Quicken® 2007 for dummies : [set up, track, and manage your day-to-day finances

Stephen Nelson's previous For Dummies guides to Quicken have sold more than 900, 000 copies Quicken has more than 16 million active users and 75 percent of the personal finance software market Shows people how to get their finances under control quickly and easily using Quicken Covers online banking and bill paying, tracking credit cards, managing loans, maximizing investments, calculating interest, preparing payroll, setting up accounts, creating reports, and more Completely updated to cover the latest features and enhancements in the new version of Quicken Published in conjunction with the release of Quicken "X" Quicken 2007 For Dummies 5 Author’s Acknowledgments 7 Contents at a Glance 9 Table of Contents 11 Introduction 19 About This Book 19 How to Use This Book 19 What You Can Safely Ignore 20 What You Should Not Ignore (Unless You’re a Masochist) 20 Three Foolish Assumptions 21 The Flavors of Quicken 21 How This Book Is Organized 21 Conventions Used in This Book 23 Special Icons 23 Where to Next? 24 About the Author 7 Part I: Zen, Quicken, and the Big Picture 25 Chapter 1: Setting Up Shop 27 Installing and Starting Quicken 28 Finishing Setup If You’ve Used Quicken Before 29 Finishing Setup If You Haven’t Used Quicken Before 30 Steve’s Overview 37 Solving Tricky Setup Problems 38 Chapter 2: Introduction to the Big Picture 41 Boiling Quicken Down to Its Essence 41 Setting Up Additional Accounts 45 Whipping Your Category Lists into Shape 49 Do You Need a Little Class? 59 Chapter 3: Maximum Fun, Maximum Profits 61 Should You Even Bother with a Budget? 61 Serious Advice about Your Secret Plan 61 Setting Up a Secret Plan 65 Part II: The Absolute Basics 73 Chapter 4: Checkbook on a Computer 75 Getting Started 75 Finding Your Checkbook 76 Recording Checks 78 Recording Deposits 83 Recording Account Transfers 86 Splitting Transactions 89 Deleting and Voiding Transactions 94 The Big Register Phenomenon 95 Pop-Up Calendars and Calculators 99 Attaching Flags, Notes, and Images 101 Chapter 5: Printing 101 103 Printing Checks 103 Printing a Check Register 111 Chapter 6: Online and In Charge 115 What Are Online Account Access and Online Bill Payment? 115 Wise Whys and Wherefores 116 Banking with Online Account Access and Online Bill Payment 116 Chapter 7: Reports, Charts, and Other Cool Tools 123 Creating and Printing Reports 123 Charts Only Look Tricky 138 QuickReports: Last but Not Least 139 Chapter 8: A Matter of Balance 141 Selecting the Account You Want to Balance 142 Balancing a Bank Account 143 Ten Things You Should Do If Your Account Doesn’t Balance 149 Chapter 9: Housekeeping for Quicken 153 Backing Up Is Hard to Do 153 Working with Files, Files, and More Files 159 Using and Abusing Passwords 166 Chapter 10: Compound Interest Magic and Other Mysteries 169 Noodling Around with Your Investments 170 The Often Unbearable Burden of Debt 173 The Refinance Calculator 176 The Retirement Calculator 177 Cost of College 182 Planning for Taxes 184 The Other Planning Tools 187 Part III: Home Finances 189 Chapter 11: Credit Cards, Petty Cash, and PayPal 191 Tracking a Credit Card 191 How to Set Up a Credit Card Account 192 How to Enter Credit Card Transactions 196 Reconciling That Crazy Account 200 The Online Banking Hoopla 207 Petty Cash and Mad Money 208 PayPal Can Be Quicken’s Friend 211 Chapter 12: Other People’s Money 213 Should You Bother to Track Your Debts? 213 How Do You Get Started? 214 Delivering a Pound of Flesh (Also Known as Making a Payment) 224 Your Principal-Interest Breakdown Won’t Be Right 228 Automatic Payments 230 Chapter 13: Mutual Funds 235 Deciding to Use Investment Features 235 Tracking a Mutual Fund 239 Updating Securities Prices 257 Chapter 14: Stocks and Bonds 259 Setting Up a Brokerage Account 259 More Quick Stuff about Brokerage Accounts 273 Online Investing with Quicken 277 Part IV: Serious Business 279 Chapter 15: Payroll 281 Getting Ready for Payroll 282 Depositing Taxes 296 Filing Quarterly Payroll Tax Returns 298 Computing Annual Returns and Wage Statements 300 Doing the State Payroll Taxes Thing 301 Chapter 16: Profits, Losses, Receivables, and Payables 303 Tracking Profits and Losses 304 Tracking Customer Receivables 304 Tracking Customer Invoices and Payments 306 Tracking Your Receivables 309 Preparing to Track Vendor Payables 313 Part V: The Part of Tens 317 Chapter 17: (Slightly More Than) Ten Questions I’m Frequently Asked about Quicken 319 What Are Quicken’s Best Features? 320 Does Quicken Work for a Corporation? 320 What Happens to Stockholders’ Equity in Quicken? 321 Does Quicken Work for a Partnership? 321 Can I Use Quicken for More Than One Business? 322 What Kinds of Businesses Shouldn’t Use Quicken? 323 Can I Use Quicken for Real Estate Investing? 324 Can I Use Quicken Retroactively? 325 Can I Do Payroll with Quicken? 326 Can I Prepare Invoices? 326 Can I Import Data from an Old Accounting System? 326 What Do You Think about Quicken? 327 Chapter 18: (Almost) Ten Tips on How Not to Become a Millionaire 329 Ignore the Fact That You Can Build Wealth by Investing in Ownership Investments and Earning Average Returns 331 Ignore the Fact That You Can Get Much, and Maybe Most, of the Money from Tax Savings and Employer Matching 332 Don’t Tap Your Computer’s Power to Develop Wealth-Building Insights 334 Give Up Because It’s Too Late to Start Anyway 335 Get Entangled in at Least One “ Get-Rich-Quick” Scheme 336 Fake It with False Affluence 337 Give In to the First Big Temptation of Wealth Building 337 Give In to the Second Big Temptation of Wealth Building 338 Chapter 19: (Almost) Ten Troubleshooting Tips 339 Tactics # 1 and # 2: Use Quicken’s Help File and This Book 339 Tactic # 3: Visit Quicken’s Product Support Web Site 340 Tactics # 4 and # 5: Check Microsoft’s or the Hardware Vendor’s Product Support Web Site 340 Tactic # 6: Contact Intuit Directly 341 Tactic # 7: Try a Quicken Newsgroup 341 Tactic # 8: Install and Use Antivirus Software 342 Tactic # 9: When All Else Fails . . . 342 Part VI: Appendixes 343 Appendix A: Quick-and-Dirty Windows 345 What Is Windows? 345 Starting Windows 346 Starting Programs 347 Choosing Commands from Menus 348 Working with Dialog Boxes 351 Stopping Quicken for Windows 356 A Yelp for Help 356 Quitting Windows 362 Appendix B: Glossary of Business, Financial, and Computer Terms 363 Index 371

