Quicken 2014 The Official Guide, 2nd Edition

Quicken 2014 The Official Guide, 2nd Edition

by Bobbi Sandberg
Released November 2013
Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
ISBN: 9780071826051

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

The Only Official Guide to the #1 Personal Finance Software

“Intuit-approved and loaded with secrets, this book provides you with recipes for financial success.” –Scott Cook, Co-Founder, Intuit, Inc.

Organize your finances and assets with ease using the expert techniques and time-saving tips in Quicken 2014: The Official Guide. You’ll learn proven best practices for managing your income, expenses, savings, transactions, investments, and much more.

Endorsed by Intuit, makers of Quicken, this practical resource shows you, step by step, how to take full advantage of the software’s unique features, including the new tools and capabilities. Inside, you’ll find professional advice to help you reduce debt, stay on budget, save money, and plan for a secure financial future.

  • Customize Quicken for your preferences
  • Track income and expenses
  • Set up Online Account Services
  • Automate transactions and tasks
  • Analyze spending and banking activity
  • Reconcile checking, savings, and credit card accounts
  • Use the budgeting and debt reduction tools
  • Track investments and optimize your portfolio
  • Monitor assets and loans
  • Manage household records
  • Save money and plan for retirement
  • Simplify tax preparation and maximize deductions

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Quicken¤ 2014: The Official Guide
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. About the Author
  9. Part One Learning Quicken Basics
    1. 1 Getting to Know Quicken by Working with Accounts, Categories, and Tags
      1. What Is Quicken?
        1. Exploring Quicken’s Uses
      2. Getting Started
        1. Installing Quicken from a CD
        2. Starting Quicken
      3. The Quicken Interface
        1. Exploring the Quicken Window
        2. Understanding Other Quicken Features
        3. Finding Help in Quicken
        4. Understanding Online Financial Services
      4. Accounts
        1. Reviewing Account Types
        2. Creating Your First Account
        3. Setting Up Other Banking Accounts
      5. Using One Step Update and the Password Vault
        1. Setting Up One Step Update
        2. Understanding the Password Vault
        3. Working with the Account List Window
      6. Categories
        1. Establishing Categories and Subcategories
        2. Working with the Category List Window
      7. Tags
        1. Using Tags
    2. 2 Getting Up and Running with Quicken Mobile
      1. Understand Mobile Applications
        1. Appreciating the “Cloud”
      2. Meet Quicken’s Mobile App
        1. About Your New Mobile Companion
      3. Beginning with Quicken’s Mobile App
        1. Understanding Your Quicken Cloud ID
        2. Getting Started from Your Desktop
        3. Setting Alerts
        4. Showing Your Budget
      4. Using Your Mobile Device
        1. Getting Started on Your Mobile Device
        2. Working with the Quicken Mobile Overview Page
  10. Part Two Banking
    1. 3 Recording Bank and Credit Card Transactions
      1. Getting Started
        1. Reviewing Account and Transaction Types
        2. Working with Bank Accounts
      2. Quicken’s Registers
        1. Using Account Registers
        2. Understanding Splits
        3. Tracking Credit Cards with Quicken
        4. Writing Checks
      3. Printing Checks
        1. Printing Quicken Checks
        2. Transferring Money
      4. Working with Existing Transactions
        1. Searching for Transactions
      5. Quicken’s Other Account Features
        1. Adding Notes, Flags, and Alerts
        2. Attaching Checks, Receipts, or Other Images
    2. 4 Using Online Banking Features
      1. Online Account Services
        1. Understanding Transaction Download
        2. Introducing Online Payment and Quicken Bill Pay
        3. Setting Up Online Account Services
        4. Checking Online Account Service Status
      2. The Online Center
        1. Using the Online Center Window
        2. Downloading Transactions
        3. Making Online Payments
      3. Bills and Income Reminders
        1. Being Reminded
        2. Creating Reminders from Downloaded Transactions
        3. Working with the Bills Tab
        4. Managing Reminders
        5. Using QuickFill and Memorized Payees
        6. Using the Financial Calendar
      4. Useful Quicken Features
        1. Minding Your Bills
        2. Using the Paycheck Setup Wizard
        3. Creating the Address Book
      5. About Alerts
        1. Viewing Available Alerts Groups
    3. 5 Reconciling Your Accounts and Examining Your Banking Activity
      1. Reconciling Bank Accounts
        1. Starting a Reconciliation
        2. Comparing Transactions to a Paper Statement
        3. Identifying Reconciled Items
        4. Finishing Up
      2. Other Reconciliation Tasks and Features
        1. Reconciling Credit Card Accounts
        2. Printing a Reconciliation Report
        3. Undoing Reconciled Transactions
      3. A Closer Look at the Spending Tab
        1. Exploring the Spending Graph
        2. Using the Spending Register
      4. Quicken Reports Overview
        1. Reviewing Report and Graph Types
        2. Creating Reports and Graphs
      5. Working with Reports and Graphs
        1. Working with a Report Window
        2. Customizing Reports and Graphs
        3. Working with Subreports
        4. Saving Reports and Graphs
        5. Exporting Your Reports
        6. Printing Reports and Graphs
  11. Part Three Managing Your Investment Accounts
    1. 6 Entering Your Investment Transactions
      1. Quicken Investment Basics
        1. Understanding Your Portfolio
        2. Managing Your Portfolio
