Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual

Chapter 12. Investments

Doing investment calculations probably isn’t your idea of a good time. Sure, you like raking in the dough when your mutual funds grow, but keeping an eye on what’s up and what’s down can be pretty tedious. Fortunately, Quicken’s just as good at tracking your investments as it is your checks, charges, and ATM withdrawals.

You have lots of reasons to track your investments in Quicken. At tax time you can generate reports that show your taxable interest and dividends, as well as gains and losses on sales. If you’ve ever sold a mutual fund that you’ve owned and reinvested distributions into for decades, you know how painful capital-gain calculations can be. Quicken, though, can instantly spit out the numbers you need. And with Quicken’s tools for reviewing your portfolio, you can tell whether you’re putting too many nest-eggs in one basket.

This chapter starts by explaining when it makes sense to track the details of your investments in Quicken—and when an overview may be enough. You’ll learn how to create investment accounts, set up your investments, and record transactions. Once you’ve entered (or downloaded) all the numbers, you can review your portfolio’s performance and get a good sense of whether you’ve distributed your moolah in a way that makes sense. Using Quicken may not turn you into a Certified Financial Planner, but it’ll sure give you a better picture of your long-term finances than that overstuffed folder you keep dumping statements into.

Note

Like ...