Chapter 7

Recording Your Bills and Paychecks

In This Chapter:

   Being reminded

   Creating reminders from downloaded transactions

   Using the Bill Center

   Managing reminders

   Using the financial Calendar

   Minding your bills

   Using the Paycheck Setup Wizard

   Exploring the Spending graph

   Using the Spending register

   Creating the Address Book

   Viewing available alerts groups

Life can be hectic sometimes, too hectic to pay bills before they’re overdue, monitor your spending, and all of the other day-to-day chores involved. Quicken Personal Financial Software provides tools to help you keep track of your bills and your spending, set reminders and alerts for any financial occurrences, and, at the same time, keep watch on your earnings.

Image  Bills and Income Reminders

A favorite Quicken feature is the ability to tell Quicken about the bills, deposits, and other transactions that need to be made in the future, especially the ones that happen on a regular basis. This feature, when fully utilized, doesn’t just prevent you from forgetting to pay bills; it can completely automate the transaction entry process. Starting from the time you first create your Quicken file, you can create reminders to help you stay on top of your monthly bills. This part of the chapter discusses bill and income reminders, including how to set up and use them.

Being Reminded

Reminders aren’t only for payments. You could create a reminder for incoming funds, such as an expected bonus or a quarterly annuity check you receive. You can even schedule your paycheck—but it’s better to use Quicken’s Paycheck Setup feature, which is discussed later in this chapter, to do that.

Quicken’s Reminders feature is one of the best timesaving features Quicken offers. By taking full advantage of this feature, you can minimize the time you spend entering transactions into Quicken. Generally speaking, you can be “reminded” about two types of transactions:

   One-time transactions are future transactions that you expect to record only once. For example, suppose you are arranging to purchase some furniture. You have already paid a deposit for the furniture and you know that the balance will be due at month-end, when the furniture is delivered. You can schedule that month-end payment in advance.

   Recurring transactions are transactions that occur periodically on a regular basis. Many of your monthly bills are good examples: rent or mortgage payments, car payments, utility bills—unfortunately, there are too many to list!

Image

Throughout this chapter and this book, bill reminders, scheduled transactions, and scheduled reminders all are used and mean the same process: saving information about a payee or a transaction so that you can pay or enter the information at a future time.

Remember that creating a reminder is not the same as recording a transaction, even if you opt to show the reminder in your account register. You must print a check or send an online payment instruction to record the transaction. Creating the reminder is only part of the job.

Creating Reminders from Downloaded Transactions

You can create a scheduled transaction in Quicken in several ways. When you first install Quicken, in the Home tab’s Main View, click the Get Started button in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot. If you have downloaded your bank account transactions, you may already see outgoing transactions that appear to be recurring transactions. The Bills Suggestion dialog lists these transactions, as seen in Figure 7-1. (If you do not see the Get Started button in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot, skip ahead to “Work in the Home Tab’s Main View,” later in this chapter.) However, if you don’t have the Get Started button in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot, you will not see the Bills Suggestion screen.

Image

Figure 7-1 · The Bills Suggestion screen uses your downloaded transactions to schedule your monthly bills.

Select Add Bill to open the Search for Online Billers That Can Be Linked with Quicken, as seen next. If you do not want to link with one of the suggested online billers, select Add Manual Bill to open the Add Bill dialog. You may also tell Quicken not to show the Bill Suggestion screen again by selecting the Don’t Show Biller Suggestion Again check box at the bottom left of the screen.

Image

Image

If you are not currently connected to the Internet, you will not be able to add any bills, even manual bills. Even if you are connected to the Internet, you will have to wait for the suggested billers to download before you can proceed with creating a manual reminder.

If none of the online billers match your transaction or if you choose not to link your bill, select Add Manual Bill to open the Add Bill Reminder dialog:

Image

1.   Click in the Pay To field to change or correct the payee of this transaction.

2.   Click in the Due Next On field to change the date if necessary. You may either type the information or use the calendar at the right of the field.

3.   Click Change to the right of the Due Next On field to open a dialog in which you tell Quicken how often to pay this item. Make any appropriate changes and click OK (or Cancel if you’ve not made any changes) to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

If you have a bill that is due on the third Friday of each month, to schedule this bill, select Monthly. Leave the second field at Every 1 Month and set the third field at 3rd. In the final field, select Friday, as seen next. Until you select 1st through 4th in the third field, the last field will only contain Day.

Image

1.   Click the Amount Due or use the calculator icon to change the amount, if necessary. You may either type the new amount or use the small calculator to the right.

2.   If necessary, open the drop-down list in the From Account field to change the account from which this payment is to be made or to which the deposit is to be credited.

3.   Click anywhere within the Details section to add a category, tag, or memo. Click OK (or Cancel) to close the dialog and return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

Image

You may also see the split button to the right of the Category field, a small two-headed arrow. Read more about split transactions in Chapter 5.

4.   After you have completed changing or entering the information, click Done. If you have additional recurring items, follow the same process for each item on the list.

5.   If you have recurring income items, follow the earlier steps for each income item. When you have completed the income items, click Done. You are returned to the Home tab’s Main View in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills snapshot. Note that the Bill And Income Reminders section now includes the recurring items. If your paycheck is listed in the recurring income items, click Remove, as you will want to set it up using the Paycheck Setup feature, which is discussed later in this chapter.

Work in the Home Tab’s Main View

After you have set up recurring bills from downloaded transactions, you can continue to work in the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills section in the Home Tab’s Main view. Click the Options gear icon to show the menu, seen here, from which you can do the following:

Image

   Change the displayed date range to display the reminders for the next 7, 14, 30, or 90 days or 12 months.

   Open the Add dialog to add a new Bill, Income, or Transfer reminder. Each option opens the appropriate reminder dialog for that specific task. If you choose Add Bill, you will have to wait for suggested billers to download before you can proceed, even if you just want to set up a manual bill reminder.

   Go to the Scheduled tab, from which you can work with reminders, see what bills and income are due in the near future, and see your projected balances for the next 12 months or even longer, if you choose.

