be safely stored. If you haven t yet subscribed, Quicken displays information about the benefits and cost of the service. From there, you can install the online backup program and sign up for the service. Next steps Now that you know how to manage a checking account with Quicken, you may want to add more accounts, such as savings, credit card, and so on. The more accounts you set up, the more accurately Quicken reflects your true financial situation. At this time, you might also be thinking about how nice it would be to bank online, so that you could download your transactions into Quicken instead of entering them manually. If so, turn to the next chapter and get connected! To learn more about automating regular payments saving reports so you can run them again bills making reports look the way you want running reports that include only certain categories backing up data restoring data moving data from one computer to another changing online backup options Search the Help Index for scheduled transactions, overview of reports, saving reports bills (personal and household) reports, customizing categories, reporting on selected backing up your data restoring files transferring, between computers files, backing up and restoring 18 Manage your income and expenses

23 3 Bank online Use online account services for banking 20 Set up online account services 21 Download transactions for banking accounts 24 Make payments online 27 Next steps 28 Before you start Before you can bank online, you need to add at least one Quicken checking, savings, or credit card account. For information about how to add a checking account, see Add a checking account on page 9. What you will need You must connect to the Internet and register Quicken. (If you re not sure whether you ve registered Quicken yet, choose Help menu > Register Quicken. If Register Quicken isn t on the Help menu, you ve already registered.) You must also sign up for online account services with a participating financial institution, as described in Set up online account services on page

24 Use online account services for banking The online account services in Quicken give you convenient, day-and-night access to your accounts. In Quicken, two of the online account service features pertinent to banking are transaction download and online payment. Transaction download helps you keep your accounts up to date, improves the accuracy of your recordkeeping, and simplifies reconciling your monthly statements. You can download transactions from your participating bank or other financial institution directly into Quicken and compare your financial institution s records to your own. Typically, when a check clears the bank or when a credit card purchase is processed, you find out about it the next time you download. Online payment helps you save time at every step of your regular bill-paying chores. You enter a payment transaction in Quicken and then send the payment electronically with just a few key strokes (application approval and additional fees apply). Your financial institution may support both transaction download and online payment, only transaction download, or neither. With Quicken Bill Pay, you can receive and pay bills online from any U.S. account that has check-writing privileges. For more information about Quicken Bill Pay, see Sign up for Quicken Bill Pay on page 23. Why is using online account services with Quicken better than using my bank s Web site? Many financial institutions let you bank online using your Web browser. You may be able to see your balances, pay bills, and even transfer money between accounts. But generally you see only transactions that have already cleared at your financial institution. By paying bills and entering transactions in Quicken, you know your actual ending balance, including the transactions that haven t cleared yet. Quicken also offers these benefits: Web banking generally can t provide a complete picture of your finances unless all of your accounts are at a single financial institution. Quicken can combine information from all your real-world accounts, so you can see the total effect on your cash flow and net worth. For more information about how many accounts to add, see Decide how much detail you want to track on page 2 and Decide which accounts to track on page 9. When you assign Quicken categories to your transactions, you get much more information out of your data than just the transaction history and cleared balance that is available from most financial institution Web sites. Using the reports, graphs, long-term planners, alerts, reminders, and tax features, you can save time and make informed decisions that will affect your financial situation for years to come. 20 Bank online

25 Quicken Bill Pay is designed to work with Quicken, so the online payments you make are automatically entered into your Quicken register. For more information about Quicken Bill Pay, see Sign up for Quicken Bill Pay on page 23. You can use One Step Update to download your account information from several financial institutions at once. (This applies to only financial institutions that use a Direct connection. To find out whether your financial institution uses a Direct or Web Connect connection, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions.) When you download transactions and accept them into your register, Quicken marks them as cleared. This simplifies reconciling your account to your online balance or paper statement. For more information about reconciling accounts, see Reconcile your statement on page 14, or choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter reconciling. Do all financial institutions offer online account services with Quicken? As the Internet becomes more widely used, the number of financial institutions that offer online account services for banking with Quicken continues to grow. For a complete list of financial institutions that offer online account services, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions. Set up online account services Setting up online account services in Quicken requires two steps signing up for the service, and then activating the account. If you signed up for online account services when you added the account in Quicken, you can continue with Activate online account services on page 22 as soon as you receive a customer ID and PIN from your participating financial institution. Sign up for online account services 1 Open the register for the account that you want to set up for online account services. Click Setup Online to sign up for online account services. Quicken

26 2 Click Set Up Online. If the Set Up Online button does not appear, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions. If your financial institution is not on the list, it doesn t support online account services through Quicken. (Quicken determines the services a financial institution offers based on its official name, so be sure to use the official name instead of an abbreviation.) Quicken displays the Online Account Activation dialog box. 3 Follow the onscreen instructions to obtain a PIN. The application process and terminology are different for each financial institution. Be sure to specify online that you want online account services with Quicken. You may be able to apply for both transaction download and online payment, or just transaction download. If you have any questions, contact your financial institution for assistance. If you want to pay bills online but your financial institution doesn t support online payment, skip to Sign up for Quicken Bill Pay on page 23. Activate online account services You can activate your account and start using online account services as soon as you receive a customer ID and PIN from your participating financial institution. 1 Open the register for the account that you want to set up for online account services. 2 Click Set Up Online. If Quicken asks for your customer ID and PIN, enter this information and follow the onscreen instructions; then continue with Download with a Direct connection on page 24. (At the end of account activation, depending on your financial institution, Quicken may be able to help you with your first download. If you select this option, start with step 2.) If Quicken displays a Sign Up button, your first download activates the account; continue with Download with a Web Connect connection on page Bank online

27 Sign up for Quicken Bill Pay Designed to work with both Quicken and the Web, Quicken Bill Pay enables you to receive and pay bills online from multiple U.S. accounts with checkwriting privileges (application approval and additional fees apply). 1 Open the register for the account you want to set up for Quicken Bill Pay, and then click the Overview tab in the upper-left corner of the window. Quicken displays the Overview window. To start paying your bills online, click Activate Quicken Bill Pay. 2 Under the Account Attributes on the left side of the window, next to Quicken Bill Pay, click Activate Quicken Bill Pay. Note: If you activated online payment through your financial institution in the previous section, you won t see this option. You can t enable online payment with both your financial institution and Quicken Bill Pay for the same account. 3 Follow the onscreen instructions to complete and submit the application for Quicken Bill Pay. Activate Quicken Bill Pay You can activate your account and start paying your bills online as soon as you receive a customer ID and PIN. 1 Open the register for the account you want to set up for Quicken Bill Pay, and then click the Overview tab in the upper-left corner of the window. 2 Under the Account Attributes on the left side of the window, next to Quicken Bill Pay, click Activate Quicken Bill Pay. 3 When Quicken asks for your customer ID and PIN, enter this information and follow the onscreen instructions; then continue with Make payments online on page 27. Quicken

