Wiley Quicken 2008 For Dummies
Contents
1. 22 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture Note If the file you re opening was created in a previous version of Quicken Quicken converts the data to the Quicken 2008 format Note If Quicken displays the Quicken Home window rather than the account register click the bank account name hyperlink beneath the Cash Flow center button Migrating from Microsoft Money Suppose that you re moving from Microsoft Money to Quicken The question of the hour is this Can you reuse your old or existing Money files in Quicken The answer is Yes sort of You can download a program called Data Converter from the Quicken sup port Web site Data Converter converts Microsoft Money data files from Microsoft Money 2003 and later versions to the Quicken 2004 2005 2006 or 2007 file format Quicken 2008 should easily then convert one of these old format Quicken files to the Quicken 2008 file format So theoretically you can move Microsoft Money data files to Quicken Practically however moving financial information from Quicken to Money or vice versa doesn t seem to work all that well Transactions seem to get lost Account balances get messed up People ruin their lives Well maybe that last comment is a slight exaggeration But no kidding Migrating is problem atic If you do want to move from one program to another I suggest making sure that you have a really good reason for doing so and that you allow your self enough time2. 1 Choose FileFind Quicken Files from the menu bar by using your mouse Figure 1 9 shows the Find Quicken Data File dialog box that appears after you choose the command Quicken uses this dialog box to collect the information it will need to find your lost Quicken data E Find Quicken Data Fies on this computer Al Quicken Files Date Fies Found Find Qucker Dele Fie Named Look iri EIS Find Stop 2 Tell Quicken on which disk the data file is probably stored Select the disk you want Quicken to search from the Look In list box Note that you can click the down arrow to the right of the Look In list box to display a list of your computer s disks From the list of drives and folders that appears click the one that stores your Quicken files Quicken closes the drop down list box and displays your selection in the list box beneath the Look In box 3 Click Find to search the disk Quicken searches the specified disk for Quicken data files As Quicken finds Quicken data files it adds them to the Data Files Found list box 4 Select the correct file from the list box After Quicken finds the Quicken data files stored on the specified disk select the Quicken data file you know you want 5 Click Open after you select the file Quicken opens the file and displays the active account in the register window Quicken also displays its Reminders window to show any unprinted checks or scheduled transactions
3. if the Quicken installation program can find a version of old Quicken files on your computer it gives you the option of just skipping all the Quicken Express Setup stuff In this case you just begin using your existing files I mention this point earlier in this chapter in fact If you ve been using Quicken for Macintosh however you have to export your data from the Macintosh before you can read it in the Windows version And I can think of about a million things more fun to do than exporting Quicken data from a Mac to Windows See the section in Chapter 17 on importing data from an old accounting system for a brief discussion on the procedure and some suggestions for better ways to spend your time The mysterious case of the missing Quicken data files If Quicken doesn t find the old files you need to open the specific files But if you have this problem you should be able to solve it yourself What has hap pened if you find yourself in this boat is that you ve moved or messed around with the Quicken files with some other program such as Windows If you did that presumably you had a reason And more to the point you should know where you put the files Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop 2 1 D Figure 1 9 The Find Quicken Data File dialog box IE Find Quicken Data File Using the File gt Find Quicken Files command You can use File Find Quicken Files to select and open your existing Quicken files Here s how
4. If you can t remember choose File Find Quicken Data File select the disk you want to search from the Look In box and click Find Quicken displays a list of the Quicken data files on the selected disk For more help with this see the section The mysterious case of the missing Quicken data files at the end of this chapter The second possibility is that you didn t do anything with the Quicken data file but that the data file has somehow gone missing If that s the case hopefully you backed up the Quicken data file to a CD or to some other disk from which you can restore the data file 11 12 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture Finishing Setup If Vou Haven t Used Quicken Before If Quicken can t figure out whether you ve used the Quicken program before it displays the welcome message shown in Figure 1 1 Get Started with Quicken 2008 Welcome to Quicken 2008 Select one of the following 1am new to Quicken Lam aready a Quicken user PCs Figure 1 1 The Get Started With Quicken 2008 window Exit Quicken iNext gt If you have used Quicken before select the I Am Already A Quicken User option Quicken then displays another Get Started With Quicken 2008 window that asks whether you want to open a Quicken file located on this computer restore a Quicken data file you ve backed up to CD or disk or start over and create a new data file as shown in Figure 1 2 If you indicate that
