Quicken 2001 Deluxe
Suite
www.quicken.com
Vincent L Richards, NJPCUG
Introduction
The National Society of Certified Financial Counselors has broken down their
large, complex field into six major categories.
·
Financial Position
·
Income Tax Planning
·
Protection Planning (i.e. Insurance)
·
Investment Planning
·
Retirement Planning
·
Estate Planning
Quicken has all
these bases covered. Because Quicken is more than a computerized checkbook I
think it should be presented as what it really is - an overall financial
management system that brilliantly covers your every need in all aspects of your
financial life. Although many people may think of
Quicken as only a place to keep track of your checking account and manage
the household expenses it is very much more than that (although it does that
well too). If you work cooperatively with it and supply it with the data it
needs you may be surprised at what you can learn from it and how it can help
you. So we are going to look at it with relevance to the six financial
management knowledge areas listed above.
Note. As you
install and set up the various areas of your financial life, Quicken asks you a
LOT of questions. Try to answer all these questions in as complete and accurate
a manner as you can. Remember Quicken uses computers and computing can do a lot
of wonderful things provided it gets the data input it requires. Remember the
computer mantra “Garbage in - garbage out!” Similarly Quicken really starts
to shine at it’s brightest after it’s digested at least six months of your
accounts - better yet a year! So it’s important that you work with it.
FINANCIAL
POSITION Your
financial position at any given time will depend on several factors. We’ll
look at a few that Quicken takes particular interest in.
Net Worth, Quicken
can not only give you your present net worth in a jiffy but also gives you
graphs showing your past net worth and also forecasts your future net worth.
(Choose- Reports -Own and Owe- Net Worth Report)
Debt Reduction.
If your Net Worth is a negative number stop right there! Quicken is concerned
about this situation. You nay need to chop up a few credit cards. Quicken
recommends having just a few, one may maybe or two (This includes store and gas
credit cards.) Then you must turn to Quicken’s Debt Reduction Planner, (Choose
Planning - Debt Reduction Planner) Perhaps you’d like to see a movie that
shows the Debt Reduction Planner in action? Slip your Quicken CD in and follow
instructions. The DRP is fairly detailed but following instructions (after
seeing the movie) is straightforward and in no time you’ll see the following:
- A list of all your current debt
- Your total debt
- Total monthly payments
- A projection of when you will be debt free
- An Order of Debts (with the highest at the top) (Quicken sets the order
of payoff so that the most expensive are paid off first, thus saving interest
charges.
Then we see
another movie showing how you might want to use savings and investments to help
pay your debts. Also Quicken looks
at your budget and makes suggestions where you might tighten your belt to spend
less. The Final Plan is then shown together with a graph comparing your new plan
with the old plan. I told you Quicken was concerned, didn’t I?
I don’t plan to
present the many other segments of the Quicken program in such detail but I
Thought the DRP would be a good example of just what Quicken can do.
Credit Report
Everybody is interested in your Credit Report - you should be too! Quicken gives
you a free Credit Report (Choose
Household - Credit Research)
Current
Interest Rates If it looks as if a loan is on your
horizon you can look them up on Quicken (Choose Finance - Quicken on the Web -
Quicken.com).
To get out of
debt you may wish to refinance your home. (Choose Planning - Financial
Calculators -Refinance Calculator.
You may consider
selling your home. To obtain estimated values of other homes in your
neighborhood (Choose Household -
Home Values Download)
Let us turn from
the painful sight of a fellow member with a negative net worth (we know Quicken
will do it’s best to straighten him out!)
and turn to some other factors that determine your Financial Position.
ASSET
ALLOCATION
To determine your ideal asset allocation (Choose Investing - Asset
Allocation Guide). I understand many
experienced financial counselors are often amazed at the inappropriate
allocation of assets in some of the plans they are hired to correct. In the
Asset Allocation Area what Quicken really does (assuming you need it) is to give
you a top-notch course on choosing different types of investment.
Note. I read a brief biography of Ken Follet, the best-selling author
whose net worth is about twenty million dollars - and he doesn’t use financial
counselors -but he does use Quicken!
INCOME TAX
PLANNING
Quicken helps you plan for filing in a number
of ways:
Sets up your
paycheck for tracking your gross income and all
the deductions.
Keeps track of
all deductible expenses
Tracks all
amounts added or deducted from your 401(k)
Uses the Tax
Planner to estimate your taxes and investigate various “What If” scenarios
Creates Reports
and Graphs that summarize all your tax data.