Each reminder displayed on the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills list is a link. Click the small, right-facing arrow to the right of the amount to see a menu, from which you can do the following:

Image

   Enter the reminder into the appropriate register, which opens the Enter Expense Transaction (or Enter Income Transaction) dialog. With this dialog, you can enter the transaction into the register immediately rather than waiting for the date you set earlier. The transaction will reflect the date you specify, showing in the register with that date in the future.

   Ignore this one entry.

   Click Edit to open a submenu from which you can Edit This Instance of the reminder, which offers three options:

•   Edit This And All Future Instances, which opens the Edit Bill Reminder dialog. If the reminder is an income or transfer reminder, the Edit Income Reminder or Edit Transfer Reminder dialog opens.

•   Delete This And All Future Reminders, which opens a message that you are about to delete a scheduled bill or deposit. You must click OK to delete the reminder or click Cancel to close the message without deleting the reminder.

•   Edit This Instance, which enables you to edit the amount or due date for just the next instance of the reminder.

And if the reminder is a loan payment reminder, the Edit Loan Payment Reminder dialog opens.

See What’s Left

The What’s Left section at the left of the Stay On Top Of Monthly Bills section shows how much is available for the date range you selected in the Options menu. If any of your accounts will be overdrawn, you will see “Risk of Overdraft” displayed at the left of the What’s Left section. Click the link to display the Projected Balances dialog. In this case, the Projected Balances shows only the overdrawn accounts.

If your accounts are all positive (not overdrawn), you will see a See Projected Balances link instead of the Risk Of Overdraft link. Click See Projected Balances to display the balances in each of your spending accounts. This is the same information you see in the Bills tab’s Projected Balances view. Click Close to dismiss the Projected Balances dialog.

Projected Balances

This option’s view shows projected balances and your upcoming reminders in a list view. While the default is to display all spending accounts, you can select a single account to view from the Select Accounts drop-down list, or choose Multiple Accounts to open the Projected Balances selection dialog. This dialog allows you to choose two or more spending or credit card accounts to display. Click the Show (Hidden Accounts) check box to include them in the cash flow view. Click Tools | Manage Hidden Accounts if you don’t see the accounts you expect to see here.

Image

Selecting Multiple Accounts in the Select Accounts drop-down list opens the Customize dialog, where you can select the accounts you wish to include in the Projected Balances graph.

Click Select All to choose all displayed accounts or Clear All to start over with your selection. Click OK to close the dialog.

You may choose a date range to display by clicking the Time Range drop-down list. You may choose the next 7, 14, 30, or 90 days; the next 12 months; or create a customized date range. However, you can only look forward, not back. The earliest date you can select is today.

The Projected Balances graph snapshot includes all of the accounts you have selected for the date range you select. A legend showing the account or accounts represented in the line graph appears at the bottom of the section. In the Upcoming Bills And Income From nn/nn/nnnn to nn/nn/nnnn section, you can work with your transaction reminders as follows:

   Click the right-pointing arrow in the circle icon in the Action column to enter, ignore, or edit the selected transaction. You will only see the right-pointing arrow in the circle icon for the first instance of the reminder.

   Click the account name in the Account To Use column to be taken to that account’s register.

   Click the transaction’s amount in the Amount column to open the Edit Reminder dialog.

Image  Working with the Bills & Income Tab

When you first open a new Quicken file and click on the Bills & Income tab, you will see a screen that says “Link Online Bills.” From that screen, select the Get Started link. You can enter online billers that can be linked with Quicken as well as manual bills.

Later, when you select the Bills & Income tab, you see the Bills Center, with the Due Date option as seen in Figure 7-2. From this screen you can pay bills or find the status, due date, and much more.

Image

Figure 7-2 · Get started in the Bills & Income tab to work with both your bills and income providers.

Using the Bills Center

Quicken can help make your life easier by connecting online bills with your payments. If your vendor allows you to see your bill on their website, depending on the vendor, you may be able to connect a bill reminder to that online bill.

From the Search For Online Billers That Can Be Linked With Quicken screen, shown earlier, enter the first few letters of your biller. A list of possible billers that can be linked appears. If the appropriate biller name appears, log in with your user name and password. If you have not yet set up credentials with this biller, go to their website first and set up your credentials.

Image

Once your credentials have been verified, your bill is now linked with your vendor. Quicken will automatically retrieve the bill when it is posted to the website. When you perform a One Step Update or refresh the bill from the Bills tab, the bill is entered into Quicken.

To link another bill, select Link Another Bill from the previous bill verification, or click Close to close the dialog.

Work with Linked Bills

You can edit or remove a linked bill. Select the Bills & Income tab and from the Bills Center, select Biller Name and from the drop-down list to the right, choose Online Bills. You will see a list of your currently linked bills and three additional options:

   Update All Select this option to update all of your currently linked bills to download any current bills.

   Manage Bills With this option, you can edit the password on the biller’s website or remove a currently linked bill. If you select Remove, you will no longer receive the bills online.

   Add New Bill Use this option to add another linked bill.

Image  Use Bill Reminders

Depending on how you elected to display Reminders when you entered the bill reminder, you can see a list of your reminders from the Quicken menu bar when you click Tools | Manage Bill & Income Reminders

Use the Bill and Income Reminders view, shown in Figure 7-3, to view upcoming bills and other scheduled transactions in a number of different ways.

Image

Figure 7-3 · The Bill and Income Reminders list shows all of your bill reminders.

If you see no bills in the Review Bills dialog, click Add | Bill to enter this bill. First, the Search For Online Billers That Can Be Linked dialog appears. If you do not want to link the bill you are adding, select Add Manual Bill to open the Add Bill Reminder dialog. (If this is a bill reminder and you have entered payees before, click the drop-down arrow to choose from a list of existing payees. If you are setting up a bill reminder in a new Quicken file, you will probably not yet have any payees on your list.) You also see the Income Reminder link. This opens a similar dialog named Add Income Reminder.

Image

You will not see the Bills Suggestion dialog if you start from Bill & Income Reminders. From Bill & Income Reminders, you would still use Add | Bill to enter your first bill.

