Quicken 2017. Preparing budget for 2020. Monthly columns do not add.
prospector601
Quicken Windows 2017 Member
Using Quicken 2017. I am preparing 2020 budget and realize the monthly totals all show '0' . The category row adds up correctly for the year, but all categories add to '0' for the month. Confused
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Best Answer
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You are looking at Budget Only. Anyway, it looks like you have no Income included in the budget yet. The Total line at the bottom is the answer to Income - Expenses.
I would expect to see -270 in the total line at bottom, but maybe Quicken does not get that technical. When you put in an income, say 271 in the budget the 0 will change to -1 because you spent 1 buck more than you budget to spend. (just as an example.)
The number in the total Budgeted column for the month will be the amount of money you have available to spend that month less what your total budget for the month is.
I took another screen shot of my budget for you to see. I shrunk the three sections and remember I have not totally worked next years budget. I will make the total line go to zero because I have a line in budget for savings goal. I sweep the amount not budgeted for spending into that savings goal at end of month. If you do a perfect budget, all three columns for the month will then be zero. That means you budgeted all your funds available, you Actually spent what you budgeted for and the third column will be 0 because each category Budget - Actual = 0. If not 0 then you over or under spent the money available to spend.
Hope this helps you understand. The 2nd attachment is same account but for this month this year. See how I zeroed out the budgeted column for Nov by poking what is left over into the savings goal.5
Answers
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Which monthly totals? I attach a screen shot of my 2020 budget for you to look at. From what I can read into your description, if I go to the end of year and look at the 2020 Summary column the categories total for the year (12 x Amount budgeted for each month, if each month is the same amount).
To me the 'categories add to "0" ' mean the numbers at the bottom of the month are 0. Are you looking at the totals at the bottom of the month; do you have Details selected at top so you see the three columns for each month?0 -
David, I am a newbie to this forum, excuse any mistakes. Examining your budget, you have categories Dining, Entertainment, and Groceries, the total of just these three categories is greater than the amount shown in Totals for January. My budget shows a '0' in the January total. How do I add a screenshot?0
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You are looking at Budget Only. Anyway, it looks like you have no Income included in the budget yet. The Total line at the bottom is the answer to Income - Expenses.
I would expect to see -270 in the total line at bottom, but maybe Quicken does not get that technical. When you put in an income, say 271 in the budget the 0 will change to -1 because you spent 1 buck more than you budget to spend. (just as an example.)
The number in the total Budgeted column for the month will be the amount of money you have available to spend that month less what your total budget for the month is.
I took another screen shot of my budget for you to see. I shrunk the three sections and remember I have not totally worked next years budget. I will make the total line go to zero because I have a line in budget for savings goal. I sweep the amount not budgeted for spending into that savings goal at end of month. If you do a perfect budget, all three columns for the month will then be zero. That means you budgeted all your funds available, you Actually spent what you budgeted for and the third column will be 0 because each category Budget - Actual = 0. If not 0 then you over or under spent the money available to spend.
Hope this helps you understand. The 2nd attachment is same account but for this month this year. See how I zeroed out the budgeted column for Nov by poking what is left over into the savings goal.5
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