In past tips, we've stressed how important it is to use categories when you enter transactions in your Quicken Register. Doing so enables you to use all of Quicken's reporting and graphing tools to track past expenses (and plan for the future). Want to look at your transactions from yet another angle? Try your hand at classes.

Similar to categories, classes are a means of separating your transactions into groups. But classes don't replace categories; they complement them. You use classes in addition to categories. Assigning a particular class to transactions across multiple categories allows you to track those transactions as a group.

Sound confusing? As an example, suppose you have three categories--Chips & Salsa, Coffee, and Pizza--to track how much your household spends on these items. But in addition, you'd like to track the amount a certain family member spends on these items (we won't name names--okay, we will--Clayton). Set up a class called "Clayton" and assign it to each applicable transaction. From then on, you can separate all the information pertaining to this class from the rest of the data in your Quicken file.

To create a class:

1. Choose Lists + Class (or press Ctrl + L).
2. Click the New button.
3. In the Set Up Class dialog box, type a name for the class (such as "Clayton") on the Name line.
4. Type a description if you want.
5. Click OK.
6. Repeat Steps 2 through 5 for each class you want to create.

In our next tip, we explain how to assign a class to a transaction.

GO TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASSES--PART 2 OF 3

In our last tip, we introduced classes. Similar to categories, classes are a means of separating your transactions into groups--not to replace categories, but to complement them. (For example, if you want to track all transactions related to a particular person, regardless of the category, you can create a class under that person's name.) As a quick review, to create a class, choose Lists + Class, click the New button, type a name and description, and click OK.

After your classes are set up, the next thing you need to do is assign them to your transactions:

1. Enter the transaction as you would normally.
2. When you reach the Category field, select a category and then press Ctrl + L (or select Lists + Class).
3. Double-click the class you'd like to assign to the transaction.

(Note: Feel free to go back and add classes to existing transactions using this technique.)

Back at the transaction, you see the category name followed by a forward slash (/) and then the class name--as in Pizza/Clayton. (Tip: If you prefer, you can type the forward slash and the class name manually, bypassing the class list altogether.)

For our final tip on classes, we show you how to create a report that displays information by class.

GO TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASSES--PART 3 OF 3

In the first tip in this series, we introduced classes. Similar to categories, classes are a means of separating your transactions into groups--not to replace categories, but to complement them. (For example, if you want to track all transactions related to a particular person, regardless of the category, you can create a class under that person's name.)

Here's a quick review: To create a class, select Lists + Class, click the New button, type a name and description, and click OK. To assign a class to a transaction, enter the transaction as you would normally, except that after you select a category, press Ctrl + L (or select Lists + Class) and double-click the class you'd like to assign to the transaction. (You end up with the category followed by a forward slash and then the class name.)

All this hard work is about to pay off. Finally, we can see just how much Clayton (our CLASS guinea pig--ha! Get it?) spent on Chips & Salsa, Coffee, and Pizza (the three categories we mentioned in our original example). The following steps show how to create a report that displays information by class:

1. Select Reports + Home + Itemized Categories.
2. Click the Customize button to open the Customize Itemized Categories Report dialog box.
3. Select the relevant options on the Display and Accounts tabs.
4. Click the Include tab.
5. Under Select to Include, click the Clear All button and then select whatever categories you want (for our example, we would select the Chips & Salsa, Coffee, and Pizza categories).
6. Under Matching, click the down arrow under Classes and select whatever class you want to analyze (in our example, we would select the Clayton class).
7. Click the Create button.

Holy mackerel--er, we mean pizza, coffee, and chips!

GOOD HELP COMES IN THREES

Need help in the current Quicken windows? Don't waste your time choosing Help + Index and then typing in what you THINK is the right term for the problem you're having. With the click of a button (or two or, actually, three), Quicken can give you help with exactly what you're doing.

To invoke help for the current window, try any of these techniques:

• Click How Do I? in the upper-right corner of the Quicken window (assuming QuickTabs are on) and select the topic that applies.
• Press F1 and select the appropriate topic.
• Click the Iconbar's Help button and select a topic.

KEEP HELP ON HAND

If you're the type who likes to keep reference books, dictionaries, and what-have-you propped open while you work, then you'll like this tip. You can configure the Help in Quicken so that it remains open and on top of your Quicken window, up where you can see it anytime. (Normally, when the Help window is active and you click the Quicken window, the Help window goes to the background.)

To keep Help active:

1. Choose Help + Current Window.
2. Choose Options + Keep Help on Top + On Top.

Now, whenever you access the Help system, it remains active for the length of the current Quicken session. If you want it out of the way, click the Minimize button to send it to the background. To bring it to the foreground, click the Help button in the Windows taskbar.

REVIEWING HISTORY

A handy tool in Quicken's help system is the Help History window, which shows you the path you've taken to arrive at a particular topic. This window also enables you to keep track of the Help screens you've viewed so that you can revisit one later if you need to.

To use the Help History window:

1. Choose Help + Current Window.
2. Choose Options + Display History Window.

A list of all the Help screens you've visited in the current help session appears. To return to a previously viewed page, double-click the page's title. To close the Help History window, click the Close button.

HOW MUCH IS THAT GRAPH IN THE WINDOW?

Have you ever noticed that when you create a graph in Quicken, a single window usually has multiple graphs? Unlike reports, which always appear in their own separate window, Quicken combines the graphs. When you want to take a closer look at the specifics of a graph, you must double-click the graph to generate what is called a "Zoom Graph"--which is essentially each graph displayed in its own window. Here's a little tip for you: You can instruct Quicken to always create graphs in their own separate windows. That way, you can get to the information you are looking for a lot quicker.

To display graphs separately:

1. Choose Edit + Options + Graphs.
2. In the Graph Options box, select Create All Graphs In Separate Windows.
3. Click OK.

The next time you create a graph, Quicken uses separate windows to generate each part of the graph.

CUSTOMIZING GRAPHS

Graphs can be customized to meet your own specifications, based on the information you want to manipulate. Click Customize at the top of the graph window to display the Customize dialog box. Then change the source of information or the date range to see a different set of figures reflected in your graphs.

INSTANT PRINT ON GRAPHS

Try not to have a twitchy trigger finger when it comes time to print any graphs. Quicken doesn't have the typical Print setup dialog box that asks you about options before actually rousing the printer. When you click the Print button or open File, Print Graph, or press Ctrl+P, the graph heads right to the printer for immediate ink work.

SPLITTING HAIRS

Quicken assumes that any transaction amount you enter in the register should agree with the total of the individual split transaction amounts entered in the Split Transaction window.

If you're not sure what the split transaction amounts total is, your best bet is to NOT enter the amount on the Register tab. Instead, enter the individual split transaction amounts in the Split Transaction window.

When you leave the Split Transaction window, Quicken totals your individual split amounts and then prompts you to see whether the total is a payment or a deposit. Then it plugs this total into either the Payment or the Deposit field.

If you've already entered either a payment amount or a deposit amount but you're not sure that the split transaction amounts agree with what you entered, you can tell Quicken to adjust the Payment or Deposit amount on the Register tab to whatever the individual split transaction amounts total. To do so, click the Split Transaction window Adjust button. Quicken then adds up the split transaction lines and plugs the total into the register.

By the way, Quicken shows any difference between the amount shown on the Register tab and the individual split transaction amounts. It shows this difference as the last split transaction line so you can tell whether the individual splits agree with the payment or deposit amount shown in the register.

HARD-COPY BACKUP--PART 1 OF 2

Even though keeping track of your checking account is very easy in Quicken, there's a lot to be said for the paper-based check register you carry around with your checkbook. For one thing, it's a hard-copy backup of all the activity on your checking account. Just as you shouldn't rely on a single backup copy of your Quicken file, you definitely shouldn't rely on a purely electronic copy of your checking account. Get in the habit, at least once a month, of printing a copy of your check register for safe keeping. Note that you can also print a listing of all the transactions found in your other Quicken accounts as well.

To print your check register:

1. Switch to your checking account by choosing Lists + Account; then double-click your checking account name.
2. Choose File + Print Register.
3. Enter a title for the register listing, if you like.
4. Enter the From and To dates in the Print register dialog box for the transactions you want to print.
5. Click Print.
6. In the Print dialog box, click OK.

HARD-COPY BACKUP--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to print a listing of all the transactions in your check register. If you printed a register report, you probably noticed that Quicken does not automatically list out all the items that you may have assigned to a split category level. (You create a split transaction to allocate a payment or deposit to more than one category or account.) When you generate a check register printout, each split transaction displays the total amount of the transaction and the label "--SPLIT--." If you want to see all the items included in a split transaction, you have to tell Quicken to include this info.

To include all the items in a split transaction in your printed register report, follow these steps:

1. If necessary, switch to your checking account (choose Lists + Account and then double-click your checking account name).
2. Choose File + Print Register.
3. Enter a title; then enter dates in the From and To fields.
4. In the Options section of the dialog box, select Print Split Selections.
5. Click Print.
6. In the Print dialog box, click the OK button to print the register.

