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Tom P.
Guest
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 Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:13 am Post subject: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
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|
I'm apparently not doing something right... I'd like to use the graph
under Planning->Cash Flow Forecast. The problem I have is I have a lot
of scheduled bills and deposits and when I use the Cash Flow Forecast
I get almost doubling of my numbers because it includes estimated
numbers that Quicken just makes up on the spot. I tried to get them to
go away, I selected "Forecast Items to Create->Known Items" from the
Advanced AutoCreate window, but it only lasts one run. If I have to
run the report again then I have to go back in and change it again.
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping me from
really enjoying this product.
Thanks for the help,
Tom P. |
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Tom P.
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:20 pm Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
On Jul 2, 8:34 am, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
| Quote: |
Andrew wrote:
Tom P. wrote:
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence
of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping me
from
really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL
my
transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one month
out
(including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the register
to
ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated expenses.
As
long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this
includes
transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA
purchase -
everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of
another
technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful comment
on the feature.
|
Wow, am I the only person that uses this? Why does no one else find
the use in knowing if you are going broke any time soon? It makes me
wonder if I am doing this right. When so many people don't use this, I
have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
| Quote: |
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the forecast
that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain of
that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to
enter scheduled transactions into your register. The "Scheduled
Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home views,
has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow (you
select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ...
but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the
patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the
future.]
|
Yeah, but it's a month at a time and that makes it hard to notice
financial boundaries and such.
| Quote: |
And about the comment of editing a single occurrence of a
scheduled
transaction - I must be missing something. Once the scheduled
transaction hits the register, you most certainly can edit
that
single occurrence without affecting all the others past as
well as
those in the future that haven't been recorded yet. What am I
missing?
The op wants to modify selected future paycheck transactions to
reflect that fact that they will span a holiday or vacation day.
Then when those modified scheduled transactions appear in
cash-flow forecasts, they will (correctly) forecast a lower
inflow of cash for that period because the op does not get paid
for holidays. By the time the scheduled transaction hits the
register, it will have no long-term forecasting ability ...
unless op wants to enter all scheduled transactions for many
months into the future ... which he has said he doesn't want to
do.
|
Exactly. I'm a contractor and, for example the 4th of July is comming
up. I know the check that includes is going to be short. I'd like to
be able to note that in the forcast so the forcast stays moderately
correct. But, since I can't get the forcast to be correct in any case,
it kindof becomes a moot point.
Still looking for a financial package that works correctly...
Tom P. |
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Andrew
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:56 pm Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
Tom P. wrote:
| Quote: |
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping me from
really enjoying this product.
Thanks for the help,
Tom P.
|
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL my transactions
(mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one month out (including anticipated
paychecks) and simply use the register to ensure that my 'cash flow' covers
all my anticipated expenses. As long as there are no negative balances in
my checkbook (this includes transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and
equity/IRA purchase - everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a
thought of another technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
And about the comment of editing a single occurrence of a scheduled
transaction - I must be missing something. Once the scheduled transaction
hits the register, you most certainly can edit that single occurrence
without affecting all the others past as well as those in the future that
haven't been recorded yet. What am I missing?
--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Regards -
- Andrew |
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John Pollard
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:34 pm Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
Andrew wrote:
| Quote: |
Tom P. wrote:
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence
of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping me
from
really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL
my
transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one month
out
(including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the register
to
ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated expenses.
As
long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this
includes
transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA
purchase -
everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of
another
technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
|
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful comment
on the feature.
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the forecast
that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain of
that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to
enter scheduled transactions into your register. The "Scheduled
Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home views,
has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow (you
select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ...
but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the
patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the
future.]
| Quote: |
And about the comment of editing a single occurrence of a
scheduled
transaction - I must be missing something. Once the scheduled
transaction hits the register, you most certainly can edit
that
single occurrence without affecting all the others past as
well as
those in the future that haven't been recorded yet. What am I
missing?
|
The op wants to modify selected future paycheck transactions to
reflect that fact that they will span a holiday or vacation day.
Then when those modified scheduled transactions appear in
cash-flow forecasts, they will (correctly) forecast a lower
inflow of cash for that period because the op does not get paid
for holidays. By the time the scheduled transaction hits the
register, it will have no long-term forecasting ability ...
unless op wants to enter all scheduled transactions for many
months into the future ... which he has said he doesn't want to
do.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup |
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Mark Hood
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
"Tom P." <padilla.henry@gmail.com> writes:
| Quote: |
On Jul 2, 8:34 am, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful comment
on the feature.
