Quicken, how does one "jump in" and learn how to use it for the first time ?

Question

I am good with numbers and have done simple budgets for my household over the years, I'm in my 50's, but I have Quicken 2007 Business and home and I'm thinking I don't want to transport my banking info online. Can I do quicken manually and is the dummie book for it good ? I bought it cheaper without a printed out manual. HElp ? I just want to start small and I'm on a fixed income so it should be easy to start ?

Answer 1

You do not have to use the online banking to use Quicken. You can enter all the information yourself and then it will only be on your computer's hard drive, not out on any other website on the Internet.

I would start by creating a checking account. On my Quicken 2006 Deluxe, you can do that by clicking Cash Flow, then Cash Flow Accounts, then Add Account. As I recall, it asks you for a little information and the date and amount you want to start the account with. Then you can start entering transactions. After you get comfortable with that, you can try some other things.

There is help in the program itself that you can use if you need to. Just click on the "Help" link at the top. I haven't used the "Dummies" book, but I've generally heard good things about that whole series.

Answer 2

Quicken is very intuitive and should be easy for you to pick up. I also have not used the "Dummy" book for this, but have had a lot of luck with them for other applications.

Create two files. The first is a real one where you manually enter all of your information. The second, is a dummy file where you create some sample checking accounts and play around with them. Try out new ways of doing things with the dummy account before implementing them in your real account. My father-in-law use Quicken Business/Home for his family business and uses this technique when he is trying out new features.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I bought the 2007 Quicken guidebook for ~$20. It has done will with answering all of my questions.

The quicken program is pretty decent at helping you out but for more of the complex functions of Quicken (cashflow statements, etc) the guidebook offers great walkthroughs.