HAVE IT YOUR WAY

If you've been using your ATM debit card to make your purchases, you've probably noticed that Quicken doesn't have a predefined reference category to track these transactions. To see what I mean, choose Lists + Accounts to open your check register and click in the Num field of any blank transaction line and then click the drop-down arrow. The closest option, ATM, should really be used for cash withdrawals from ATM machines. But you can easily create your own reference item:

1. Click the drop-down arrow in the Num field.
2. Click the Edit List button.
3. In the Edit Num List dialog box, click the New button.
4. Enter the name you want to use (a maximum of 6 characters is allowed). Enter "Debit" (sans quotes) or something similar.
5. Click OK.
6. Click Done.

HAVE IT YOUR WAY

Have you ever wanted to run a report that shows only your big-ticket items? Maybe one that shows all payments over $500, for example? With Quicken, you can create nearly any report and then modify the settings so that it includes only transactions that exceed an amount you specify. Similarly, you can create a report that lists transactions that are less than any specified amount.

To generate a report with specific transactions:

1. Generate the report as usual. For example, choose Reports + Home + Itemized Categories.
2. Click the Customize button in the Create Report dialog box.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. In the Amounts field, select Greater Than from the drop-down list.
5. Enter the amount you want to use as the cut-off point in the appropriate field. For example, to include transactions that are greater than $500, enter 500.
6. In the Transactions type drop-down list, select Payments to include only payments in the report.
7. Click Create.

Quicken generates a report that lists only those payments with amounts greater than the amount specified.

HAVE YOU UPDATED QUICKEN LATELY?

Did you know that even though you already purchased Quicken, the folks at Intuit are busily making updates or fixes to the software? Quicken frequently releases software patches, file updates, and the like. You can access these updates via Quicken.com if you use Quicken Deluxe 98. Get in the habit of checking every so often for the updates. If you already download Online Quotes or Market Watch, you have also probably received software updates (which happens automatically whenever you download information from Quicken.com).

Even if you don't download Online Quotes or Market Watch data, you can still check for software updates. Here's how:

1. In Quicken, choose Online + Update Quicken 98.
2. Deselect Online Quotes, Market Watch, and Security News.
3. Click Update Now. If there are no updates to download, Quicken tells you.
4. Select Tell Me More to view the update information.
5. Click Update Now to update the software.
6. When the download has finished, select Exit Quicken from the resulting dialog box. The update program then runs to update your software.
7. When the update is complete, click OK to restart Quicken.

CHANGE YOUR HEADINGS

Just as you can change the way Quicken organizes the rows of information in a report, you can also change the columns. Say, for example, that you wanted to display your transaction amounts on a weekly or monthly basis. You can easily change the column headings to accommodate this.

To change your column headings:

1. Generate the report as you normally would. For example, choose Reports + Home + Cash Flow and then click the Create button in the Create Report dialog box.
2. Click the Customize button.
3. Select the Display tab (if necessary) in the Customize Cash Flow Report dialog box.
4. Select the appropriate choice in the Column field of the Headings section. For example, if you want your cash flow report to show column totals for two-week periods, select Two Weeks from the dropdown list. You can also have the report list your totals by quarters, months, or other time periods.
5. Click Create.

HIDDEN IN CLEAR VIEW

Inactive accounts are better hidden than deleted.

You'll be truly glad of that move when the time comes to peek at something in that old account.

How?

1. Open Lists + Accounts.
2. Click on the Options button.
3. Click on View Hidden Accounts.
4. Click on the re-appeared account.
5. Click on the Hide button, which in this case is really "Unhide".

Now you can dig into that account, and then hide it again later if you want.

YOU GOTTA HIDE YOUR DOUGH AWAY

Quicken can help you save for a future goal by "hiding" some of the funds in your account. Quicken deducts some the money from the register balance displayed, according to a savings objective you specify. The idea here is that if you don't see the designated amount of money in your register balance, you're less likely to spend it.

To take advantage of this clever tool:

1. Choose Planning, Savings Goals. The Savings Goals window appears.
2. Click the New button on the button bar in the Savings Goals window. The Create New Savings Goal dialog box appears.
3. Enter the name for your savings goal, the dollar amount for the goal, and the Finish Date for the goal.
4. Click OK.
5. In the Savings Goals window, click the Contribute button on the button bar. The Contribute to Goal dialog box appears.
6. In the From Account field, select the name of the account from which you want to use funds to meet your goal.
7. In the Date field, indicate the date on which you want to subtract the funds from the account balance.
8. Enter the amount to be deducted in the Amount field.
9. Click OK.

HIDING SECURITIES

A reader recently asked how he would go about deleting from his investment account a security he no longer owned. When he tried to delete the security outright, it affected the balances of his various investment accounts. Therein lies the problem. When you delete a security, you also delete any record of it in your Quicken accounts. The best thing to do is to hide the security. That way, you can exclude it from your day-to-day activities, but retain the important transactions for use in reports and for your records.

To hide a security:

1. Choose Lists + Investment + Security.
2. Select the security you want to hide.
3. Click the Hide button. Doing so removes the security from the Security List. (If you want to display the name of your hidden securities along with your active securities, select the View Hidden Securities option at the bottom of the window.)

To unhide a security:

1. Choose Lists + Investment + Security.
2. In the Security List window, first make sure the View Hidden Securities option is selected.
3. Select the name of the hidden security. (A hand icon denotes hidden securities.)
4. Click the Hide button again to turn off the hidden option.

ANCIENT QUICKEN HISTORY

Spending too much time and money is easy if you buy every software upgrade that comes along. But if you wait for a couple of generations (software generations, that is), the new version will probably have enough new features to make upgrading worth your while. Here's a quick ancient (like back-in-the-80s-and-early-90s ancient) Quicken history: - Quicken for Windows: Added investments reports and graphs; an Internal Rate of Return feature; electronic bill payment; easy report selection; direct access to graphs; loan, retirement, and savings planners; Qcards; and IntelliCharge credit card tracking.

• Quicken 2 for Windows: Added the Iconbar, investment performance, and value improvements; QuickZoom; a stock price history window; tax-deferred accounts; multiple lot handling; Investment goals; copying reports to the Clipboard; and Autocreate budgeting.
• Quicken 3 for Windows: Added a pop-up calendar and calculator; the Button bar; auto-scheduled transactions; investment forms; memorized reports; QuickReports; the capapicty to forecast and manage variable interest rate loans; savings goals; refinance and college planners; and the Financial calendar.

SECURITY HISTORY

Don't delete a security from your Security List just because you've sold out your entire holding. Deleting erases all of the history of the security's performance. If and when you buy the same security again, you may want that history for analysis and comparison. In the meanwhile, just hide the security so it doesn't clutter your current list with a zero balance: Go to the Security List, select the name of your security, and click Hide.

HOPPING ON THE REFINANCE BANDWAGON

Want to pay off your debt once and for all? Why not refinance your mortgage for a larger amount and take advantage of the great low rates while they last? Use Quicken's Mortgage Refinance tool to get a sense of how much you can afford and see what will happen to your monthly mortgage payment if you refinance at a higher principal amount.

To find out whether refinancing is right for you:

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + Refinance.
2. Enter the current payment information in the Existing Mortgage section of the Refinance Planner window.
3. Enter the modified information in the Proposed Mortgage section.
4. In the Break Even Analysis section, enter the Mortgage Closing Costs and any Mortgage Points that you'll have to pony up.
5. Click Calculate.

Take note of the Monthly Principal/Int and Monthly Savings amounts and the Total Closing Costs and Months to Break Even items to see whether refinancing makes sense for you. Remember, you should also factor in a possible increase in taxes and insurance premiums if you raise the mortgage amount or do any major renovations to your house. It pays to talk to a financial advisor before you make any dramatic financial decisions.

Tip in a tip: If you're undecided about getting refinance cash in order to pay off credit card debt, factor into your decision that you'll be paying a much lower interest rate with a refinance mortgage than you would to those cutthroat credit card companies and that mortgage interest is tax deductible.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU AFFORD? PART 1 OF 2

Eyeballing that spiffy new SUV but wondering whether you can afford it? Let Quicken's Financial Planner help you find out. To see how much that brand new Jimmy with the leather seats and CD player would set you back each month, you can enter price of the car or the loan amount, the current interest rate, and the number of years on the loan. The Loan Planner feature of the Financial Planner then calculates the monthly payment.

To use the Financial Planner, follow these steps:

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + Loan.
2. Enter the amount of the car in the Loan Amount field.
3. In the appropriate section, enter the annual interest rate you think you can get from your loan institution.
4. In the appropriate section, enter the number of years you want to carry the loan.
5. In the appropriate section, enter the number of payments you'll make per year.
6. In the Calculate For section, make sure Payment Per Period is selected.
7. Click Calculate to determine the Payment Per Period.

Yikes . . . guess it's time to look for a cheaper car.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU AFFORD? PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to use the Loan Planner component of Quicken's Financial Planner to determine how much a monthly payment would be on the car of your dreams. What if you want to figure out how much of a loan you can afford, based on the amount per month you think you can swing? Well, doing so is just as easy:

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + Loan to start the Loan Planner.
2. In the Calculate For section, select Loan Amount.
3. Enter all the required information. In this case, enter the Payment per Period you think you can afford and make sure all the other fields reflect the correct information.
4. Click Calculate to determine the amount of a loan you could expect to get, based on these parameters.