5. in Quicken Tracking and tallying your tax deductions will be a snap and planning your finances will be easier When you enter the activity be sure to enter any outstanding checks or deposits from the prior period with their correct dates also That way they are there to check off when you do your first reconciliation Going back to the beginning of the year isn t as hard as you may think Quicken provides a bunch of tools to help you enter several months worth of data in a very short time as you can see in this chapter and in the two or three that follow L Quicken 2008 Premier QDATA Quicken Home File Edit Toots Cash Flow Investing Property amp Debt A Online 7 D Planning Tax Reports Help e Search Suppert Home Cash Flow Investing Accounts Bills and Deposits Cash Flow Chedung 0 00 friday Ady 13 2007 noo Investing Wew Calendar List 4000 E property amp Debt 000 6 413 Opening Bale 4 16 EEE Figure 1 8 a The Quicken Customize Add Account Home Net Warth 1o00 Expected Income Upcoming Expense window Property and Debt 20 Financial Overview Create New View 2 4 duly 2008 gt Add Bill or Deposit Set Up Paycheck Show Full Calendar Moverdue Recister Transection Z Track your business expenses be batter prepared for tax time Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop 1 9 ay Now I need to explain something
6. Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop In This Chapter Installing Quicken Touring Quicken Setting up your bank or other accounts if you re a first time user Retrieving existing Quicken data files you ve never used Quicken begin here This chapter tells you how to install Quicken if you haven t already and how to start the program for the first time You also find out how you go about setting up Quicken accounts to track banking activities specifically the money that goes into and out of a checking or savings account If you ve already begun to use Quicken don t waste any time reading this chapter unless you want the review You already know the stuff it covers By the way if you have Windows I assume that you know a little bit about it No you don t have to be some sort of expert Shoot you don t even have to be all that proficient You do need to know how to start Windows applica tions such as Quicken It also helps immensely if you know how to choose commands from menus and how to enter stuff into windows and dialog boxes If you don t know how to do these kinds of things flip to Appendix A It provides a quick and dirty overview of how you work in Windows Read the stuff in the appendix or at least skim it and then come back to this chapter When I say Windows I mean a recent version of Windows something Microsoft is either currently selling or has sold in the last few years Quicken 2008 won t ru
7. ank statement is dated July 13 2008 type 07 13 2008 or you can type 072308 Enter the ending bank statement balance by referring to your bank statement This balance is whatever appears on your bank statement This balance is also the amount of money in your account on the date you begin your financial record keeping If you have 4 16 in your checking account type 4 16 into the Balance On The Ending Date text box After you type the bank statement balance click the Next Step button to continue moving through the Express Setup Describing your income The third step in the Express Setup Describing any regular income that you receive such as a paycheck and any regular deposits you make into your bank account see Figure 1 6 To provide this information you could enter the name of the payor into the Company Name text box You could describe the type of payment by using the Category box and you could even give the amount of the regular payment by using the Take Home Pay box LJ Express Setup Add Paychecks Income Add my deposits and other income Add each paycheck and cther regular source cf income that you wert to track in Quicken IF the amount veres from morth to month just enter a merkhly average You can speci y the adua amount sach time you anter the paycheck in Quicken Bp Why shoud 1 back this Required Fakds My Deposits Paychecks Incame Company Nama Category Tako Homa Pay How Often Na
8. etting Up Shop 15 1 Identify the financial institution usually a bank by typing your institution s name into the text box provided As you type Quicken displays a list of financial institutions that match what you ve typed so far The more you type the shorter the list of pos sible matching institutions If you see your bank or whatever listed select it When you click the Next Step button Quicken displays the next Quicken Express Setup window as shown in Figure 1 5 LJ Express Setup ES Get your current balance and account activity directly from your bank a ENEE jemi to U S Bank PPM Direct Connect directly through Quicken with One Step N E 5 jate Figure 1 5 a Yes Iwani o correct to L S Bank PFA Diredi Correct trough Quitem have ny User nd Password The Get 46A5500 RRE Your Current rR E No 1 do nok want to connect to U S Eerik PEM Dirett Connect through Quickan Balance Sa Find your most recent account statement and enter the statement And 4 He ending date and balance gt e _ Account Name your account eins oo Activity Statement ending date 7413 2003 Directly Balance on the ening date 4 I From Your Don t have all of your account infarmation handy i No problem just dick Next Step You can enter your account balance later Bank window 2 bat Setup Next Step gt De 2 Tell Quicken whether you want to use the online setup for your account or manually set up yo