1.   Enter the payee name in the Pay To field and click Next. Enter a date in the Due Next On date field. You can also choose a date from the Calendar to the right of the field:

Image

2.   Click Change to set how often you need to be reminded about the bill. The Change dialog appears, as shown next.

Image

From this dialog, you can change

•   The start date.

•   How often the item is deducted from your account. Choose an option from the drop-down list. Your options are Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Twice A Month, Quarterly, Yearly, Twice A Year, Only Once, and To Pay Estimated Taxes (which follows the IRS estimated tax payment schedule). Then set options in the area to the right of the How Often field; the options change based on the frequency you select.

•   Click the End Date field’s drop-down arrow to display the End Date options. These specify when the recurring transaction should end:

•   No End Date, the default option, keeps the transaction scheduled until you delete it or set another option in this dialog.

•   End On enables you to set a specific date for the last transaction.

•   End After enables you to specify the number of transactions before they automatically end or the date on which the payments end. What you see will depend on what you enter in the How Often field.

If all of the information on the Change dialog is correct, click OK to close the dialog and return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

3.   Enter an amount in the Amount Due field, or use the Calculator to the right of the Amount Due field. You cannot leave this field blank, but you can change the amount when it is time to enter the bill in the register. Enter the account from which this bill is to be paid in the From Account field. You may also choose from the drop-down list, which will display all of your non-hidden accounts.

Image

The drop-down list displays all of your non-hidden accounts, including credit card, savings, and investing accounts. If you have used an earlier version of Quicken and hidden some of your accounts, you may need to update how those accounts are displayed so that you can see them in the Add Reminder dialog.

4.   Click anywhere within the Details section to add a category, tag, or memo. (It is best to enter at least the category; that way, each time this reminder is entered into the account register, it will be categorized correctly.) The Category dialog appears:

•   Type a category or choose one from the drop-down list. You can even split the category—see the split icon to the right of the Category field? (Learn more about splits in Chapter 5.)

•   Enter a tag if you choose. Review how tags work in Chapter 4.

•   Enter a memo, such as the account number for this payee. Just be cautious that this reminder is not for a printed check where the memo might be visible.

•   Click OK to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

5.   Click the Optional Settings link to set additional information for this bill. Click the Change link by the Remind Me 3 Days In Advance option to be reminded according to a different time schedule.

From this dialog:

•   Use the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the number of days before the bill is due to be reminded. You can also type in the number of days.

•   Tell Quicken to enter the bill for you automatically and specify the number of days before the bill is due that you want the bill to be entered.

•   Tell Quicken to count only business days when calculating the reminder days.

•   Click OK when you’ve made your changes to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

6.   Click the Add link next to the Related Website option to add the payee’s website. Click OK after you have typed the website address to return to the Add Bill Reminder dialog. You can also copy the web address directly from the appropriate website and paste it in the field. This will ensure you don’t make a typo when you enter the web address.

7.   Click the Change link next to the Estimate Amount For Me option to open the Estimate dialog:

•   The Fixed Amount option displays a text box you can use to enter a dollar amount that the transaction will always use. You can change the amount when the transaction is entered, if necessary.

•   Click the drop-down list to choose Previous Payments. This option tells Quicken to create an estimate based on the payments you have made previously. Actually, it’s not previous payments, per se; it is previous payments created by entering the bill reminder. If you have not created payments by entering the bill reminder, there will be no data from which to create the estimate.

•   The other option on the drop-down list is Time Of Year. This is used when you make recurring payments at a specific time of year, such as real estate or other taxes.

Image

If your Quicken file does not have enough data to estimate either Previous Payments or Time Of Year information, you will see a pop-up message telling you this.

8.   If you have set any estimates in the Estimate dialog, click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel to close the dialog and return to the Add Reminder dialog.

9.   If you use Microsoft Outlook, select the Sync To Outlook check box to synchronize your due date reminder with the Outlook calendar.

10.   Select the Print Check With Quicken check box to tell Quicken to print the check for this bill when it is due. Print Check With Quicken records the transaction as a payment using a check to be printed. Entering the transaction, of course, decreases the balance in a banking account. The Check Number field in the account register is set to PRINT, which signals Quicken to include the transaction with other checks to be printed.

11.   Click Done to close the Add Bill Reminder dialog.

Bills Center View

The Bills Center view, as seen with Biller Name option selected in Figure 7-4, shows each upcoming scheduled transaction. From here you see the date the bill is due, the amount you have entered, and a small menu from which you can choose what to do with this bill. From the drop-down list at the top of the bills, you can choose to show all scheduled transactions; just the bills you have scheduled for online payment; bills you have entered in Bill Pay; and just manual bills. If the label on the small menu is “Enter,” you can click the menu/button to enter the bill.

Image

Figure 7-4 · Showing your bills by Biller Name rather than Due Date displays your upcoming bills alphabetically.

You can

   Mark the bill as paid.

   Link it to an online biller.

   Ignore just this transaction.

   Edit just this instance.

   Edit this instance and all future instances.

   Delete this instance and all future instances. This deletes the reminder as well.

Image

While the Calendar view does not feature an Edit button, you can double-click each day’s transactions to open a dialog with which you can choose to enter, edit, or ignore the transactions.

Managing Reminders

In the Bills tab, click Manage Manual Bills and Income or press CTRL-J to open the Bill And Income Reminders window, seen earlier in Figure 7-3, which displays both current and future transactions. If you have previously scheduled transactions or repeating online transactions, the Bill And Income Reminders window has four tabs. Until you have created either one or both, or if none of your accounts are enabled for Online Bill Pay, there are only two tabs visible.

Bills and Income Reminder Button Options

You can use button options in both the Monthly Bills & Deposits and the All Bills & Deposits tabs to enter, ignore, create, edit, or delete scheduled transactions. You must select a transaction to activate all but the Create New option:

   Enter   opens the Enter [type of] Transaction dialog. Enter the appropriate information, and click Enter Transaction. If the reminder is for investment income, you may see a dialog titled Edit Income – Income (Div, Int, etc.).

   Ignore   enables you to skip the payment (or next payment) of that transaction.

