Anyone Use Quicken (subscribed version)?

[pickychicky]

I finally managed to get everything downloaded from my bank into Quicken (Home & Business) and everything is reconciled. I've been using Quicken for decades (since their DOS days), but the latest version I used prior to being forced to subscribe was their 2005 Home & Business version. I've always been able to keep track of accounts (bills), manually entering payments to be "withdrawn" from the checking account, but I'm not seeing the option to do that.

I did set up the accounts and downloaded the info from those sites, but they don't provide historical data. So, I'm going to have to manually enter stuff so their finances can be tracked. The problem is that it would seem that using the download feature will conflict with any manual entries because they don't seem to be tied to the accounts I created for them.

I do it this way to help keep up with who's owed what without having paper clutter to weed through. Plus, they do like to see where their money is going so they can make adjustments where necessary, which is even more important now that my mother is retiring at the end of the year. So, is there anyone out there who could give me a rundown on how I can continue doing as I did in Quicken H&B 2005?

Thanks!

P.S. -- I should clarify that this is the first time I've ever used Quicken's download feature. I've always entered everything manually, but I need the download feature if I'm ever going to get my mother to take over their own finances, now that she'll be retired. She's not computer savvy, so I've got to make the process as smooth and easy as possible.

[MoonwishesStore]

Years ago I gave up trying to use those Quicken, Money programs to track my finances as they seemed to take me 2-3 times as long as for me to do it manually. But then I find calculating numbers to be relaxing, unlike many other people. Even in college if I got a bit stressed I would count the leaves on my plant.

[pickychicky]

I used to live by spreadsheets for everything. I still do for my inventory despite having QuickBooks where I keep track of that, but I need them for calculating prices and such with complex formulas. I thought about switching to Access, which I'd still like to do, but it's been 20+ years since I last messed with that and never delved into the programming of it before. I basically helped the programmer develop user-friendly forms for the HR department's use (developing a comprehensive and searchable database of resumes for deepwater offshore workers).

It would be a monster of a task programming Access to keep track of everything (sales, inventory, expenses, banking, etc.) and creating the various forms. So, I figured I'd use QuickBooks for the inventory and sales tracking and Quicken for the personal stuff and expenses. All the stuff in Quicken is categorized and categories are set to be applied to their corresponding tax deductions when generating that report.

So, I've basically done away with dual-entry and automated many tasks (generating reports, reconciling, etc.). I find that it has saved me a lot of time. It's just that I had a version of Quicken that was too old to import to the latest version, so I downloaded the bulk of it (having to edit it all...ugh) and manually entered what I couldn't download. Now I just need to tie all the payments into their corresponding expense accounts to keep track of those as well as the progress of the mortgage and other loans.

The aim is to pass on all the personal stuff to mom after she retires, but I have to train her on Quicken. At least I'm all ready for tax season, so have that out of the way. YAY!

P.S. -- I can't remember what company it was, but remember that commercial where they had the spreadsheet queen with countless columns and pages? When I first saw that, I had to laugh because I could so relate. Hahaha! Not only do I love spreadsheets, but I, too, love numbers and creating complex formulas to automate stuff (calculating best prices, in particular). I do my research, plug in up to 3 competing prices (low, mid, high), and it calculates a competitive price that accounts for ALL expenses, making sure I don't go below a certain profit point, allowing me to make adjustments to be more competitive. Anything not worth selling goes. So, people can comment on my pricing all they like, but I go to great lengths to generate those prices with some serious algebra! LOL

[A-Better-Way]

I bought quickbooks, waaaay back, my problem is they attach my checkbook, and I didn't want it to be in sync with my bank account.

So I had a separate checkbook program, and a DOS accounting program.

The problem arises when you remove money for personal use, my "drawing" account.
Then the quickbooks, there is no way to have a separate account then it ALWAYS uses the dang bank account.

See both my name and my business name were listed on the same bank account, it the way I wanted it to be. If I could have used it without using the bank but only for accounting it would have been a really good thing.

[pickychicky]

Yes, I found those limitations in QuickBooks to be annoying, along with the fact that it would seem you need to be a degreed CPA to know how to set things up properly. In Quicken, I can set up my own categories and split transactions to be applied to more than one while keeping the transaction itself in one piece. I think that's my biggest gripe about QuickBooks...I didn't see a way to show that certain expenses were tied to a sales transaction.

I do love the inventory feature, though, which was the whole reason I bought it. It makes creating custom sales receipts so easy. I had hoped to manage everything with it, business and personal, but you're right that it doesn't seem to account for home-based businesses even when they say they do.

[MoonwishesStore]

We keep all our inventory on Access that my husband set up but that is all. Whenever someone talks about how eBay or whatever ate up all their listings, I wonder why they don't have any kind of database at least of the basics. And these are people at times selling on multiple venues. We had no database for the first 6-months we were selling and learned our lesson fast on that one. I don't use Access for anything but the listings.