Where to input interest rate on a savings account (Q Mac)
I've been using the Windows version for years which includes a field to input the interest rate for each savings account. Mine change annually. Now using Quicken for Mac and I don't see a field for inputing the interest rate of a savings account. Help?
Best Answers
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If I understand correctly, you're just describing basically memo information about your interest rate, not something used in any actual transactions, right? There is no specific place to enter an interest rate for an account, but there are a few ways you can document this.
If you just want to be able to record the interest place somewhere you can look it up later, you can use the Notes field for each account. Click on the account, then click on Settings, and there's a free-form text box you can use there to record the interest rate; you could record each year's rate, or just the current rate. But you can't see this note information anywhere other than on the Settings screen. If you want to be able to see it at a glance in your register, I'd suggest recording it int he Memo/Notes field of the first interest payment of the year, or you could enter a $0 transaction just to record this information in the Memo/Notes field. Then you'll see the information as you scroll through your account, assuming you make the Memo/Notes field visible in your register.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931 -
@DZinicola Yes, there ar emany diferences, some quite small and some quite large, between Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows due to Quicken Mac being re-built from scratch a dacade ago. The Mac development team is slowly plugging feature gaps, which is good, but the pace of change is pretty slow.
Full multi-currency support in Quicken Mac is one of those feature gaps. There is a long running thread requesting this, with nearly 400 votes:
The developers marked this idea as "Planned" last year, which means it has been assigned a time slot on their development schedule. It seems likely that since this touches so many areas of the program, it requires a long period of development and testing. As always with feature requests, we only know it's coming , but don't know when.
If you have a lot of transactions in a different currency, let me ask if you have a separate account in that currency, or just use your US account to charge foreign transactions? If you create a separate account in a different currency in Quicken Mac, when you transfer funds between accounts Quicken will do a one-time, non-linked currency conversion:
In this case, I entered a 100€ transaction in an account in Euros, asa transfer to an account in US dollars; upon saving the transaction the dialog box above pops up. Quicken supplies the exchange rate — I don't know where it gets its rates — but you can override the amount in the destination account if you wish. If you let it proceed, it records the transfer out of 100€ from one account and a transfer in of $108.10 in the other account, but those aren't a linked transfer, meaning you can edit one without it affecting the other. This is obviously far from complete support for multiple currencies, but I thought I'd mention it in case it proves helpful for anything you're doing.
Also to be aware of is that int he eft sidebar, it shows an account in a foreign currency in that currency, as you'd want. But when the accounts are totaled at the bottom of the left sidebar Quicken performs an on-the-fly conversion of the foreign currency account(s) into the home currency amount. That conversion is invisible, and it may not be precise to the penny, but it is an attempt at giving you the value of the sum of your accounts. For Net Worth and other reports, you have to create separate reports for each currency, as Quicken doesn't offer a similar translation between currencies in reports.
Budget reporting is, well, abysmal in Quicken Mac. The on-screen version can be pretty useful once you get used to it, but outputting any of it in a report is difficult, inflexible, or impossible. But there's reason for hope, as budget reports is another area that the developers last year marked as "Planned" for development. I think we're more likely to see this sooner than later… but I've guessed wrong about this before!
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931
Answers
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If I understand correctly, you're just describing basically memo information about your interest rate, not something used in any actual transactions, right? There is no specific place to enter an interest rate for an account, but there are a few ways you can document this.
If you just want to be able to record the interest place somewhere you can look it up later, you can use the Notes field for each account. Click on the account, then click on Settings, and there's a free-form text box you can use there to record the interest rate; you could record each year's rate, or just the current rate. But you can't see this note information anywhere other than on the Settings screen. If you want to be able to see it at a glance in your register, I'd suggest recording it int he Memo/Notes field of the first interest payment of the year, or you could enter a $0 transaction just to record this information in the Memo/Notes field. Then you'll see the information as you scroll through your account, assuming you make the Memo/Notes field visible in your register.
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931 -
on the Windows side - Edit Account Details -
or…. just add a transaction in Register with the info in the Memo Field - to easily see the history of rate changes.
