Three Ways to Start a Budget in Quicken
This tutorial covers creating your brand new budget without using the auto-budget feature, but if you have been using Quicken for awhile, you can also Let Quicken automatically create a budget and then edit it. You can also create a copy of a budget you already set up, which is useful if you want to edit an existing budget without replacing it.
Why Create a Budget from Scratch?
If you have been using Quicken for some time, you may want to create a budget manually to really understand spending patterns while establishing budgeted amounts. You can run a Quicken Category Report to get your average spending amounts, or use the Analyze button in the Quicken Budget Set Up as you set up your budget to see average amount for a category. The Analyze button is explained in Step 5 - Quicken Tools for Budgeting.
If you just started using Quicken, you will need to create a budget manually, from scratch, because Quicken needs several months of transactions to create a meaningful budget for you automatically.
Start Your Budget
To start creating you Quicken budget from scratch, click on Planning at the top of Quicken, then click on Budget. You can also click on the Financial Overview tab in Quicken, then click on the Budget link found under Tools on the right.
Quicken Tip: Quicken will save multiple budgets, but you can only use one budget at a time.
