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Quicken 2008: The Missing Manual
Quicken is one of the many convenient ways to keep track of
personal finances, but many people are unaware of Quicken's
power and end up using only the basic features. And
sometimes Quicken seems to raise more questions than it
answers: Return of capital from stock? "Net worth"? What are
they and why do you need to
know about them? Luckily,
Quicken 2008: The Missing Manual picks up where Quicken's
help resources leave off.
You'll find step-by-step instructions for using Quicken on
your Windows PC, including useful features such as
budgeting, recording investment transactions, and archiving
Quicken data files. You also learn why and when to use
specific features, and which ones would be most useful in a
given situation. Quicken 2008: The Missing Manual helps you:
Set up Quicken to take care of your specific needs
Follow your money from the moment you earn it
Make deposits, pay for expenses, track the things you own
and how much you owe
Take care of financial tasks online, and quickly reconcile
your accounts
Create and use budgets and track your investments
Generate reports to prepare your tax returns and evaluate
your financial fitness
And a lot more. This book is designed to accommodate readers
at every technical level. If you're a first-time Quicken
user, special boxes with the title "Up To Speed" provide the
introductory information you need to understand the topic at
hand. For advanced users, there are similar boxes called
"Power Users' Clinic" that offer more technical tips,
tricks, and shortcuts for the experienced Quicken fan.
For a topic as important as your personal finances, why
trust anything else?
CONTENTS:
The Missing Credits
Introduction
Part One: Getting Started
Chapter 1. Setting Up Quicken
Launching Quicken
Setting Up Your Data File
If You're New to Quicken
If You're a Quicken Veteran
Using Express Setup
Telling Quicken About Yourself
Setting Up a Checking Account
Setting Up Your Paycheck and Other Deposits
Setting Up Credit Card Payments and Bills
Opening a Quicken File
Chapter 2. Taking Quicken for a Test Drive
Recording Payments and Deposits
Recording a Payment
Recording a Deposit
Downloading Transactions
Reviewing Your Finances
What's Coming Up?
Seeing How Much You Earn and Spend
Chapter 3. Setting Up Accounts
How Accounts and Categories Work Together
Choosing Which Account Type to Use
Cash Flow Accounts
Investing Accounts
Property & Debt Accounts
Creating Bank Accounts
Creating a Banking Account: Step by Step
Editing Account Information
Closing Accounts
Chapter 4. Categories and Tags: Tracking Transactions
Understanding Categories and Tags
Organizing "Vertically" with Categories
Organizing Flexibly with Tags
Adding New Categories
Turning On Quicken's Built-in Categories
Creating a New Category
Editing Categories
Removing Categories
Organizing Categories
Setting Up Tags
Creating a Tag
Editing a Tag
Hiding and Deleting Tags
Part Two: Getting Down to Business
Chapter 5. Recording Banking Transactions
Transaction Basics
Getting to the Register
Entering Transactions
Navigating Between Transactions
Recording Checks
Recording Handwritten Checks in the Register
Recording Checks You Want Quicken to Print
Printing Checks
Recording Deposits
Recording Credit Card Charges
Tracking Credit Card Charges
Entering Credit Card Transactions
Recording Cash Transactions
If Your Memory Is Like a Sieve
Creating a Pocket Money Account
Cash Tracking for Photographic Memories
Editing Transaction Fields
Reminders, Notes, and Attachments
Attaching Reminders and Notes
Working with Attached Images
Tagging Transactions
Assigning Tags to Transactions
Changing Applied Tags
Reviewing Tag Results
Chapter 6. Quicken and the Web: Online Banking
What Quicken Can Do Online
Connecting Quicken to the Internet
Setting Up an Account for Online Services
Finding Participating Institutions
Applying for Online Services
Activating Online Services
Downloading Transactions
Downloading Transactions Directly
Downloading Statements with Web Connect
Reviewing and Incorporating Downloaded Transactions
Accepting Transactions
When Quicken Doesn't Match Transactions Correctly
Updating All Accounts: One Step Update
Setting Up One Step Update
Running One Step Update
Storing Passwords
Renaming Payees
Managing Renaming Rules
Paying Bills Online
Setting Up Online Payees
Creating the Payment Request
Sending Payments
Setting Up Repeating Online Payments
Canceling Payments
Letting Payees Come and Get Their Payments
Paying an Occasional Bill Online
Coordinating Bill Payment with Quicken
Setting Up Online Transfers
Chapter 7. Transaction Timesavers
Transferring Money Between Accounts
Recording a Transfer Between Accounts
Turning Checks into Transfers
Voiding Transactions
Splitting Transactions
Editing Splits
Handling Remaining Amounts
Searching for Transactions
Finding Recent Transactions with One Click
