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About Archiving and other stuff

Hello

I've been using Quicken (PC) (at first the 2002 version then 2005) since

2002 and I've had some questions I've always wanted to ask. There aren't exactly complaints but more of a survey on how others handle these kinds of things. Just to get some better ideas.

1) Archiving. What I've been doing is not archiving at all. I just continue to keep all the transactions in the file (since 2002) which is OK but the file is getting quite large. Does everyone normally just let the file go like this? Can there be future problems if this is done?

The problem with the archive is that you can't break up the file in one year sets (or whatever time) because your reports aren't as good since the transaction are now gone. I don't know if there is some solution to this but I thought I'd ask what others do.

2) Speaking of archives I have some OLD...and I mean OLD...files I would LOVE to put into Quicken. I'm sure it's not really possible but I thought I'd ask anyway. I have some old "Managing Your Money" (Andrew Tobias) files from the 90s, I also have a Quicken 1999 MAC file. These were both MAC based. These files are now just TEXT.

Then once I switched to the PC in 99 I used MS Money 2000 for both 2000 and 2001. Any ideas if any of these files can be converted to Quicken H&B (pc version)?

3) How do people handle basic Property/Debt files? You can't really do an online update like you can stocks. Normally I just do a periodic "appreciation" (or depreciation) which adjusts the value of the asset.I use a Catagory under "Income" (if it's an appreciation) to make the adjustment. If the asset is an auto, for example, I'd have to depreciate so I use an "expense" instead. Is this typical?

For example I actually use QuickBooks for my rental property so in Quicken I just use the above method. But in QB I'm more detailed. Is this typical?

Thanks for any help on these that anyone can give.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! :D

jom

Reply to
jom
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I'm only going to answer this one question. There are many people who never archive their data and have files in excess of 30MB. As you observed, once the data is archived, it cannot be reconsolidated to give trend reports or long-term overviews. Just recently I had cause to print my expenses to a particular payee going back 5 years as the basis for a discussion I was having with that payee. Had I archived the data, it would have been a hassle.

Intuit has never indicated that file size per se is the root cause of problems or file corruptions.

Reply to
Mike

Hi, jom.

We discuss this archiving topic almost every week here, it seems. Scan just a few weeks' messages to keep us all from having to type the same advice over again. I did it again just 3 days ago in the thread, "drawing the line", started by stetrekve on 11/21/05. The short answer is the one Mike just gave you: Don't archive; just let your useful data remain at your fingertips.

Me, too!

Even if we wanted to give you advice tailored to your situation, we couldn't because you didn't give us specific information.

How large is "quite large"? Over 1 GB? 1 MB? My QDATA.* fileset is about

30 MB. Is that "quite large"? It works fine for me.

How old is "OLD"? 1953? My Quicken files go back to 1990; is that "OLD"? The problem you've described doesn't depend on your files' age, but on their compatibility with Quicken. Others here probably can advise you on that topic, since you did include the names and versions of the programs that created them. My former program was not compatible with Quicken, so I had to manually enter the still-relevant amounts into Quicken when I started using it. For history, I had to refer to printed reports from the old program - or keep it installed until I didn't need it anymore.

One tip: Pick the program you need and stick with it. Switching - in either direction - is seldom smooth, usually a mess, and often disastrous!

This varies depending on the user's circumstances. Since you are running a business, including the business of renting out real estate or other property, you MUST account for "property used in the trade or business" on the cost basis, not market value, and you MUST have a way to calculate and record depreciation on those assets for income tax purposes. (I'm assuming you are in the USA and dealing with the US tax laws; if you are in Canada or Spain, someone else will have to answer this.) You may very well want to keep track of market value, too, for other purposes. I'm sure Rick Hess can give you some useful tips on this. (As soon as he recovers from Hurricane Katrina.)

RC

Reply to
R. C. White

I was not necessarily referring to a rental property per se. Just an asset that you can't update using online adjustments (such as stocks). If you have a car for example how would one typically lower it's value as time goes on? I've used an "expense" to do this, say, one a year. Is the correct way or do others use a different method?

thx to all for the responses..... :D

jom

Reply to
jojo

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