tracking net amounts only

It probably is not the correct way of managing finances but that is how I have dealt with them for years. It goes along with the discussion earlier this week...the official numbers that go on your tax return come from your

1099s, w-2s, etc and not what is in Quicken. Let those companies track the official numbers for me. I have better things to do than record the petty details that I am not going to use at year end.

Hi Joseph! Ur sure to get opinions! Here's mine:

I use Q only to track details of items that I do indeed care about or need to track to verify other 2nd party supplied records. For example, I DO track details about my paycheck because I want to verify that the W2 at the end of the year match my records. That's one example of why I choose to track that.

I do NOT, however, track what portions of a contribution to my 401K *I* make vs. my company match in the purchase of the security. Why? Because THAT doesn't affect (I think) anything I care about. My ultimate tax liability is going to be on the entire amount without prejudice to my portions vs. company match. So that's a detail I don't care about. (I do, of course, track the DEDUCTION of my portion from my paycheck as explained in the 1st paragraph - different from the company match).

Everyone has their own way of doing things in Q. But one thing you should try to remember is that if you give up recording certain types of details now, be sure you don't think you'll need that in the future because it might be difficult to recreate missing details!

Good luck - I look forward to reading comments from others.

If I rememeber correctly, Quicken started life as a very basic program that did little but print checks. It is perfectly reasonable to use it that way. If it weren't so useful as a check printer, I'd advise you to just use an Excel spreadsheet to track your balances. But it is.

Doug

Joseph O'Brien wrote:

real use of this data.

I guess one question is whether it is really going to be easier to do those quarterly "bulk transfer" than it is to do the monthly splits on an on-going basis. I have memorized transactions for my paycheck and mortgage payments so doing the actual recording each month takes very little time.

There are some years when I've needed to file estimated income tax payments during the year, or at least to figure out if I need to do that. I hate doing that kind of work so I think that having accurate numbers in Quicken on an on-going basis makes it less onerous then it would be if I first had to make quarterly adjustments in Quicken so that I have the correct information to determine estimated tax payments.

Fortunately the flexibility of the program lets us each satisfy our own comfort level as far as tracking details or not.

If you are managing cash flow - this is a viable option. Set-up your Checking / Savings and your Credit Cards - record everything else in categories.

There are Online Services that can do this. I am playing with Mint and Wasebe. Don't expect investment information from these two. My initial reaction is Wasebe is more robust - but in many respect more complicated (I struggle in setting up new accounts).

Bank of America does offer a service that will integrate Investments and Checking / Credit / Loans that looks pretty good. It works using a Yodlee interface. This will give your more of a net worth (but with what you are looking for is category spending). It is not perfect as it does not pick up all of my accounts.

And there is Quicken Online ($3 per month)....

I guess I am lost on this one. Why are you recording things anyway? I download from my bank, stock broker, credit cards, etc.

If I had to manually do all that, I would not be doing it, I'm pretty sure.