Guess it's time to check out a few used car lots. Or--and here's an idea--maybe you just need to increase your savings. Quicken can help you with that!

HOW MUCH IS THAT MORTGAGE IN THE WINDOW?

Considering refinancing your mortgage? You have to admit, rates are looking pretty attractive these days! If you aren't sure whether refinancing would make a worthwhile difference for you--a lot depends on how long you plan to stay in your house--ask Quicken's online mortgage center to run the numbers for you. (Note: You need a modem that's configured properly to use this feature.)

1. Hold your mouse pointer over the Home & Car item on the Activity Bar; from the pop-up menu, select Mortgage Rates. (Alternatively, select Online + Quicken on the Web + Mortgage Center.)
2. When the Quicken Mortgage screen appears, click the Start Here button.
3. Click the "Should you refinance now?" option.
4. Complete the questionnaire.
5. Click Calculate.

So what do you think? Time to refinance?

ABUNDANT HELP

Quicken provides a variety of forms of Help, much like the Help functions in other Windows-based programs. The Help menu contains the following options:

• Index shows a list of all the available Help topics in alphabetical order.
• Find locates information about a topic based on keywords that you type.
• Contents is a detailed table of contents of available Help topics.
• Quicken Show Me Videos offer helpful graphic examples, as well as a soundtrack. There are dozens of topics to choose from, ranging from financial and account management to the latest Internet features offered by the program.
• Quicken Online Help includes access to the Quicken online technical support feature, as well as access to product upgrade information.

HYPERLINKED PLANNING HELP

While you use Quicken's Planners, note the words and phrases that are underlined. You can click any of these to get helpful information related to that particular word, phrase, or section of the Planner. Click these hyperlinks to open the Quicken Answers window, which may include further links you can click for more detail. Of course, you can always get more thorough and complete help from the Help menu.

I HAVE HOW MANY VACATION DAYS LEFT?--PART 1 OF 2

Now that summer is but a distant memory, it's time to start planning your next vacation. Surprise, surprise! Quicken can help you keep track of that most important asset--your vacation time. First create an asset account and then enter each vacation day you accrue as an increase in the account; you enter the time you take as a decrease. You can use this method to record sick leave, personal days, or any other time off allocated to you by your employer.

To keep a running total of your vacation time:

1. On the toolbar, choose Features + Banking + Create New Account.
2. Select Asset from the list and click Next.
3. In the Asset Account Setup box, enter a name for the account, such as Vacation Accrued, and click Next.
4. To set the initial amount for the account, select Yes in the Easy Step window and click Next.
5. Enter the date you want to start (the current date is the default setting).
6. Enter the initial balance of the account. (If your vacation days accrue at an hourly rate, enter the number of hours you currently have accrued; otherwise, enter the amount in days.) Click Next.
7. Double-check the information in the Summary screen and then click Done.

You have now created a new asset account called Vacation Accrued. As you accrue hours, enter them as an increase in the asset account. Remember to use the same type of number--either hours or days--for each increase. When you take time off, enter the amount of hours or days as a decrease.

If you'd like, you can set up a scheduled transaction to automatically deposit your vacation time to the account when you accrue it. To do so:

1. On the Toolbar, choose Lists + Scheduled Transaction. Click New in the upper left pane of the Scheduled Transaction List window.
2. Select your Vacation account in the Account To Use box.
3. Select Deposit in the Type of Transaction line of the same dialog box.
4. Enter the payee information, indicate the Vacation category, and enter the accrual amount.
5. Select the accrual rate in the How Often box. For example, if you accrue at a bimonthly rate, per paycheck, select the appropriate amount.
6. In the Record in Register box, select Automatically Enter. Click OK when you have finished entering the information.

Who knows, if you manage to sock away enough vacation days by next summer, you could arrange to take off every Friday or--better yet--every Monday.

I HAVE HOW MANY VACATION DAYS LEFT?--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to create a Vacation Accrual account to help keep track of vacation time: Choose Features + Banking + Create New Account. Select Asset and click Next. Enter a name for the account, such as Vacation Accrued, and click Next. To set the initial amount for the account, select Yes and click Next. Enter the start date and the initial balance of the account. Remember to record your vacation time consistently, whether in terms of hours or days. Click Done when you have finished.

After you create your vacation account, you need to exclude it from any reports you generate. To remove this account from your reports, create the report you have in mind or access a previously created report by choosing Reports from the Toolbar. Then follow these steps:

1. Click the Customize button in the left pane of your Report window.
2. Select the Accounts tab in the Customize Itemize Report box and deselect the account named Vacation Accrual.
3. Click Create.
4. You have to remember to exclude your vacation account from each and every report you create. I know, I know, it's a real pain in the keester. An alternative is to create a brand new Quicken file to keep track of this type of data (vacation days, sick days, or any other account that doesn't have any monetary value). By keeping this information separate from your financial data, you wouldn't have to worry about it affecting your bottom line.

HEY, WHO HUNG UP THE PHONE?

Tired of being disconnected from the Internet? All you did was get up to get a snack, and when you returned . . . nothing. Quicken hung up.

By default, after five minutes of no online activity, Quicken throws a dialog box on-screen asking if you want to be disconnected. You've got 30 seconds to click the Stay Connected button or you're offline--which means you can't leave the room or work in another application without being disconnected--that is, unless you change this five-minute warning to something a little more reasonable. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Select Edit + Options + Internet Connection.
2. Under When Connected, change the number in the box to 20, 60, or 120 (that's the limit)--whatever you think is reasonable.
3. Click OK.

Now, Quicken bugs you about disconnecting only if your inactivity exceeds the time specified. Five lousy minutes--what were they thinking?

I NEED TO SOCK AWAY HOW MUCH? PART 1 OF 3

A few weeks ago, we ran a series of tips on setting up a budget to help you stick to a savings plan. We also promised to run some savings-related tips, in case you don't already have a savings plan in place. So, without further ado, here's the first of three tips on setting some savings goals.

Quicken offers a number of financial planners that help you calculate exactly how much you need to save in order to meet a particular goal, such as retirement, college tuition, or any other big expense you may be anticipating. In today's tip, we cover the most important of all savings goals--planning for retirement. We show you how to calculate just how much you're going to need to live that life of leisure you've always dreamed about. (If you've never done an exercise like this, get ready for a big shock. You'll need to save more money than you think.)

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + Retirement.
2. When the Retirement Planner dialog box appears, find the section labeled Calculate For. Select Annual Contribution. (Your goal here is to determine how much you need to save.)
3. Complete the information under Retirement Information, making sure to fill in the Annual Income After Taxes field (in today's dollars) with the amount you think you'll need to live on after retirement.
4. Under Inflation, leave the predicted inflation at 4.00% and make sure Annual Income in Today's $ is selected.
5. Complete the Tax Information section, if applicable.
6. Click Calculate (or press Tab).

Quicken does its thing, and you can check out the resulting number next to Annual Contribution in the Retirement Information box. Ouch. This means that, if you invest the specified amount annually (at the rate you filled in next to Annual Yield) from now until your retire, you'll be all set. As an example, if you have $15,000 in an investment that yields 8.00 percent annually, expect to retire in 33 years at age 65 and live until 85, and think you'll need $25,000 annually after retirement, you need to start saving $9216.16 annually.

Yikes--better start saving! (What's the old adage? "Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.")

I NEED TO SOCK AWAY HOW MUCH? PART 2 OF 3

In our last tip, we showed you how to use one of Quicken's Financial Planners to figure out how much you need to save to assure a comfortable retirement. Not pretty, eh? If you think that's bad, wait until you see how much it's going to cost to send your kids to college! Another of Quicken's financial planners can help you reveal the cold, hard facts:

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + College to open the College Planner dialog box.
2. Under Calculate For, select Annual Contribution (because your goal here is to determine the amount you need to save each year).
3. Complete the College Information section. (Tip: Enter Annual College Costs in today's dollars.)
4. Under Inflation, leave Inflate Contributions unselected.
5. Click Calculate (or press Tab).

After you've braced yourself for the news, take a look at that Annual Contribution. (Sheesh!) As an example, if you estimate $30,000 for Annual College Costs, have a child that will attend a four-year college in 17 years, and haven't saved a penny to date, you need to invest $5,965.08 annually at 8.00 percent to meet these costs. (And THAT'S only for one child.) Otherwise, it's loan city!

(Tip: If you don't have enough to save for retirement and college, make retirement your priority. You can take loans out to send your kids through college. You can't borrow money to pay for retirement!)

I NEED TO SOCK AWAY HOW MUCH? PART 3 OF 3

In our last two tips, we showed you how to use Quicken's financial planners to determine how much money you need to save annually to meet retirement and college tuition costs. Still in shock? (Not half as shocked as you would have been if you'd reached these life events and hadn't saved anything!) For the last tip in this series, we look at some savings goals that are a little less shocking--such as a family getaway or a down payment on a new car. Quicken offers a generic Savings planner to help you turn goals such as these into reality.