        3. Creating Investing Accounts
        4. Working with Placeholder Entries
      2. Working with Investment Accounts
        1. Understanding the Investment Transaction List
        2. Using the Investment Transaction Dialog
        3. Entering Common Transactions
        4. Entering Transactions in the Transaction List
        5. Editing Transactions
        6. Adjusting Balances
      3. Working with Securities
        1. Viewing the Security List
    2. 7 Using Transaction Download and Research Tools
      1. Transaction Download
        1. Reviewing Your Investing Accounts
        2. Setting Up Transaction Downloads
        3. Using the Online Center Window
        4. Exploring the Account Overview Window
      2. Downloading Quotes and Investment Information
        1. Setting Up the Download
        2. Creating a Watch List
        3. Viewing Downloaded Quotes
      3. Using Investing.Quicken.com for Updates
        1. Exporting Your Portfolio
        2. Utilizing Quote Lookup
        3. Using Online Research
    3. 8 Evaluating Your Position
      1. Using the Investing Tab
        1. Understanding the Portfolio View
        2. Studying Your Performance
        3. Exploring Asset Allocation
        4. Updating Your Investments
        5. Working with Reports
        6. Utilizing Investing Tab Tools
      2. Using Investment Analysis Tools
        1. Using Asset Allocation
        2. Analyzing Your Portfolio
        3. Previewing Your Buy/Sell Decisions
        4. Estimating Capital Gains
        5. Setting Investment Alerts
  12. Part Four Understanding Your Financial Position
    1. 9 Monitoring Assets and Loans
      1. The Basics
        1. Understanding Assets and Debts
        2. Reviewing Loans
      2. Creating Property and Debt Accounts
        1. Creating Asset and Debt Accounts
      3. Loan Accounts in Quicken
        1. Creating a Loan
        2. Viewing Loan Information
        3. Making Loan Payments
        4. Modifying Loan Information
      4. Other Asset Transactions
        1. Adding and Disposing of Assets
        2. Updating Asset Values
    2. 10 Keeping Tabs on Your Net Worth
      1. The Property & Debt Tab
        1. Exploring the Net Worth View
        2. Using the Property View
        3. Opening the Debt View
        4. Accessing Property and Debt Account Registers
        5. Creating Alerts for Property and Debt Accounts
        6. Working with Property and Debt Alerts
  13. Part Five Designing Your Financial Future
    1. 11 Planning Your Future with Financial Calculators
      1. Planning for Retirement
        1. Planning Your Steps
      2. Getting Started with the Quicken Lifetime Planner
        1. Setting Plan Assumptions
        2. Viewing Plan Results
      3. The “What If” Alternatives
        1. Setting “What If” Options
        2. Using “What If” Results
        3. Finding More Planning Tools
      4. A Look at Quicken’s Financial Calculators
        1. Learning About Financial Calculators
        2. Accessing the Financial Calculators
      5. Using the Financial Calculators
        1. Working with the Retirement Calculator
        2. Running the College Calculator
        3. Evaluating the Refinance Calculator
        4. Planning with the Savings Calculator
        5. Using the Loan Calculator
    2. 12 Reducing Debt and Saving Money
      1. Reducing Your Debt
        1. Taking Control
        2. Using the Debt Reduction Planner
      2. Budgeting with Quicken
      3. Quicken’s Automatic Budget
        1. Understanding Quicken’s Automatic Budget
        2. Working with Your Automatic Budget
        3. Organizing Categories into Groups
      4. Where Does Your Money Go?
        1. Forecasting for Your Future
        2. Understanding Why We Save
        3. Saving Strategically
        4. Using Savings Goals
    3. 13 Planning for Tax Time
      1. Tax Information in Accounts and Categories
        1. Including Tax Information in Accounts
        2. Connecting Tax Information with Categories
      2. Tax Reports
      3. Online Tax Tools
      4. About TurboTax
        1. Using TurboTax
      5. Planning to Avoid Surprises
        1. Working with the Tax Planner
        2. Creating Scenarios
      6. Meeting the Estimators
        1. Minimizing Taxes by Maximizing Deductions
        2. Utilizing the Itemized Deduction Estimator
        3. Exploring the Tax Withholding Estimator
        4. Understanding the Tax Center
  14. Part Six Appendixes
    1. A Managing Quicken Files
      1. Working with Multiple Data Files
        1. Creating a Data File
        2. Opening, Saving, and Copying Quicken Data Files
      2. Backing Up Your Quicken Data File
        1. Setting Backup Preferences
        2. Backing Up Your Data
        3. Restoring Data Files
      3. Password-Protecting Quicken Data
        1. Protecting a Data File
        2. Protecting Existing Transactions
        3. Working with Passwords
      4. Additional File Procedures
        1. Importing Files into Quicken
        2. Exporting Quicken Files
        3. Working with Additional File Operations
        4. Using Keyboard Shortcuts
    2. B Customizing Quicken
      1. Customizing Quicken’s Interface
        1. Creating Custom Home Tab Views
        2. Re-creating the Summary View
        3. Crafting an Analysis & Reports View
        4. Customizing the Toolbar
      2. Setting Preferences
        1. Telling Quicken Your Preferences
      3. Useful Tips
        1. Converting Your Older Quicken Files to a New Computer
        2. Changing Multiple Transactions
      4. Quicken Emergency Records Organizer
        1. Using the Emergency Records Organizer
  15. Index

Product information

  • Title: Quicken 2014 The Official Guide, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Bobbi Sandberg
  • Release date: November 2013
  • Publisher(s): McGraw-Hill
  • ISBN: 9780071826051