28 Download transactions for banking accounts After you have activated transaction download, your next step is to bring data from your participating financial institution into your Quicken register. (If you didn t activate transaction download, but you did activate online bill payment, skip to Make payments online on page 27.) Download transactions How you download transactions from you financial institutions depends on the way it communicates with Quicken. If you re not sure, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions to find out. If your financial institution uses a Direct connection, see Download with a Direct connection in the next section. If your financial institution uses a Web Connect connection, see Download with a Web Connect connection on page 25. Download with a Direct connection 1 Choose Online Menu > One Step Update. Quicken displays the One Step Update dialog box. You can select to download security prices, news, and alerts at the top of the dialog box, and you can select tool and account information to send to Quicken.com in the bottom of the dialog box. Select each account you want to download, enter the PIN for each, and click Update Now. 2 For each financial institution that you want to download the latest transactions and balances from, select what you want to download. Then enter the PIN for the financial institution and click Update Now. You can also select under Quotes to download security prices, news, and alerts about your holdings from the Internet, and you can select any item under Quicken.com that you want to update with information from Quicken. By having your most recent Quicken information available on Quicken.com, you can monitor your accounts and view your alerts, news, and scheduled transactions from any computer with Internet access. This means that if you re away from home, you can log into Quicken.com and, in the Web Entry page, enter transactions using the same cash flow accounts 24 Bank online

29 and categories you use with Quicken. Then, when you get home, you can download this information into Quicken. (For more information about Quicken.com, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter Quicken.com.) 3 After Quicken downloads your transactions and displays a summary window, click Go to Register, and continue with Compare downloaded transactions to your Quicken register on page 25. If you want to automatically update quotes, transactions, and Quicken.com information at a specified date and time, choose Online Menu > Schedule Updates. Download with a Web Connect connection 1 In the register where you want to download information, click Update Now. Quicken displays the login page of your financial institution s Web site. 2 Log on to your financial institution s Web site, navigate to your transactions, and choose the option to download to Quicken. 3 If the File Download dialog box appears, specify that you want to open the file from its current location. 4 If Quicken prompts you to do so, match the online account with the correct account in Quicken, and then click Continue. 5 After Quicken downloads your transactions and displays a summary window, click Go to Register, and then continue with Compare downloaded transactions to your Quicken register in the next section. Compare downloaded transactions to your Quicken register After you download, Quicken displays the downloaded transactions at the bottom of the appropriate register. If you have downloaded transactions for other accounts in the same download session, a flag appears to the left of the account name in the Account Bar. Click the account to open it and begin comparing transactions there. Quicken

30 When you select a downloaded transaction, Quicken finds its matching transaction among the ones you have entered in the register. Quicken compares the downloaded transactions or payments to those you have already entered in the register; if any transactions are the same, Quicken labels them Match. If there is no match, Quicken labels the downloaded transactions New. In most cases, Quicken correctly identifies a transaction as either Match or New based on the transaction amount, date, check number, and so on. Occasionally, you will need to manually match or unmatch a downloaded transaction. 1 Select a downloaded transaction and confirm whether Quicken has correctly matched it to an existing transaction in your register or identified it as a New transaction. Use the following guidelines when reviewing downloaded transactions. When you select a Match transaction in the Compare to Register section of the register, Quicken selects the matching transaction in the register. If it is correctly matched, click Accept. If it is incorrectly matched, see the online Help for information about matching transactions (choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter matching, and select downloaded transactions). When you select a New transaction in the Compare to Register section of the register, Quicken creates a matching transaction in the register. If you want to add the downloaded transaction to the register, click Accept. If a downloaded transaction labeled New should be matched with a register transaction, click Edit, and select Match Manually from the menu. Quicken displays a dialog box containing all the register transactions that aren t yet matched to online transactions. Select the register transactions that you want to associate with the online transaction, and then click Accept. For more information about matching transactions, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter matching, and select downloaded transactions. 26 Bank online

31 2 If Quicken assigns a category to the transaction, confirm that it is the correct category. If you want to change the category, click the Category field and select a different category from the drop-down list. (See Enter transactions on page 10 for information about assigning categories to transactions.) 3 Repeat steps 1 and 2 for each downloaded transaction. 4 Click Done. The Done button appears when you have accepted the transactions from all sources. If you ve downloaded transactions from multiple sources, accept the first batch of transactions, and then click Continue to accept the next batch of transactions. Congratulations! You re banking online with Quicken. Whenever you want to update the information in your account register, repeat the steps in this section, starting with Download transactions on page 24. Make payments online To make payments online, you must have activated online payment with Quicken Bill Pay or a participating financial institution (service fees may apply). Once you do, you can add payment transactions, and then transmit them to your financial institution. Add payment transactions Adding payment transactions from the Online Center is even easier than writing a check, but the first time you do so, you ll need to give Quicken the name, address, and phone number for each payee. You ll also need to provide an account number. 1 Choose Online menu > Online Center. 2 From the Financial Institution drop-down list, select the online payment provider for the account, and then click the Payments tab. Quicken remembers the details for each online payee. The next time you make a payment, just edit the payment amount and delivery or processing date. Then click Enter. Quicken

32 3 Enter the payee name, payment amount, and any other information you want to include for this payment. (If the date fields are editable, your financial institution requires this information and you must enter it.) 4 (First time per payee only.) Enter an address, phone number, and account number. If you don t have an account number, use your telephone number so the payee can identify you. 5 After you have entered all the information for the payment, click Enter. Quicken adds the payment to the list of transactions to be sent. Your financial institution typically requires a few days lead time, so the date on the payment must be at least four business days later than the date you transmit the payment from Quicken to your financial institution. For more information, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter lead time for online payments. You can set up repeating online payments for payments that occur at regular intervals. For more information, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter repeating online payments. Send payment transactions To send your payment transactions to your financial institution, choose Online menu > One Step Update. Enter the PIN for the financial institution, and click Update Now. To see how the process works, set yourself up as a payee and add a transaction to send yourself a dollar. Note that some financial institutions debit the account at the time of processing, so be sure to deposit the $1.00 check when you receive it in the mail! Next steps To learn more about matching downloaded transactions canceling an online payment transaction using online payees security storing PINs, PIN Vault One Step Update online transfers Search the Help Index for transaction download online payments, canceling/deleting online payees security in Quicken PINs One Step Update online transfers, overview of 28 Bank online

33 4 Manage your investments Decide how to set up Quicken for investments 30 Set up an investment account 31 Track your portfolio s performance 37 Add a 401(k) retirement account 39 Next steps 40 Before you start Think about the types of investments you want to track in Quicken, including stocks and bonds, mutual funds, tax-deferred retirement accounts, and so on. What you will need You will need the last statement you received for the investment and retirement accounts that you plan to track in Quicken. If you want to capture cost basis and capital gains information, you may be able to get adjusted cost basis information from your statement or brokerage s Web site. Otherwise, the only way to include this information is to obtain all past and current statements for the accounts. 29

34 Decide how to set up Quicken for investments To help you decide how to set up Quicken so that it tracks your investments at the level of detail that is best for you, you should understand how Quicken tracks financial information. Which accounts do you need? The following table can help you decide which account types best suit your financial situation. In this chapter you ll learn how to set up a brokerage account and a 401(k) account. For information about adding other types of investment accounts, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter investment accounts, and select adding to Quicken. To track this real-world account Investments such as stocks, including stock options and employee stock purchase shares, bonds, and mutual funds. (If you write checks or use a debit card against this type of investment account, you can also add a linked cash account to track those transactions.) Individual Retirement Account, including Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Education IRA, Keogh Plan, or SEP-IRA. 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts. Mutual funds that meet the following requirements: a) you purchase them directly from the mutual fund company, b) they are tracked in accounts by themselves, and c) they have earnings reinvested in the same security so the account does not carry a cash balance. Add this Quicken account type Standard Brokerage IRA or Keogh 401(k) or 403(b) Single Mutual Fund (SMF) How much historical detail do you want to track? When you set up an investment account in Quicken, you must decide how much historical data you want to enter for your accounts. For example, if you enter the actual purchase date for the shares you own, Quicken can group your shares together according to when you bought them and record their original purchase prices and dates. These groups, called lots, are important for 30 Manage your investments

