Average Monthly Cost

Options
Can Quicken (Mac) tell me my average monthly costs for a single category? For example, take a category like groceries and calculate the average amount I paid per month for groceries? I know Quicken will tell me how much I spent each month on a category, but surely there's a feature to give me the average monthly cost so I can setup my budget based on actual numbers..

Best Answer

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓
    Options
    If you're setting up a budget, Quicken will pull in your actual values from the past year, and you can choose to use those values in your budget. 

    Additionally, the Edit Budget screen gives you two things to make this super-easy. First, it shows the total for the year at the far right. Second, if you then enter that value in the first month of the year, you can choose to have it spread evenly across the year.

    For example, if Quicken shows you spent 4,000 a year on groceries, click in the first month of your budget on the grocery line and enter 4,000 -- and then from the drop-down menu select "4,000 per year (333.33 per month)". So it will do for you exactly what you wanted. :)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993

Answers

  • NotACPA
    NotACPA SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Options
    There's no such tool in QWin, and I don't believe there's such in QMac.
    Why can you run a simple report on that category and do the simple division yourself?

    Q user since February, 1990. DOS Version 4
    Now running Quicken Windows Subscription, Business & Personal
    Retired "Certified Information Systems Auditor" & Bank Audit VP

  • jacobs
    jacobs SuperUser, Mac Beta Beta
    Answer ✓
    Options
    If you're setting up a budget, Quicken will pull in your actual values from the past year, and you can choose to use those values in your budget. 

    Additionally, the Edit Budget screen gives you two things to make this super-easy. First, it shows the total for the year at the far right. Second, if you then enter that value in the first month of the year, you can choose to have it spread evenly across the year.

    For example, if Quicken shows you spent 4,000 a year on groceries, click in the first month of your budget on the grocery line and enter 4,000 -- and then from the drop-down menu select "4,000 per year (333.33 per month)". So it will do for you exactly what you wanted. :)
    Quicken Mac Subscription • Quicken user since 1993
  • MargieLH
    MargieLH Member ✭✭
    edited May 2020
    Options
    You can create a budget and change the numbers in the report to reflect the historical (2019) numbers. When you click on the number field and start entering a number next to the category it will give you a drop down menu to select "per year (... per month) then it will populate that figure thru the entire year by month.
    I hope this makes sense. You can reach out to me directly to explain further.
    Thanks,
    [email removed for privacy]
This discussion has been closed.