Asset Loan Account not working in Quicken 2020

JeffNY

Hi All, I just upgraded to Quicken 2020 from Quicken 2007. In one of the Quicken 2007 files I had a Loan that was set up as an Asset, so a monthly deposit in the checking account was also entered into this loan account (the loan was $100,000, 15 Years. 7.0%). Worked great, each month the amount of interest paid decreased and the principle amount on each payment increased. BUT when I imported this file into Quicken 2020 it now seems to have the interest and principle inverted. Anyway to fix this? Thanks, Jeff

jacobs

Quicken Mac cannot yet do automatic amortization of asset loans. You can still have the asset, and you can still enter a payment in checking which is split between a transfer to the asset and interest income. You just need to print out an amortization table and manually adjust the split each month. Not great, but it takes only a few seconds a month to update the split values.

jacobs

Quicken Mac cannot yet do automatic amortization of asset loans. You can still have the asset, and you can still enter a payment in checking which is split between a transfer to the asset and interest income. You just need to print out an amortization table and manually adjust the split each month. Not great, but it takes only a few seconds a month to update the split values.

JeffNY

Hi Jacobs, Thanks for the reply. Uhg.....so Quicken 2007 can do more than Quicken 2020? I've been using Quicken 2007 for 8 years to track this outstanding loan and apply payments (interest & principle) automatically. Somehow I figured this would be an issue with Quicken 2020. But I do really appreciate your reply.

jacobs

Yes, there are features from the venerable Quicken 2007 which have not yet been developed in the modern Quicken Mac. There’s ongoing progress, but it’s slower than anyone would wish.

That said, managing a lender loan manually may sound bad, but it’s really minimal work. You can set up a scheduled transaction each month, or just enter one each time you receive a payment. If you’ve printed an amortization schedule (many free web sites will do that for you), then editing the split amounts each month takes only a few seconds. 

JeffNY

I believe I can print/save the amortization schedule from Quicken 2007 too. Thanks

JeffNY

I am also NOT liking the new user interface on Quicken 2020....they don't even give you horizontal (or alternate colored) lines on split transactions, to make reading and entering split transactions correctly easier. Quicken 2020 just feels "half baked". I really need to decide if I want to pay (a subscription) for this, or look for alternatives. Quicken 2020 is a bit of a disappointment. Right now I am thinking I want a refund.

jacobs

@JeffNY  I will say that almost everyone who has migrated from Quicken 2007 to the modern Quicken Mac has an initial reaction of not liking the new user interface. I was one of them! But I will add that many people find after using it for awhile, and having it become second nature, that the interface is different but not worse that Quicken 2007. In fact, I now prefer the register interface in Quicken Mac over Quicken 2007. I find it's easier to spot a transaction I'm looking for with the one-line display for each transaction, and I appreciate being able to re-arrange the column order and width to suit my preferences. Smooth scrolling, versus Quicken 2007 jumping screen by screen, is also something I now like a lot better.

In terms of splits, you're correct that viewing a split there are no separator lines in the blue box. But entering or editing a split, every field is in a box, and I don't find it at all problematic to scan across the screen to keep the rows straight in my head.

I'm not saying you should agree with me. I'm only saying that we all used the Quicken 2007 (and predecessor) interface for many years, so while the new interface initially feels different -- and perhaps inferior -- over time, I think most people find it not objectionable and perhaps even preferable. It takes a while to unlearn all the muscle memory we have for an product we used for many years or decades, but when I go back to launch Quicken 2007 today, to me it feels dated and more awkward than the current Quicken Mac interface.

That all said, if you find a different product that meets all your needs that you like better, then move on. Many people find Quicken offers the best combination of features for their needs, but there are certainly competing products out there that meet some people's needs. (Just keep in mind that any different product will have an even steeper learning curve to adapt to.)

JeffNY

Hi Jacobs, Yes, I hear you and know what you are saying. I may continue to use it, I am not sure yet. The frustrating thing to me is there was a reason so many of us stuck with Quicken 2007....we all liked it so much! Why didn't they just update that, instead of clean-sheeting it, and dropping features? I would have even been Ok with paying a small "maintenance fee" too to ensure it was compatible with Apple's latest MacOS updates. But thanks for your feedback and help. Jeff-

NotACPA

"Why didn't they just update that, "

Quicken Inc is simplifying their business model by moving towards support of just 3 desktop products: QWin US, QWin Canada and QMac.

And, no features have been "dropped" from QMac (which is a complete re-write of the QMac product) they just haven't been added back to the current product.

Q Inc is working on adding those features ... and minimizing the realm of products allows the developers to concentrate on that.

jacobs

@JeffNY  The reasons they didn't "just update" Quicken 2007 are many, and complex, but I think we can boil it down to a few things.

Quicken 2007 was based on a very old database which had capacity limits, was prone to periodic corruption, and had not been re-written for a modern operating system. Modern SQL databases, like the one used in the current Quicken Mac, are faster, safer (far less chance fo corruption), have extremely large capacities, and are embedded in modern operating systems. So they would have had to try to acquire a new database and then work backward to make it work with the old code base.

