Getting Started Using Quicken to Track Investments

johnpbigelow

Hello, members of the community,

I'm writing to ask for help locating documentation/manuals/instructions/advice about using Quicken to track my investments. I have used Quicken to keep track of routine banking for years - since the 1990s at least. Now, for the first time in my life I would like to also use it to keep track of investments. So, I am looking for material I can read about how to do that.

I have spent some time searching help files and Quicken's web-site, and I have not found what I'm looking for. Most of the things I've found make me feel like that moment when you pick up a book, and start reading - not at the beginning - but somewhere around Chapter 10. It leaves me thinking that there's good help to be found here, but I just haven't figured out how it's organized well enough to start at the beginning. I feel like I'm starting in the middle.

So, my question to y'all is: What can a person in my circumstances read as I'm getting started using Quicken to track my investments that will be helpful?

For context I am using a Windows Desktop version of Quicken; specifically Quicken Classic Premier, version R62.16, Build 27.1.62.16.

I will be grateful for any help that y'all can provide.

JPB

MRT1953

I started banking in Quicken in 1992, and then added investment accounts later, finally getting USD, CAD, GBP, and NOK investments back to the mid-1970's, and am now managing c. 200 individual investment securities monthly. If I was starting investment analytics from scratch today, I would start with one or a pair of interconnected non-registered investment accounts that have no more than a couple of years of complete account statements, and with minimal connections to your banking accounts, so you can practice seaming internal and external investment transactions together. When you have a couple of years of data proving the value with the various Quicken investment reporting tools, consider if it is worth adding earlier years to these working accounts, especially when transitioning from the accumulation to the decumulation phases of investing. Stay away from ESPP's and registered accounts until you are ready to wade into deep water, as "Dividend & Interest Tracking" in taxable, tax-deferred, and tax-free accounts need much more TLC to render meaningful analytics.

q_lurker

Fundamentally, the investment features have not changed in 30+ years. If you can get a hold of one of the old The Official Guide or a Quicken for Dummies book at your local library or used book store, they would get you off to a basic start.

CaliQkn

@johnpbigelow - if you use YouTube, there is a video you might find useful. It is called

Quicken Tutorial: How to Set Up Your Brokerage Account!

This is just a copy paste of the title and not a link, so hopefully you will be able to find it. It is about 30 minutes long and it seemed like it had some pretty interesting stuff.

mshiggins

@johnpbigelow if you provided a bit of details about your investments, we could offer advice tailored to your situation. What sorts of investment accounts do you want to track - IRA, 401(k), brokerage, employee stock plans, kids college savings? And how much time and effort do you want to put into the tracking?

Tom Young

@johnpbigelow

It would also be helpful if actually making investments is something new in your life, i.e., you made your first investment recently, or if you have a long, long history of making investments, but just never bothered to record those investment transactions in Quicken.

If it's the latter, then are you wanting to actually record that long history of transactions - which could be a lot of work, though doable - or do you really just want to pick some date, like 1/1/25, to "get started" and then start entering detail from there?