Automatic Calendar funding

Question

Does this program automatically fund using dates?  I want to be able to put in the date my bills are due, and have the program take money from my paycheck every week and allocate money to fund those "envelopes" so the money is in there when the bills are due?

garysmith87 · Answer

Unfortunately, the problem that I see is that "envelopes" in envelope budgeting are really categories in Quicken.

But Quicken doesn't really allow you to automatically allocate income to expenses and shift funds from one expense to another if its "not used".  And Quicken really doesn't let you future budget...only budget in the past and real time.  So there's really no easy way to allocate funds to "envelopes" that you will fund now but use those amounts in the future.

You can finagle your way around to get Quicken to work that way.  But it's not anywhere near polished or elegant or easy.

What I do is have Quicken automatically enter all my income and fixed (scheduled) transactions on the first of the month.  The transactions are dated on their due date...but they are entered on the first.

Then I created a simple Income/Expense Cash Flow report for the month...and work "backwards" to not exceed zero net amount.

Thus if my income is $6,000 for the month, and I have already entered $2500 in fixed expenses, I now know that I have $3500 left in discretionary spending.

Now...does this allow me to save for that new car?  That upcoming vacation?  That college tuition due in 6 months?  Any expense in the not so current future? No.

And since Quicken Mac doesn't have Savings Goals like the Windows version has, that's where this is lacking.  You don't get that visual of "hey, I put aside $200 every month and no I have $4000 saved up for that new car I want to buy".  You can see that you have $4000 net income versus expenses, but where that's allocated to is next to impossible.

Yes, there are complicated workarounds by setting up individual type accounts..but then you're not really getting true balances in your actual accounts by having transfers set up to fictional accounts that are "holding" your money.  As I said, it's not easy or elegant.  And unfortunately for Quicken, there are other software options that do a much better job of this.  No fault of Quicken...it's just not how Quicken is designed to work.

Boatnmaniac · Answer

I'm not so quick to write off Quicken's capabilities to budget with an 
envelope-type system.  My brother uses an envelop system for budgeting. 
 Since I have POA-finance authority for him I have a Quicken data file 
set up which I use to assist him in tracking his finances and in his 
budgeting process.  It is not as clean as Quicken's Budget tool but it 
can be made to work using Bill/Income/Transfer Reminders, showing 
Reminders in account registers and customizing the Projected Balances 
tool.  I suppose, but am not sure, that it could perhaps also somehow 
get rolled into the Budget tool but I'd have to think some more about 
that before I could make a definitive comment one way or the other 
regarding that.

Please clarify what you mean by "automatically fund" those envelopes.  
If
 you mean, will Quicken automatically send instructions to the bank 
telling it how to allocate your paychecks?  Then the answer is no.  
However,
 if you set up your Paycheck Reminder you can set it up with a standard 
transfers allocation that will update those bank accounts in Quicken accordingly 
every time that Reminder is entered.  And Reminders can be set to be 
automatically entered into your account registers based upon a variety 
of different criteria (such as, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.).  If 
you want to vary the transfers allocations from paycheck to paycheck you can do that by manually 
making the desired changes in the Reminders each time you need to be changed.  But Quicken cannot automatically vary the transfer allocations 
for you...you need to do that yourself.You might want to 
consider placing a subscription order for Quicken and play around with 
it some to see how it might or might not work you.  If within 30 days 
you decide it is not meeting your needs you can cancel your subscription
 and get a full refund.  During the 30 days trial period this Community 
can be a great resource in getting feedback on how Quicken can be used.

garysmith87 · Answer

Quicken does NOT use envelope budgeting.

It uses category budgets where you assign categories to bills and expenses.  Quicken, through it's Scheduled Transactions can automatically enter any income or expense transaction for any date or amount you setup to be paid.

But if you're locked into using an envelope budgeting system, Quicken isn't the software for you.