9. here The Quicken Express Setup assumes that you re going to set up almost everything you need or will ever need in Quicken all at once and in the beginning You can do that if you want but that s not my suggestion er obviously I say heck keep it simple You can easily add stuff later when you want it Sound okay I do explain how to set up this stuff in other chapters My reasoning for this suggestion is that I d like you to have some experience working with Quicken before you go hog wild Focus first on those personal accounting tasks that you absolutely will want to perform This approach gets you started working with Quicken happily productively and successfully from day one If you want to do more in a week or a month or a year great You can easily do more tasks and by then you ll know so much more about Quicken that adding these other tasks will be a snap Steve s Overview You don t need to know much about the mechanics of the Quicken interface the way its windows work to begin working with Quicken especially in any chapters in this book in which I cover the basics I provide plenty of detailed instructions but I have a couple of quick comments now Starting Quicken for the second time The second time you start Quicken and every subsequent time things work pretty much the same way as the first time Double click the Quicken icon on your desktop Or if you like doing things the hard way cl
10. ick Start and then choose All Programs Quicken 2008Quicken 2008 Using Quicken document windows Quicken doesn t use document windows the way that some other Windows applications do Quicken basically turns document windows into pages that you leaf through by clicking the window buttons that appear in an Account Bar along the left edge of the program window In Figure 1 8 for example you see buttons for Cash Flow center Investing center and Property amp Debt center Go ahead and turn to that page I ll just wait here for you until you get back 20 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture Navigating with QuickTabs Quicken arranges all its features whistles bells or whatever else you want to call them using navigation QuickTabs that appear near the top edge of the window For example if you look closely at Figure 1 8 you will see a Home tab a Cash Flow tab an Investing tab a Property amp Debt tab anda Financial Overview tab If you re still confused click the buttons and bits of text in the area of the Quicken window that I m talking about You ll clearly see how things work Solving Tricky Setup Problems I want to quickly go over a handful of annoying setup problems new Quicken users may encounter If you have Quicken set up and are ready to roll skip this stuff Did somebody say Macintosh You can use the existing old Quicken files if you re working with a new ver sion of Quicken In fact
11. n on Windows 3 1 or Windows 95 so if you want to run the latest version I m afraid it s time to upgrade By the way for the computer I used to write this book I used Windows Vista 0 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture Installing and Starting Quicken You install Quicken the same way that you install any program in Windows If you already know how to install programs you don t need any help from me Stop reading here do the installation thing start your newly installed Quicken program and then start reading the next section Finishing Setup If You ve Used Quicken Before If you need help installing Quicken here are the step by step instructions Installing Quicken from a CD ROM is as easy as one two three four 1 ae Insert the CD ROM into the CD ROM drive In a short amount of time Quicken should display the Quicken 2008 instal lation window I m not going to show this window in a figure There s really nothing on the window to talk about The window just reads Welcome Note If nothing happens when you put the CD ROM into the CD ROM drive don t panic First try removing the CD and then putting it in again If Windows still doesn t recognize the CD you need to tell Windows that it should install your Quicken program In many versions of Windows but not necessarily with your version you do this with the Windows Control Panel by using the Programs tool To do this refer to your Wind
