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Managing a joint checking account

ccummins

My spouse and I have a joint checking account. We both have our own Quicken accounts for our personal accounts. Now that we both have the joint checking account added to our own Quicken accounts it looks like what we individually spend is more. How can I easily split the transactions so that I can just see what I'm spending and vice versa? Is there a way to automate that? We both have the Mac version of Quicken. Thanks

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Chris_QPW

There is nothing in a given transaction in joint account that would allow anything, including Quicken to separate out which transactions belong to which person.

Sceptic

@ccummins I am a Quicken Windows user, but I think my answer will also apply to Quicken Mac.

If both of you maintain separate Quicken Mac data files and both files contain the same joint checking account, then each file will download all transactions from that account. Quicken has no way to automatically know which spouse made a particular purchase.

If your goal is to track only your own spending, you'll likely need to use tags/categories to identify each spouse's transactions and then customize reports accordingly. Otherwise, spending reports from the joint checking account will include transactions made by both people, which can make each person's spending appear higher than it actually is.

If there is any special feature that Quicken Mac might have to accommodate what you are asking for, then a Quicken Mac user would need to confirm that.

smayer97

In this regard, it is the same in QMac as QWin. For bank joint accounts, there rarely, if ever, is distinction made by the bank as to whose transaction it is, even if you use different debit cards.

It does seem like you are using 2 separate Quicken files for the same joint account. If so, you will forcibly need to have both sets of transactions to be able to reconcile the bank statement to the same joint account, essentially needing to do the reconciliation twice, once in each file.

To ID the transactions, you can rely on memorized transactions if there is a pattern to what you use the funds for. Then, in that case, one effective means is to use tags to flag each others expenses. Then, as pointed out, you can create reports based on the respective tag.

That is about as close as you can get to automating this, but there is no way to avoid duplication of effort, if you want to reconcile to the bank statement and account balance, unless you summarize each other's transactions with a one-liner entry for the total of the other persons transactions. But that may get messy.

mshiggins

@ccummins Have you considered combining your two separate files into one file?

ccummins

Thanks. Is there a way to have a "phantom" account that I move 50% of the amount for each transaction to?

Sceptic

@ccummins create a "payable" account with account type of Liability in each data file. Then split each transaction - 50% with the category and 50% a transfer to the payable account. Each of you would do this. Ultimately what will happen ongoing is that the two "payable" accounts will always net to zero (if the splits are done correctly), and each of you will only have half of the transactions in each copy of your joint checking account in your separate data files.

Chris_QPW

Now with the new options of the memorized payees that allow a condition that it applies to a given account it might even be possible to do this 50% split automatically. That is if the even newer feature of percentage splitting will work properly.

Sceptic

The original poster is using Quicken Mac. The features you're describing are available in Quicken Windows but may not work the same or be available in Quicken Mac.

Chris_QPW

Oops, your right, my mistake. This can't be done on Quicken Mac. They have yet to get the same features.

ccummins

Thanks. Adding a liability account worked for expenses on the join checking and joint credit card. How do I manage the cash inflow from our own checking accounts into the joint checking account?

And sadly Quicken Mac doesn't have the ability to split automatically.

Sceptic

@ccummins I am assuming that all income/expenses in the joint checking account are shared 50/50 and the liability accounts are not being used to keep track true liability. That said, the simplest thing to do is split the transfers in from the individual checking accounts 50/50. Each time a transfer from the individual checking accounts is made, half goes to the joint checking account and Half to the liability account. Each of you would theoretically make equal transfers from your individual checking accounts to the joint checking account to keep things balanced. The difference between the individual liability accounts will somewhat indicate who is paying more into the joint checking account.

Sceptic

@ccummins if you always want to keep the liability accounts in balance with each other, you can always reimburse each other from the individual checking accounts. On Quicken these payments would flow through the liability accounts. You would write a check to your spouse and on Quicken transfer the full amount to the liability account. Then your spouse would record the deposit as a transfer from their liability account to their individual checking account.