1. Choose Features + Planning + Financial Planners + Savings to open the Investment Savings Planner dialog box.
2. Under Calculate For, select Regular Contribution.
3. Under Savings Information, complete the opening and rate information; then type your savings goal next to Ending Savings Balance.
4. Next to Number of Years, fill in the number of years you plan to save. (Or you can change Years to Months and fill in the number of months.)
5. Click Calculate (or press Tab).

Next to Contribution Each Year, you'll see the amount you need to invest annually to meet your goal. For example, if you're trying to save $5,000 for a vacation in two years, you need to invest $208.83 a month (or $2600.00 a year) at 8.00 percent.

(Note: If you're wondering why you'd need to invest $2600 per year when the goal is only $5,000, remember that Quicken inflates your goal. In two years, you'll need $5,408 to equal the purchasing power of $5,000 of today.)

I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND--PART 1 OF 2

In our last series of tips, we showed you how to use the Security Setup screens to add securities to your Investment account. We chose this hand-holding method the first time around to give you a feel for the information that you need for each security in order to track it in Quicken. You may be wondering if you can simply enter this information yourself, directly in the Investment Register. While the answer is yes, we don't recommend that you do so. At least not until you are very familiar with the way Quicken handles the investment transactions.

But you also don't need to slog through the Security Setup screens for every transaction you create. You can use the EasyActions button located in the Investment Register. When you click the EasyActions button, a list of menu choices appears. Select the transaction type you want to record from this list. For example, select Buy/Add Shares to add shares to your account. Quicken uses the same step-by-step approach to gather the appropriate information needed for the transaction. Follow along with the required prompts and click Done when you have finished.

I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAND--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we talked about using the EasyActions button to enter investment transactions, at least until you get the hang of the Investment Register. If you need to make changes to an existing transaction, we also recommend that you do so from a single dialog box instead of typing over information directly in the transaction line.

To edit an existing transaction:

1. Click anywhere within the transaction you need to edit and then click the Form button. The Buy/Add Shares dialog box appears and contains all the information for the current entry.
2. Make any changes as necessary.
3. Click Done to save your changes.

DON'T LEAVE QUICKEN OFF THE HOOK

If you don't set Quicken's online options right, your download sessions for new portfolio values and news could leave your phone line tied up with an Internet connection. Avoid that by following these steps:

1. Choose Online + Internet Connection.
2. Choose Options.
3. In the Internet Connection Options dialog box, select Disconnect from the Internet.
4. Click OK.

I WANT MY ICONBAR

By default, Quicken uses the Activity Bar located along the bottom of your screen to provide access to the most frequently used commands. But if you're the type who prefers toolbars like those found in other Windows applications, why not use the IconBar instead? (Unfortunately, in Quicken, you can't have both; you have to choose one over the other.)

To turn on the IconBar:

1. Choose Edit + Options + IconBar.
2. In the Customize IconBar dialog box, select Show Icons to turn on the IconBar. The IconBar appears at the top of the Quicken window.
3. To display the text along with the icons, select Show Text. Or, to conserve space, you may decide to display just the icons or just the text; just select (or deselect) the appropriate option.
4. Click Done to close the Customize Toolbar dialog box.

In future tips, we show you how to create your own icons. Stay tuned.

ICONS . . . LIGHT THE CORNER OF YOUR MEMORIES

Want to change the icon or name used to represent a memorized report? Maybe that rubber ducky isn't right for your net worth report after all! Have no fear--the Memorized tab of the Create Reports offers all the options you need to manage your saved reports.

To change the icon for, or rename, a memorized report:

1. Select Reports + Memorized Reports.
2. Select the report you want to delete.
3. Click the Edit button.
4. Change the Title, Description, or icon used to represent the report--or change all three if you want.
5. Click OK.

Then again, that ducky wasn't so bad . . .

AN ICON'S WORTH A THOUSAND CLICKS

Quicken's Iconbar offers a quicker route to the commands and features than does the menubar, or even the Activity Bar for that matter. You can shave off even more time by adding the commands you use most frequently to the Iconbar. To do so, you simply create your own icons and then add them to the Iconbar.

To add an icon to the iconbar:

1. From the menubar, choose Edit + Options + Iconbar.
2. Click the New button.
3. From the Icon Action list, select the action you want to add to the bar. For instance, select Budget to add the Budget tool to your icon bar.
4. Click the Change button.
5. Select the graphic image you want to use for the icon.
6. Type the label to use for the icon in the Icon Label field.
7. Assign a speed key combination if you wish and click OK.
8. Click OK to add the icon to the iconbar.
9. Back at the Customize Iconbar dialog box, make sure the Show Icons option is selected and click Done.

If you can't find the icon you've just added to the iconbar, don't worry, you're not going loopy. Just click the little arrows located at the far left and right of the iconbar to cycle through the available icons.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY--PART 1 OF 2

Quicken can organize just about every aspect of your life. You can track expenses, keep in touch with friends and family, inventory your home, and keep track of all your important documents; you know--the ones stuffed in the strongbox under your bed. In this tip, we show you how to use the Emergency Records Organizer to keep all your important information in a single, easily accessible place. What's more, you can also generate a number of reports to make available to your family, lawyer, or caretaker, in case of an emergency.

To use the Emergency Records Organizer:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Features + Planning + Emergency Records Organizer.
2. Select the Create/Update Records tab in the resulting window.
3. In the Emergency Records Organizer window, click the Select an Area drop down-list.
4. Select a Topic.
5. Enter the required information.
6. Repeat these steps by entering all the required information for each subsequent topic in the Create/Update Records window.

To generate a report, select the Report tab and then select the type of report you want to create. The report appears in the Report area of the screen. Click Print to generate a hard copy.

In the next tip, we show you how to keep these records safe from snoops.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we introduced the Emergency Records Organizer, which helps you track your important documents. To get started, choose Features + Planning + Emergency Records Organizer. Select the Create/Update Records tab and select a topic from the drop-down list in the Select an Area section. Enter the required information.

Although the Emergency Records Organizer makes updating and locating your important documents easy, there's a lot to be said for that old strongbox. For one thing, the nice big lock keeps out snooping eyes. Fortunately, Quicken anticipated your security needs and allows you to assign a password to your file so that only those that know the password can view the contents of the file.

To keep out snoops:

1. From the Toolbar, choose File + Passwords + File.
2. Enter a password in the Password box and then reenter it in the Confirm Password text box.
3. Click OK. Write down the password and keep it in a safe place.

The next time you attempt to open the file, Quicken prompts you for the password. Those who are unable to supply the password won't be able to open the file.

EXTRA INCOME

Even income that starts and stops, comes for only a few months or years, or hits in a lump-sum, will affect your Retirement Planner. If you get child support money, for example, and know it will end in five years or ten, use the Add Other Income section of the Retirement Planner to enter specific dates and amounts. Do the same for any alimony, trust fund (we all wish), or inheritance (we all wish again). Do this only for sure-things -- or at least, legally-entitled things. Don't put a hoped-for windfall inheritance if-only-the-will-is-changed -- not unless you're just pipe dreaming.

INCOME YTD

The Tax Center window displays a pertinent number that could be wrong: The Income YTD. That's year to date, the amount you've made since January 1. The taxes you owe so far, naturally, are based on this amount. But if you live anything more complicated than a simple salary life, your YTD as shown may not include all of your income. Did you remember to make all other income categories tax-related? For example, if you have a part-time business or you receive tips for guiding rafting trips, you need to go into the Category list and make sure these are designated as tax-related for income.

INFLATION STATION

Investment firms often tout how a few dollars put away today can blossom into a million by retirement. And certainly few of us are saving enough. But the high rates of return those firms assume can also mean high rates of inflation, and that inflation will mean that a million by retirement might not be enough to buy a car. Here's how Quicken 98 Deluxe, for example, can show you what your savings will actually mean in purchasing power--based on today's dollars:

1. Choose Features + Planning.
2. Choose Financial Planners + Savings Calculator.
3. Click the Ending Savings Balance radio button.
4. Enter your savings information--the amount you can save each year, how many years you have before retirement, and what percent you're earning on your investments. You can estimate these numbers.
5. Enter an inflation rate of 0% and click on Calculate to see what your savings will add up to.
6. Change the inflation rate to 2% and select the Inflate Contributions box. (Doing so means that you expect prices and your income to climb regularly and that you plan to contribute the same percentage of your income to savings over the years.)
7. Click Calculate. You should see a much larger number for your Ending Savings Balance. Don't get too excited yet.
8. Click the Ending Balance in Today's $ check box; then click Calculate again to see what your savings will actually be worth at retirement.

Welcome back to Earth. You can play with that inflation number more, pushing it up to 10 percent to see what high inflation can mean to your retirement savings.

INFLATION RATION

Nothing eats up a retirement income like inflation. If inflation outpaces the interest you're earning on savings, and any cost-of-living adjustments to your pension and Social Security, your real retirement income will be dropping. The inflation rate will even affect the raises you get while you're still working and saving toward retirement. So what will inflation be: 1%, 3%, 10%? No one knows for sure. Quicken guesses 3% in its Retirement Planner. If you think you know better, use the Planner's Inflation section to tell Quicken so.

