What a neat and tidy little Quicken database!

[cjsmith]

I've got all my cash flow since February 2004* entered into Quicken. It's all very pretty and tidy and organized. I've even done my first "Import from QIF" to get everything Rob had related to the bills he pays & I pay him back for, such as the mortgage. That took a little hand-editing of the data file before import (for example, all +/- needed to be reversed, and transfers to/from other accounts had to be changed for my setup) but now I've got that information back to 1995 or so. Big thanks to rfrench for exporting that account for me and for keeping good records in the first place.

Next step: investments. Anyone here have their 401(k) in Quicken? Where do you tell it the money came from? Is there a hidden button somewhere to say "This is a 401(k) account, so automatically set up all the tax checkboxes correctly for that"? Is there a way to tell it to stop asking about ticker symbols for crap like mutual funds? I'll do this stuff manually if I have to, including a dummy "salary" coming in, but if they've got a way to make it easier I'd be happy to hear it.


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* Post is filtered; the pertinent bit is that on that day I began keeping records of expenditures.

Comments

[otterpop58.livejournal.com]

I have (almost) my whole financial life in Quicken for the last 8 years or so. It's been great.

Yes there is some way to flag a 401(k) but since I don't have a 401(k) anymore I can't tell you. Check the help function.

To set up an account with a non-zero starting balance do an internal transfer from/to that same account.

Can't remember how to shut it up about tickers.

I tried tracking my actual cash expenditures for a while but that was just too tough. I do know how much cash I get out of the bank and generally where it goes. I also started paying for alot more with my mileage credit card, so I get better record keeping and the miles.

See you soon in the Silicon Galaxy!

[apparentparadox]

I also can't remember, but there's definitely a way to set up an account as a 401(k) or other retirement account. It may be part of the new account setup. Like Andy said, check the help.

For things that don't involve taxes & that I don't really care about tracking, I sometimes just play with the "set the balance to XXX" ability -- both to start things off, and to just adjust the balance as appropriate. I've done that in the past with my 401(k) account. Rather than actually tell it how the money is divided, I just would update the balance when I got my 401(k) statement -- after all, I don't have to pay taxes on that stuff, and I don't really care about tracking which investments there are doing better than others.

Of course, moving forward, I enter my paycheck as a deposit of the full amount, with transfers into the tax categories (Fed, CA, Medicare, etc.), the 401(k) account, and the remainder into my checking account.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I can set up an account with a non-zero starting balance, but then if I add money to the account it wants to know where that money came from. I suppose I could just add an income category called "401(k) Contribution". :-)

I haven't been perfect with the actual cash expenditures but I've got a pretty good idea, and that's what's useful. I too know how much cash I withdraw. My bugaboo is forgetting to write down a random square dance day. Oops.

Yes, see you soon in the Silicon Galaxy! Looking forward to it!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

So far I've found the button that says "this account is tax-deferred". That might be all I need, that and an income category for the contributions.

Oh wow. I haven't been entering my paycheck in full like that. I've been entering the amount that hits my checking account. I suppose I could switch to the full detail. Do you find it useful to track the Fed/CA/Medicare/SSDI etc taxes?

[apparentparadox]

It depends on what you mean by useful!

We do actually verify that the total amounts for the Fed/CA/Medicare stuff matches what the W2 says, but that's just because I prefer to have those kind of double checks in case the company made a mistake. It depends on how much effort you want to put in.

We've been doing this kind of stuff for 15+ years, and I've never gone back & did the analysis of "how have my stocks been doing over time". But, I've got the data there if I ever do want to do that.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

My first goal is to figure out where my money is going. I suspect I will have a few rude awakenings. How my investments are doing is something I'd also be curious to know, but I don't have the savvy to do anything with the information. :-)

[apparentparadox]

About all I really track is our net worth relative to the past 12 months. I figure as long as it's going up & not doing down, then we'll be OK.

At some point in time, I want to use the data we have to actually come up with a budget, but that keeps getting sidetracked.

[ozdachs.livejournal.com]

When I worked for a company, I entered the whole paycheck. That let me double-check the taxes and other deductions. It also gives you the income to transfer to the 401k.