   Create New   enables you to create a new scheduled transaction.

   Edit   opens the Edit Bill (or Income) Reminder dialog in which you can modify each area of the reminder.

   Delete   removes the scheduled transaction. It does not remove any transactions that have already been entered in a register.

   Options   offers commands for changing the way the Bill And Income Reminders window is sorted. You can also change the sort order by clicking the Due, Pay To/Receive From, Payments, or Deposits column header. Depending on the tab in which you are working, you may also be able to sort by amount.

   Print   prints a list of scheduled transactions.

   How Do I?   displays the Quicken Personal Finance Software Help window with instructions for completing tasks with the Bill And Income Reminders window.

   Action buttons   on individual transaction reminders can also be used. To access the action buttons, select a reminder and choose from the following:

•   Enter opens the Enter Transaction dialog discussed earlier in the chapter.

•   Edit opens a menu giving you the option to change only this reminder or this and all future reminders.

•   Ignore tells Quicken to ignore the reminder for this time only.

Image

You can also delete the reminder by right-clicking the reminder transaction and choosing Delete This Instance And All Future Instances from the context menu.

Bills and Income Reminders Tabs

There may be up to four tabs available in the Bill And Income Reminders window. However, until you have scheduled some online payments, you will only see the first two tabs.

   Monthly Bills & Deposits displays all reminders for the month. You can click the arrows beside the name of the month to view reminders for other months.

   All Bills & Deposits displays all types of scheduled reminders.

   Scheduled displays the deposits and payments that you have scheduled for this month. Remember, until you have set up an account with Online Payment capabilities, you will not see the Scheduled tab.

   Repeating Online lists repeating payments you have scheduled for online payment.

Display Check Boxes   In each tab, two check boxes enable you to display additional information in the window:

   Show Graph displays a column chart showing cash flow for selected accounts for the month.

   Show Calendar displays one or two calendars (this month and the next month) that indicate scheduled transaction dates.

Schedule These?

You may see a Schedule These? list at the bottom of a Bill And Income Reminders window. When this is present, it displays transactions that Quicken “thinks” you might want to schedule for the future. It builds this list based on categories used in the transactions or transactions you have entered more than once.

   To schedule a transaction in the list, click the Yes button beside it. Quicken displays the Edit Bill (or Income) Reminder dialog so you can turn the transaction into a scheduled transaction.

   To remove a transaction from the list, click the No button beside it.

Image

You will not see the Yes/No buttons until you have selected a suggested reminder in the list.

Scheduling Repeating Online Payments

Some payments are exactly the same every month, such as your rent, a car loan, or your monthly cable television bill. You can set these payments up as repeating online payments.

The process begins when you schedule the online payment once, indicating the payee, amount, and frequency. Quicken sends the instructions to your bank. Thirty days before the payment is due, your bank creates a new post-dated payment based on your instructions and notifies you that it has created the payment. Quicken automatically enters the payment information in your account register with the appropriate payment date. The payment is delivered on the payment date. This happens regularly, at the interval you specify, until you tell it to stop. Because you don’t have to do a thing to continue paying regularly, the more payments you make with this feature, the more time you save.

1.   From the Bills & Income tab, choose the plus sign (+) at the right of the screen. Select Add Bills. If this is a bill to be paid to an online biller, select the appropriate biller and follow the on-screen instructions.

2.   If you choose the Add Manual Bill option at the bottom of the Add Bill screen, enter the name of your payee in the Pay To field. Click Next.

3.   In the Add Bill Reminder dialog, set the date, the amount, and the account from which you will be paying this bill. Be sure to choose an account in which you have activated Online Bill Pay.

4.   Enter a category, tag, or memo if necessary.

5.   Click the Use Online Bill Pay check box.

6.   Click Optional Settings, if necessary, to display your options. Click the Make This A Repeating Online Payment check box. If you have made the payment a repeating online payment, you cannot ask Quicken to remind you to enter the payment or estimate the amount of the payment.

7.   Click Done.

Image

If this is a new online payee, Quicken prompts you to enter address and account number information so that your payment can be processed by your bank.

There are two very important things to remember when using the Add A Reminder dialog to create a repeating online payment:

   Click the Use Online Bill Pay check box to tell Quicken that the payment will be made online.

   Click the Make This A Repeating Online Payment check box if you choose. This tells Quicken to send one instruction for multiple repeating payments.

When you click Done to save the payment instruction, it appears in the Repeating Online tab of the Bill And Income Reminders dialog. You can use the buttons at the top of the Bill And Income Reminders dialog to work with items listed in the Repeating Online list window. In each instance, if you have not clicked a transaction to select it, the appropriate button option is grayed out even if there is only one online transaction in the Repeating Online list.

   Enter records the selected repeating online payment in the register.

   Ignore skips payment of the selected repeating online payment.

   Create New enables you to create a new scheduled transaction or paycheck.

   Edit displays the Edit Repeating Online dialog so you can modify the details of the repeating online payment.

   Delete removes the repeating online payment from the list, thus canceling future payments. You must click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears to remove the transaction.

   Options offers commands for changing the sort order of payments in the list; however, you may have to click the header of the column by which you want to sort to make it sort properly.

   Print prints a list of repeating online payments.

   How Do I? displays the Quicken Personal Finance Software Help window with instructions for managing your spending and completing tasks with the Bill And Income Reminders list.

Stopping a Single Repeating Online Payment

In the Online Center window’s Payments tab, select the payment you want to stop, and click the Cancel Payment button. Click Yes in the confirmation dialog that appears. Use the Update/Send button to send the cancel payment instruction. Note that the payment may not appear in the Online Center window unless you have reviewed and approved all downloaded payment transactions, as instructed earlier in this chapter.

Stopping All Future Payments for a Repeating Online Payment

Press CTRL-J to open the Bill And Income Reminders window. In the Repeating Online tab of the Bill And Income Reminders window, select the payment you want to stop, and click Delete. Click Delete in the confirmation dialog that appears. The transaction is removed from the list. Then use the Update/Send button in the Online Center window to send the cancel payment instruction.