Wow, am I the only person that uses this? Why does no one else find
the use in knowing if you are going broke any time soon? It makes me
wonder if I am doing this right. When so many people don't use this, I
have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
|
Or you could wonder if the feature just isn't very useful out of the
box :)
I like the concept, but every time I've tried to use Cash Flow
Forecast it never comes close to reality. I'm sure it's something
indiosyncratic about the way I'm use categories or transactions or
schedules or paychecks (or something...) but I haven't had the
motivation to track it down.
I find the registers combined with scheduled transactions much more
reliable and intuitive when forecasting balances.
-- Mark |
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John Pollard
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:05 am Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
Tom P. wrote:
| Quote: |
On Jul 2, 8:34 am, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
Andrew wrote:
Tom P. wrote:
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence
of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping
me
from
really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL
my
transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one
month
out
(including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the
register
to
ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated
expenses.
As
long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this
includes
transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA
purchase -
everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of
another
technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I
usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful
comment
on the feature.
Wow, am I the only person that uses this? Why does no one else
find
the use in knowing if you are going broke any time soon? It
makes me
wonder if I am doing this right. When so many people don't use
this, I
have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
|
I'm not sure you paid attention to my comment.
I said I don't find any use for a "LONG-TERM cash flow"
projection [emphasis added].
You wonder if anyone cares about "going broke ANY TIME SOON"
[emphasis added].
I'm not interested in the Cash Flow Forecast because I don't
believe it has any ability to tell me anything about when/if I
will "go broke" in the medium to long-term, and because I find
better tools in Quicken to tell me whether I will have
sufficient "cash" to meet my short-term needs.
The further in the future you look, the greater the chance that
unforseen events will affect your finances. I have no
confidence that a cash flow projection of my currently known
cash inflows/outflows for December of this year will tell me
whether or not I should be concerned about my financial
situation come December.
| Quote: |
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the
forecast
that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain
of
that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to
enter scheduled transactions into your register. The
"Scheduled
Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home
views,
has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow
(you
select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ...
but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the
patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the
future.]
Yeah, but it's a month at a time and that makes it hard to
notice financial boundaries and such.
|
I have no idea what that means.
The graph will tell you whether your cash flow will be positive
or negative for each day for all months in the future ... based
on your known current balance and your future scheduled
transactions.
| Quote: |
Still looking for a financial package that works correctly...
|
While I can't comment on whether the Quicken Cash Flow Forecast
works "correctly" (which it well may not), I can say that you
haven't provided me any good reason to care (other than that I
always prefer software to be bug free).
If you really like the Cash Flow Forecast, and you can't get it
to work; I suggest you lay out your problems in great detail at
the Intuit Bug Report site; making sure that the person who
reads your problem can exactly reproduce it.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
Please reply to newsgroup |
|
| Back to top |
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Ads |
Advertising
Sponsor
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Tom P.
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
On Jul 2, 8:05 pm, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
| Quote: |
Tom P. wrote:
On Jul 2, 8:34 am, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
Andrew wrote:
Tom P. wrote:
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence
of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping
me
from
really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL
my
transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one
month
out
(including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the
register
to
ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated
expenses.
As
long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this
includes
transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA
purchase -
everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of
another
technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I
usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful
comment
on the feature.
Wow, am I the only person that uses this? Why does no one else
find
the use in knowing if you are going broke any time soon? It
makes me
wonder if I am doing this right. When so many people don't use
this, I
have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
I'm not sure you paid attention to my comment.
I said I don't find any use for a "LONG-TERM cash flow"
projection [emphasis added].
You wonder if anyone cares about "going broke ANY TIME SOON"
[emphasis added].
I'm not interested in the Cash Flow Forecast because I don't
believe it has any ability to tell me anything about when/if I
will "go broke" in the medium to long-term, and because I find
better tools in Quicken to tell me whether I will have
sufficient "cash" to meet my short-term needs.
The further in the future you look, the greater the chance that
unforseen events will affect your finances. I have no
confidence that a cash flow projection of my currently known
cash inflows/outflows for December of this year will tell me
whether or not I should be concerned about my financial
situation come December.
Fair enough. Maybe I'm expecting too much out of it. I mean, as a |
contractor I can't be sure I'll have the same job at the same pay in
six months so how can I expect an accurate finacial projection a year
from now?
| Quote: |
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the
forecast
that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain
of
that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to
enter scheduled transactions into your register. The
"Scheduled
Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home
views,
has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow
(you
select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ...
but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the
patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the
future.]
Yeah, but it's a month at a time and that makes it hard to
notice financial boundaries and such.
I have no idea what that means.
The graph will tell you whether your cash flow will be positive
or negative for each day for all months in the future ... based
on your known current balance and your future scheduled
transactions.
