Having not played with those Quicken reports, I would look at the register in Quicken for your checking account. For example do you have large deposits where the bank might put a hold on funds for like 10 days? Do you look at Quicken on a daily basis and see if you have a opportunity to move funds for a few days? Do you get paid a nominal interest on your checking? How does Quicken compare to your bank statements on what the average is? At most you might pick-up a 0.2% interest for a few days that more than likely will get lost in rounding. Thinking about this is good, but I doubt you will come to a conclusion that you can make any real money of this. For what it's worth....
Oilcan
-----Original Message----- From: james [mailto: snipped-for-privacy@bellsouth.net] Posted At: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 5:29 PM Posted To: alt.comp.software.financial.quicken Conversation: Help with Keeping Checking Account Balance to Minimum Subject: Help with Keeping Checking Account Balance to Minimum
All,
I've been using Quicken since the 2000 version. I currently use the
2007 Premier version. I always had challenges with trying to figure out how much I had to put into savings until they released the "What's Left' feature on the Quicken Home page in the 2007 version.
I just ran a 12 month report on just my checking account balance and the average balance is $4,900. I always run all of my personal income and expenses (one off and recurring) through my checking account. My checking account is truly my operational account.
Ideally, I want to keep the minimum balance required in my checking account in order to cover my bills without running too close to $0. Given my average 12 month balance of $4,900, have I been making the classic mistake of keeping too much money in checking? I'd love to hear some suggestions on how to address this - aside from moving over $4,900 - and not get caught short for monthly bills.
Thanks a lot!
James E