35 calculating the tax rate that applies to your capital gains. Tracking this information in Quicken saves significant time and effort when you file your taxes. When you add your investment account, Quicken gives you three options for entering historical data, each with its own requirements. You can also choose to have Quicken help you decide. Enter all historical transactions gives you the ability to track lots, compare the historical performance of your securities over time, make tax-informed investment decisions, and prepare accurate tax reports for both past and current holdings. If your brokerage does not provide adjusted cost basis information, this option is the only way to take advantage of the tax and investment tools in Quicken. You will need the date you first purchased each security, the price you paid for it, and all transactions that have occurred since the purchase date. Enter holdings with adjusted cost basis gives you the ability to track lots, compare the performance of your current holdings, make tax-informed investment decisions, and prepare accurate tax reports for your current holdings (but not for holdings you ve already sold). If you have held the account for many years or have a lot of transactions, this is a fast and easy way to get started while still retaining the benefit of the tax and investment tools in Quicken. You will need the date you purchased the security and the adjusted cost basis. Look for this information on the holdings summary page of your brokerage statement or on your financial institution s Web site. (Some financial institutions provide this information only on their Web site and/or only for accounts with higher account values.) Enter holdings only gives you a fast way to start tracking your investments in Quicken. However, with this option, you give up the ability to track lots, compare the historical performance of your securities over time, make taxinformed investment decisions, and prepare accurate tax reports. You will need the number of shares you had on the closing date of your most recent statement. If you choose to enter your account data with online account services, then Quicken can download the information about your current holdings. For more information, see Chapter 5, Track investments online, on page 41. Set up an investment account There are two tasks involved in setting up an investment account adding the account, and then entering historical transaction or current holdings information. In this section, you ll learn how to add a standard brokerage account. For information about adding a 401(k) account, see Add a 401(k) retirement account on page 39. If you ve already added your investment accounts with Quicken Guided Setup, skip to Enter information about securities in this account on page 33 for information about how to add securities to your accounts. Quicken

36 Add a standard brokerage account Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert is now available, an online brokerage designed specifically to work with Quicken software. With Quicken Brokerage, you can save time by having your investment account automatically set up in Quicken after you complete the online account process. To learn more about Quicken Brokerage, see Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert on page 69, and 1 Decide which statement you want to use as your starting point. (See How much historical detail do you want to track? on page 30.) 2 Choose Investing menu > Go to Investing Center. 3 In the My Data tab, in Investment & Retirement Accounts, click Add Account. 4 Select Standard Brokerage and click Next. 5 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. Use the following guidelines when you add the account. Identify your financial institution Be sure to correctly identify your financial institution. Quicken needs the official company name not an abbreviation to determine which services are offered by that institution. If your financial institution is on the list that Quicken displays, select it. If it s not on the list, type its name. Decide how to track cash If you can write checks or use a debit card to withdraw funds from your investment account, you should set up a linked cash account (also called a cash management account), which is a checking account that is linked to your investment account. When you do, every transaction in the investment register requiring cash will use the cash in the linked cash account and be recorded in both the investment register and the checking register. Like all checking accounts, a linked cash account lets you track your cash expenditures in detail by using categories to specify how the cash was spent. (Categories are discussed in Chapter 2, Manage your income and expenses.) If you have already added the checking account that is linked to this brokerage account, select the account from the list. Otherwise, click Add New Quicken Account. If you don t write checks against the account, you don t need to set up a linked cash account. Quicken will keep track of your cash balance within the investment account itself. 32 Manage your investments

37 Use online account services When you have finished entering adding the account, Quicken lets you know if your brokerage offers online account services. If it does, using online account services can simplify both the account setup process and your future account updates. If you decide to use online account services, Quicken guides you through the signup process. If you decide not to use online account services, you can skip the online signup process without removing the investment account you just added. Enter information about securities in this account Now you re ready to enter details about the securities you hold in the account. What you enter depends on which setup method you choose and how much detail you want to see in the investment analysis tools in Quicken (which are described on page 37). First you ll enter historical transactions or current holdings, and then you ll see how easy it is to enter new investment transactions into Quicken. Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert is now available, an online brokerage designed specifically to work with Quicken software. With Quicken Brokerage, setting up your holdings is easy, and you ll be able to download all your securities information directly into Quicken. To learn more about Quicken Brokerage, see Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert on page 69, and Enter historical transactions or current holdings The first time you open a new investment account in the register, Quicken displays the Add Investment Account Data dialog box so you can identify how much historical detail you want to track and provide Quicken with the appropriate start date and opening cash balance for the account. Quicken then helps you enter the transactions you want. If you haven t already done so, see How much historical detail do you want to track? on page 30 to determine which option is best for you. Then continue with the appropriate procedure. Quicken

38 Entering all historical transactions 1 In the Add Investment Account Data dialog box, select Enter all historical transactions. 2 In the Opening Date and Opening Cash Balance fields, enter the date you opened the account and the cash balance on that date. Quicken displays the Record Transactions dialog box. 3 From the Select an action drop-down list, select the action you want to perform and follow the onscreen instructions. The information you enter varies depending on the action you select. For example, if you select Buy Shares, Quicken displays the dialog box for buying shares. Click Help if you need more information. If you are adding a bond, include the maturity date or the CUSIP symbol in the security name. This will help you distinguish it from other bonds in your portfolio and make it easy to match the information you download with the information in Quicken. When you click Done, Quicken asks you whether you want to record another transaction. 4 To record additional historical transactions, click Yes and repeat step 3 until you have entered all your historical transactions, and then see Enter new transactions as they occur on page 36 to learn how to keep your account up to date going forward. 34 Manage your investments

39 Entering holdings with adjusted cost basis 1 In the Add Investment Account Data dialog box, select Enter holdings with adjusted cost basis. 2 In the Start Date and Cash Balance as of above date fields, enter the date you are using to set up holdings in this account and the cash balance on that date. If you are entering this information from a brokerage statement, use the statement ending date. If you are entering this information from your brokerage s Web site, use the date that your information was posted (probably today s date). The date you enter will become the Opening Balance Date in your account register. (You ll need this date in the next step when you set up your opening transactions for both cash and securities holdings. After your first download, you ll also want to delete all downloaded transactions that occur on or before this date, so write it down and keep it handy.) Quicken displays the Add Shares dialog box. 3 Enter the information Quicken asks for. (Enter the same date in the top of this dialog box that you entered for the start date in step 2. For the date at the bottom of the dialog box, enter the date the shares were acquired. For the adjusted cost basis, look on the holdings summary page of your brokerage statement or your brokerage s Web site.) Click Help if you need assistance. If you are adding a bond, include the maturity date or the CUSIP symbol in the security name. This will help you distinguish it from other bonds in your portfolio and make it easy to match the information you download with the information in Quicken. When you click Done, Quicken asks you whether you want to record another transaction. 4 To enter information about additional holdings, click Yes and repeat step 3 until you have entered all your holdings, and then see Enter new transactions as they occur in the next section to learn how to keep your account up to date going forward. Entering holdings only 1 In the Add Investment Account Data dialog box, select Enter holdings only. 2 In the Start Date and Cash Balance as of above date fields, enter the date you are using to set up holdings in this account and the cash balance on that date. If you are entering this information from a brokerage statement, use the statement ending date. Quicken

