Can and How to?

ZamazingT

Mac - Quicken Classic Deluxe 7.10.0

"Operating Accounts": All my different Bank Accounts, CD's, Everything - show when I open Quicken - Great

I am out of the country for a year or more - I do not want my out of the country financial information to be reflected in my Quicken "Operating Accounts". Can this be set up in Quicken and if so what do I do? Obviously, I don't want to loose what I already have and will have to go to my current "Operating Accounts" once in a while.

Thanks for your assistance.

NotACPA

If those "operating accounts" (what exactly do you mean by that?) are connected to Q and you download into them, there's no way to exclude the non-domestic txn from being shown.

SO, you can either setup different accounts for those uses, or not download into those accounts.

ZamazingT

Operating accounts is what I've labeled my Quicken "file" - Like anyone would set up Quicken to get their bank and credit card information, etc., etc.

Is there a way for me to have a separate "file" for my out of country financial transactions? I do not want the information to show up in my current file.

Since the currency is Pesos, it would totally mess up what I currently have.

I may use the wrong terms, but what I want is - I guess an analogy would be - I want all my financial information in one Quicken Account and my wife would like all her financial information in a different Quicken account - and we can't see the other's information, but we use the same computer. (By the way there is no wife involved. - LOL)

volvogirl

Well you can have separate Quicken data files. Go up to File-New Quicken File. I don’t know Quicken for Mac. But you really should go by your tax return. If you file a joint tax return you should keep both your and her accounts in the same Quicken file.


FILES - Your data is kept in a separate Data FILE (and not in the program).   In the data File you have all your accounts.  You can have more than one File like a  separate file for your parents or children or a club. Recent Files opened should be listed at the bottom of the FILE menu item. For Windows your data file ends in .qdf and should be in your Documents (or Library) then in a Quicken sub Folder.  Or you can search your computer for all files ending in .qdf to find them.  Go to FILE - NEW QUICKEN FILE  to setup another data file. When you do a backup it only backs up the file currently open.  You get the whole data file and all the accounts in that one file.


ACCOUNTS - You can have many accounts in a File like a checking account, savings, credit card, asset, investment. Accounts are listed down the side in the Account Bar. You can do Ctrl+A or go to TOOLS - ACCOUNT LIST to bring up the Account listing.  You do not backup Accounts separately.  

NotACPA

Also note that any one Q account can only hold a single currency. So, you'll need separate accounts for your Peso txn anyway. Just choose to exclude them from any reports where you don't want to see those txn.

jacobs

Just to be clear about this, when you are outside the US, will you be using your "operating accounts" — e.g. your existing credit cards — or separate accounts for the country you will be in? If you're using your existing credit cards, purchases in pesos will be converted by your credit card company to US dollars, and there's really no easy way to separate those transactions in Quicken from your existing ones, other than filtering by date.

You have two possible approaches for what you describe:

(1) You could create new accounts in your existing Quicken file for your financial activity while you are outside the US, using the currency of the country you will be in if the activity is reported in pesos and not US dollars. You can choose to make these accounts "Separate" in Quicken, so they will show up in the bottom of your left sidebar together, but separate from your "operating" accounts, and will not be included in your total net worth.

(2) You could create a new Quicken data file for your year of living outside the US. You'd create new accounts for your banking and credit card activity. This data will be completely separate from your existing data file, and you could actually use both. (For instance if you'll be paying some expenses via your US accounts for home maintenance, insurance, etc., or if you have investment account activity, you can switch back and forth between your regular "operating" Quicken data file and your "international" data file.)

ZamazingT

Thanks everyone so much. I've figured out what to do, that works best for me. Appreciate the guidance.