INFORMATION IS KEY

If you're connected to the Web--these days who isn't?--you can gain a wealth of financial information from Quicken.com, Quicken's official Web site. On it, you find additional tips, financial calculators, and industry-specify articles. You can also watch the stock market, read up on the latest trends, and peruse a variety of materials aimed at helping you get a better grip on your personal finances.

You can access Quicken.com from directly within a running Quicken program, or you can access it any time you are surfing the Web, simply by typing www.quicken.com. (To access the Web from Quicken, you must have first established a connection via the Internet Connection setup options found in Quicken.)

To access Quicken.com from within Quicken, just choose Online + Quicken on the Web + Quicken.com.

Quicken establishes an Internet connection through your ISP and displays the Quicken.com Web site. Browse through the many options found on the Quicken.com site. When you have finished with the session, choose Online + Disconnect. Note that if you use an Internet Service Provider such as AOL, you have to first switch over to AOL and then disconnect from within the program.

INFORMATION AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Just as we recommend that you make use of the Memo field in Quicken's account registers to keep track of your purchases, we recommend that you use the little Info Button located in all account windows. When you click this button, you access a dialog box in which you can post identifying account information--a big help for those times when you can't put your hands on a piece of information itself, such as the credit card bill or bank statement. For example, if you can't find your car loan payment booklet, you can simply look up your account number in the Account Information screen and write it (where else?) in the Memo field on your check so that you can get your bill out on time.

To record Account information:

1. Choose Lists + Account.
2. Select the account name from the list and click the Info button located along the top of the screen.
3. In the Additional Account Information dialog box that appears, enter as much information as desired in the required text boxes. Again, the more information, the better. Some key fields may include Account Number, Contact, and Phone Number.
4. Click OK to complete the entry.

Whenever you need an account number or contact name for an account, simply switch to the Accounts List, select the account name, and click the Info button.

INFORMATION ISN'T NUMBERS

Sure, it's nice to see summarized and cross-categorized transactions and other such detail, but often your true goal in turning to personal finance software is to answer some basic question, such as "How much do I have?" or "Where did it all go?" Quicken tries to make finding these answers easy. In Quicken 5, for example, the EasyAnswers reports do the work.

1. Choose Reports + EasyAnswers.
2. In the Create Report window, click the question you want answered:
   • Where did I spend my money?
   • How much did I spend on?
   • How much did I save compared to?
   • What am I worth as of?
   • Did I meet my budget?
3. From that question's drop-down list, choose a time period, such as Last Year or Last Month.
4. Click Create.

A report that answers the question appears.

INSURANCE ASSURANCE

Need insurance? Not sure whether you're getting the best insurance deal you can? Let Quicken help you find the best rates for any type of insurance: home, car, life, and medical.

1. Click the Household QuickTab under My Finances.
2. Click Instant Insurance Quote. Quicken connects to the Internet
3. Next to the appropriate kind of insurance, type your zip code and then click Go. You can click links for other types of insurance or click the links under "Insurance Tools and Information" for planners and auto insurance.
4. When you're finished, click the X button in the upper-right hand corner to disconnect from the Internet.

UNDERINSURANCE CHECK

The Home Inventory in Quicken Deluxe asks you to relate an insurance policy to each of your inventoried items. It wants a replacement value on those items too. The result is a natural: you can create a report showing how your insurance coverage matches up against your replacement needs.

1. Open Features, Planning, Quicken Home Inventory.
2. In the Home Inventory window, open View, Policy List. Here you'll see the differences for each insurance policy.
3. Open Reports, Insurance Coverage Summary Report. Here you'll see the overall amounts where you may be running short.

FILING AN INSURANCE CLAIM

When you have to file a claim to replace an item that was stolen or damaged, you can use QHI to help you keep track of your insurance claims. To file an insurance claim:

1. Choose View + Claims List (or click the Claims icon).
2. In the Insurance Claims window, click the New button; then in the New Claim Instructions dialog box, click OK.
3. In the New Claim dialog box, enter the requested information, including the description, date of claim, and date of event.
4. Select the appropriate policy and enter a claim number.
5. To specify the items to include in the claim, click the Items button.
6. From the resulting dialog box, select each of the Items for the claim and click OK.
7. To specify the claim cost, click the Adjust Cost button.
8. Indicate the cost you want to use-- Replace Cost or Repair Cost--and then enter the cost value and click OK.
9. Continue adding items to the claim as necessary.
10. Use the Notes field to enter any additional information regarding the claim.
11. Click OK when you finish.

INSURANCE CLAIMS

In the sad instance that you are actually hit by a natural disaster or robbery, Quicken Deluxe's Home Inventory feature can help you track what insurance claims have been paid and which are still in limbo.

1. Open Features, Planning, Quicken Home Inventory.
2. Open View, Claims List.
3. Click the New button each time you file an insurance claim, and enter the details.
4. Click OK after each new claim item.

Come back to this window whenever you have another claim, receive an insurance check, or wonder about the status of checks.

SELECTING THE INSURANCE POLICY

Both the Insurance Coverage Summary report and the Insurance Coverage Detail report in QHI are based on a particular insurance policy. You can specify exactly which insurance policy to base the report on. You can also produce a report for each insurance policy that you have.

To select the insurance policy for the current report:

1. To produce the appropriate report, if necessary, choose Reports + Insurance Coverage Summary or choose Reports + Insurance Coverage Detail.
2. Click the Policies button.
3. Select the appropriate policy from the drop-down list.

QHI updates the current report to include only those items that pertain to the currently selected insurance policy.

RECORDING MARGIN INTEREST EXPENSES

The Margin Interest Expense action records margin interest expense. To record it, click the Easy Actions button and then choose Advanced, Margin Interest Expense. When you do, Quicken displays the Margin Interest Expense dialog box, which you use to describe the cost of your financial adventure.

WHEN THE INTEREST RATE CHANGES--PART 1 OF 2

For many, the interest rate associated with a loan remains fixed over the life of the loan. But for those who have an adjustable rate mortgage, the interest rate can change at least once a year. In the next two tips, we show you how to use Quicken to keep track of the changes caused by fluctuating interest rates.

When the loan rate changes with the next payment:

1. Choose Features + Bills + Loans.
2. Click Choose Loan and select the loan whose rate you want to change.
3. Click the Edit Payment button.
4. Enter the new interest rate in the Current Interest Rate field and click OK.

Quicken uses the next payment date as the date the rate change takes effect. Back at the View Loans screen, click the Payment Schedule tab and make note of the changes made to both the principal and interest amounts of the loan. Note also that the interest rate change also affects the Remaining Payments and Final Payment Date values.

WHEN THE INTEREST RATE CHANGES--PART 2 OF 2

In the last tip, we showed people with adjustable rate loans how to change the interest rate of a loan when the new interest rate affects the next payment. In this tip, we show you how to change the interest rate for a date sometime in the future.

When the loan rate changes with a future payment:

1. Choose Features + Bills + Loans.
2. Click Choose Loan and select the loan whose rate you want to change.
3. Click Rate Changes.
4. In the Loan Rate Changes dialog box, click New.
5. Enter the date the new rate change takes effect.
6. Enter the new interest rate.
7. Click OK.

If necessary, click the Payment Schedule tab. You see that Quicken has added the new interest rate to the appropriate point in the Payment Schedule. Again, notice the changes made to both the principal and interest amounts of the loan as well as the adjustments made to the length of the loan.

HAVE SOME INTEREST IN YOUR LOAN

Most home mortgages and other large loans are divided up into even monthly payments that you make for years. In the beginning, nearly all of the payment goes to interest. Near the end, almost all of each payment goes toward the loan principal. In between, the percentage devoted to interest falls as you slowly pay off the principal. Quicken can tell you how much of your current payment is interest and how much principal. You can use this information when you're calculating your taxes and when you're trying to decide whether to pay the loan off early. To have Quicken 99 break down your payment into interest and principal, follow these steps:

1. Choose Features + Planning.
2. Choose Financial Calculators.
3. Choose Loan.
4. In the Loan Calculator dialog box that appears, enter the details you know.
5. Click on Schedule to see the monthly payments from here to eternity.

INSTANT INTERNET REMINDER

In the past two tips, we've shown you a couple tricks to make being connected to the Web more convenient. Here's a trick that can make things even easier: Have Quicken remind you at start-up to check for online news and quotes and to see whether there have been any Quicken updates.

To trigger a reminder:

1. Choose Edit + Options + Internet Connection.
2. In the Update Quicken 98 section, select Remind Me to Update Quotes, News, and Check for Software Updates at Quicken Startup.
3. Click OK.

The next time you start Quicken, the Update Quicken dialog box appears, asking whether you want to connect to the Internet and update Quicken.

ALPHABETIZE THAT INVENTORY

The best time to enter Quicken Deluxe Home Inventory details about your belongings is as you wander through the house and see the items. After you've entered all you see, you can impose a better organization on the full list by opening the Edit menu and then choosing Alphabetize Register.