covers Premier, Deluxe, And Basic Editions Of Quicken

quicken Your Bill Paying, Check On Your Checkbook, And Manage Your Money

you Want To Get Your Finances Organized, But The Project Seems Overwhelming? Relax — Help Is On The Way! Quicken 2007 Can Handle The Organization Part, And This Book Makes It Not Overwhelming. Here's The Easy Way To Set Up Quicken, Manage Accounts And Bills, Handle Investments, And Even Take Care Of Small Business Accounts And Payroll.

discover How To

• install And Set Up Quicken

• work With Reports And Charts

• track Deductions And Plan For Tax Time

• manage Stocks, Bonds, And Mutual Funds

• set Up Accounts Receivable And Payable For Your Small Business

"Take control of your personal finances - starting today!"--At head of tile on cover./ "Set up, track, and manage your day-to-day finances"--Cover./ "A reference for the rest of us!"--Cover./ "Covers Premier, Deluxe, and Basic editions of Quicken"; "Track deductions and plan for tax time, manage stocks, bonds, and mutual funds; set up accoutns receivable and payable for your small business"--Page [4] of cover./ Includes glossary and index Quicken has millions of active users and a high per cent of the personal finance software market. This work shows people how to get their finances under control quickly using Quicken. It covers online banking and bill paying, tracking credit cards, managing loans, maximizing investments, calculating interest, setting up accounts, and more.