40 If you are entering this information from your brokerage s Web site, use the date that your information was posted there (probably today s date.) The date you enter will become the Opening Balance Date in your account register. (You ll need this date in step 4 when you set up your opening transactions for both cash and securities holdings. After your first download, you ll also want to delete all downloaded transactions that occur on or before this date, so write it down and keep it handy.) 3 Decide whether to download account data from your brokerage. If you select Yes, and already have your customer ID and PIN, enter this information and skip to Track your portfolio s performance after the download is complete. If you need to apply for a customer ID and PIN, follow the onscreen instructions. When you get it, continue with Activate transaction download on page 44. If you select No, Quicken displays the Add Shares dialog box. Continue with step 4. 4 Enter the information Quicken asks for. (Enter the same date in this dialog box that you entered for the opening balance in step 2.) Click Help if you need assistance. If you are adding a bond, include the maturity date or the CUSIP symbol in the security name. This will help you distinguish it from other bonds in your portfolio and make it easy to match the information you download with the information in Quicken. When you click Done, Quicken asks you whether you want to record another transaction. 5 To enter information about additional holdings, click Yes and repeat step 4 until you have entered all your current holdings, and then see Enter new transactions as they occur in the next section to learn how to keep your account up to date going forward. Enter new transactions as they occur The easiest way to keep your account up to date in Quicken is to download transactions from your brokerage. For more information, see Set up online account services on page 43 and Download transactions from your brokerage on page 44. If you have not set up transaction download, you should manually enter all new transactions as they occur. That way, your financial information will always be current and accurate. 1 Choose Investing menu > Go to Investing Center. 2 In the My Data tab, in Investment & Retirement Accounts, click your investment account. Quicken opens the register and selects an empty transaction. 36 Manage your investments

41 3 Click the arrow to the right of Record Transaction, select the action you want to perform from the menu, and enter the information that Quicken asks for. Click this arrow to open the menu, and then select the action you want to perform. Note: Quicken uses special investment transaction categories to create investment reports and to help with tax planning. When you use the Record Transactions dialog box, Quicken assigns the appropriate investment categories to the transactions and tracks the tax consequences for you. 4 To record additional transactions, repeat step 3. That s it! Next, you ll see how your investments are performing. Track your portfolio s performance Quicken provides several ways to review the performance of your investments. This section briefly illustrates several ways to view your data in a way that emphasizes what s important to you. It also describes how to use reports and graphs. For more information, see the How Do I? button and the Help menu. Portfolio Quicken can help you understand your portfolio as a whole. You can analyze the holdings, performance, and price information for every security you own, across multiple investment accounts. If you re using Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert, you can also initiate your trades with a single click. 1 Choose Investing menu > Portfolio. Quicken displays a list of portfolio views to select from. Select a preset view or click Customize to create one of your own. Quicken can group your investments for display by account, industry, asset class, and so on. Quicken

42 2 Select the view you want Quicken to display. For example, to see historical performance, select Portfolio Performance. To see information about a company s fundamentals (such as the Price to Earnings or P/E ratio), select Fundamentals. Quicken displays information pertinent to the view you selected. (Move your cursor over a column heading for an explanation.) If you want to see account information that is not reflected in the preset views, click Customize to modify an existing view. 3 (Quicken Brokerage only) To trade a security, using the mouse, point to the security that you want to trade and choose Trade from the menu. Security Detail View In the Security Detail View, Quicken shows you the price history of a security and the market value of your holdings in that security, as well as the transaction history for an individual security. You can also access tools that analyze your investments. Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert users can initiate trades from the Security Detail View as well. 1 Choose Investing menu > Security Detail View. Quicken displays the Security Detail View window, where you can view details on any security you hold in any Quicken investment account. Use this drop-down list to display another security. Use this drop-down list to see either a price history graph for a security or the market value for your holdings in a security. 2 Select the security you want to view from the list in the upper-left corner of the window. 3 From the drop-down list In the middle of the window, select Market Value or Price History. 4 (Optional) To see Quicken and Quicken.com tools that can help you analyze and manage your investments, click Analysis. 5 (Quicken Brokerage only) To trade a security, select it from the drop-down list and, in Holdings on the left side of the screen, click Trade. 38 Manage your investments

43 Reports and graphs 1 Choose Reports menu > Reports and Graphs, and then choose How are my investments doing? on the left side of the window. Quicken displays a list of reports that provide several ways to analyze your investment performance. 2 Select the report or graph you want to view, and then click Show Report or Show Graph. 3 (Optional) To save the report, click Save Report, and then specify a name and center location for the report. Quicken adds links for the report to the Saved reports section in the Reports and Graphs window and the My Reports section of the center you specify. If you want to access the report with a single click, you can also add a link for the report to the toolbar by clicking the Customize button in the toolbar. Try customizing a report to change how it is laid out or the scope of information it includes. Add a 401(k) retirement account If you want the most comprehensive picture of your net worth, or if you want help planning for your retirement, be sure to track your retirement accounts. In this section, you ll learn how to add one of the most common types of retirement accounts, the 401(k). For information about how to add other types of retirement accounts such as IRAs, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter investment accounts, and select adding to Quicken. 1 Get the 401(k) statements that you want to enter into Quicken. Decide on a starting date before you add the account. Once you ve added the account, you cannot enter statement information that occurred before the date you enter. You could start with your most recent statement and enter just your current holdings during setup, and then enter updates whenever you receive a new statement. If you kept old statements, you could set up the account using the starting date from the earliest possible statement, and then enter an update for each successive statement. 2 Choose Investing menu > Go to Investing Center. 3 In the My Data tab, in Investment & Retirement Accounts, click Add Account. (If you already added a 401(k) account with Quicken Guided Setup, you don t need to add it again. Instead, click the account name to open the 401(k)/403(b) Setup wizard and skip to step 5.) 4 Select 401(k) or 403(b) and click Next. Quicken displays the 401(k)/403(b) Setup wizard. Quicken

44 5 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. When you finish adding the account, Quicken displays the 401(k)/403(b) account Overview tab. Update your 401(k) Whenever you receive a statement for this account, update the Quicken account information: 1 Choose Investing menu > Go to Investing Center. 2 In the My Data tab, in Investment & Retirement Accounts, click your 401(k) account. Quicken displays the 401(k) account in the account Overview page. 3 In the account Overview page, click Update Account. 4 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. Some 401(k) plans let you download transactions directly into Quicken. For more information, see Set up online account services on page 43. Next steps You can save time and ensure the accuracy of your investment tracking by simply downloading transactions from your participating financial institution. See Chapter 5, Track investments online, for more information. To learn more about updating quotes or stock prices entering the prior transaction history of asecurity tracking stocks that you don t own researching stocks you own or are interested in adjusting the cash or share balance of an investment account reviewing your asset allocation Search the Help Index for prices of securities investment accounts, historical detail Watch List Quicken.com, investment research investment accounts, reconciling assets (investment assets), monitor your portfolio s asset allocation 40 Manage your investments

45 5 Track investments online Use online account services for investments 42 Set up online account services 43 Download transactions from your brokerage 44 Next steps 48 Before you start Before you can download account information from your brokerage, you will need to add one Quicken account for each real-world investment account that you want to download information for. If necessary, follow the procedure in Set up an investment account on page 31 before you continue. What you will need You must connect to the Internet and register Quicken. (If you re not sure whether you ve registered Quicken yet, choose Help menu > Register Quicken. If Register Quicken isn t on the Help menu, you ve already registered.) You must also sign up for online access with your participating financial institution, as described in Set up online account services on page