RESTORE THAT INVENTORY DETAIL

When typing new values into your Quicken Deluxe Home Inventory record, there's a sort of "undo" button called Restore. If you haven't yet clicked Record to store any changes you've made to an item -- such as a new estimated replacement cost -- you can click on the Restore button to bring back the values you had stored previously.

INVENTORY PASSWORD

There's a password option in Quicken Deluxe's Home Inventoryon, though, consider whether . Before you turn this you really want password protection on everything. Is your list of household belongings that secret? What if there's a disaster of some kind and you forget the password? Or you're injured in that same disaster and no one else knows the password? It will be impossible to use the list to guarantee insurance returns. If you do want to keep your list secret, while in the Home Inventory program, use the File menu, choose Password, and then type your password twice.

SEND YOUR INVENTORY TO QUICKEN

Although Quicken Home Inventory is an entirely separate application from Quicken, you can import your inventory information into Quicken and track its value along with the rest of your finances. When you do, Quicken creates an asset account named Home Inventory, where the total value of the account is the same as the total value of your inventory. When you update Quicken with your inventory information, the total value of your home inventory appears as an asset in your Net Worth report.

To update Quicken with your inventory:

1. Choose File + Update Quicken.
2. In the resulting Quicken Home Inventory dialog box, click Yes to send the information to Quicken.

Note: QHI makes a few assumptions. First, it sends the information to the most recently used Quicken file. Second, it sends the information to the asset account named Home Inventory.

After QHI sends the data, switch over to Quicken and run a quick net worth report (choose Reports + Home + Net Worth and click the Create button). You see an Asset account named Home Inventory and its overall value.

DUPLICATING ITEMS IN QUICKEN HOME INVENTORY

If you are recording a bunch of similar items in your inventory--such as the artwork on your walls or the CDs in your music collection--you can accomplish the job a lot quicker by using the Copy button to make a quick copy of the current item. After making a copy of an item, you can switch over to Detail View and enter the specifics of each item.

To duplicate an inventory item:

1. In the List View window of Quicken Home Inventory, position the cell pointer on the item you want to duplicate.
2. Click the Copy button located at the bottom of the List View screen.

QHI creates a duplicate of the current item. Choose View + Detail View to switch to Detail View and record the specifics of the item.

HOME INVENTORY DATA

The best way to start listing your belongings is to work through each room. In Quicken Deluxe:

1. Open Features, Planning, Quicken Home Inventory. (There's also an Inventory icon on the Iconbar.)
2. If this is your first time with the Inventory, just click the Continue button.
3. Now in the Inventory window, type a description for an item.
4. Choose the appropriate Category from the drop-down Item Category menu.
5. Enter your estimated replacement cost and resale value. (Resale will typically be less than replacement.)
6. Click Record.
7. Enter information on other items, one at a time.

HOME PAGE REMINDERS

The complete lists of reminders and alerts are found in their own windows, which you can reach through the Features, Reminders menu. The cream of those crops also appear on the Home Page, by default right up at the top. If you're tired of being bothered by those nags, or just don't want them right up in your face, you can go to the Features, Reminders window and turn them off. Or you can use the Customize button of the Home Page to change what appears and where.

HOME RECEIPT INVENTORY

The most convincing evidence to an insurance company is the old-fashioned receipt. They are also swayed by owner's manuals, appraisals, repair invoices and the like. So keep those things and use Quicken Deluxe's Home Inventory to where they are:

1. Open Features, Planning, Quicken Home Inventory.
2. Click an item in the list and then click the detail button just to the right of the description.
3. In the Detail View, click the Receipts & Records button.
4. In the Receipts and Records dialog box, click the box for each type of receipt you have. Then click OK.

HOME INVENTORY RECEIPTS

The most convincing evidence to an insurance company is the old-fashioned receipt. Insurance companies are also swayed by owner's manuals, appraisals, repair invoices, and the like. So keep those things and use Quicken Deluxe's Home Inventory to record where they are.

1. Open Household, Quicken Home Inventory.
2. Click an item in the list, and then click the detail button to the right of the description.
3. In the Detail View, click the Receipts & Records button.
4. In the Receipts and Records dialog box, click the box for each type of receipt. Then click OK.

HOME INVENTORY STARTUP

You won't ever have full insurance protection for your home and your belongings until you have a thorough list of those belongings. Quicken Deluxe and Quicken Home & Business computerize this task for you through the Home Inventory -- tucked into the Household menu. This sets up a typical list of belongings that you can customize. The total value of the items shows up as an asset account in Quicken.

LOCATING INVENTORY ITEMS

When you need to locate an item in your inventory, use the Find command. When you use the Find command, you can quickly locate every occurrence of an item that you have recorded.

To locate an inventory item:

1. In Quicken Home Inventory, choose Edit + Find (or click the Find button on the icon bar).
2. Enter the item you are looking for in the Search For field. For example, to find a picture, enter Picture.
3. Indicate where you want to search. By default, both Item Description and Item Notes are selected.
4. Click Find All to begin the search.
5. If QHI locates any items that meet the search criteria, it displays them in the List of Found Inventory Items.
6. To switch to the Detail View of the item, select the specific item from the list and click the View button.

SUGGESTED INVENTORY ITEMS

Can't get started with that Home Inventory list for Quicken Deluxe? Try the Suggested Items list for ideas on what you should note and value.

1. Open Features, Planning, Quicken Home Inventory.
2. In the Home Inventory program window, open View, Suggested Items.

Look to the right side of the display.

INVENTORY REPORTS--ARE YOU COVERED?

Do you have enough insurance to cover the replacement cost of all your possessions in the event of a catastrophe? Fortunately, the Insurance Coverage Summary report in QHI can help you divine the answer to this question. This report summarizes all items in your home inventory and their values; it then compares these values to the amount of insurance coverage you are carrying.

To create the Insurance Coverage Summary Report, choose Reports + Insurance Coverage Summary.

At the bottom of the report, QHI compares the coverage amount of your policy with the replacement costs of your belongings.

INVENTORY REPORTS--DETAILS, DETAILS

Quicken Home Inventory enables you to generate the Inventory Detail Report, which provides detailed information for all or selected items in your home inventory. Information in this report includes an item's purchase price, date, location, serial number, and so on.

To create the Inventory Detail Report, choose Reports + Inventory Detail.

INVENTORY REPORTS--IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS

With Quicken Home Inventory's Insurance Coverage Detail report, you can produce a detailed list of your inventory as assigned to a specific insurance policy. For example, you can generate a list that shows all the items currently covered by your homeowner's insurance policy. In addition, you can also indicate which items to include in the report.

To create the Insurance Coverage Detail Report, choose Reports + Insurance Coverage Detail.

PRINTING YOUR INVENTORY REPORTS

The final step in managing your household inventory with Quicken Home Inventory is to produce hard copy printouts all your reports, which you can store for safekeeping. You may want to attach copies to your insurance policies, wills, or other important documents that you have.

Before you send the report to the printer, first see how the printed report will appear. To preview a report before sending it to the printer, click the Preview button.

• To zoom in on a portion of the report, click the area.
• To print the report, click the Print button, look over the print options, and then click OK to send the job to the printer.
• To return to the report window, click the Close button.

Remember to produce fresh copies of your inventory reports whenever you make any changes to your household inventory.

INVENTORY YOUR HOME--PART 1 OF 3

Quicken can help you keep track of so many things in your life. You can monitor your personal finances, record important personal information with the Emergency Records Organizer, and keep tabs on all the important people in your life with the Quicken Address Book. Well, Quicken can also keep track of precious items in your home. With Quicken Home Inventory, you can create and store a record of your family heirlooms (handy info to have for insurance claims and wills). Over the next series of tips, we show you how to use the Quicken Home Inventory program.

To launch Quicken Home Inventory, choose Features + Planning + Quicken Home Inventory. The Quicken Home Inventory application, a separate application from Quicken itself, loads.

More next time.

INVENTORY YOUR HOME--PART 2 OF 3

Because Quicken Home Inventory is an independent application, you can launch it right from the Windows desktop. That is, you don't have to load Quicken first. To do so, click the Windows 95/98 Start menu, choose Programs + Quicken 98, and then select Quicken Home Inventory from the resulting menu.

You can also start Quicken Home Inventory from the Windows Explorer: Locate the Quicken 98 program folder, double-click it to open the folder, and then double-click the Quicken Home Inventory icon.

INVENTORY YOUR HOME--PART 3 OF 3

After you launch Quicken Home Inventory, you can switch back and forth between it and Quicken via some handy icons on the IconBars:

• In Quicken Home Inventory, click the Goto Qkn button to switch to Quicken. (If Quicken isn't currently running in the background, this action launches Quicken.)
• To switch to Quicken Home Inventory from Quicken, click the Inventory tool in the IconBar. (If Quicken Home Inventory isn't currently running, this action launches the program.)
• If you're using Windows 95/98 and both applications are running, you can switch between the programs via the Windows taskbar just by clicking the appropriate button.

SUMMARIZE YOUR INVENTORY

After you enter all your household inventory into Quicken Home Inventory, what do you do? Create reports, of course. By generating reports, you can produce a hard copy of your inventory and then refer to this information if you ever need to file an insurance claim--or if you simply want to review your current possessions. You can also store the hard copy and a backup disk of your Quicken Household Inventory file in a safe deposit box or other safe place outside your home.

