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how to get Alert when the Lowest Balance Forecast for any accounts gets negative?

mikek753b

hi all,

Also, how to set it for 5 days for all accounts?

I want to get Alert in the Quicken to know about any account balance goes negative in 5 days, so I can act. Sale MM Fund, transfer from another account, etc.

I need active way to get such notification, instead check for every account Lowest Balance Forecast.

No, I don't use sync with Mobile and Web. I turned OFF due to many data and reminder related issues.

I can't check daily Projected Balances before market closes.
I can't set Sale MM Fund Order for a future. Which is the reason I don't set such Sale Reminder as it will just mask negative forecast balance, while nothing gets executed.

Thanks

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Sceptic

@mikek753b Quicken Windows doesn’t have an alert for “Projected Balance will go negative in X days.” Alerts only work on current low balances, not forecasted balances, and Projected Balances cannot trigger notifications.

There’s also no way to set a global “5‑day negative forecast” alert across all accounts. The only option today is manually checking Bills & Income → Projected Balances.

Quicken Windows does not provide any workaround—Reminders won’t help because they don’t execute trades or transfers, and they don’t generate forecast‑based alerts. The key is to post the reminders ahead 3, 6, or even 12 months.

What I do personally is I set up reminders for every transaction that I can - Bills, Income, transfers. Then every non-discretionary expense or any periodic expense or income is automated and posted to all accounts for 12 months ahead. It is a running 12 month forcast. In Bills & Income, I set the view to 12 months. That way, there are no surprises. I am essentially maintianing a zero based budget for the running 12 months where all income and expenses are accounted for and net to zero.

What I do is not for everyone. In fact I think I can safely say that I am probably the only one that does this in Quicken. It took me years to perfect this so I could do zero based budgeting that essentially runs itself and forcast out 12 months without much effort.

This is probably more information you want or need to know. But Quicken does have limitations, but you can always find ways around them.

RichardSchreyer

There are at least two of us, I enter reminder data a rolling 12 months into the future as well. I do not zero budget however due to large swings of income and expenses based on budget detail for particular months such as annual and bi-annual expenses. Right now, i know that 2026 will have a deficit budget in 2026 but will have a surplus by August 2027 with no more college expenses for grandchildren. I do have to make some basic assumptions for increased expenses for 2027 and being retired cola increases for social security. I have reminders for transfer payments each month for all credit cards, with the reminder amount being actual expenses for each credit card's prior year expenses increased by the projected cola i use divided by 12. So, like closing out August 3 days ago with actuals thru August I have an updated cash flow projection thru August 2027. The plan warns me when I will need to transfer funds to cover anticipated costs months ahead of time.

Sceptic

I accomplish the zero based budgeting by offsetting any excess income or expense with the a high yield savings account. I also keep a small reserve amount is a savings account. The checking accounts are maintained with a cusion balance between 255 and 280. All interest bearing credit cards are kept at a zero balance and paid off every month. Non-interest bearing credit cards are used for large purchases with special interest-free financing and carry a balance with monthy payments and paid off by the end of the promotion period. All expenses ultimately flow though the main checking account.

I definitely understand those large swings of income and expenses. But again, I offset them with the balance in the high yield savings account. I show a transfer in for any excess cash flow, and a transfer out for any shortfall. As income and expenses change, I adjust the transfers to keep the spending and credit card accounts at a zero balance. I know it sounds complicated, but it really isn't and I have it set up where it is pretty much automated.

RichardSchreyer

I use a Cash Management Account with fidelity investments that automatically keeps all funds in the money market until a payment demand is made. All payments are made out of that account with most being ACH's. My Budget for 2026 shows I am spending a few thousand more than my income but for special reasons. The starting 2026 cash balance was sufficient to absorb the deficit thru the year and will be made up during 2027 budget period where income will actually exceed expenses by a significant amount. It will automatically go into money market funds thru the CMA each day. I joke that with this all the bills and income being automatically handled thru the CMA I will be dead for months and it will still be working….

mikek753b

thank you all for replies.
Looks like Quicken just doesn't have such feature and not many asked for it IMHO.

I'll create IDEA for Quicken for this, so maybe in 10 years it will be implemented, who knows.

I can't say if my situation is generic or extreme rare, but its subjective for sure.

My current issue happened due to over $5k full Credit Card balance payment ACH, that pushed my brokerage checking account into negative.

Yes, I have the margin on the account and the ACH went through Ok, but I'll pay high margin APR for 2 days. It isn't so critical, but should be avoided via 5 days Lowest Balance Forecast easily, so I asked for it.

This only brokerage account I use for all my Bills, which more or less predictable, unlike Credit Card balance.

The Credit Card was used for medical expenses, and those are NOT predictable, so long time Bill forecast doesn't work for me, I only see guaranteed for the next 2 weeks or so.

Another my specifics - as I'm in CA high income tax State as I use US Treasury only MM Fund, which isn't in any broker can be used as a sweep. As result I need manually Sale, which takes 1-2 days to get cash.

Just keeping $1k cash doesn't address my use case, which reqs over $5k cash, and keeping cash over $1k in current inflation doesn't make much sense to me.

Yes, I missed, but I expect the tool to forecast and Alert me.

Sceptic

I understand your situation completely. It does take 2 days for me to raise cash from my HYSA or MMkt accounts. That is why I keep 5000 in a regular savings account for emergencies. That is also why I post transactions out 12 months so I know exactly what my cash flow needs are. But still I have come close because of an unexpected expense.

mikek753b

please Vote for the Idea

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7976159/automated-lowest-balance-forecast-alert