46 Use online account services for investments The online account services in Quicken give you convenient, day-and-night access to your accounts. The following questions can help you determine when managing investment accounts online is right for you. What is transaction download for investments? Transaction download means that you can download transaction information from a participating brokerage directly into Quicken; you don t have to enter the transactions into the register manually. For example, when your broker executes a buy or sell order, you get the details the next time you download transactions. Why is using transaction download with Quicken better than using my brokerage s Web site? Many financial institutions let you manage your investments online using your Web browser. You may be able to see your holdings and recent transaction history, and even buy and sell securities. Typically, the Web site does not track lots or history beyond a few months. If you enter those same transactions into Quicken, or better yet download them directly from your brokerage, you will have easy access to a level of detail not available elsewhere. Quicken also offers these benefits: If you add a Quicken account for each of your real-world investment accounts, you can analyze all your investments in one place, no matter how many different financial institutions you have. The Investing Center, Portfolio, Security Detail View, and the investment reports give you news, fundamentals, performance, history, and analysis. For more information, see Track your portfolio s performance on page 37. You can create a personal asset allocation target that includes all your accounts together, and then monitor and rebalance as necessary (choose Investing menu > Asset Allocation Guide). It saves you time. Instead of entering transactions into Quicken manually, you download them when you go online. After you review them, Quicken adds them to the register for you. Because Quicken records purchase dates and prices for you, you don t need to search for old brokerage statements to identify lots and calculate tax liability when you sell. You can take advantage of powerful tools such at the Capital Gains Estimator, which helps you estimate which lots could realize the greatest after-tax yield. And the capital gains report can save you hours at tax time. 42 Track investments online

47 Do all financial institutions offer transaction download with Quicken? As the Internet becomes more widely used, the number of financial institutions that offer transaction download with Quicken continues to grow. For a complete list of brokerages and other financial institutions that offer transaction download, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions. Set up online account services Setting up online account services in Quicken requires two steps signing up for the service, and then activating the account. If you signed up for online account services when you added the account in Quicken, continue with Activate transaction download on page 44 as soon as you get a customer ID and PIN from your participating financial institution. Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert is now available, an online brokerage designed specifically to work with Quicken software. With Quicken Brokerage, you can automatically set up online account services and perform your first download when you open your Quicken Brokerage account. To learn more about Quicken Brokerage, see Quicken Brokerage powered by Siebert on page 69, and Sign up for transaction download 1 Open the register for the account that you want to set up for transaction download. 2 Click Set Up Online. If the Set Up Online button does not appear, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions. If your brokerage isn t on the list, it doesn t support transaction download with Quicken at this time and you should not continue with this chapter. (Quicken determines the services a financial institution offers based on its official name, so be sure to use the official name instead of an abbreviation.) Quicken displays the Online Account Activation dialog box. 3 Follow the onscreen instructions to obtain a PIN. The application process and terminology are different for each financial institution. Be sure to specify online that you want transaction download with Quicken. If you have any questions, contact your financial institution for assistance. When you receive your enrollment materials, continue with Activate transaction download in the next section. Quicken

48 Activate transaction download You can activate an account for transaction download as soon as you receive a customer ID and PIN from your participating financial institution. 1 Open the register for the account that you want to set up for transaction download. 2 Click Set Up Online. If Quicken asks for your customer ID and PIN, enter this information and follow the onscreen instructions; then continue with Download with a Direct connection in the next section. If Quicken displays a Sign Up button, your first download activates the account; continue with Download with a Web Connect connection on page 46, and begin with step 2. Download transactions from your brokerage Once you ve activated transaction download, you can bring transactions, balances, and holdings from your participating financial institution into the investment accounts in your Quicken register. Download transactions How you download transactions from your financial institution depends on the way it communicates with Quicken. If you re not sure, choose Online menu > Participating Financial Institutions to find out. If your financial institution uses a Direct connection, see Download with a Direct connection in the next section. If your financial institution uses a Web Connect connection, see Download with a Web Connect connection on page Track investments online

49 Download with a Direct connection 1 Choose Online menu > One Step Update. Quicken displays the One Step Update dialog box. You can select to download security prices, news, and alerts at the top of the dialog box, and you can select tools and account information to send to Quicken.com in the bottom of the dialog box. Select each account you want to download, enter the PIN for each, and then click Update Now. 2 For each financial institution that you want to download the latest transactions and balances from, select what you want to download. Then enter the PIN for the financial institution, and click Update Now. You can also select under Quotes to download security prices, news, and alerts about your holdings from the Internet, and you can select any item under Quicken.com that you want to update with information from Quicken. By having your most recent Quicken information available on Quicken.com, you can monitor your accounts and view your alerts, news, and scheduled transactions from any computer with Internet access. This means that if you re away from home, you can log into Quicken.com and, in the Web Entry page, enter transactions using the same cash flow accounts and categories you use with Quicken. Then, when you get home, you can download this information into Quicken. (For more information about Quicken.com, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter Quicken.com.) 3 When Quicken displays a summary window after all your transactions have been downloaded, click Go to Register, and continue with Compare downloaded transactions to Quicken data on page 46. If Quicken doesn t recognize the name of one or more downloaded securities, the Matching Securities dialog box appears. Select Yes to match the security to an existing one in your Security List (shown at the top of the dialog box), or select No to add the security to your Security List. If you want to automatically update quotes, transactions, and Quicken.com information at a specified date and time, choose Online Menu > Schedule Updates. Quicken

50 Download with a Web Connect connection 1 In the register where you want to download information, click Update Now. Quicken displays the login page of your financial institution s Web site. 2 Log on to your financial institution s Web site, navigate to your transactions, and choose the option to download to Quicken. 3 If the File Download dialog box appears, specify that you want to open the file from its current location. 4 If Quicken prompts you to do so, match the online account with the correct account in Quicken, and then click Continue. 5 After Quicken downloads your transactions and displays a summary window, click Go to Register, and then continue with Compare downloaded transactions to Quicken data in the next section. If Quicken doesn t recognize the name of one or more downloaded securities, the Matching Securities dialog box appears. Select Yes to match the security to an existing one in your Security List (shown at the top of the dialog box), or select No to add the security to your Security List. Compare downloaded transactions to Quicken data After you download, Quicken displays the downloaded transactions at the bottom of the appropriate register. Note: If this is your first download, and you have chosen to enter holdings with adjusted cost basis or holdings only, you should delete all downloaded transactions that occur on or before your opening balance date, accept the downloaded transactions posted after your opening balance date, and then click Done. (This keeps your Ending Balance accurate by making sure transactions accounted for in the opening balance aren t counted twice.) If you have downloaded transactions for other accounts in the same download session, a flag appears to the left of the account name in the Account Bar. Click the account to open it and begin comparing transactions there. 46 Track investments online