The first report you want to create is the Inventory Value Summary Report, which summarizes your entire household inventory and its value. The report also calculates subtotal and grand total amounts to give you an idea of the value of all your possessions.

To create the Inventory Value Summary Report in QHI, just choose Reports + Inventory Value Summary. The Inventory Value Summary Report window appears.

KEEPING YOUR INVENTORY UP TO DATE

Just as you should update your inventory whenever you purchase new items or rearrange existing ones, you should also update your inventory if you sell an item, give it away, or just plain get rid of it. In this case, you remove the item from your inventory list altogether:

1. In the current List View, locate the item you want to remove from your inventory.
2. Position the cell pointer over the item.
3. Click the Delete button in the List View window.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the item.

Quicken Home Inventory removes the record of the item from your Home Inventory lists.

ONLINE INVESTING WITH QUICKEN

If you have Quicken and you have an online investment account with someone who supports Quicken's Online Investing feature -- and this should include just about everybody -- you can download your investment transactions from your online broker's Web site right into the appropriate Quicken investment account.

If you want to do this -- first check with the online broker to see whether they support this feature -- choose the Investing, Online Investing Setup command. Then follow the on-screen instructions. After you do this, you can easily download investment transactions from your online investment broker. Online investing works the same way that online banking does.

SELECTING AN INVESTMENT ACCOUNT FOR YOUT SECURITY

To indicate which investment account you want to use to record your current holdings of the security, activate the Account Name drop-down list box in the appropriate Set Up a New Security dialog box and select the account. Then click Next. In the dialog box that appears, give Quicken the number of shares, price per share, and commission information. Click Next again. If you've indicated that you want to use specific lot identification, Quicken asks you to repeat this step for each lot. If for some reason it fails to ask this, you need to add the second and subsequent lots by repeating the steps you used to record the initial investment.

When Quicken asks you to confirm your security description, do so by reading the summary information provided in the Set Up a New Security dialog box. If you need to make changes, click Back to return to the earlier dialog boxes you used to describe the security. If the security description is correct, click Done.

SETTING UP AN INVESTMENT ACCOUNT WITH QUICKEN

To track investments with Quicken, you start by setting up an investment account. Create one account for each brokerage house or mutual fund that sends you an account statement. That way, you simplify your record-keeping because you can enter data in the investment account straight from the broker's statement and even reconcile your account from the statements the broker sends you.

Quicken offers these types of investment accounts:

• Brokerage: Tracks a variety of investments -- stock, bonds, mutual funds, annuities -- that you keep with the same brokerage house.
• IRA or Keogh: Tracks the value of and contributions to these retirement accounts: IRA, Keogh, Roth IRA, Education IRA, Keogh Plan, or SEP IRA.
• 401(k): Tracks the value of as well as contributions to a 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan that your employer helped you set up.
• Dividend Retirement Plan: Tracks the value of the securities in a company's dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP).
• Other Investment: Tracks T-bills, U.S. Savings Bonds, and commodities that don't fall into the other investment categories.

Follow these steps to set up a Brokerage, IRA or Keogh, DRIP, or Other Investment account:

1. Choose Finance, Account List (or press Ctrl+A) to open the Account List window.
2. Click the New button. The Create New Account dialog box appears.
3. Under Investments, select the kind of investment account you want to set up.

Keep clicking Next and filling in the dialog boxes, depending on which kind of account you are setting up. You may be asked about check-writing on the account, various kinds of securities in the account, starting point information, whether the account is tax-deferred or tax exempt, and some other basic questions you probably know the answers to.

When you are finished setting up an investment account, you see the Set Up Security dialog box. Quicken asks for the names of the stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, and so on that go in that account. As you do that, you tell the program how many shares you own and what their value is. Click Cancel if you'd rather fill in those details another time.

INVESTMENT ACCOUNTS

Where Quicken 99 had only Regular Investment, Mutual Fund, and 401(k) account types for investments, Quicken 2000 adds IRA and Keogh, Dividend Reinvestment Plan, and that marvelous invention called Other which can handle commodities, treasury bills, REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), variable annuities, fixed annuities (though they could also be in asset accounts), bonds, and more.

INVESTMENT CHANGES

Suppose that you go to all the trouble to enter a purchase or sale of shares in an investment security but then discover that you entered the transaction incorrectly. When that happens, open the investment register where you entered the transaction, select the transaction, click the Edit button, and choose Edit Transaction from the drop-down menu. Then, in the dialog box that appears, change the share price, the number of shares, or whatever needs fixing, and click the Done button.

An even faster way to edit an investment transaction is to go to the Security Detail View window, choose the security from the drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the window, and then double-click the transaction in the mini-register. You see a dialog box for editing the transaction.

INVESTMENT TRANSACTION GOOFS

If you make a mistake entering an investment into Quicken, don't worry -- it's not a problem. You can edit an investment transaction in the investment account register the same way that you edit check and deposit transactions in a bank account register. For example, you can click the fields with the incorrect entries, fix them, and then record the new, corrected transaction.

You also can select the transaction and click the Form button. Quicken then displays the investment dialog box that lets you change each of the pieces of the transaction. The dialog box that Quicken displays mirrors the investment dialog box you could have used originally to record the transaction.

INVESTMENT UPDATE STRATEGY

Did you think it was best to constantly keep up with the market and enter every investment transaction as you make it? Maybe so, maybe not. It will keep you very current, but it also makes extra work. If you can wait and not enter the transactions yourself, only download them in an online update, you don't have to worry about reconciling duplicate and even mismatched transactions.

COMPARING INVESTMENTS AND INDICES

Have you ever wondered how well a security you own has performed relative to another security or an index such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average or NASDAQ? You can generate a chart that shows you right away. To do so, choose Investing, Multiple Securities Charting to open the Mutliple Security Charting window. In the window, Ctrl + Click the securities and indices that you want to compare and then click the Go Online to Chart button. At Quicken.com, you see a chart that compares the one-year performance of the selected securities and indices.

SOME INVESTORS DON'T NEED QUICKEN

If you don't invest directly in stocks, bonds, or mutual funds and stick money into an IRA, instead, your investments don't produce taxable dividends or interest income, nor do they produce taxable or tax-saving capital gains or losses. Even if you stick with a handful of mutual funds, you don't need to calculate the annual return -- that's what mutual fund managers do.

Because you don't need to track investment income, track capital gains and losses, or calculate the progress of your investment portfolio, you don't need Quicken investment record keeping for your personal use.

But this doesn't mean you don't need Quicken at all: You can still use it to set up a budget, pay bills, or plan for future investments, such as a college fund for your kids.

SOME INVESTORS DON'T NEED QUICKEN

If you're running a small business and are using Quicken, you can create financial reports easily.

You have all the information you need to produce good cash flow statements and good profit-and-loss reports if you

• Set up a bank account for the checking account you use for your business.
• Categorize payment transactions by using appropriate business expense categories.
• Categorize deposit transactions by using appropriate business income categories.

To produce either type of report, simply click the Reporting tab, click the Reports button, click the Business tab (which appears in the Reports window), and choose either the Cash Flow or Profit And Loss report from the list. The only thing you need to do is select a Report On Transactions range of dates that matches the period for which you want to measure profits or cash flow. That's it!

MEMO DITTO

Split transactions divide the full amount into different categories. When you create a split transaction, you have a special window with lines for each category. On each line is a Memo space. If you want the same memo on each line, you can save time by typing it only on the first and then typing a single apostrophe in each following Memo field. The top memo will be copied to them all.

MEMO FOR INVOICE NEMBER

One problem in business accounting is keeping invoices and payments linked. Keep better track by using the Memo field whenever you make a business deposit. After you enter the date, payee, category, and class, type the invoice number in the Memo field. That field doesn't directly link to anything, so you're not forcing a connection this way, but you're providing vital clues for anyone who comes along later to clear up or even audit the accounts.

INVOICES AND RECEIVABLES

In the special Home & Business version of Quicken 99, there's the option of setting up special accounts called Invoices/Receivables and Bills/Payables. These are special accounts you can set up for money that your business is owed and that your business owes. If you don't have H&B, you can still do sort of the same thing by setting up an Asset account for your receivables and a Liability account for your payables. The H&B way works easier, though, because they link to an Invoicing feature that lets you create and print invoices for your customers. Without H&B you'd have to use a word processor or other program to make invoices.

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? NEVER! PART 1 OF 2

Just get your bank statement in the mail? Time to balance the checkbook again (groan).

Hey, quit dragging your feet. Quicken's Reconcile feature turns what was once an arduous task into a simple exercise. Just fill in some blanks, and you'll be free to get on with the REALLY arduous things in your life.

1. Open your Register.
2. Select the account you want to reconcile.
3. Click the Reconcile button.
4. Fill in all the blanks and click OK.
5. Now just follow Quicken's instructions--click each item that appears on your statement.
6. If you find a transaction that's incorrect, select it, click the Edit button, make the change, and then click Return to Reconcile at the right side of the transaction.
7. Click Finished when the amount in the Difference box equals zero.