Using the Financial Calendar

Quicken’s Calendar, shown in Figure 7-5, keeps track of all your transactions, past and future, by date. You may open the Calendar by choosing Tools | Calendar or by pressing CTRL-K.

Image

Figure 7-5 · The Quicken Calendar shows your financial information for each day of a selected month.

Calendar Buttons

You can use buttons to work with the calendar’s contents:

   Go To Date   enables you to go to a specific calendar date. Click the Calendar icon to open a tiny calendar, and select the date you want. Or, enter the date in the Go To Date field and click the Go button.

Image

You can also use date field keyboard shortcuts, like M for the first of the month, T for today, and H for the end of the month. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts in Appendix A.

   Arrow buttons on the left side of the month’s name enable you to move from one month to another. And to the left of the arrow buttons is the Today button, which you can click to take you to today’s date in the calendar.

   Add Note enables you to enter a note for a selected date. You can even change the color of your note. The Note icon then appears on the Calendar on the date you select. After you have selected the color of your note, check your monitor settings. Depending on your monitor, the icon may be hard to see!

   Options offers commands for viewing and working with the contents of the Calendar window.

   Print opens the Print dialog from which you can print the Calendar.

   Help displays the Quicken Personal Finances Software Help window with information about using the Calendar.

The Transactions Window

When you double-click a calendar date (or single-click an already selected date), the Transactions window, which lists all the transactions for that date, appears, as seen in the following illustration. You can use the buttons in the Transactions window to work with transactions:

Image

   Enter opens the Enter Expense Transaction dialog from which you can enter the selection into the register. If the transaction has already been entered into the account register, this button changes to Go To Register and opens that transaction in the register where it is entered.

   Edit enables you to modify the currently selected transaction. If this transaction has not been entered into the register, the Edit <type> Reminder dialog displays, where <type> is income, bill, or transfer. If it has been entered into the register, the Edit Register Transaction dialog appears.

   Delete removes the selected transaction. This option is only available for transactions that have already been entered into the register and does not appear in this illustration.

   Ignore lets you skip the transaction for this date. This option is only available for transactions that have not been entered.

   Schedule enables you to create a new scheduled transaction based on the selected transaction. This option is only available if the currently selected transaction is not a scheduled transaction. Unfortunately, the payee name is not transferred from the selected transaction to the Add Reminder dialog. You must type in or select the payee name from the drop-down list.

   The Help icon opens Quicken Help at the section explaining how to work with the Calendar.

   Add enables you to enter a new transaction. From this menu you can add an expense or income transaction as well as a new reminder.

   Close closes the window.

The dollar amounts that appear in the bottom of each calendar date box show the total account balances for the accounts displayed in the window after taking all payments into consideration. (You can specify which accounts to include by choosing Select Calendar Accounts from the Options menu in the button bar.) This feature works, in effect, like a simplified forecasting tool.

Image  Useful Quicken Features

In addition to the Bill and Income Reminders, Memorized Payees, and QuickFill, Quicken offers a number of other useful functions to help you with your financial record keeping.

Minding Your Bills

Quicken’s optional Billminder feature makes it possible for you to monitor upcoming bills and scheduled transactions without starting Quicken. This application displays a window that summarizes upcoming transactions. It also includes a convenient button to run Quicken, should you decide to take action on a listed item.

How you open Billminder depends on your operating system:

   Windows 7 and earlier   Choose Start | All Programs | Quicken | Billminder.

   Windows 8.1   Choose the Billminder tile located near your Quicken app.

   Windows 10   Choose Start | All Apps. Scroll to Quicken. Click the downward-pointing arrow and choose Billminder.

To make the most of Billminder, you may want to configure it so it automatically starts each time you start your computer. To do this, click the Options button in the Billminder button bar to display Billminder Options as shown next. Select the Enable Billminder On Windows Startup check box. You can set other configuration options as desired to determine when Billminder should appear. Then click OK. Click Exit to close Billminder.

Image

Using the Paycheck Setup Wizard

Quicken’s Paycheck Setup Wizard feature offers yet another way to automate transactions. You use it to enter information about your regular payroll check and its deductions. Then, when payday comes along, Quicken automatically enters the payroll deposit information based on the Paycheck Setup transaction.

Quicken allows you to set up your recurring paycheck so that all the deductions can be fed into the appropriate categories. There are three ways to access the Paycheck Setup Wizard.

1.   From the Planning tab, select Tax Center and from below the Taxable Income YTD section, click the Add Paycheck button.

2.   From the Tools menu, click Manage Bill & Income Reminders | Add | Income Reminder, and choose the Paycheck Setup Wizard at the bottom of the dialog.

3.   Some experienced Quicken users prefer to use the Classic menus instead of Standard menus, as these menus offer easy access to the Paycheck Setup Wizard. Click View | Classic Menus | and then click Bills | Add Reminder | Paycheck Reminder. Until you have selected Classic Menus, you will not see the Bills menu.

In all cases, the Paycheck Setup Wizard appears as shown in Figure 7-6. As you can see, you can choose to enter either the net amount of your paycheck or the gross amount, which will help you track tax and other deductions. In the example outlined next, we have chosen to record the gross payroll. Quicken says that you will need your most recent paycheck and that you’ll need to add any 401(k) accounts to Quicken before you begin. This means you will need to click Cancel to exit the Paycheck Setup, create your accounts, and then repeat the steps to open the Paycheck Setup Wizard.

Image

Figure 7-6 · Use the Paycheck Setup Wizard when creating your paycheck information in Quicken.

Image

You can edit the paycheck reminder at any time, so it’s easy to keep your paycheck up to date if you need to make a change, like increasing your salary when you get a raise or when you need to increase your 401(k) deductions.

1.   Once you have all the required information at hand and have entered any 401(k) or other accounts in Quicken, from the Paycheck Setup screen, select Gross Amount and then click Next.

2.   Select the paycheck owner (you or your spouse), and type the name of the company from whom you earn the paycheck. Press TAB to move to the Memo field. Type any additional information in this optional field, for example, if you receive two checks, one for base pay and one for commissions. Click Next to open the Track Paycheck dialog, shown next.

