Grasping The Concept
in [Quicken]
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From: Mr.Jan on 2 Jul 2010 03:41 On Jul 1, 9:10 am, Laura <inva...(a)sample.invalid> wrote: > thefourthwall wrote: > > On Jun 24, 3:42 pm, Laura <inva...(a)sample.invalid> wrote: > >> thefourthwallwrote: > >>> Hello, > >>> Being relatively new to Quicken, I am challenged to understand > >>> something and welcome all constructive feedback. > >>> My goal, using Quicken Premier 2009, is to create spending reports > >>> that track net income and spending: at this point I am not yet > >>> interested in tracking payroll deductions. Eventually, yes, but small > >>> steps first, I think. As I understand it, if I want to easily see > >>> just 'net' information, the straightforward way to do that is track > >>> net pay only. > >>> But it seems that tracking payroll deductions (esp. 401(k) deductions > >>> & contributions) will give me a more complete picture of where money > >>> is going. > >>> So, how should I create spending accounts that do not include payroll > >>> deductions? I am having trouble with this and perhaps I am just > >>> complicating things ... thanks for your help. > >> Start by figuring out what expenses that you want/need to track. One > >> place to start is your tax return. What deduction, if any, do you report > >> each year? Set up categories for each of these items. These will > >> typically be medical, taxes paid, Gross wages (to match your w-2). Add > >> categories for your day-to-day expenses like groceries, meals, household > >> and anything else you might want to track. Start small and add new > >> categories as you need to. > > > Thank you, Laura. Do you typically look at spending reports that > > include > > taxes and other paycheck deductions, or do you filter them out? If > > so, how? > > I probably do it incorrectly but I only record my Net check. I rely on > my year-end W2 to report the taxes on my tax return (I do validate it > against the last check stub). > > You can't spend your gross amount so you really need to either record > the net check or record the gross amount + all of the deductions as part > of your expense stream. > > If you need to filter out a category then just customize the report and > uncheck those categories. Memorize/save the report for future use. I think recording the net pay amount is the way to go for someone starting with Quicken. Too much detail will kill the joy of getting your finances under control. I started with a Lotus (not Excel, Lotus!) spreadsheet and it was exciting just to know how much money I could spend (checking minus credit card purchases). Then a friend turned me on to Quicken and it was so much easier to record and track. Now, I calculate my quarterly tax payments with one report but I sure did not start out doing that. |