Now how easy is that? And of course, this feature isn't just for checking accounts. Use it for credit cards, too (or any other accounts you need to balance).

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? NEVER! PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to reconcile (balance) any account, using your most recent bank statement: Click the Reconcile button, fill in the blanks, click OK, click each item that appears on your statement, and click Finished when the amount in the Difference box equals zero. So what do you do if you're minding your own business, checking off transactions, when your three-year-old comes bounding into your office, threatening to decorate with a fistful of red finger paint? Stop what you're doing, that's what.

Whenever you need to stop in the middle of a reconciliation, click the Finish Later button (and exit Quicken altogether, to be completely safe). When your three-year-old is once again safely driving your spouse crazy and you're ready to go back to what you were doing, follow these steps:

1. Open the Register of the account you were balancing.
2. Click the Reconcile button and click OK.
3. Continue marking transactions where you left off.
4. Click Finished to complete the reconciliation.

IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES? WELL, MAYBE ...

Two tips ago, we showed you how to reconcile (balance) any account using your most recent bank statement: Click the Reconcile button, fill in the blanks, click OK, click each item that appears on your statement, and click Finished when the amount in the Difference box equals zero. Simple enough, right? But what happens if you're one of those people who's been using Quicken for quite some time but has never used the Reconcile feature? Instead, you've cleared transactions right on the Register by clicking inside the Clr column. (Guilty as charged.) Now, when you try to reconcile, you see some absurd totals at the bottom of the Payments and Checks window and the Deposits window. Quicken adds up every cleared transaction since the last time you reconciled--in this case, never!

If you find yourself in this situation, or if, on a smaller scale, you just haven't reconciled in quite a few months, you can remedy the situation (to complete the reconciliation) in one of two ways: Either go back and reconcile for every month that you missed (ick), or ask Quicken to enter an adjustment for you. We assume you want to take the easy way out and go with the adjustment:

1. Go through the reconciliation as you normally would (as described in the first paragraph of this tip), checking off each item that appears on your current bank statement.
2. When you're finished, click Finished (we know, the Difference box doesn't say zero, but do it anyway).
3. In the Adjust Balance window, change the Adjustment Date to one that precedes the current statement.
4. Click Adjust.

Like magic, the Difference box goes to zero. (Note: You can use this adjustment feature to complete a reconciliation any time that your account doesn't balance and you simply can't find--or are too lazy to look for--the problem.)

IS IT PAYDAY AGAIN ALREADY?

Do you enter all of your paycheck's information--income, withholdings, contributions to your 401k plan--into your Quicken file every single pay period? If so, no wonder you aren't too thrilled when payday rolls around. You must not know about Paycheck Setup, a Quicken feature designed to do all this busy work for you. Enter the information once and forget it.

Grab your most recent paycheck and do the following:

1. Choose Features + Banking + Set Up Paycheck to open the Paycheck Setup dialog box. (Note: If you've used this feature in the past, the Manage Paychecks dialog box appears; click New.)
2. Click Next.
3. Select the deductions that apply to you, if any; then click Next.
4. Enter a Paycheck Name, complete the How Often field, and click Next.
5. Enter the most current paycheck information, click Next, and continue filling in information until you've told Quicken everything it needs.
6. Finally, you reach a summary of the information that will be entered each payday. Click Done. (If the Manage Paychecks dialog box appears, click Done again.)

The next time payday rolls around, check your register, and you'll see that Quicken has entered all your paycheck information for you. What happened to all those withholdings and deductions? Click the Category field (where it says Splits), click the green check mark to display the splits, and there it all is.

IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE, IT'S...SUPERCATEGORIES

If we tell you once, we'll tell you a thousand times: Categories are the only way to accurately track your expenses. But did you know that you can also use Supercategories to further organize your transactions? No, Supercategories can't leap transactions in a single bound; their main function is to help you classify your budget expenses--separating the necessary expenses from the frivolous. But they also allow you to generate more informative reports.

For the most part, you use a Supercategory to further categorize a class of transactions. For example, you could create a Supercategory named Freelance Income to keep track of each form of income generated by your freelance work assignments. In this tip, we show you how to create Supercategories and then assign them to your transactions.

To create a Supercategory:

1. From the Toolbar, choose Lists + Category/Transfer.
2. Click the Super button in the center pane of the Category & Transfer List window.
3. Click the New button, located at the bottom of the Supercategory Name list in the Manage Supercategories box.
4. Enter a name for the Supercategory and click OK.

To assign a category to a Supercategory:

1. Still in the Manage Supercategories box, select the category in the Category Name list.
2. Select the Supercategory you want to assign in the Supercategory Name list.
3. Click Assign (or click Clear to remove a Supercategory assignment).
4. Click OK.

GETTING ITEM SPECIFIC

We've been showing you how to use Quicken Home Inventory to help you organize an inventory of your household possessions. To help you get the most out of QHI, for the month of October, we'll concentrate our tips on this nifty little program.

By default, QHI utilizes a simple List View format that enables you to quickly catalog your household belongings. But QHI also offers a Detail View that lets you record the specifics of each item--things like an item description, make and model, purchase date, and so on.

We recommend you use Detail View because the more detailed information you have to give your insurance company, the better your chances for recouping your lost possession's value.

To switch to the Detail View form, you first have to start up Quicken Home Inventory:

• Click the Windows 95/98 Start menu, choose Programs + Quicken 98, and then select Quicken Home Inventory.
• If you're already in Quicken, choose Features + Planning + Quicken Home Inventory.

Then follow these steps:

1. In the List View window, click in the Item Description field of the item you want to record.
2. Choose View + Detail View or click the icon at the far right corner of the Item Description field. Doing so displays the Detail View screen, which contains a number of fields you use to record specifics.
3. Enter as much information as you like.
4. Click the Record button to store the results.

ITEM TYPE VS. LOCATION

Quicken Deluxe's Home Inventory can show you two summaries of your belongings, either by Category -- such as appliance, clothing, electronics and so on -- or by Location -- which means room of the house where the items are found. These are both in the View menu. The Reports menu's Inventory Detail report shows the individual details behind those summaries, and lets you organize the report by Category, Location or Ins. Policy (insurance for that item) -- from the drop-down menu.

SELECTING THE ITEMS TO INCLUDE

As our previous tip explained, the Inventory Detail Report provides detailed information for all items in your home inventory. But you can also generate this report for a selected number of the items in your household inventory.

To specify the items you want to include in the report:

1. Choose Reports + Inventory Detail to generate the report, if necessary.
2. Click the Select Items button.
3. In the Select Items dialog box, click Clear All.
4. Click to select each item you want to include in the report. The current number of selected items appears below the list.
5. Click OK.

Quicken Home Inventory immediately updates the report to include only information for the selected items.

JEWELS ARE AN ASSET

To be thorough, you should create Asset accounts for your jewels, your collectibles, your art, and other valuable property. You'll need some estimate of the value to create this account. It doesn't have to be exact, because this doesn't directly affect your taxes (yet). It's just for you to have a complete view of your net worth and possibly to help you estimate insurance needs. Choose File, New, Account, Household Asset. Choose the current date for a starting date, or choose the beginning of the year if you owned the items at that point and you're sure the value hasn't changed substantially since then.

JUMPING ON AND OFF THE INTERNET--PART 1 OF 2

By using the Update Quicken 98 command or the Get Online News and Quotes command, you can jump on the Internet for a quick download of today's stock quotes. But have you ever wanted to be able to jump off just as quickly? Well, today's your lucky day. You can set up Quicken to automatically disconnect from the Internet after it has finished its business. By doing so, you don't have to take the time to--or remember to--disconnect when you're done:

To automatically disconnect from the Internet:

1. Choose Edit + Options + Internet Connection.
2. In the After Updating Quicken Data section, select Disconnect from the Internet.
3. Click OK.

Now, the next time you use the Update Quicken 98 command or the Get Online News and Quotes command, Quicken connects to the Web, updates the appropriate information, and then disconnects.

JUMPING ON AND OFF THE INTERNET--PART 2 OF 2

In our last tip, we showed you how to automatically disconnect from the Web after Quicken has finished its business. In this tip, we show you how to keep on top of an active Web connection by having Quicken alert you if a certain amount of time has passed without activity. (For example, you keep your Web connection running so that you can switch back and forth between Quicken and the Web, but then you get caught up in some Quicken calculation and completely forget that you are even connected.)

To have Quicken remind you that you are still connected after the connection is idle for a certain amount of time, follow these steps:

1. Choose Edit + Options + Internet Connection.
2. In the When Connected text box, enter the number of minutes that must pass before Quicken prompts you. Enter 5, for example, if you want Quicken to alert you when you haven't accessed the Web connection in 5 minutes.
3. Click OK.

CHANGING THE QUICKEN HOT KEYS

Creating your kind of environment is easy with Quicken's variety of options, which you can access by choosing Edit, Options. Settings, the third tab in the General Options window, allows you to change keyboard mappings, also called hot keys, for four basic keystroke combinations. You can choose whether to use the Quicken conventions for the hot keys or the Windows conventions, as shown in the following table:

To select the Windows conventions, click the Undo/Cut/Copy/Paste radio button.