51 When you select a downloaded transaction, Quicken finds its matching transaction among the ones you have entered in the register. Quicken compares the downloaded transactions to ones you have already entered in the register; if any transactions are the same, Quicken labels the downloaded transaction Match. If there is no match, Quicken labels the downloaded transaction New. If two transactions are almost a match but differ by a few cents, Quicken labels the downloaded transaction Near Match. In Near match transactions, you may see a difference of a few cents between the transaction cost in Quicken and your brokerage s data due to your brokerage s rules for rounding off decimals. For information about how Quicken rounds off decimals in calculations, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, and enter round-off rules for investments. 1 Select a downloaded transaction in the Compare to Register section of the register and confirm whether Quicken has correctly identified it as a New, Match, or Near Match transaction. Click Accept. Do this for each downloaded transaction. For information about matching transactions, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter matching, and select downloaded investment transactions. 2 After you have accepted all the transactions click Done, or, if you have a linked cash account for this investment account, click Continue to compare the downloaded cash transactions. (If you set up a linked cash account, Quicken displays the transactions from it for you to accept and add to your register by repeating steps 1and 2 for each downloaded transaction.) If Quicken prompts you to compare your brokerage s holdings to your holdings in Quicken, see the online Help (choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter comparing, and select downloaded investment transactions. Congratulations! You re now managing your investment accounts using transaction download with Quicken. You can see how your investments are doing with the tools described in Track your portfolio s performance on page 37. Then, whenever you want to update the information in your account register, repeat the steps in this section starting with Download transactions on page 44. Quicken

52 Next steps To learn more about updating quotes matching downloaded transactions to register transactions checking accounts linked to brokerage accounts researching investments online investment tools on Quicken.com exporting your Quicken portfolio to the Web Search the Help Index for prices of securities online investment tracking cash, managing in investment accounts Quicken.com, investment research Quicken.com Portfolio, exporting to Quicken.com 48 Track investments online

53 6 Plan for tax time Learn how Quicken helps you plan for tax time 50 Track your paycheck 50 Track your tax-deductible expenses 52 Use the Tax Planner 54 Run tax-related reports 55 Next steps 56 Before you start At a minimum, you should complete Chapter 2, Manage your income and expenses, being sure to add the account into which you deposit your paycheck. What you will need You will need a recent paycheck stub. 49

54 Learn how Quicken helps you plan for tax time Quicken provides several tools to help you track your tax-related income and expenses. Tracking tax-related information in Quicken can be useful throughout the year, long before April 15. For example, Quicken can use your data to help you determine if you re having too much or too little deducted from your paycheck. You can also review your deductible expenses on an ongoing basis. The more tax-related information you track in Quicken, the easier your life can be when tax time does roll around. If you plan to use TurboTax to prepare your taxes, you can import your Quicken data directly into the TurboTax software. Even if you don t use tax-preparation software, you can still use Quicken to print reports that consolidate a year s worth of information into a few pages; copy the figures onto your tax forms and your work is practically complete. In this chapter, you ll learn how to use some of the tax tools in Quicken. In particular, you ll learn how to: Add a paycheck transaction that tracks your gross income and all the deductions taken out of each paycheck. Keep track of tax-deductible expenses. Use the Tax Planner to estimate your tax liability and investigate different What if scenarios. Create reports that summarize your tax-related data. Track your paycheck While you could choose to enter the net amount of your paycheck as a deposit in your register, doing so loses all the details about the paycheck, such as amounts added to your 401(k) or deducted for federal taxes. So Quicken provides a special paycheck transaction that tracks gross amounts, deductions, and net amounts for each paycheck. Doing this simplifies a great deal of your tax planning in Quicken. Even if your paycheck varies from one pay period to the next, you can still use a paycheck transaction. Just adjust the details as necessary when you enter the transaction. Add a paycheck transaction When you use a recent paycheck stub to add the financial details from your paycheck, Quicken remembers these details each time you enter a paycheck into the register. You receive the maximum benefit from the tax tools in Quicken (such as the Tax Planner) by setting up your paycheck at the beginning of the tax year. If 50 Plan for tax time

55 you are not setting up your paycheck at the beginning of the tax year, Quicken helps you to adjust your year-to-date (YTD) totals. 1 Choose Tax menu > Go to Tax Center. 2 In Taxable Income Year-to-Date, click Add Paycheck. The Paycheck Setup wizard appears. (If the Manage Paychecks dialog box appears instead, click New to open the Paycheck Setup wizard.) 3 In the Paycheck Setup wizard, click Next. 4 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. Use the following guidelines as you add the paycheck transaction: Enter the account into which you want to deposit the paycheck, how often you are paid, the date of the first deposit, and whether Quicken should remind you to enter your paychecks into the account register or do it for you without prompting. To enter the figures for gross pay and deductions from your recent paycheck stub into the Setup Paycheck dialog box or, to change the name, category, or amount of a paycheck item, click Edit (at the right side of the dialog box). You can edit the amount of a paycheck item directly, or you can click the Edit button to change the name, category, and amount of a paycheck item all at one time. To add a paycheck item to the Setup Paycheck dialog box, click the Add button in the lower-left corner of the appropriate section. For example, to add items for bonuses, profit sharing, or vacation, holiday, or sick pay, click Add Earning; to add items for retirement plans, flexible spending accounts, or medical insurance, click Add Pre-tax Deduction; to add items for employee stock purchase plan deductions or loan repayments, click Add After-Tax Deduction. To adjust the year-to-date (YTD) totals so you can use the tax tools in Quicken, specify that you want to enter this information in the Enter Year-to-Date Information dialog box that appears after you click the Done button in the Setup Paycheck dialog box. (This is the only chance you ll have to enter this information in the Paycheck Setup wizard.) Otherwise, tell Quicken to skip this step, and then enter this information in the Tax Planner as you go along. 5 When you have finished adding your paycheck transaction and YTD totals, click Done in the Manage Paychecks dialog box. Quicken

56 Adjust a paycheck transaction If you get a raise or change jobs, or if other activities permanently affect your paycheck, future paycheck transactions should reflect this new information. Choose Tax menu > Tax Activities > Set Up Paycheck. Select your paycheck from the Manage Paychecks dialog box, click Edit, make any necessary changes, and click Done. Enter a paycheck transaction If you told Quicken to remind you to enter your paycheck when it is due, Quicken added a scheduled transaction for the paycheck. Quicken places a reminder about scheduled transactions in the Cash Flow Center and at the bottom of the appropriate register. In this section, you ll learn how to enter the transaction that you ve told Quicken to remind you is due from the Cash Flow Center. 1 When you receive your paycheck (or, if you have direct deposit, your paycheck stub) choose Cash Flow menu > Go to Cash Flow Center. 2 In Bills and Scheduled Transactions, in the Deposits and Other Scheduled Transactions section, locate the paycheck transaction, and then click Enter (at the right side of the window). Quicken displays the Edit Current Paycheck and Enter into Register dialog box. 3 Edit the Amount (net pay) if necessary, and any other individual elements of the paycheck. 4 Click Enter to add the paycheck transaction to your register. You can also add scheduled transactions to Quicken for other transactions that occur at regular intervals, such as bill payments, deposits, and account transfers. For more information, choose Help menu > Contents, click the Index tab, enter scheduled transactions, and select overview of. Track your tax-deductible expenses Quicken can link categories to specific lines on a tax form. (Categories are discussed in detail in Enter transactions on page 10.) Linking categories to tax forms automates the process of tracking income and tax-related expenses. 52 Plan for tax time