12. nformation about how you use Quicken and your e mail address After the data file is set up Quicken starts the Express Setup see Figure 1 3 The Express Setup process walks you through the steps for setting up Quicken You can find out much more on this process in the next section LJ Express Setup Welcome to Quicken Personal Finance Software What to expect here This one time setup takes approomately five minutes Quicken wi guide you through the process Simply follow the orrscresn nstuctons to add accounts and tel Quicken about your requarly scheduled biis and ceposts What you ll need zs Before you start get the foloning ze DoS 1 Your most recent bank statement Ths isto help you set up a Quicken account to He track your reebworld checking eccourk 2 2 A list of your monthly bills This could come from oid biling statements or your J paper check register You codd ebo prk the ist of cleared checks from your berks Web she You dont need exact emoutts you can edit this later Optional You may also want the login ID end password to your barks web ste This may help automate some of your work Don t have all of this information No problem you can aways addthis after you begin using Quicken Skip Setup Next Step gt 4 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture Running the Quicken Express Setup E Figure 1 4 The Set Up Your Primary Checking Account window N Okay He
13. ns You re done After you install Quicken you need to start it to finish the setup process If you told the installation program to launch Quicken 2008 you should see the Quicken program window on your screen If you didn t tell the installation program to launch Quicken you need to start Quicken The easiest way to start Quicken is to double click the Quicken shortcut icon that post installation appears on your Windows desktop The Quicken pro gram window appears almost like magic Quicken might ask whether it can download program updates over the Internet You can just say yes if it asks you this question Finishing Setup If Vou ve Used Quicken Before ar If you ve used a previous version of Quicken the Quicken program might show option buttons to indicate what you want to do next Open the found data file Alternatively you can indicate that you want to open some other data file You re done You re ready to begin Quicken ing The Quicken setup process can usually tell whether you ve used Quicken before The setup process knows where the Quicken installation program usually puts the Quicken program and data files and the installation program will look there If you have used Quicken before but Quicken can t see this two possibilities exist The first possibility is that you put the Quicken data file someplace weird If that s the case hopefully you remember the weird place you hid the Quicken data file
14. ot Pay Dane Enter inno this Account salary 0 00 Every two weeks 3 13 2007 Checking Add Row Want to track details such as paycheck deductions gt Not ready to add this information You can edd mare peycheckinformetion later Mo problemit cick Nent Step You can enter ths later Exit Setup Next Step gt Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop 7 a Figure 1 7 The Add Regular Bills And Expenses window D But you know what You can also just skip this add my deposits and other income step if you re lazy like me or if you don t actually have a regular source of income also like me In fact m going to recommend you skip this step Seriously Describing your outgo The fourth step in the Express Setup requires you to describe your regular bills and expenses things such as the rent or your mortgage cell phone charges and your ever increasing cable TV bill see Figure 1 7 To provide this expense information you could again if you re really anal enter the name of the company you re paying into the Name text box and the payment amount into the Average Payment box or the Average Amount box But you know what Good grief This setup stuff is getting way too complicated for me Just skip this step too You can deal with it later No reason to make this more complicated than you have to E Express Setup Add Credit Cards and Bits Add regular bills and expenses identf
15. ows user guide or a good book about your version of Windows such as Windows Vista For Dummies written by Andy Rathbone Wiley Click Next Quicken then displays a window that asks you a few questions e The first question is whether you accept the Quicken license agreement e The next question asks where you want to install Quicken You should accept the installation s program suggestion The installa tion program suggests a Quicken subfolder in your Program Files folder e The next question an implicit question really asks whether it s okay to uninstall the previous version of Quicken if there is a previous version of Quicken installed on your computer You may also be asked whether it s okay with you if it gets any program updates Answer these questions by clicking the appropriate buttons Click Next to move to the next question Then click the Install Now button when you answer the last question Quicken installs itself This process takes a few minutes Along the way you see several other screenfuls of messages including marketing infor mation about the features new to Quicken and some progress reports on the installation itself Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop ar MBER KV amp When in doubt about some installation option just accept the default suggestion by pressing Enter After the installation is complete Quicken displays an installation complete message 4 Click Done Congratulatio
