I'm apparently not doing something right... I'd like to use the graph under Planning->Cash Flow Forecast. The problem I have is I have a lot of scheduled bills and deposits and when I use the Cash Flow Forecast I get almost doubling of my numbers because it includes estimated numbers that Quicken just makes up on the spot. I tried to get them to go away, I selected "Forecast Items to Create->Known Items" from the Advanced AutoCreate window, but it only lasts one run. If I have to run the report again then I have to go back in and change it again.
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence of a scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping me from really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL my transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one month out (including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the register to ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated expenses. As long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this includes transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA purchase - everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of another technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
And about the comment of editing a single occurrence of a scheduled transaction - I must be missing something. Once the scheduled transaction hits the register, you most certainly can edit that single occurrence without affecting all the others past as well as those in the future that haven't been recorded yet. What am I missing?
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection (and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I usually run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful comment on the feature.
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the forecast that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain of that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to enter scheduled transactions into your register. The "Scheduled Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home views, has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow (you select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ... but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the future.]
The op wants to modify selected future paycheck transactions to reflect that fact that they will span a holiday or vacation day. Then when those modified scheduled transactions appear in cash-flow forecasts, they will (correctly) forecast a lower inflow of cash for that period because the op does not get paid for holidays. By the time the scheduled transaction hits the register, it will have no long-term forecasting ability ... unless op wants to enter all scheduled transactions for many months into the future ... which he has said he doesn't want to do.
Or you could wonder if the feature just isn't very useful out of the box :)
I like the concept, but every time I've tried to use Cash Flow Forecast it never comes close to reality. I'm sure it's something indiosyncratic about the way I'm use categories or transactions or schedules or paychecks (or something...) but I haven't had the motivation to track it down.
I find the registers combined with scheduled transactions much more reliable and intuitive when forecasting balances.
I said I don't find any use for a "LONG-TERM cash flow" projection [emphasis added].
You wonder if anyone cares about "going broke ANY TIME SOON" [emphasis added].
I'm not interested in the Cash Flow Forecast because I don't believe it has any ability to tell me anything about when/if I will "go broke" in the medium to long-term, and because I find better tools in Quicken to tell me whether I will have sufficient "cash" to meet my short-term needs.
The further in the future you look, the greater the chance that unforseen events will affect your finances. I have no confidence that a cash flow projection of my currently known cash inflows/outflows for December of this year will tell me whether or not I should be concerned about my financial situation come December.
I have no idea what that means.
The graph will tell you whether your cash flow will be positive or negative for each day for all months in the future ... based on your known current balance and your future scheduled transactions.
While I can't comment on whether the Quicken Cash Flow Forecast works "correctly" (which it well may not), I can say that you haven't provided me any good reason to care (other than that I always prefer software to be bug free).
If you really like the Cash Flow Forecast, and you can't get it to work; I suggest you lay out your problems in great detail at the Intuit Bug Report site; making sure that the person who reads your problem can exactly reproduce it.
The bottom line (to coin a phrase ) is that Quicken doesn't predict or forecast anything. All it can do is calculate.
YOU predict what your paycheck and other inflows are going to be and what outflows will happen - and when. Then Quicken (or other software) can put those into your calendar, along with your starting balance, and calculate (not "predict") what the balance will be on any day in the future within your calendar's range. If YOUR predictions change, then the calculated future balance will change, too. If YOUR predictions change often, the calculated future balances may not be relevant.
Like John, though, I've never used the Quicken forecasts.
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