You may use
“Turbo Tax’ Internet Software free for 30 days with no obligation
Create additional
tax related categories if your situation warrants.
Evaluate the
impact of various actions, such as buying a home or buying and selling stock.
View three
Reports: Tax Summary Report; Capital Gains Report; Tax Schedule Report
Complete and file
your taxes in a paperless manner
PROTECTION
PLANNING (insurance)
If you are connected to the
Internet, (without connection to the Internet you lose many of the benefits of
Quicken), go to http://www.Insuremarket.com/tools/basics where you will learn
everything you need to know on this subject. Quicken covers just about every
type of insurance used by the normal household from Annuities to Umbrella
Liability and if you go on line you’ll learn about many more.
Quicken even has
an Emergency Records Organizer that permits you to create a detailed plan to
cover all actions necessitated in family emergencies such as death or accident.
(Choose Household - Insurance Research Online.)
INVESTMENT
PLANNING
This is one of the most important functions of Quicken 2001 Deluxe and
perhaps the most rewarding if you work faithfully with the program. It’s also
the section that asks you the most questions.
The data you provide is completely confidential. Quicken’s Internet
security is top-of-the-line, using the best available encryption techniques.
Quicken will ask you what your Investment Goals are and your risk tolerance.
About 30% of the 67 page “Quicken Setup Guide” discusses this subject.
(This Guide is rather concise but very clear and easy to understand, and
of course Quicken has put much more help and information in the software which
loads into your computer.)
You should
certainly read the section of the Guide on Investments at least once carefully
before you embark on the Investment Planning Program. AFTER you’ve read the
Guide the first thing Quicken asks you to do is set up a Brokerage Account. From
then on, if you follow the instructions and answer all the questions, before you
know it you’ll be working with one of the finest Investment Management
Programs on the market.
RETIREMENT PLANNING
Choose Planning - Retirement Planner.
Enter all the information Quicken requests. As you do this Quicken will
direct you to links that fill out the reasons for all the information that
Quicken wants. As you proceed you may review your plan in the making at any
time.. This review can be a simple look at “Your Plan” so far or a “Check
for Problems” or a “What If?” that permits you to play with different
possibilities or finally “A Quick Summary” .From here on as time passes
it’s up to you to keep your plan and Quicken
up-to-date by revisiting the Retirement Planner and entering any relevant
changes.
ESTATE
PLANNING
Well you certainly can’t prepare an estate plan without a lawyer and
Quicken has provided you with one! “The Family Lawyer” on a separate disk is
a program consisting of about 150 legal forms covering
just about
everything that could
happen during
the lifetime of a normal family, much of which pertains to estate
planning. Of course this compilation is no substitute for a lawyer and Quicken
emphasizes this point at the beginning. But if you run through the 150 item
index I guarantee that you’ll find several that you will find useful in your
own circumstances.
Some examples:
“A Living Trust”, “College Education Trust”, “Estate Planning
Worksheet”, “Estate Size and Planning Calculator”, “Power of
Attorney”, “Living Will”. “Advance Health Care Directive" and many
others. Each of these items will be prepared to conform to the legalities of
your own State and some have Internet links to check for updates. I prepared a
living trust for my own enlightenment (a rather lengthy process) and was well
impressed with the legal
document that rolled out of my printer. Do
yourself a favor and at least scan through the Family lawyer index - it will be
illuminating.
What’s
New in Quicken 2001 Deluxe
Improved
Portfolio View
Improved
integration with Quicken.com
New Investing
Center
New
integrated Investing Alerts across Quicken and Quicken.com
Improved
security detail view
New 401(k)
download tracking
Improved Asset
Allocation Advice
New missed bill
reminder
Improved compare
to Register
New smart
reconcile
Expanded list of
financial intuitions (over 1400)
Export banking
account info to Quicken.com’s My Finances
Streamlined
online banking setup
Improved Capital
Gains Estimator
Improved Tax
Planner
Improved transfer
to Turbo Tax
Improved Home
Values Download
New access to key
Quicken data from anywhere
Streamlined User
interface
New toolbar
Integrated
Postage
System
Requirements
Windows 95,98,NT
4, 2000, Me
16 MB RAM minimum
(24 recommended)
486/66 CPU
minimum, P 90 or faster recommended
145MB minimum
hard disk space
256-color VGA
minimum, SVGA 16-bit color recommended
Sound board and
speakers recommended
2-speed CD drive
recommended or faster, 4-speed for multimedia
IE 5.0 included
with this software
Internet access
required for all online features
Price $79.95
(with the $20 rebate)