As mentioned - the Interest Rate is not used in any Savings account calculations…. just info -
QWin - R54.16 - Win10
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Thanks to both for replies. The reply describing the Windows version gives a graphic of exactly what I was asking about for my new Mac version. As I continue to convert, I'm finding other differences: 1. No way to input a foreign currency exchange rate for quick conversion at the transaction level. I input mine manually but will now have to use a calculator for each transaction. 2. Budget reporting is VERY limited compared to Windows version. Thanks again. Dz
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@DZinicola Yes, there ar emany diferences, some quite small and some quite large, between Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows due to Quicken Mac being re-built from scratch a dacade ago. The Mac development team is slowly plugging feature gaps, which is good, but the pace of change is pretty slow.
Full multi-currency support in Quicken Mac is one of those feature gaps. There is a long running thread requesting this, with nearly 400 votes:
The developers marked this idea as "Planned" last year, which means it has been assigned a time slot on their development schedule. It seems likely that since this touches so many areas of the program, it requires a long period of development and testing. As always with feature requests, we only know it's coming , but don't know when.
If you have a lot of transactions in a different currency, let me ask if you have a separate account in that currency, or just use your US account to charge foreign transactions? If you create a separate account in a different currency in Quicken Mac, when you transfer funds between accounts Quicken will do a one-time, non-linked currency conversion:
In this case, I entered a 100€ transaction in an account in Euros, asa transfer to an account in US dollars; upon saving the transaction the dialog box above pops up. Quicken supplies the exchange rate — I don't know where it gets its rates — but you can override the amount in the destination account if you wish. If you let it proceed, it records the transfer out of 100€ from one account and a transfer in of $108.10 in the other account, but those aren't a linked transfer, meaning you can edit one without it affecting the other. This is obviously far from complete support for multiple currencies, but I thought I'd mention it in case it proves helpful for anything you're doing.
Also to be aware of is that int he eft sidebar, it shows an account in a foreign currency in that currency, as you'd want. But when the accounts are totaled at the bottom of the left sidebar Quicken performs an on-the-fly conversion of the foreign currency account(s) into the home currency amount. That conversion is invisible, and it may not be precise to the penny, but it is an attempt at giving you the value of the sum of your accounts. For Net Worth and other reports, you have to create separate reports for each currency, as Quicken doesn't offer a similar translation between currencies in reports.
Budget reporting is, well, abysmal in Quicken Mac. The on-screen version can be pretty useful once you get used to it, but outputting any of it in a report is difficult, inflexible, or impossible. But there's reason for hope, as budget reports is another area that the developers last year marked as "Planned" for development. I think we're more likely to see this sooner than later… but I've guessed wrong about this before!
Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 19931 -
A belated thanks to Jacobs for his quick follow-up with additional information. I'm going to attempt to set up a foreign currency account for the purpose he describes. Sounds like it may be the work around I need. As a missionary working in some under developed areas, I mostly deal in cash and must manually input my foreign transactions anyway. I'm mostly needing a quick way to input an amount in a foreign currency and have the system convert it to dollars based on a pre-determined exchange rate. It looks like by setting up a foreign currency account, I may be able to achieve my goal. THANKS AGAIN for the GREAT follow up and INFORMATION!!!!
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Follow up to Jacobs: I followed your great instructions and it did work the way you described it. However, I need to use the rate I obtained when in country and the pop up doesn't allow me to change the exchange rate. It does, as you mentioned, allow me to change the cost amount which would get me half way there but for reporting purposes using a transfer transaction is not going to work for me. I must be able to designate a category (one of my custom cats) and then use notes to give a description of the expense. For now I think I'm going to have to use the calculator method. I'll probably create a spreadsheet to shorten that process and then transfer the amounts to Quicken. Once again, I'm hugely grateful for your input. I'm sure I'll have more questions. On the comical side, I'm considering buying a low end Windows computer and just continue to use that for my book keeping. A sad reality until Quicken gets things running on the MAC at the same level as Windows. Thanks again.
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