Image

3.   Click the Account field down arrow, and select the bank account into which this income is deposited. Press TAB, ENTER, or select the date; indicate whether you want it automatically entered or just a reminder; and finally select the date you get paid. You can also change your mind and choose to track your net pay only by selecting the Track Net Only button.

4.   Scroll down and click Edit or Amount opposite Salary to open the Amount field. Enter the gross amount of income you receive. If you do not receive the same amount each time, enter an average.

5.   If you have other components of your income, such as a regular bonus or commissions, click Add Earning, select the category of other earnings, enter the amount, and click OK.

6.   If you have pre-tax deductions, such as 401(k) contributions, click Add Pre-Tax Deduction, select the category, select the account, enter both the contribution and employer-matching amounts, if applicable, and click OK.

Image

Depending on your company’s insurance plan, some health insurance premiums are deducted after taxes, not before.

Image

By entering deduction information from your regular paycheck, Quicken can create tax reports, help you plan for taxes, and export information to TurboTax for year-end tax reporting.

7.   Click in the amount field next to each of the tax items that are on your pay stub and enter the amount. If you want to make any changes to the name and category, click Edit, make the changes, and click OK. However, it is best to stay with the standard tax categories, as Quicken has already linked those categories with the proper tax line items.

8.   Click After-Tax Deduction, which can include health insurance and stock purchases; correct the name if needed; select the category you want to use to collect this deduction; enter the amount; and click OK. Repeat this for multiple deductions.

9.   If you want to split your paycheck deposit over two or more accounts, click Add Deposit Account, select the additional account, type any memo information you want, enter the amount of your paycheck that will go into that account, and click OK.

10.   When you have entered all of the paycheck information you want to track, click Done to close the Track Paycheck dialog.

11.   Quicken asks if you want to enter year-to-date information. If you choose to enter that data, click OK, click in each of the Year To Date amount fields, type the requested information, and, when you’ve entered all the data you choose to include, click Enter to close the dialog box. Otherwise, click I Do Not Want To Enter This Information, and click OK. You can view or edit the Year To Date amounts in the Tax Planner. The Tax Planner is covered in Chapter 14.

Image  A Closer Look at the Spending Tab

By now, you may agree that entering financial information into Quicken Personal Finance Software is a great way to organize it. However, sometimes organizing information isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to see concise summaries of the information you entered in the form of balances, activity reports, and graphs.

Quicken provides the kind of information you’re looking for in the form of snapshots, reports, and graphs. The next sections discuss Quicken’s Spending tab by telling you about the snapshots of the information found there and how you can take advantage of its alerts. We also explain how you can create, modify, and save standard and custom reports and graphs for all Quicken tabs.

The Spending tab offers a place for examining the results of your work with your banking accounts. In the following section, you will go on a guided tour of the Spending tab’s reporting and graphing features so you can take advantage of all of the elements found in that section of Quicken.

Exploring the Spending Graph

When you click the Spending tab, a graph appears that displays the total amount you have spent from all of your banking accounts for the last 30 days (see Figure 7-7). The top of the window shows the total in all categories. Next is a colorful “donut” chart with a legend to the right explaining the category associated with each of the “donut sections.” The lower part of the window displays the transactions in register format.

Image

Figure 7-7 · Use the Spending tab information to generate a number of graphs and reports for a specific time period.

Image

If you choose to hide an account from the Transaction Entry List in the Display Options tab and its name in the Account Bar and Account List, the account will not show on the Account Bar, but will show in the Spending tab list of accounts. (Accounts you have designated as Keep Separate will not show in the Spending tab list of accounts, but you can choose them using the Custom entry in the Accounts drop-down list.)

Account Filter

The Accounts drop-down list lets you decide which accounts to display in the Spending graph. You can choose from the following:

   All Accounts includes all of the accounts that appear in the Banking section of the Account Bar.

Image

If you pay from a brokerage account, you must use the Custom account setting from the drop-down list and select the account from that list.

   All Checking/Savings/Cash/Credit Cards includes the accounts you have created in Quicken.

   At the bottom of the drop-down list, all of your accounts are listed so that you can choose to use just one in your Spending graph.

   Choose Custom to open the Customize dialog, which allows you to choose more than one account to display in your graph. You can choose to display all of your accounts, even your hidden ones, by selecting Show (Hidden Accounts) and Select All. The Customize dialog lists all of your accounts, not just your banking accounts.

Image

If you do not have any accounts designated as Keep Separate, you will not see Show Hidden Accounts. If you do have one or more accounts designated as Keep Separate, you will see the Show Hidden check box. Upon checking the Show Hidden check box, you will see those hidden accounts in the list enclosed in parentheses.

If you don’t see the accounts you expected, use the Manage Hidden Accounts dialog to change your account settings. From the menu bar, select Tools | Manage Hidden Accounts.

Date Filter

While the default for your Spending graph is the last 30 days, you can use this drop-down list to choose any time period you wish. The pre-set options are as follows:

   All Dates, which includes every date for which you have entered a transaction into Quicken.

   This Month, which displays just the spending you’ve done since the first of the current month and includes future-dated transactions that occur in the selected month.

   Last Month includes your expenditures in the last calendar month.

   Last 30/60/90 Days options are self-explanatory.

   Last 12 Months includes all of your expenditures for the last 365 days (or 366 days in leap years).

   This Quarter includes the information from the first day of this calendar quarter through the end of the calendar quarter.

   Last Quarter presents your spending for the most recent calendar quarter before this quarter.

   This Year presents all of your spending through the end of the current year, starting with January 1.

   Last Year displays all of last year’s spending.

   Custom lets you set the date range for your graph.

Image

This Month, This Quarter, and This Year display all of the spending for those respective time periods, even future-dated transactions. For example, if today is 10/05/2018 and you have entered a transaction dated 10/30/2018, the transaction will show in the spending for This Month, This Quarter, and This Year.

Transaction Types Filter

The Income/Spending drop-down list has three options. You can choose to show how much you have spent without taxes (Spending Without Taxes), how much you have spent in total (Spending), or how much has been added to your accounts (Income).

