Decide What to Manage

Before you dive into Quicken, it's useful to spend a few minutes deciding what parts of your financial life you'll manage with the program. Though Quicken can handle every aspect of your finances, I suggest that you start with just a few areas, like your checking and savings accounts and the credit card you use the most. The reason is simple: You're making a transition from paper systems to a computerized one, and there's a bit of a learning curve and some information to enter into Quicken. I'll help you with that learning process, and you can help yourself by not trying to enter in every last bit of your financial information at one time. As you become more comfortable using Quicken, and as you discover its benefits, you can add more accounts and manage more of your financial life in the program.

This is a great time to sit down for a moment with a pen and paper and jot down two short lists. At the top of the first list, write "This is what I want to do with Quicken." Then give yourself some clear, short goals, things like "Manage my checkbook " and "Pay my bills." As we work through this book, you'll make these goals happen.

In the second list, write down the names of the accounts you have chosen to set up now in Quicken. If you have only one checking account, it's OK to use the name "Checking" in Quicken. But if you want to manage more than one checking account, it's a good idea to give each a descriptive name , such as "Jim's Checking" and "Susan's Checking."