Quicken 2007 was based on the old PowerPC architecture of Macs which went away 15 years ago. The entire programming environment it was developed under is no longer used for modern Mac program development. 

Quicken 2007 used many elements of its host operating system for such basic things as creating images on the screen. All the screens in Quicken 2007 are built on QuickDraw, the original graphics architecture of the Mac. Back in 2006, when the decision was made to start over, Apple had signaled to developers that QuickDraw would eventually be removed from the operating system. So everything onscreen would have needed to be recreated using modern macOS graphics frameworks. 

So if the database needed to be replaced, the screens and reports needed to be replaced, and the code needed to be replaced, it was clear that a wholesale re-write of Quicken Mac was needed. There was no way to "just update" it to maintain compatibility with macOS updates. 

Now, they could have decided to try to create a modern program that looked and worked exactly like Quicken 2007. But management at Intuit at the time thought that if they were going to start over with a blank sheet of paper, they could take the opportunity to re-envision what a modern Mac program should look like. For instance, registers designed for the typical 12" screens circa 1990 could be redesigned to take better advantage of larger and high-resolution monitors. Core pieces of the system could use tools built into the modern macOS instead of hand-coding tens of thousands of lines of code. Code for older hardware, such as floppy disk drives, could be omitted.

Unfortunately, a number of management missteps at Intuit ensued, so development of the next-generation Quicken Mac got derailed multiple times. The first effort to rewrite the product never made it out of beta testing. Then Mint came along and provided a new visual interface for a personal finance program, and Intuit acquired it and its founder. They set out to bring some of the graphical looks of Mint to Quicken, but rushed an incomplete product out the door which many longtime Quicken users revolted against. Another management shakeup at Intuit left Quicken Mac rudderless and resource-starved for about two years, until Intuit decided to revive development of the Mac product -- but with only a handful of programmers. When Quicken Mac came out in late summer 2014, it still lacked many, many features of Quicken 2007. Over the ensuing six years, they have been chipping away at adding features customers are asking for. They did not use Quicken 2007 (or Quicken Windows, for that matter) as a template to exactly re-create; they re-thought how features should work based on how people were using and wanted to use the product. In some cases, things work better than Quicken 2007; in some cases, things work differently but not necessarily better or worse; in some cases, things work worse or haven't yet been built.

JeffNY

Well, learned another lesson about Quicken 2020. I was using it on my MacBook and we had a storm come through and we lost power, so I unplugged the power cable to the MacBook. About 10 minutes later power came on and all seemed fine and I reconnected my power cord. Well, about 2 hours later I was not home and we lost power again for a few minutes and then the power came back on again. Well when I got home I went to use my MacBook and it was off, and would not boot up, I just got a folder icon with a flashing question mark. Turns out the MacBook seemed to be Ok but the second power loss/return took out my MacBooks SSD. And it appears that because both Quicken 2020 files were in the Library>Application Support>Quicken>Documents Folder Time Machine did not back them up, and neither did my BackBlaze backup software. And it appears iCloud would not have either since they were not in the Documents or Desktop folders. So warning to everyone, if you want your Quicken 2020 files backed up so you don't lose all your data in them move them out of the Library>Application Support... folder Quicken puts them in.

jacobs

Time Machine does back up the default Quicken folder. You can set Backblaze to back up the Quicken folder. 

JeffNY

Where is the 'default Quicken folder'? Does that contain backups of my file?

UKR

Oh, I know, it's too late now, but ...
If you live in an area where storms are frequent, a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) with surge protector would be very helpful to protect all your computer equipment, network routers, TV/VCR, landline phone, etc.

JeffNY

Thanks, but yes, in my home office both my 27" iMac and Mac Mini are both on there own APC UPSs (that are also connected to the Macs via USB cables) and the MacBook (next to my chair in the living room) was on a surge protector, and (of course) has its own battery for when there no power. But somehow that 2nd power outage took out the SSD.....AND I had Time Machine backups and BackBlaze backups. Don't know what else I can do.....well, one more thing is to not keep my Quicken 2020 files where Quicken puts them by default. Any chance my files were backed up to Quickens online thing??

jacobs

If you have a Time Machine backup, then you should have a backup of your Quicken file.

First, navigate to Quicken's default file location: in Finder, hold down the Option key and select Library from the Go menu. Navigate to Application Support, within that to Quicken, and within that to Documents (your "live" data file) and/or Backups (your automatics and/or manual backups). Once there, enter Time Machine and go back to the day before the power outage. You should be able to restore your Quicken data file or a backup and be back in business.

For BackBlaze, you may need to specifically add this Quicken folder to be backed up. (I use iDrive, so I don't know what BackBlaze does and doesn't back up by default.)

Oh, the Quicken Cloud data -- for using with the mobile app or web interface -- is not a complete backup of your data, and unfortunately can't be used to restore a desktop file.