57 Use standard tax-related categories Quicken links the most common tax-deductible categories and subcategories to tax forms. If you added a paycheck transaction in the previous section, you may have noticed that your income was assigned to the Salary category and that deductions were assigned to categories and subcategories such as Tax:Federal and Tax:Medicare. To see a full list of standard tax-related categories in Quicken, choose Tools menu > Category List. Tax-related categories have a check mark in the Tax column, and the Tax Line Item column indicates the tax form and line item associated with the category. If a category doesn t have the appropriate tax form line item associated with it, you can assign one with the Tax Line Item Assignment at the bottom of the Category and Transfer List. (If you don t see the Tax Line Item Assignment, from the Options drop-down list, select Show Tax Line Item Assignment.) Add additional tax-related categories Your Quicken file may not contain all the tax-related categories that you need. For example, if you subscribe to certain periodicals that are directly related to the production or collection of tax-related income, you may want to track this information in Quicken. Follow these steps to add tax-related categories to your Quicken file. 1 Choose Tax menu > Deduction Finder. Quicken displays the Deduction Finder window. 2 Follow the onscreen instructions. When you find a deduction you d like to track, click Create a Category. Quicken adds the category (and perhaps a subcategory) to the category list for you, and associates it with the correct tax form and line item. 3 When you re through, click the Summary and Action Plan tabs and review the information Quicken displays. You can return to the Deduction Finder at any time to add more tax-related categories. If you need more assistance than the Deduction Finder provides, the Quicken.com Web site provides links to tax forms and publications that can provide more detailed information. Quicken

58 Review tax-related categories If you have added your own tax-related categories or changed a standard category s tax line item, Quicken can help you make sure that you have assigned the correct tax line item. 1 Choose Tax menu > Tax Category Audit. Quicken checks all your categories and lists the categories that meet the following criteria under Check your data: Standard tax-related categories that are not linked to their original tax line items, or are linked to incorrect tax line items New tax-related categories that may need to be linked to different tax line items 2 If there is a category you want to edit, click Change, make the necessary changes, and then click OK. Otherwise, click Ignore. Use the Tax Planner Use the Tax Planner to prepare for the inevitable. After you add a paycheck transaction and assign tax categories to a few tax-related expenses, you already have a wealth of tax-related data at your fingertips. The Tax Planner can use your Quicken data to help you anticipate the current year s tax liability. You can then adjust your payroll exemptions if necessary. You can also evaluate the tax implications of various tax-related financial actions, such as buying a home or selling stock. Note: To work effectively, the Tax Planner needs year-to-date information for your gross pay and deductions. If you did not add your paycheck at the beginning of the tax year and did not add year-to-date information when you added your paycheck transaction, add this information as you go along. If you need assistance, click the question mark in the upper-right corner of the Tax Planner window. 1 Choose Tax menu > Tax Planner, and then click How can Quicken help with Tax planning? on the left side of the window. 2 Read the onscreen instructions and then click Let s get started. 54 Plan for tax time

59 Click Tax Planner Summary to see an overview of your tax situation. Then click a tax item to see more detail. At any time, you can click a schedule or worksheet on the left side of the dialog box for more detail on a specific area. When you do, pay particular attention to the details in the bottom of the dialog box, which is where the Tax Planner identifies the source of its calculations. (If you do not see the calculation details at the bottom of the window, click Show Details.) You can use your actual Quicken data, import your TurboTax data from the previous tax year, enter a new value manually, or have Quicken base the calculations on scheduled transactions. If you need assistance, click the question mark in the upper-right corner of the Tax Planner window. Run tax-related reports You don t have to wait until tax time to review your tax information. In fact, you probably won t want to. Use preset tax reports to help you keep an eye on your tax information throughout the year. 1 Choose Reports menu > Reports and Graphs, and then choose What is my tax situation? on the left side of the window. Quicken provides three reports designed specifically for the tax-related information in your Quicken data file: Capital Gains displays short-term, long-term, and super-long-term sales that are subject to capital gains tax. Tax Schedule displays tax-related transactions subtotaled by tax form line item. Tax Summary displays tax-related transactions subtotaled by category. If you are using Quicken Premier or Quicken Premier Home & Business, Quicken also provides the following three tax reports. Schedule A displays itemized deductions from only the Schedule A section of the Tax Schedule. Schedule B displays interest and dividend income from investment and noninvestment accounts. Quicken

60 Schedule D displays realized gains or losses, loss carryovers, and longterm capital gains distributions for securities in investment accounts. To learn how to add these reports and other valuable tools in minutes, choose Help menu > Unlock Quicken Premier Home & Business. 2 To run a report, select it, make any changes to the dates at the bottom of the window, and then click Show Report. Next steps If you want to use Quicken to help you plan or manage your taxes in more detail, try some of the other tools that Quicken provides: Choose Tax menu > Go to Tax Center for a summary of your tax-related data and reminders about upcoming tax-related dates. Choose Tax menu > Itemized Deduction Estimator to review your expenses and make sure that you re taking all the deductions to which you re legally entitled. Choose Tax menu > Capital Gains Estimator to help plan security sales so you can maximize after-tax yields. If you re using Quicken Premier or Quicken Premier Home & Business, you ll also have access to the What Should I Sell? component of the Capital Gains Estimator where you can specify goals such as offsetting gains with losses and have Quicken suggest sales of investments that can help you meet your goals. Choose Tax menu > Tax Withholding Estimator to review whether you are over- or under-withholding. To learn more about tax-related categories setting up alerts estimating capital gains estimating your taxes estimating your itemized deductions Search the Help Index for taxes, categories for tax-related transactions alerts, taxes capital gains, Capital Gains Estimator taxes, estimating taxes or capital gains taxes, deductions 56 Plan for tax time

61 7 Determine your net worth Put it all together 58 Track your home value and associated loan 58 Track a vehicle value and associated loan 60 Add other asset and liability accounts 61 Calculate your net worth 61 Next steps 62 Before you start To get a complete picture of your net worth, you should enter all the financial information discussed in the previous chapters before you continue with this chapter. If you have completed the previous chapters, most of your work here is done. What you will need You will need information about the purchase price and value of your assets (home, vehicle, and so on) as well as information about any loans that might be associated with them. 57

62 Put it all together Although using Quicken as described in the previous chapters can bring a great deal of order to your finances, you still don t have a complete picture of your financial situation. In this chapter, you ll learn how to use Quicken to track the assets (what you own) and liabilities (what you owe) not reflected in your bank balance or stock portfolio. The more financial information you provide to Quicken, the more Quicken can help you understand and improve your overall financial health. When you add asset and liability accounts, you re increasing the power of Quicken to incorporate all your financial data into a single, clear picture of where you stand and where you can go. In this chapter, you ll learn how to add the following types of accounts: An asset account for a home you own or are buying, with an associated liability account if you re paying a mortgage An asset account for a vehicle you own or are buying, with an associated liability account if you re paying off a vehicle loan An asset account for other property you own, such as a stamp collection or work of art A liability account for other loans or debt, such as a student loan Track your home value and associated loan If you own a home, you can use Quicken to track its value, along with the mortgage that may be associated with it. Quicken calculates the value of your equity and tracks the interest you pay each year and the remaining loan balance. When you add a mortgage account, Quicken adds both an asset account for the positive value or equity you have in your home, and a liability account for the value of your home loan. 1 If you have the last statement you received for the mortgage account you plan to add, get it now. You can use the statement to enter the most recent values, such as balance remaining on the mortgage, while you re adding your account. 2 Choose Property & Debt menu > Go to Property & Debt Center. 3 In Property & Debt Accounts, click Add Account. 58 Determine your net worth

63 4 Select House (with or without Mortgage) and click Next. Quicken displays the Asset Account Setup wizard for tracking a home. 5 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. Note: When you add the account, enter both the purchase price and the estimated current market value if you know it. Quicken enters the purchase price as the Opening Balance and adds an adjustment transaction in the House account register to reflect the current market value. This way you can track your equity. As the home s value changes over time, you can enter additional transactions to keep the equity value current. If you told Quicken that you have a mortgage on the house, Quicken adds two accounts: one for the positive value of the house (a House account) and one for the negative value of the loan (a Liability account). Quicken then displays the Edit Loan wizard. Quicken

