Setting Up a Budget

Creating a budget can be a time-consuming and not-so-fun task. But Quicken provides a fast way of creating a budget for you, unless you prefer to create it yourself, one painstaking step at a time. You have three choices for how you want to create your budget. You can either create one manually; you can let Quicken create one for you, using all your existing information; or you can import one that you've used in a previous version of Quicken. If you're like me, the less effort expended, the better. Therefore, the following task steps you through the second choice, letting Quicken create a budget for you. You can tweak the budget later if needed.

Set Up a Budget

In the Planning menu, click Budget.

TIMESAVER Once you get your budget set up, you can quickly access it by using the toolbar. You can add the Budget button to the toolbar by right-clicking the tool bar and selecting Customize Toolbar. Then from the Add to Toolbar section, select Budget and click Add. Click OK to save your changes.

Select Automatic to have Quicken automatically create a budget for you and then click Create Budget.

Type a name and description for the budget and select the date range that you want Quicken to use to scan your transactions. Quicken uses this information to create your budget.

If want to use another time frame besides monthly for your budget, select a different budget method.

To select the categories Quicken uses to create your budget, click Categories.

Select or clear the categories you want Quicken to use for your budget; for example, your salary. Then click OK.

Click OK. A message appears telling you that your budget has been created.

Click OK. Quicken creates a budget based on the transaction and information you've entered thus far for the categories you selected and displays it on the Budget tab.