{"id":1009,"date":"2020-10-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa.simplifimoney.com\/blog\/quicken-highlights-november-2020\/"},"modified":"2024-11-18T10:21:27","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T18:21:27","slug":"quicken-highlights-november-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/quicken-highlights-november-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Quicken Product Highlights November 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One of the main reasons Quicken software <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pcmag.com\/picks\/the-best-personal-finance-services\">wins awards<\/a> is how much you can customize it to meet your needs. You can change your entire category structure however you like. You can create naming rules for your favorite stores so you\u2019re not stuck with the strange transaction names that come from the bank. You can invent your own tags to track your finances in brand new ways. And you can endlessly <a href=\"\/blog\/quicken-reports-best-of-2020\">customize reports<\/a> to show you exactly what you need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This month, the product team is highlighting another powerful way to make Quicken your own: the unparalleled ability to customize your budgets. In both Quicken for Windows and Quicken for Mac, you can change your budget\u2019s categories, amounts, included accounts, and more. Read on to learn more about customizing your Quicken budgets on each platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Getting started with budget customization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you\u2019re relatively new to Quicken, the first thing you\u2019ll want to do is look through your recent transactions and make sure your categories are set up the way you want them. Quicken automatically assigns categories to your transactions based on the payee. Grocery store purchases are assigned to <strong>Groceries<\/strong>, for example. That one\u2019s pretty obvious, but there might be categories you\u2019d like to change to better reflect what the transaction was for. As you update each one, Quicken will give you the option to remember your preference for next time.<a id=\"WinBudgetCustomization\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Quicken uses your categories as a starting place in creating your budget, calculating your projected spending on things like groceries or entertainment based on your actual spending in each category. Once you\u2019re satisfied that your categories paint a fairly accurate picture of your spending, you can create a budget in Quicken for Windows or Quicken for Mac and customize it to suit your needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quicken for Windows: budget customization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose automatic or manual budgeting: <\/strong>When you\u2019re ready to create a budget, you can let Quicken create an automatic budget for you based on your past expenses, or you can build that budget manually by choosing all your categories and setting each amount, creating your budget from the ground up. Most Quicken members start with an automatic budget instead of building one from scratch because you can always change that budget later. Quicken always lets you add, delete, or adjust categories manually, whenever you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Manual-Vs-Automatic-Budget.png\" alt=\"Create a New Budget user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose your categories, subcategories, or category groups: <\/strong>You can choose to budget all of your expense and income categories under each category group, or you can pick and choose the ones you want to track. Quicken Home &amp; Business comes with a set of default groups designed to keep your personal and business expenses organized separately:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Personal expenses<\/li><li>Personal income<\/li><li>Business expenses<\/li><li>Business income<\/li><li>Rental property expenses<\/li><li>Rental property income<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Every version of Quicken lets you choose the categories and subcategories you want to track in your budget. You can also create custom categories and\/or category groups, such as <strong>Kids<\/strong>. You can track your paychecks to monitor your net salary. You can track your spending in a few select categories or down to the last dime. You can even track your savings contributions when you transfer money into your savings account to make sure you\u2019re meeting your savings goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Category-selection.png\" alt=\"Select categories to budget user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose your view: <\/strong>You can set your budget to any view you like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>The graph view shows each budget category as a bar. A red bar indicates you\u2019re over budget and a green bar indicates you\u2019re within budget. You can set your graph view to be monthly, quarterly, yearly, quarter-to-date, year-to-date or last year.<\/li><li>The annual view shows each month of the year\u2019s budget in a tabular format. You can configure that format to show your budgeted amounts, your actual amounts spent, your amounts left to spend, or all three of these.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/View-Option.png\" alt=\"Budget view options user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose your accounts: <\/strong>If you like, you can choose to include only specific accounts in your budget. This lets you create separate budgets for your spouse, partner, parents, kids, etc. without affecting your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Amounts.png\" alt=\"budget menu options\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose your budget amounts: <\/strong>If you let Quicken create a budget for you, Quicken uses your spending history to calculate the average amount you typically spend in each budget category, but you can always edit these as your needs change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you\u2019re considering new amounts for your budget, hover over the bar graph or category row to see the average amount you\u2019ve historically spent on that category. Click on the gear icon near each category for some easy ways to adjust your budget amounts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Amounts.png\" alt=\"budget menu options\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Apply that month\u2019s budget amount for that category to the rest of the year going forward<\/li><li>Apply that month\u2019s budget amount for that category to all the months in the year<\/li><li>Edit your yearly budget for a quick way to set budget amounts for all months of the year<\/li><li>Calculate your average spending on that category in different timeframes: day, week, month, etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose whether to rollover your budget surpluses: <\/strong>If you like, you can configure Quicken to rollover any left-over budget amounts into the next month. For example, if you budget $100 for gasoline each month but you spend only $45 this month, you can rollover the remaining $55 into next month\u2019s budget, giving you $155 to spend instead of the usual $100. You can also choose to rollover all amounts into the next month\u2014not just surpluses but shortfalls too. For example, if you spent $110 on gas in a month budgeted for $100, the next month&#8217;s budget would be $90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Rollover.png\" alt=\"rollover options menu\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Choose more customization options:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Click on Budget Actions &gt; Budget preferences to include or exclude the following:\n<ul class=\"rteindent1\">\n<li>Savings Account to Savings Account transfers<\/li>\n<li>Savings Account to Savings Goal transfers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><li>Click on Budget Actions &gt; View Options to customize the following:\n<ul class=\"rteindent1\">\n<li><strong>Show cents<\/strong>: See all amounts including cents<\/li>\n<li><strong>Include reminders<\/strong>: Use this to include or exclude reminders. If you include reminders, then any upcoming bill, income, or transfer reminder set for that category will show up in the budget bar in a faded red or green color to show you what\u2019s coming up, and the reminder amounts will be included in your budget projections.