Reset Button

The Reset button, located to the right of the Spending/Income drop-down list, resets your graph to the default of All Accounts, Last 30 Days, and Spending Without Taxes.

Search Field

Enter a category or payee name in the Search field at the far right of the Spending tab view. After you have typed in the name, the register displays the category, payee, or account name that you have entered. The register will show all of the transactions with that name for the time period and accounts you have selected. Click the red X to clear the field.

Image

Although Search filters the register, it does not work with the Spending graph. When the Search has matched one or more transactions in the register, the spending graph displays “You have no spending in the selected date range or the total may be positive.” This behavior appears to depend on what search term you use.

Using the Spending Register

The register shown at the bottom of the Spending tab’s Transaction view displays all of the transactions from the accounts you have chosen in the Accounts drop-down list at the top of the Spending graph. You may choose to include an Account column, in which Quicken displays the account into which the transaction was entered. To show this column, click the Register Columns gear icon and select Account.

By default, this register is sorted by date, with the earliest date first. If you have chosen more than one account, the amounts shown in the Total column may not be useful. However, if you want to know how much you’ve spent at a particular store, use the Search field and set the Account filter to All Accounts. After you type in the name of that specific store, the total you have spent for the time period you have set will display at the bottom of the register in the Total column.

You can tell Quicken which columns to display and which columns to hide. To access the list of Register Columns, click the small gear icon at the upper-right corner of the register. When you click the icon, the Register Columns list will appear as shown here. Click the check box for each column you want the register to display. Clear each check box for columns you don’t want to use. When you have finished your selections, click Done. If you find you do not like the way your selections look, click the gear icon once more and, at the bottom-left corner of the column list, click the gear icon drop-down arrow and click Reset To Default Columns. Once again, click Done to close the list.

Image

Image

Your Register Columns list may not look the same as the one in the illustration. Listed items and order vary by the type of account and the services you have activated on each account.

You can adjust the width of each of the register columns by placing your cursor on the line between two columns and dragging to the left or right. The default one-line display shows the Date, Payee, Category, and Amount columns. You can display additional columns by selecting from the Register Columns list. Click the gear icon at the right of the register to display the list.

The Spending Tab’s Register

The register you see in the Spending tab is different from the individual registers you see for each banking and credit card account. The register you see may contain information from more than one account, depending on your settings in the Account filter’s drop-down list. To print from the Spending tab register, press CTRL-P to open the Print Register dialog. The date range will be the range you set in the Date Filter’s drop-down list. To change the date range, adjust the date filter in the Spending tab. You see only the default categories in the printout, not any columns you have elected to show optionally, such as Account.

The Reports Button

The Reports button in the Spending tab makes it easy for you to print a variety of reports. See Chapter 15 for an overview of the reports that Quicken can produce for you.

Creating the Address Book

Quicken’s Address Book feature stores the address information you enter when using the Write Checks window. You can also use this feature to modify or delete existing information or add new records. Keeping track of addresses with the Address Book makes it easy to insert addresses when writing checks and to look up contact information when you need to follow up on transactions.

Choose Tools | Address Book to display the Address Book window. This window lists all of the records in the Address Book.

Image

You can use buttons and menus to work with Address Book window contents as described here:

   The Group drop-down list lets you choose between All Groups and any other groups you have established within Quicken.

   The Column Sets drop-down list lets you view each of the various Address Book tabs in a columnar display. There are different columns in each column set. Each column set allows you to display different Address Book record data.

   New opens the Edit Address Book Record from which you can enter a new entry to the Address Book.

   Edit enables you to edit the selected record.

   Delete removes the Address Book record. It does not affect transactions that used the deleted Address Book record.

   Options opens a menu with which you can work with your Address Book entries:

•   Switch Names And Organization swaps the name you have entered as a contact into the Organization field in the Contact tab of the Address Book record.

•   Switch Payee & Secondary Addresses changes an address you have entered as the primary address to a secondary address.

•   Format Address opens a dialog with which you can format how the payee’s address will appear on the checks you print.

•   Assign To Groups opens a dialog with which you can assign this payee to a group within Quicken.

•   Select All/Select None selects all or none of the payees in the Address Book.

   The Help icon displays the Help window with instructions for working with the Address Book.

   Print offers commands for printing Address Book record information.

Image

Depending on your printer, you may be able to print envelopes from this section.

Adding or Modifying Address Book Records

To add a new Address Book record, click the New button in the Address Book window. The Edit Address Book Record dialog, shown next, appears. You also use the Edit Address Book Record dialog to edit an existing record. Simply select the record in the Address Book window, and click the Edit button in the button bar. You can also double-click the entry to open it if you choose.

Image

The Edit Address Book Record dialog has five tabs for recording information. Click a tab to display its options, and then enter the information you want to store.

Here’s what you can enter in each of the five tabs:

   Payee is for the information that would normally appear in a Write Checks window, as well as some additional contact information. From this tab, you can also tell Quicken to include this payee in other lists.

   Contact is for the name, title, phone numbers, and website of a specific person.

   Secondary is for a secondary mailing address and e-mail address.

   Personal is for personal information, such as spouse and children’s names, birthday and anniversary, an ID number if you need one, and still more phone numbers.

   Miscellaneous is for additional information, such as user-defined fields and notes. Click OK to save your entry.

Printing Entry Information

You can print the information in the list in three formats: list, labels, and envelopes.

Start by selecting a group from the Group drop-down list at the top of the Address Book window. From the group of records that displays, select a payee or several payees whose information you want to print. To change the format of a specific record, choose that record and click Options | Format Address to open the Format Print Check Address dialog. Set the options and click OK.

From the Address Book window, click the Print icon to open a drop-down list of printing options. These options are List, Labels, and Envelopes.

   List   Choose List to display a Print dialog just like the one that appears when printing Quicken reports. Use it to enter printing options, and then click OK to print the list.

   Labels   Choose Labels to display the Print Labels dialog. It includes a list of commonly used Avery label products; be sure to check your label number and select the right product. Then select Contact To Print at the bottom of the Print Labels dialog. Click Print to open another Print Labels dialog from which you select the printer you want to use. Make sure you have label stock in the printer and choose the orientation of your labels, either Portrait or Landscape. Select Print Preview to see how your printed labels will look, and click Print to print your labels.

