Quicken 2014

Appears next month if on their usual schedule. Hope we'll see some

Handling CDs would be nice, although if they haven't figured this out in the 25 years I've been using Q, I don't hold out much hope now on that one. Without meaningful competition in the desktop financial software market, the term 'cash cow' comes to mind. _________________________________________

I have several CDs in Quicken but don't see how they are mishandled. Maybe I missed an earlier discussion. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

Scott - how do you add interest that's been accrued in your CDs?

Scott - how do you add interest that's been accrued in your CDs?

Regards -

- Andrew __________________________________________

They are in various investment accounts (Trad IRA, SEP IRA, etc) and pay interest every 6 months. I just record the interest as interest income every 6 months. Usually, I record the interest perhaps 2 years into the future so I have an idea of when and how much cash I'll have available to reinvest, so, if I buy a 3% $10,000 CD on July 1, 2013, I'll record $150 interest immediately on 1/1/14, 7/1/14 and 1/1/15.

If by accrue you mean do I record monthly, no, I don't do that.

"Andrew" wrote

Appears next month if on their usual schedule. Hope we'll see some

Handling CDs would be nice, although if they haven't figured this out in the 25 years I've been using Q, I don't hold out much hope now on that one. Without meaningful competition in the desktop financial software market, the term 'cash cow' comes to mind.

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I don't think the imagined lack of competition plays any role in Intuit's decision not to provide special handling for CD's.

For the over 15 years when Money was in direct comptetition, Quicken did not provide any special processing for CD's. So it doesn't appear that competition has been, or is, a significant motivator here.

And in the years since Money's demise, Intuit has added at least as many new featurs - and arguably more new features - than they did when Money was in business.

A few examples: since Money stopped being produced, Quicken has added a mobile app, the ability to download to loan accounts, and a totally rewritten budget process. To say nothing of a myriad of other, less difficult additions.

The added features may not be the features you want, and they may not work as well as they could/should; but all were asked for by Quicken users, and each of them represents a very complex/expensive project. I think a closer look at what has been done with Quicken since Money stopped being a competitor is sufficient evidence that Intuit is not sitting back and pretending that they have it made, just because Money no longer competes directly.

And there are Money diehards who are stocking up on old hardware/software to be able to continue to run Money 'til the cows come home - so even a moribund Money is keeping potential Quicken users away from Quicken.

As to your specific CD complaint. I think the lack of special treatment for CD's is a pure business decision by Intuit: it isn't a big enough benefit for users, to warrant the cost of doing it.

CD's are not exactly a monolithic investment. Many (all of my) CD's are in individual real-world bank accounts. But some users want to treat CD's as securities in investment accounts. I don't see a one-size-fits-all approach to that situation.

Note the Quicken "IRA account" conflict. A Quicken "IRA" account must be a Quicken "investment" account. But not all real-world IRA holdings are in real-world brokerage accounts. If you have a bank CD in your IRA holdings, and your bank provides downloads to the CD account, you have to make a choice: you can create a Quicken IRA account and manually maintain the CD holdings in that account, or you can create a non-IRA (tax-deferred) Quicken savings account and download your CD transactions.

And the fact that some banks do provide downloads to CD accounts, reduces the need for users with that capability to have Quicken provide special handling for those CD accounts ... which reduces the potential demand for special CD treatment by Quicken. Something which I think Intuit is well aware of.

Hi, John.

You've seen my mini-rants here about Quicken's inept handling of Certificates of Deposit several times before. ;^}

After 20+ years of fighting it, I've become resigned (I suppose that is the right word) to workarounds that get me the answers I need, although clumsily. I haven't even tried to fight it recently, so my memory of just where the hassles were - and still are - have faded somewhat. A couple that come to mind:

1. Why must we treat a CD like a stock and say we purchased 100 units at 0, or 10 units at ,000, or 10,000 units at ? This is not just cosmetic; the choice of unit size constrains our entry of the interest rate and other factors in recording - and managing - a CD. How do we make an abysmal 0.50% interest rate look right on a ,000 CD that pays only .50 per year?

1. As Andrew mentioned, there is no good (emphasize "good") way to record monthly or other periodic compounding of interest for a CD that compounds. And no good way to balance against the Form 1099 at the end of the year, especially for a multi-year CD which might compound monthly - and report that to the IRS annually - but doesn't pay off until maturity in some later year.

2. For a CD that pays interest monthly in a check or direct deposit to a checking account, there is no good way (that I have found - and I've looked hard, many times) to simply record the _IntInc and simultaneously add it to the cash or bank balance. Quicken doesn't like us using Scheduled Transactions to move assets - or income - between Banking and Investment accounts. For some CDs, I schedule the "banking" transaction and the "Skip" it every month after manually recording the interest income. Otherwise, Quicken does not know to "match" the income against the right CD. So I have to use a Memorized Investment Transaction to record the interest income to the correct CD, then make a Banking entry to move the proceeds from my Undeposited Checks to the right checking account, or to my wife's Cash account. And then go back and Skip the Scheduled transaction, which SHOULD do all this for me, but will not.