Finding All Matching Transactions
Finding Specific Transactions
Finding and Replacing Values
The Transaction Edit Menu
Scheduling Transactions
Setting Up a Scheduled Transaction
Paying and Skipping Scheduled Transactions
Editing and Deleting Scheduled Transactions
Automatically Recording Paycheck Deposits
Getting Started with Paycheck Setup
Setting Up Paycheck Details
Paycheck Tracking Made Easy
Managing Paychecks
Recording a Paycheck
Recategorizing Transactions
Managing Memorized Payees
Adding Memorized Payees Manually
Removing Payees from the Memorized Payee List
Editing Memorized Payees
Locking Memorized Payees
Chapter 8. Reconciling: Making Sure Quicken and Your Bank Agree
Prep Time: Reviewing Your Account
First Steps: Telling Quicken What to Compare
Reconciliation: The Actual Review
Modifying Transactions During Reconciliation
Stopping and Restarting a Reconciliation
When Your Records Don't Agree with Your Bank's
Reconciling Automatically
Part Three: Tuning Your Financial Engine
Chapter 9. Tracking Property and Debt
Property and Debt: An Introduction
Setting up Asset and Liability Accounts
Types of Asset and Liability Accounts
Creating an Asset Account
Setting Up Loan and Liability Accounts
Setting Up a Loan Payment
Linking an Asset and a Loan
Making a Loan Payment
Making a Regular Payment
Making an Extra Payment
Editing a Loan
Changing Loan Details
Changing Payment Details
Adjusting a Loan's Interest Rate
Refinancing a Loan
Changing the Value of an Asset
Changing Market Value
Depreciation
Improvements
Acquiring and Disposing of Assets
Chapter 10. Monitoring Spending and Saving
Creating a Budget in Quicken
Creating a Budget Automatically
Copying the Current Budget
Creating a Budget Manually
Filling In Budget Values
Average Budget Values
Detailed Budget Values
Making a Budget Current
Saving or Restoring a Budget
Choosing Budget Categories
Choosing Income and Expense Categories
Choosing Accounts for Transfers to Savings
Comparing Your Performance to Your Budget
Using a Savings Plan
Setting Up a Savings Plan
Managing Spending with a Savings Plan
Watching Cash Flow
Viewing Monthly Cash Flow
Forecasting Cash Flow
Chapter 11. Investments and Planning
Quicken Investment Tracking: Details or Overview?
Choosing the Right Type of Account
Creating an Investment Account
Creating a 401(k) or 403(b) Account
Creating a Brokerage Account
Creating an IRA Account
Setting Up and Tracking Securities
Adding Securities
Working with Securities
Editing a Security
Categorizing Investments
Recording Investment Transactions
Buying a Security
Selling a Security
Recording and Reinvesting Income
Recording a Stock Split
Recording Other Investment Transactions
Downloading Investment Transactions
The Download Process
Dealing with Placeholders
Resolving Duplicate Transactions
Adjusting an Investment Account Balance
Updating an Account's Cash Balance
Updating an Account's Share Balance
Updating 401(k) Holdings
Evaluating Your Portfolio
Using the Portfolio Page
Estimating Capital Gains
Portfolio Analyzer
A Tour of Quicken's Planning Tools
Planning Wizards
Financial Calculators
Chapter 12. Creating Reports and Graphs
A Guide to Quicken's Reports
Banking Reports
Spending
Comparison
Investing
Tax
Net Worth & Balances
Running Reports
Generating Reports and Graphs
Printing Reports and Graphs
Printing a Report
Creating Print-Ready PDF Files
Customizing Reports
Date Ranges
Subtotals
Adding and Removing Columns
Customizing Other Report Content
Sorting Reports
Saving and Reusing Reports
Managing Customized Reports
Part Four: Quicken Power Tools
Chapter 13. Backing Up and Protecting Your Quicken Data
Backing Up and Restoring Data Files
Manual Backups
Backup Reminders
Automatic Backups
Restoring Quicken Backups
Password Protection
Adding a Password to a File
Changing a File Password
Adding a Password to Transactions
Archiving and Compacting a File
Quicken File Maintenance
Copying a File
Creating a New Data File
Renaming a File
Validating: Checking and Correcting Your Data File
Chapter 14. Customizing Quicken
Setting Preferences
What Quicken Does on Startup
Lights, Sound, Keyboard Action!
Time and Money
Backup Settings
Alerts
Investment Transactions
Setting Register Behavior
Adjusting QuickFill
Getting Notifications
Write Check Settings
How Quicken Downloads Transactions
Report and Graph Settings
Settings for Reports Only
Customizing What You See
Customizing the Account Bar
Creating New Views for Quicken Home
Customizing the Icon Bar
Customizing the Register
Chapter 15. Exporting and Importing
Exporting Quicken Data
Exporting Data to QIF Files
Exporting Report Data: Method 1
Exporting Report Data: Method 2
Copying and Pasting Quicken Data
Importing Data into Quicken
Importing QIF Files
Part Five: Appendixes
Appendix A. Keyboard Shortcuts
Appendix B. Quicken Help
Appendix C. Installing Quicken
Index
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