   Envelopes   Choosing Envelopes displays the Print Envelope dialog. Use it to print #10 envelopes for Address Book records. To print your envelopes:

1.   Select the payees for which the envelopes are to be printed.

2.   Click the Print icon and select Envelopes.

3.   From the Print Envelope dialog, you may print either the contacts you have selected or select Print All Contacts to create envelopes for everyone in the group.

4.   Click Print Return Address if you want a return address printed on your envelopes. Select the return address.

5.   Click Print to open the Quicken Print Envelopes dialog. Your default printer appears in the Print To section.

6.   Select either a Horizontal or Vertical feed, depending on your printer’s envelope printer. Set the Margin Offsets if necessary.

7.   If you want to use another printer, select Printer Setup and choose another printer.

8.   Click Font if you want to change the size of the printed information.

9.   Ensure you have envelopes in your printer’s envelope feeder. When you have made your choices, click OK to print your envelopes.

10.   Click Done to close the Address Book window.

Image  About Alerts

When you’re juggling multiple bank, credit card, and investment accounts along with taxes, reminders, and several insurance policy renewal dates, Quicken’s Alerts feature can really help you keep your sanity. After all, who can keep track of all those balances and keep them where they should be? Quicken can! It’s a financial superstar.

The Alerts feature can also prevent embarrassment at a checkout counter by warning you when a credit card balance is getting dangerously close to its limit. Likewise, it can remind you to pay your credit card bill so even if your balance is relatively low, you won’t forget to make that monthly payment on time.

This section discusses the kinds of alerts Quicken offers and explains how to set them up.

Viewing Available Alerts Groups

Quicken offers four different groups of items for which you can set alerts. To enable them, open the Tools menu, and choose Alerts Center. Click the Setup tab, as seen in Figure 7-8, and then open the group with which you want to work. Here’s an explanation of the alerts you can set in each group.

Image

Figure 7-8 · The Alerts Center’s Setup tab helps you manage alerts.

Banking Alerts

   Account Min. Balances enables you to set minimum balances for your checking and savings accounts. Quicken alerts you when the account balance falls below the reminder amount you specify.

   Account Max. Balances enables you to set maximum balances for your checking and savings accounts. Quicken alerts you when the account balance climbs above the amount you specify.

   Credit Card Limits enables you to set limits for your credit card accounts. You can set a limit amount and a reminder amount. Quicken alerts you if the balance exceeds the reminder amount.

   Check Reorder Notice tells Quicken to alert you when you reach a certain check number.

   Monthly Expenses enables you to specify maximum monthly spending amounts for any Quicken expense category. If you exceed the limit you specified, Quicken alerts you to the fact.

   Savings Goals tells Quicken to alert you when you fall behind on a savings goal. This option works directly with Quicken’s Savings Goals feature, which you learn about in Chapter 13.

   Online Services Available tells Quicken to alert you when one of your financial institutions supports Online Account Services.

In addition, Quicken offers three other General group reminder alerts that fall in the banking group:

   Online Transactions tells Quicken to remind you to download transactions from your financial institution if you haven’t done so for 30 days or more.

   Scheduled Bills Or Deposits Due Soon tells Quicken to remind you in advance of any scheduled transactions that are due.

   Send To Quicken.com tells Quicken to remind you to export your portfolio to Quicken.com when holdings change.

General Alerts

In addition to the three alerts discussed earlier in this section in “Banking Alerts,” you can set alerts for the following:

   Insurance Reappraisal   Use this alert to remind you of insurance policy renewal dates and to ensure that your current coverage amounts are up to date.

   Mortgage Reappraisal   This is a particularly useful alert if your mortgage has a variable interest rate, requires a balloon payment, or requires other periodic attention.

Investing and Tax Alerts

Chapter 9 discusses setting the Investing group alerts, while you can see Chapter 14 for a discussion on the three Taxes group alerts that are available for your use.

Setting Up Alerts

You set up alerts from the Setup tab of the Alerts Center window. Click the name of one of the alerts to view and set it. To set an alert, select the name of the alert on the left side of the window. If necessary, click the check box to select it. Then click the value you want to change on the right side of the window and enter a new value. Not all alerts have values you can change; for example, the Online Services Available alert is a simple on or off setting made with the check mark.

You can tell Quicken how to notify you with the options in the bottom half of the Setup window.

   Text In The Alert List displays the alert as an item in an Alerts snapshot only, which you can see in the Alerts Center Show All tab and when you add alerts to another view.

   Urgent (Pop Up Dialog Box) displays the alert in a dialog when you first start Quicken each day.

   Keep The Alert In The List For lets you tell Quicken how long the alert should remain in the Alerts snapshot. The default setting is One Month, but you can use the drop-down list to choose One Day, One Week, One Month, One Quarter, or One Year.

When you’re completely finished setting alerts, click OK to close the Alerts Center window. The alerts will work quietly in the background, watching your financial dealings. When it’s time to go to work, they appear as you specified.

Working with Alerts

Once you’ve set up alerts, you can view, modify, or delete them as desired. Here’s how:

   Viewing Alerts   View alerts in the Show All tab of the Alerts Center window. Click Tools | Alerts Center | Show All to display them.

   Modifying Alerts   Change the way an alert works at any time. Open the Tools menu, and choose Alerts Center | Setup. Then follow the instructions in the previous section titled “Setting Up Alerts” to change alert settings.

   Deleting Alerts   To delete an alert, display the Show All tab of the Alerts Center. Click the Delete button to the right of each alert you want to delete. A confirmation dialog appears, as seen next. Click OK to delete the alert.

Image

To prevent a deleted alert from appearing again, use the Setup tab of the Alerts Center window to clear the check box for the alert in the list on the left side of the window.

You can select multiple alerts and click one of the selected Delete buttons to delete all of the selected alerts. To select multiple alerts, click the first alert, then hold down SHIFT and click the last alert you want to delete.

Image

..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
23.20.51.162