16. re s the deal The Quicken Express Setup walks you through a four step process that asks for some personal information about your banking about your income and about your regular bills You walk through the steps by clicking the Next Step button in the lower right corner of the window Shaving the details of your private life The collection of personal information step asks for your name and if you re married for your spouse s name This first step also asks which book keeping activities you plan to use Quicken for personal small business rental property and so on Don t stress about this stuff Just answer the questions as best you can If you don t know how to answer some question don t worry about it Go ahead and skip the question Describing your banking The second describe your banking step asks you to provide information about your bank account and its current balance Figure 1 4 shows the window that collects the first part of this information but just so you don t get confused here are the precise steps you take LJ Express Setup Set up your primary checking account What s the primary bank account you use to Pay bils Depost your peychack This account s held at the following institution z wiht doas Quicken want to know my bank J What F my barkisn t listed Bp How does Quicken protect my financial nfcemation 2 Exit Setup Next Step gt Chapter 1 S
17. to track down and correct any errors The data converter is available from http custhelp quicken com use the search term Microsoft Money after you select your Quicken version
18. ur account I m going to suggest because you re just starting out that you set up your account manually You have plenty of time later to find out how online banking works Online banking is really cool though See Chapter 6 for more information To indicate that you ll manually set up your account select the No radio button Note that Quicken may not get into this online banking stuff if Quicken can tell that your bank doesn t support online banking 3 Tell Quicken the name you want to use for the checking account You do so by typing a name in the Name Your Account text box as shown in Figure 1 5 By the way you can be as general or as specific as you want But remember brevity is a virtue be as concise as you can The reason is that Quicken uses your account name to label stuff within the Quicken window and on Quicken reports If you use a long account name the name may not always fit on reports and screens 16 Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture el Figure 1 6 The Add My Deposits And Other Income window PC 4 Enter the ending bank statement date by referring to your bank statement When Quicken asks for the ending statement date enter the date of your last bank statement This date by the way is when you will start using Quicken Enter the date in MM DD YYYY fashion Geez Steve you re now saying to yourself what s MM DD YYYY fash ion Okay Here s an example If your b
19. y al your expenses that occur on a requar basis te hela forecast your account inflows and outflows mp Why shodd 1 back this Required faks Average Payment Next Dus Date Erker into this Account 0 00 7 13 2007 Checking Add Row Total Creck Card Payments 0 00 Nems Category Average Amount Next Que Dare Enter into ths Account 0 00 7 13 2007 Orecking Add Row Tota Expersss 90 00 Want to setup Quicken to do online bill pay Dont wry you can do that later 2 Exit Setup lt Previous Step Next Step gt You ll need to click the Next Step button a couple more times click Finish and then voila Quicken displays the Quicken Home window see Figure 1 8 18 ar Part I Zen Quicken and the Big Picture The best way to get started Quicken wants you to use your last bank state ment to set up the bank account you track This way your financial records synchronize with the bank s records when you start using Quicken But want to suggest something slightly differ ent to you Go back further than just to the beginning of the previous month which is what you do when you use your last bank statement Go back to the beginning of the year and use the last bank statement of the previous year even if it s now several months after the begin ning of the year Now l m not trying to waste your time Let me point out two big advantages to having a complete year s data
20. you want to open another Quicken data file located on the computer Quicken displays a dialog box that asks where that file is If you indicate that you want to grab a backup copy of the Quicken file Quicken dis plays a dialog box that asks where that file is Presumably if either of these situations is your case you ll know where the data file or backup copy of the data file is s At the very end of this chapter in the section The mysterious case of the missing Quicken data files I describe how you can locate and open a Quicken data file Chapter 1 Setting Up Shop 13 PC Figure 1 2 Another Get Started With Quicken 2008 window FCS E Figure 1 3 The Quicken Express Setup window Ss Get Started with Quicken 2008 x Select your data file What do you want to do Open a fie located on this computer Restore a Quicken date file I ve backed up to CD or disk Start over and create a new data file How do I move a data Fie from another computer Exit Quicken d Back Next gt If you haven t used Quicken before Quicken asks whether it s okay to use the default location for the data file you should agree to this and then it automatically sets up a data file for you you don t need to worry about it Quicken next prompts you to register You might as well do this The regis tration takes only a few minutes All you do in a nutshell is provide your name and address a bit of i
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