![]() ![]() Don’t forget you you can also track Personal Income. Unselected categories are not included in your budget even if you have transactions with those categories. Select the categories that best reflect your current or expected spending and income. The categories you use for the transactions in you register or the spending tab are how Quicken tracks your budget. Budget categories Selecting budget categories Just because spending is discretionary does not mean it is bad, but if you are having budget shortfalls or just want to save more money, discretionary spending is a good area to focus on. The money you spend on Entertainment or Shopping is discretionary, for example. In other words, money that you can avoid spending and still have a functioning household or business. These are areas where you will need to think about what you currently spend and what you want to spend.ĭiscretionary spending is defined as non-essential spending. Many categories are discretionary, such as Restaurants, Entertainment, and Personal Care. Other bills, such as Utilities, may be relatively steady, but still have some fluctuation from month to month. For example, your Auto Insurance, Student Loan, Rent, or Mortgage may not fluctuate from month to month. This can be accomplished with an automated budget as well, but if you are creating your budget manually, you will need to do all of the research and computation yourself. For example, if your goal is to spend less money eating at restaurants, you might choose to dedicate a relatively low amount to Restaurants, but a higher amount for Groceries. You might choose amounts based on your current spending, or pick a goal amount to either decrease or increase the amount of money you put toward an individual category. You will want to go through all of the spending categories. If you choose to Manually select transaction categories, that means that you will need to choose all of your budget categories as well as the amounts to budget for each category. This is why it is important to always assign categories to your transactions. If you have never used a category, Quicken will not add it to your budget. Quicken selects your budget categories based on the categories you have previously assigned to transactions. If you are trying to reduce your spending, then you’ll want to look for categories where you can lower the amount allocated. When Quicken generates a budget, it is based on your actual spending. You can increase or decrease amounts, and you can add or remove categories. Once Quicken has generated the budget, your can adjust the budget. This is much faster than choosing each category and amount manually. Quicken will choose your categories and your spending amounts. If you Let Quicken select my transaction categories, Quicken analyzes your current spending and income, then generates a budget. Most people find it best to let Quicken do the initial budget creation and then adjust the budget after the initial categories and amounts have been added. When you create a budget in Quicken, you can decide how much you want Quicken to assist you in selecting categories and amounts. For example, you might budget separately for business accounts, or if you maintain an account for someone else such as a relative. While most people only need one budget, a second budget can be useful if you are tracking accounts for different purposes. You need to choose a budget name because Quicken has the ability to maintain multiple budgets. ![]() You will be prompted to name your budget. You can then follow the steps below to create your budget. You can also create a new budget under the Budget tab by selecting Budget Actions > Create new budget. If you’ve never created a budget in Quicken before, there will be a handy Get Started button you can select to create your first budget. You will find Quicken’s budget features under the Planning tab. Cash flow is the measurement of how much money is going into and out of your accounts.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |