Chapter 2. Accounts and Categories
Quicken abounds with tools to help you plan, track, and analyze your finances. If you use the Quicken Guided Setup as described in Chapter 1, it creates an assortment of accounts and categories for you. That arrangement’s a mere starting point, though.
This chapter defines Quicken’s various account types and shows you how to set up new accounts, as well as manage existing ones. You’ll also learn how to organize your finances by category, so you can see where your money’s coming from and what you’re spending it on.
Armed with this knowledge, you can make changes to your data file as your financial needs change over time. For example, whenever you switch banks, succumb to a fabulous credit card offer, or take out a home equity loan to get your mobile dog-grooming business going, you’ll need a new account. Or say you get married and need new accounts and categories to track your husband’s salary, taxes, and all those salon facials.
Tip
Sometimes, the arrival of a new business or person in your life means you need to create an additional data file as well. See the box on Section 2.1.
How Accounts and Categories Work
As you learned in the previous chapter, an account in Quicken corresponds to an account you have at a financial institution, like a checking account at a bank, a savings account at a credit ...
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