Quicken account with sub-accounts?

I'd like to use sub accounts to my main checkbook account. Is this possible with quicken? If you're wondering why.... I'd like to send the paycheck $ to "accounts" for various planning items, bills, upcoming expenses, etc. But since the $ is still in checking, I'd like to be able to reconcile the main account with all the data from the subaccounts included.

I've used categories, but they tend to just help me track where the $ goes as it leaves the account. The budget feature is similar, it lets one build a budget based on category expenses, but if I send the $ to a category right after the check comes in quicken thinks the money is gone and the category reflects a + number. That would be fine, but since the bank account showed the $ going out to the category (which now shows +) the account cannot be reconciled.

Suggestions, other than subaccounts as mentioned in the initial question?

Ideas are very welcomed.

Reply to
thiswillbedeleted
Loading thread data ...

Ah the often requested but still unimplemented method AKA envelop accounting. Nope. Quicken doesn't have 'em. If you don't have too many of these "sub accounts" then look into /Savings Goals/.

Reply to
Andrew DeFaria

I have been doing this for many years in Quicken for the same reason you have. (BTW I am using QW 05 now). There is a side benefit to this method which I will get to a little later. Since Quicken has not implemented a way to do this automatically, the process I came up with is cumbersome but has worked successfully for many years (more then 10). At one time I had 8 sub accounts most of which were empty but several (mortgage, car payment etc) were used all the time.

In this description Primary account is the "real" checking/savings account. The sub accounts are not directly connected to the primary.

  1. Set up the sub accounts as Cash Flow: Spending. I don't associate these with any financial institution, taxes etc.
  2. I use the Quicken Transfer tag in the num column to transfer dollar's out of and into the appropriate sub account.
  3. When you are going to add additional dollars to the account you have to transfer the current balance from the sub account to the primary account then add the new dollar amount to the transferred dollars and then transfer the dollars back to the sub account. You MUST to do this process in order balance the primary account.
  4. When it comes time to balance the primary account you do not have to transfer the sub account dollars to the primary. All you need to do is to reconcile (mark as cleared) all of the transfers that occurred in the previous period except the LAST one which transferred dollars to the sub account. Since it has not been cleared, Quicken will use the amount in the final balance. Thats all there is to it.

BQ (Before Quicken :-) and using a DOS checking account program) my budgeting process had me set aside money each week to pay my bills. At the start I was paid weekly but I have used this process when the company I worked for went to paying every two weeks. I would set aside 1/4 of a monthly payment and when it came time to pay the bill add the money into the checking account (it never really out, but was just "hidden") and paid the bill.

Two side benefits came from this method:

  1. I did not pay any fees to the bank since my account balance was over the banks minimums that would have triggered a fee. Some would say this is not a good way to manage money but I look at not paying fees the same as earning interest (which most checking accounts don't provide and if they do is insignificant).
  2. By setting aside 1/4 of a payment each week at the end of each quarter (March, June, Sept, Dec) I would end up with one free week where I did not have to set aside money for monthly payment. This is because each quarter is actually 13 weeks long not 12. Understand that "accounting quarters" cross calendar month boundaries and even end and beginning of year boundaries.

Hope this helps Marty

PS... Rather long post, seems to take longer to describe then do it. LOL

Reply to
Marty Kovacs

replying to Marty Kovacs, Gordon wrote: You could do this in MS Money clear back in 2000. I just switched to Quicken in fear that MS will not run Money in its next OS. Wish I had someone to walk me through manufacturing the equivalent of sub accounts.

Reply to
Gordon

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.