Today my wife should receive a check in the mail for $26.50 for interest on a small CD. (She refuses to use Direct Deposit or to carry an ATM card.) I will need to: a. Open my CDs account under Investing. b. Use the Memorized Investment Transaction to record the Interest Income, using the Transfer account, Undeposited Checks. Then, while she waits for the $6 check on the other CD next week, I can adjust the amount of my Scheduled Transaction for... c. When the other check arrives, I can remind her until she remembers to cash the two checks, then... d. Use the Scheduled Transaction to move the money from Undeposited Checks to her Cash account. e. Skip the two Scheduled Transactions to record the two small interest amounts. These are Banking transactions that will properly add the checks to Undeposited Checks, but will record the interest to the "generic" Interest Income category and will not match them to the specific CDs. (The memorized INVESTMENT entry matches them, but the scheduled BANKING entry does not.) f. Later, after Q downloads the interest transaction, I have to go to each CD in my More Accounts listing and accept the matching plus and minus transactions that flow through and keep the balance of the CD at the right constant principal amount.

Sorry, John. This was supposed to be a quick note but, as happens so often with my posts, it is turning into a book. And I've said all this before, so I'll shut up now. ;^}

RC

-- -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX (Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.) snipped-for-privacy@grandecom.net Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010) (Using Quicken Deluxe 2013 R 12 and Windows Live Mail in Win8 x64)

"Andrew" wrote

Appears next month if on their usual schedule. Hope we'll see some

Handling CDs would be nice, although if they haven't figured this out in the 25 years I've been using Q, I don't hold out much hope now on that one. Without meaningful competition in the desktop financial software market, the term 'cash cow' comes to mind.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think the imagined lack of competition plays any role in Intuit's decision not to provide special handling for CD's.

For the over 15 years when Money was in direct comptetition, Quicken did not provide any special processing for CD's. So it doesn't appear that competition has been, or is, a significant motivator here.

And in the years since Money's demise, Intuit has added at least as many new featurs - and arguably more new features - than they did when Money was in business.

A few examples: since Money stopped being produced, Quicken has added a mobile app, the ability to download to loan accounts, and a totally rewritten budget process. To say nothing of a myriad of other, less difficult additions.

The added features may not be the features you want, and they may not work as well as they could/should; but all were asked for by Quicken users, and each of them represents a very complex/expensive project. I think a closer look at what has been done with Quicken since Money stopped being a competitor is sufficient evidence that Intuit is not sitting back and pretending that they have it made, just because Money no longer competes directly.

And there are Money diehards who are stocking up on old hardware/software to be able to continue to run Money 'til the cows come home - so even a moribund Money is keeping potential Quicken users away from Quicken.

As to your specific CD complaint. I think the lack of special treatment for CD's is a pure business decision by Intuit: it isn't a big enough benefit for users, to warrant the cost of doing it.

CD's are not exactly a monolithic investment. Many (all of my) CD's are in individual real-world bank accounts. But some users want to treat CD's as securities in investment accounts. I don't see a one-size-fits-all approach to that situation.

Note the Quicken "IRA account" conflict. A Quicken "IRA" account must be a Quicken "investment" account. But not all real-world IRA holdings are in real-world brokerage accounts. If you have a bank CD in your IRA holdings, and your bank provides downloads to the CD account, you have to make a choice: you can create a Quicken IRA account and manually maintain the CD holdings in that account, or you can create a non-IRA (tax-deferred) Quicken savings account and download your CD transactions.

And the fact that some banks do provide downloads to CD accounts, reduces the need for users with that capability to have Quicken provide special handling for those CD accounts ... which reduces the potential demand for special CD treatment by Quicken. Something which I think Intuit is well aware of.

Oops! Even (retired) CPAs slip a decimal point now and then, especially when discussing today's CD interest rates. :>(

That rate would earn $25 - but we might get only 0.05% per year these days. Or even 0.01%! That's a penny a year on a $100 investment! :>(

RC

Hi, John.

You've seen my mini-rants here about Quicken's inept handling of Certificates of Deposit several times before. ;^}

After 20+ years of fighting it, I've become resigned (I suppose that is the right word) to workarounds that get me the answers I need, although clumsily. I haven't even tried to fight it recently, so my memory of just where the hassles were - and still are - have faded somewhat. A couple that come to mind:

1. Why must we treat a CD like a stock and say we purchased 100 units at 0, or 10 units at ,000, or 10,000 units at ? This is not just cosmetic; the choice of unit size constrains our entry of the interest rate and other factors in recording - and managing - a CD. How do we make an abysmal 0.50% interest rate look right on a ,000 CD that pays only .50 per year?

1. As Andrew mentioned, there is no good (emphasize "good") way to record monthly or other periodic compounding of interest for a CD that compounds. And no good way to balance against the Form 1099 at the end of the year, especially for a multi-year CD which might compound monthly - and report that to the IRS annually - but doesn't pay off until maturity in some later year.

