Can budgets be set just using a major category e.g. Auto & Transport (Q Mac)

wsanders006

then post expenses to sub categories - e.g. auto insurance, gas & fuel, Parking, public transport, service & parts? Similar idea would be MAJor Food & Dining. then posting to sub categories of groceries, fast food, restaurants, coffee shops. The idea being to stay within the major budget in the category

Quicken Jared

wsanders006 said:

then post expenses to sub categories - e.g. auto insurance, gas & fuel, Parking, public transport, service & parts? Similar idea would be MAJor Food & Dining. then posting to sub categories of groceries, fast food, restaurants, coffee shops. The idea being to stay within the major budget in the category

Hello @wsanders006,  

We are sorry to hear about this confusion with the Budget feature. Thank you for inquiring about this here on the Quicken Community.

I am somewhat unclear; do you want to know if one can set a Parent Category value in the Budget so that this then "rolls down" to the Sub-categories? 

I look forward to your answer.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared 

wsanders006

I have set up my budget with the Parent Category " Food & Dining". No budge amount have been set in the sub- categories. The intent then is to post actual expenses to the sub-categories, so I will spend the budget as I see fit in each category.

UKR

Assuming that Quicken for Mac works the same or similar to Quicken for Windows Budgets ...
In Quicken for Windows the answer is:
No, you cannot set a budgeted amount for a parent category and then let it trickle down to the subcategories.

You have to set individual budget amounts for each subcategory. The amounts then roll up to the parent category where you can see at a glance how you're standing within your parent category.

Here's an example of my Food parent category and subcategories. (The Balance for January includes a rollover from last December)

I hope it's the same or similar for Q Mac, but I gladly stand corrected if a Mac expert user chimes in here and tells me that it's different ...

Quicken Jared

UKR said:

Assuming that Quicken for Mac works the same or similar to Quicken for Windows Budgets ...
In Quicken for Windows the answer is:
No, you cannot set a budgeted amount for a parent category and then let it trickle down to the subcategories.

You have to set individual budget amounts for each subcategory. The amounts then roll up to the parent category where you can see at a glance how you're standing within your parent category.

Here's an example of my Food parent category and subcategories. (The Balance for January includes a rollover from last December)

I hope it's the same or similar for Q Mac, but I gladly stand corrected if a Mac expert user chimes in here and tells me that it's different ...

Hello @UKR,  

Thanks for helping out with clarifying this feature, and for inquiring for further confirmation about how the corresponding Quicken for Mac features would operate.

In this case - and hopefully this will answer @wsanders006's question - a user can use information taken from the Main Categories for use in the Budget, and Subcategories will still be calculated. A user will simply add the appropriate Subcategory to the transaction by clicking on it in the Register and then clicking on the 'pencil' icon in the lower right-central edge of the Quicken window, then type in the appropriate Subcategory name. 

Next, they navigate to the Budgets tab, click Edit Budget at the top of the screen, then click Select Categories at the bottom of the window that appears. Deselect the appropriate Subcategories by making sure that the boxes near to them in the dropdown list that appears are 'unchecked.' Set the Budget Amount then click Save.

I hope that is helpful, and let us know if there are any further questions.

Thank you,

Quicken Jared