My wife and I, recently married, not merging files

TMiller · July 2022

We both use Quicken and want to maintain independent files (we handle numbers differently). That said, we'd like a file that sees the accounts in both of our files so that we have a big picture of our financial situation. We don't want to make entries in the file, or at least very few. We just want to see in one place my checking account, hers, both savings accounts, all our investment accounts, all of our assets, and all credit accounts and other liabilities. Can we do that? Can we set up a file that reads the bottom lines of identified accounts in each of our stand-alone files?

Boatnmaniac · July 2022

My understanding is that you want a 3rd Quicken data file which combines certain accounts of yours, certain accounts of your wife's and certain joint accounts, but not all of both of your accounts. Is this correct?

If so, you can certainly do that by creating a new file (File > New Quicken File). Give the new file a unique name and start setting up in it the specific accounts that you want included. Use the same account UserIDs and PWs that you both use in your other Quicken data files. As long as you create a new Quicken file and don't use a copy of an existing Quicken file you should run into no file cross-talk issues and everything should download into it just fine.

Boatnmaniac · July 2022

Chris_QPW said:

You know that is an interesting point about the compromising when you think that if they decided to have a third data file, then they would have to compromise in it to record the transactions from both of their accounts.

Unless all they want to do is track account balances and net worth.

Boatnmaniac · July 2022

My understanding is that you want a 3rd Quicken data file which combines certain accounts of yours, certain accounts of your wife's and certain joint accounts, but not all of both of your accounts. Is this correct?

If so, you can certainly do that by creating a new file (File > New Quicken File). Give the new file a unique name and start setting up in it the specific accounts that you want included. Use the same account UserIDs and PWs that you both use in your other Quicken data files. As long as you create a new Quicken file and don't use a copy of an existing Quicken file you should run into no file cross-talk issues and everything should download into it just fine.

Chris_QPW · July 2022

TMiller said:

Can we do that? Can we set up a file that reads the bottom lines of identified accounts in each of our stand-alone files?

Just to be clear, the New data file that @Boatnmaniac is suggesting would be completely separate from the other data files and would have to be maintained as such. You can certainly import the same transactions from your various accounts but Quicken isn't going to "read" from any other data files.

splasher · July 2022

You would probably do better generating a couple of reports (one from each data file) and marry the reports in a spreadsheet.

Anything done in Quicken is going to be labor intensive to keep the third file up to date.

[Deleted User] · July 2022

@tmiller - Quicken doesn't have a "master account" feature. There is no way to roll up and connect the two data files into one master file. There is also no way to have a file that reads just bottom-line totals from two data files as you asked.

Using a third data file as @boatnmaniac suggests is doable, but you would need to duplicate your accounts from the two files, in the third file and in the long run, I am not sure realistically how this file can be maintained. Who would be responsible for maintaining the third file? Who would be responsible for reconciling the third file with the other two and correcting discrepancies? As time progresses, it's just going to get more complicated and harder to maintain, in my opinion.

The only way I can think of to do what you want and keep things manageable is to create "twin" reports in each data file and then export them to and combine them into a spreadsheet. You can choose which accounts from each file you want in the combined report. This way you only have to maintain two separate files but still have the ability to see account totals in a combined report.

Boatnmaniac · July 2022

Chris_QPW said:

TMiller said:

Can we do that? Can we set up a file that reads the bottom lines of identified accounts in each of our stand-alone files?

Just to be clear, the New data file that @Boatnmaniac is suggesting would be completely separate from the other data files and would have to be maintained as such. You can certainly import the same transactions from your various accounts but Quicken isn't going to "read" from any other data files.

Yes, that is very true. I read the last sentence of @TMiller 's original post ("...set up a file that reads the bottom lines of identified accounts in each of our stand-alone files) to mean that all they want to see is the account balances. Simple OSU's will allow that file to show the account balances and net worth without issue.

But if the intent is to also use that file to consolidate details such as categories, tax planning, budgeting, etc., this might not be the best way to do it because it would require putting in the same level of effort (if not more) used for updating/maintaining the two current main data files.

And, as @Chris_QPW states, if the intent is to read from both @TMiller 's data file and from his wife's data file, then that is something Quicken cannot do.

Many moons ago my wife and I maintained 2 separate data files because we each liked to do money management/recording in different ways. We finally ended up forcing ourselves to compromise with each other and reach agreement on a single methodology. Then we merged the two data files into a single one. It took a bit of work to get everything set up and merged properly but once that was done we've had just what we wanted....a single file showing details for each of us but also showing the joint picture. And Quicken has the capability to generate reports that separate one person's data from the other person's data by use of such things as Tags, custom Categories/Sub-categories, etc. I would never go back to the way it was before.

Chris_QPW · July 2022

You know that is an interesting point about the compromising when you think that if they decided to have a third data file, then they would have to compromise in it to record the transactions from both of their accounts.

Boatnmaniac · July 2022

Chris_QPW said:

You know that is an interesting point about the compromising when you think that if they decided to have a third data file, then they would have to compromise in it to record the transactions from both of their accounts.

Unless all they want to do is track account balances and net worth.

TMiller · July 2022

Thank you all for your input. I'm seeing what I thought I'd see, the simple bottom line for both in one place is not specifically available with Quicken. Boatmaniac, your initial suggestion and last comment are likely the direction we'll take this for the time being. We're far too busy with the rest of merging two lives to take on accounting. That said, I assume that eventually we will merge our accounts, make compromises, and figure it out. Until then we'll muddle. Thanks!

My wife and I, recently married, not merging files

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