Langer - Quicken 2009: the official guide

Quicken 2009
THE OFFICIAL GUIDE

Maria LANGER

Copyright 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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DOI: 10.1036/0071599487

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To Erik Goldbeck of Flying Fish Helicopters,
with thanks and best wishes.

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This book, like any other, is the end product of a lot of hard work by many people. I'd like to take a moment to thank some of the people who were involved with the creation of this book.

First, a big thanks goes out to Megg Morin, acquisitions editor at McGraw-Hill. Megg stepped back and let me run with this producteven when I was running lateand, as usual, did her best to make things run smoothly. She also treated me to a high-elevation hike in some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I've ever seen.

Many thanks go out to the folks at Intuit, including Liane Freeman, Dale Knievel, Ben Weiss, Nazima Bhamani, Kelsey Phillips, and Margie Levinson. Another thanks goes out to the Quicken 2009 development and beta teams for their hard work in fine-tuning Quicken to make it better than ever.

More thanks go out to the production and editorial folks at McGraw-Hill, including Patty Mon, Patty Wallenburg, and Carly Stapleton as well as Pattie Lee and Jeff Weeks. Thanks also to technical editor Bobbi Sandberg, copyeditor Lisa McCoy, proofreader Paul Tyler, and indexer Jack Lewis.

The last thanks goes to my husband Mike, for letting me follow my dreams this summer and putting up with me for the past 25 years.

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Choosing Quicken Personal Finance Software to organize your finances was a great decision. Quicken has all the tools you need to manage your personal finances. Its well-designed, intuitive interface makes it easy to use. And its online and automation features make entering transactions and paying bills a snap. But if that isn't enough, Quicken also offers features that can help you learn more about financial opportunities that can save you time and moneytwo things there never seems to be enough of.

This introduction tells you a little about the book, so you know what to expect in the chapters to come.

Throughout this book, I tell you how to get the most out of Quicken. I start by explaining the basicsthe common, everyday tasks that you need to know just to use the program. Then I go beyond the basics to show you how to use Quicken to save time, save money, and make smart financial decisions. Along the way, I show you most of Quicken's features, including many that you probably didn't even know existed. You'll find yourself using Quicken far more than you ever dreamed you would.

In writing this book, I had to make a few assumptions about your knowledge of your computer, Windows, Quicken, and financial management. These assumptions give me a starting point, making it possible for me to skip over the things that I assume you already know.

To use this book (or Quicken 2009, for that matter), you should have a general understanding of how to use your computer and Windows. You don't need to be an expert. As you'll see, Quicken uses many standard and intuitive interface elements, making it easy to useeven if you're a complete computer novice.

At a bare minimum, you should know how to turn your computer on and off and how to use your mouse. You should also know how to perform basic Windows tasks, such as starting and exiting programs, using menus and dialog boxes (called just dialogs in this book), and entering and editing text.

If you're not sure how to do these things, check the manual that came with your computer or try working through the Windows Tour. These two resources can provide all the information you need to get started.