2. For a CD that pays interest monthly in a check or direct deposit to a checking account, there is no good way (that I have found - and I've looked hard, many times) to simply record the _IntInc and simultaneously add it to the cash or bank balance. Quicken doesn't like us using Scheduled Transactions to move assets - or income - between Banking and Investment accounts. For some CDs, I schedule the "banking" transaction and the "Skip" it every month after manually recording the interest income. Otherwise, Quicken does not know to "match" the income against the right CD. So I have to use a Memorized Investment Transaction to record the interest income to the correct CD, then make a Banking entry to move the proceeds from my Undeposited Checks to the right checking account, or to my wife's Cash account. And then go back and Skip the Scheduled transaction, which SHOULD do all this for me, but will not.

Today my wife should receive a check in the mail for $26.50 for interest on a small CD. (She refuses to use Direct Deposit or to carry an ATM card.) I will need to: a. Open my CDs account under Investing. b. Use the Memorized Investment Transaction to record the Interest Income, using the Transfer account, Undeposited Checks. Then, while she waits for the $6 check on the other CD next week, I can adjust the amount of my Scheduled Transaction for... c. When the other check arrives, I can remind her until she remembers to cash the two checks, then... d. Use the Scheduled Transaction to move the money from Undeposited Checks to her Cash account. e. Skip the two Scheduled Transactions to record the two small interest amounts. These are Banking transactions that will properly add the checks to Undeposited Checks, but will record the interest to the "generic" Interest Income category and will not match them to the specific CDs. (The memorized INVESTMENT entry matches them, but the scheduled BANKING entry does not.) f. Later, after Q downloads the interest transaction, I have to go to each CD in my More Accounts listing and accept the matching plus and minus transactions that flow through and keep the balance of the CD at the right constant principal amount.

Sorry, John. This was supposed to be a quick note but, as happens so often with my posts, it is turning into a book. And I've said all this before, so I'll shut up now. ;^}

RC

-- -- R. C. White, CPA San Marcos, TX (Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.) snipped-for-privacy@grandecom.net Microsoft Windows MVP (2002-2010) (Using Quicken Deluxe 2013 R 12 and Windows Live Mail in Win8 x64)

"Andrew" wrote

Appears next month if on their usual schedule. Hope we'll see some

Handling CDs would be nice, although if they haven't figured this out in the 25 years I've been using Q, I don't hold out much hope now on that one. Without meaningful competition in the desktop financial software market, the term 'cash cow' comes to mind.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think the imagined lack of competition plays any role in Intuit's decision not to provide special handling for CD's.

For the over 15 years when Money was in direct comptetition, Quicken did not provide any special processing for CD's. So it doesn't appear that competition has been, or is, a significant motivator here.

And in the years since Money's demise, Intuit has added at least as many new featurs - and arguably more new features - than they did when Money was in business.

A few examples: since Money stopped being produced, Quicken has added a mobile app, the ability to download to loan accounts, and a totally rewritten budget process. To say nothing of a myriad of other, less difficult additions.

The added features may not be the features you want, and they may not work as well as they could/should; but all were asked for by Quicken users, and each of them represents a very complex/expensive project. I think a closer look at what has been done with Quicken since Money stopped being a competitor is sufficient evidence that Intuit is not sitting back and pretending that they have it made, just because Money no longer competes directly.

And there are Money diehards who are stocking up on old hardware/software to be able to continue to run Money 'til the cows come home - so even a moribund Money is keeping potential Quicken users away from Quicken.

As to your specific CD complaint. I think the lack of special treatment for CD's is a pure business decision by Intuit: it isn't a big enough benefit for users, to warrant the cost of doing it.

CD's are not exactly a monolithic investment. Many (all of my) CD's are in individual real-world bank accounts. But some users want to treat CD's as securities in investment accounts. I don't see a one-size-fits-all approach to that situation.

Note the Quicken "IRA account" conflict. A Quicken "IRA" account must be a Quicken "investment" account. But not all real-world IRA holdings are in real-world brokerage accounts. If you have a bank CD in your IRA holdings, and your bank provides downloads to the CD account, you have to make a choice: you can create a Quicken IRA account and manually maintain the CD holdings in that account, or you can create a non-IRA (tax-deferred) Quicken savings account and download your CD transactions.

And the fact that some banks do provide downloads to CD accounts, reduces the need for users with that capability to have Quicken provide special handling for those CD accounts ... which reduces the potential demand for special CD treatment by Quicken. Something which I think Intuit is well aware of.

Wow! You can double your money in, what, 6,000 years ??? {:-)

Sigh, now if Intuit would just let me increase the font size in some of the registers... my 67 year-old eyes would work a little better.

I just hope that they don't break too many things. And, maybe, fix some of the things that they 2013 broke (like printing envelopes in 2013 H&B).

My view is not so much that Money was the choice of some people instead of Quicken, but that many people found the previous version good enough and didn't buy the new one because it didn't add much in the way of significant new features.

That's what keeps me from buying the new version every year. What you mention about Quicken 2013 may be significant to some people, but although I bought it this year, to me it's no better than 2012.