64 6 Fill in the requested information about your home loan. When you finish, Quicken displays the Edit Loan Payment dialog box. Enter the payee s name here. Don t forget to assign a category to the part of your payment that goes to interest. This may be tax deductible. 7 Enter information about your regular loan payment. To have Quicken remind you to enter each payment transaction, click Payment Method, select Scheduled Transaction, and then enter details on when and how the transaction should be entered. Track a vehicle value and associated loan The steps for tracking a car s value and loan are almost identical to those for adding a house and mortgage account. When you add a car loan account, Quicken adds both an asset and a liability account. 1 If you have your last statement for the car loan, get it now. 2 Choose Property & Debt menu > Go to Property & Debt Center. 3 In Property & Debt Accounts, click Add Account. 4 Select Vehicle (with or without Loan) and click Next. Quicken displays the Asset Account Setup wizard for tracking a vehicle. 5 Follow the onscreen instructions; click Next to move through the pages. Click Help if you need more information. If you told Quicken that you have a car loan, Quicken adds two accounts: one for the positive value of the vehicle (a Vehicle account) and one for the negative value of the loan (a Liability account). Quicken then displays the Edit Loan wizard. 6 Fill in the requested information about your car loan. Click Help if you need assistance. 60 Determine your net worth

65 Add other asset and liability accounts You can track the value of anything that you own (asset) or owe (liability) in Quicken. Following the same procedures as in the previous sections, add any asset or liability accounts that you want Quicken to include when evaluating your financial situation. For each account, enter a value that you think is a good estimate of the total value of your assets or liabilities. If you don t want to track your assets or liabilities in great detail, you can group them together in a single asset or liability account. Note: When you add a House or Vehicle account, Quicken prompts you to add the associated liability account and loan (if any). To get the most complete picture of your financial health, don t forget to add a liability account and loan for any other assets you owe money on. You can add liability and loan accounts in the Property & Debt Center (choose Property & Debt menu > Go to Property & Debt Center). You can add them in either order since once you add one of them, Quicken prompts you to add the other. To add a liability account, in Property & Debt Accounts, click Add Account. To add a loan, in Loan Accounts Summary, click Add Account. Calculate your net worth Now that Quicken has more information about your finances, you can learn more about the value of your net worth. 1 Choose Reports menu > Reports and Graphs, and then choose What do I own and owe? on the left side of the window. 2 Select Net Worth, and then click Show Report or Show Graph. Quicken displays a report that shows the value of all your assets and liabilities. If you want to exclude certain information from your net worth report, click Customize, make any desired changes, and then click Show Report. For example, if you want a report that excludes nonliquid assets, such as your home, click Customize and clear the asset and liability accounts for your home on the Accounts tab. Quicken

66 Next steps Now you re ready to take advantage of one of the most powerful financial management features that Quicken offers. The next chapter explains how to use Quicken to develop a long-term financial plan for life events such as going to college or funding your retirement, which can help you when you re ready to put your past and present financial data to work toward building your financial future. To learn more about tracking assets tracking liabilities paying off loans reducing your debt Search the Help Index for assets (tracking physical) liability accounts loans, paying off Debt Reduction Planner 62 Determine your net worth

67 8 Develop a long-term plan Begin planning 64 Review your plan 65 Modify your plan 65 Next steps 66 Before you start Think about when you would like to retire and what kind of standard of living you anticipate. Consider any large purchases you would like to make, and any life changes that you might be facing (such as having children or sending them off to college). What you will need If you haven t already set up the accounts discussed in the previous chapters, you will need information such as account balances, the value of what you own and what you owe, and so on. 63

68 Begin planning Many of us dream of the day when we can retire. Retirement means different things to different people, but whatever retirement means to you, Quicken can help you make it happen. When you begin developing a long-term plan with Quicken, you can use your actual Quicken data or you can enter data as you go along. Using existing data In this chapter, you ll learn how to use the Retirement Planner, a powerful tool that uses your actual Quicken data. If you have entered most of the financial information covered so far in this book, Quicken uses it as a starting point. Much of the planner will already be filled out for you, using your paycheck transactions, investment income, house and mortgage accounts, and so on. Entering data as you go If you haven t yet entered a lot of data in Quicken, you can still use the planner. Just enter data as you go. You can enter figures that are based on your past experiences or your future plans. In fact, while you are developing long-term plans in the Quicken Planning Center, you can add the kinds of accounts discussed in previous chapters. For example, if you want your plan to include the value of your house but you haven t yet added your mortgage and associated loan accounts, Quicken lets you do so during the planning process. Creating your plan 1 Choose Planning menu > Retirement Planner. Quicken displays the Retirement Planner Introduction window. Click Next to get started. Quicken walks you through the process. If you have added the accounts discussed in previous chapters, much of your work is already done. Don t worry if you haven t; you can add them here. 64 Develop a long-term plan

69 2 Click Next to move through the planner pages (recommended), or go directly to an area of interest on the left side of the window. To prepare the most complete plan, enter all the information that Quicken requests. In many cases, Quicken links to dialog boxes that contain explanations of terms or forms that you need to fill out. Click the underlined text to go to these linked dialog boxes. Review your plan While you are creating your plan, you can view the results at any time. To do so, click one of the choices below Results, in the bottom-left of the window. Your plan displays a graph of your projected account balances from the present until the end of the plan, and tells you if you can retire when you want to. If there s still some information you need to enter before Quicken can create your plan, Quicken tells you what it is. Check for problems displays information about areas in your plan that might prevent you from retiring when you want, or that are missing information that Quicken needs to complete your plan. What if lets you change one or more pieces of information used to generate your retirement plan, and then immediately displays how the new information affects the plan. (For more information, see Modify your plan in the next section.) Summary displays an overview of the key elements of your retirement plan, such as retirement age, years until retirement, and number of years you expect to be retired. Modify your plan Once you have entered enough data for Quicken to develop a plan, you can experiment with your data several ways to see how certain actions would change the plan. Playing What if One of the most powerful tools in the Retirement Planner is What if. Using What if, you can change many of your plan s assumptions without actually changing the plan itself. Then you can decide whether you want to change your plan based on your What if calculations. Here are a few examples of the kinds of questions What if can help you answer: What if I quit my job and stay home when the baby is born? (Change information such as salary, living expenses, and college expenses.) Quicken

70 What if I relocate to a different part of the country? (Change information such as current and future homes and assets, living expenses, and special expenses.) What if I sell some of my assets and take a trip around the world? (Change information such as investments and living expenses.) 1 If your retirement plan isn t displayed, choose Planning menu > Retirement Planner. 2 Click What if, and then click Try it. Quicken displays an overview of your plan results. 3 From the drop-down list, change the goal type if you like (the default goal is Retirement), and then click any What if I link on the left side of the window. Select a goal from the drop-down list. Choose an option for reaching this goal sooner, or with less effort. Make your changes in the About You dialog box. Quicken displays the result in the What if window. 4 Use the buttons at the top of the What If window to either save your What if scenario changes (and incorporate them into your long-term plan), close without saving, or reset the What if values and try out new ones. Next steps As you can see, using Quicken to help plan your retirement gives you the ability to make significant decisions about how you want to use your finances to fund your life and dreams. From here on, it s up to you to keep your Quicken data up to date, and to review it periodically to make sure that you are on track to reach your own financial goals. 66 Develop a long-term plan