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Show parent category roll up<\/strong>: Choose this if you want to see how all your subcategory budget items rollup to the parent category. For example, showing parent categories will display your total budget for all <strong>Auto<\/strong> expenses as well as your specific budgets for<strong> Auto Payments<\/strong>, <strong>Gas &amp; Fuel<\/strong>, and so on.<a id=\"MacBudgetCustomization\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quicken for Mac: Budget Customization<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>When you create a new budget, you\u2019ll begin by setting the starting month for your annual budget. Most people pick January, but you can pick any month you like. Some people might choose the month when they purchase Quicken, or they might choose a fiscal calendar for their business.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_newbudget_1.png\" alt=\"create new budget user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Quicken automatically creates a budget for you based on your historical spending in a number of categories.<\/li><li>You\u2019ll probably want to customize this budget to better match your needs. Click <strong>Edit Budget<\/strong> to change your budget.\u200b<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_newbudget_button.png\" alt=\"edit budget button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>At the top, you\u2019ll see a number of different things you can change: the budget name, the budget year, the starting month, and the currency.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_customizebudget.png\" alt=\"general budget configuration options\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>At the bottom, there are buttons that let you change the categories or accounts you want included in your budget.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_cateandacct_buttons.png\" alt=\"Select categories button and select accounts button\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>\u200bClick <strong>Select Categories<\/strong> to choose the categories you want to track in your budget. For example, you might only want to track your discretionary spending in categories like entertainment and shopping without tracking predictable expenses that don\u2019t change, like your car payment.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_categorypicker1.png\" alt=\"select categories user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>A new feature we recently added to Quicken for Mac is the ability to budget transfers. Use this if you want to include transfers from one account into another, such as when you contribute to a savings account from your primary bank account, or when you contribute to a college fund account. If you\u2019re retired, you can also use this to track transfers from your retirement account into your primary bank account.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_transfers1.png\" alt=\"select categories to budget user interface\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Click <strong>Select Accounts<\/strong> to pick the accounts you want to include in your budget. For example, you might not want to include your investment accounts if you\u2019re using your budget to track your spending. If you have a small business, you might not want to include your business accounts. Quicken lets you choose the accounts that make the most sense for your situation.<\/li><li>In the middle of the screen is where you set your budgeted amounts for each category for the entire year.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_editbudget.png\" alt=\"2020 calendar of income and expenses organized by month and category\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>Click in the box for a particular category and month to change that budgeted amount.<\/li><li>When you start typing a number, a drop-down menu appears giving you the option to automatically copy that number to all months, or just going forward or backward from the current month. Quicken will also do the math to help you figure out what number to enter into each month based on a familiar interval. For example, if you know you spend $50 every week for bridge tolls, Quicken can enter the monthly amount for you: $216.67. The calculation formulas are built right in.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_budgetmenu.png\" alt=\"options for fill actions with current monetary data\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"rteindent1 wp-block-list\"><li>When you\u2019re done customizing your budget, click <strong>Save<\/strong> to save your changes.\u200b<\/li><li>In the main budget, you can also customize your budget view.\n<ul class=\"rteindent1\">\n<li>You can see your budget in a 1-month view or a 12-month view\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 251px; height: 34px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_1monthview_tab.png\" alt=\"1-month button and 12-months button\" width=\"251\" height=\"34\"><\/figure><p class=\"rtecenter\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;\"><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>If you go to&nbsp;<strong>Quicken Preferences<\/strong>, you\u2019ll see a number of other options to customize your view, like the ability to see cents, change the layout, change the style of the graph, and control the highlight.\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 619px; height: 286px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_budgetprefs1.png\" alt=\"Budgets preferences user interface\" width=\"619\" height=\"286\"><\/figure><p class=\"rtecenter\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;\"><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>In the 12-month view, you can also choose to hide the Year-to-Date rollup view if you don\u2019t want to see your totals for the year.\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 266px; height: 52px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/mac_totals.png\" alt=\"year-to-date rollup view\" width=\"266\" height=\"52\"><\/figure><p class=\"rtecenter\" style=\"margin-top: 20px;\"><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>To share your own unique tips and tricks for using Quicken, join our <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/community.quicken.com\/\"><em>Quicken Community forums<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the main reasons Quicken software  is how much you can customize it to meet your needs. You can change your entire category structure however you like. You can create naming rules for your favorite stores so you\u2019re not stuck with the strange transaction names that come from the bank. You can invent your own tags to track your finances in brand new ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":1027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Quicken Product Highlights November 2020 | Quicken","_seopress_titles_desc":"Quicken is the most comprehensive and customizable personal finance management solution on the market. This month, the Quicken product team highlights the many ways you can customize a budget to fit your unique needs.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-to"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/QuickenProductHighlights2.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4535,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009\/revisions\/4535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quicken.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}