Yeah, but it takes getting used to. I get paid every two weeks and if |
that falls on the first it looks weird to my eye to have no money in
one graph and then a lot of money in the next graph. It's just
something I'm going to have to get used to, as is the case with most
things in Quicken. I'm comming from being a long-time MSMoney user and
I'm going to have to make allowances.
| Quote: |
Still looking for a financial package that works correctly...
While I can't comment on whether the Quicken Cash Flow Forecast
works "correctly" (which it well may not), I can say that you
haven't provided me any good reason to care (other than that I
always prefer software to be bug free).
Why you should care is your lookout, not mine: I just asked a |
question. I'm not trying to justify anyones participation in a
voulenter message board. You don't care - don't answer. But don't
blame me because you voulentered an answer. I made an off-hand snide
comment that your own admissions have supported, I'm not trying to
make you care. I'm trying to use a piece of financial software.
| Quote: |
If you really like the Cash Flow Forecast, and you can't get it
to work; I suggest you lay out your problems in great detail at
the Intuit Bug Report site; making sure that the person who
reads your problem can exactly reproduce it.
When I figure out that I'm using it correctly and it's giving me the |
wrong information, I will. One thing I thought I'd do first is get a
little advice from people that have used the product more than I have
and determine if I'm not doing something wrong. I'm not the kind of
person that blames everybody else when I can't get something to work.
It may, in fact, be that I'm using it incorrectly and I thought I'd
explore that possibility before claiming I've found a bug.
Thank you for the help and advice. I appreciate the input.
Tom P. |
|
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R. C. White
Guest
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: How to use the Cash Flow Forecast correctly. |
|
|
Hi, Tom.
| Quote: |
Maybe I'm expecting too much out of it. I mean, as a
contractor I can't be sure I'll have the same job at the same pay in
six months so how can I expect an accurate finacial projection a year
from now?
|
The bottom line (to coin a phrase <g>) is that Quicken doesn't predict or
forecast anything. All it can do is calculate.
YOU predict what your paycheck and other inflows are going to be and what
outflows will happen - and when. Then Quicken (or other software) can put
those into your calendar, along with your starting balance, and calculate
(not "predict") what the balance will be on any day in the future within
your calendar's range. If YOUR predictions change, then the calculated
future balance will change, too. If YOUR predictions change often, the
calculated future balances may not be relevant.
Like John, though, I've never used the Quicken forecasts.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(Retired. No longer licensed to practice public accounting.)
rc@grandecom.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Currently running Quicken 2008 Deluxe in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)
"Tom P." <padilla.henry@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:9f329d6d-b269-4e87-943f-280a69bdbaac@34g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
| Quote: |
On Jul 2, 8:05 pm, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
Tom P. wrote:
On Jul 2, 8:34 am, "John Pollard" <inva...@invalid.com> wrote:
Andrew wrote:
Tom P. wrote:
...
A sturdy Cash Flow Forecast and editing a single occurrence
of a
scheduled transaction are the only thing that are keeping
me
from
really enjoying this product.
FWIW, I don't use the formal "Cash Flow". I simply enter ALL
my
transactions (mostly scheduled) ahead of time, about one
month
out
(including anticipated paychecks) and simply use the
register
to
ensure that my 'cash flow' covers all my anticipated
expenses.
As
long as there are no negative balances in my checkbook (this
includes
transfers to savings, tax escrow accounts, and equity/IRA
purchase -
everything!) I am happy. Works for me. Just a thought of
another
technique you might wish to consider. YMMV.
I've never found any use for a long-term cash flow projection
(and when I try to test Quicken's Cash Flow Forecast, I
usually
run into an error message that says I have too many scheduled
bills and deposits), so I can't even provide much useful
comment
on the feature.
Wow, am I the only person that uses this? Why does no one else
find
the use in knowing if you are going broke any time soon? It
makes me
wonder if I am doing this right. When so many people don't use
this, I
have to wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
I'm not sure you paid attention to my comment.
I said I don't find any use for a "LONG-TERM cash flow"
projection [emphasis added].
You wonder if anyone cares about "going broke ANY TIME SOON"
[emphasis added].
I'm not interested in the Cash Flow Forecast because I don't
believe it has any ability to tell me anything about when/if I
will "go broke" in the medium to long-term, and because I find
better tools in Quicken to tell me whether I will have
sufficient "cash" to meet my short-term needs.
The further in the future you look, the greater the chance that
unforseen events will affect your finances. I have no
confidence that a cash flow projection of my currently known
cash inflows/outflows for December of this year will tell me
whether or not I should be concerned about my financial
situation come December.
Fair enough. Maybe I'm expecting too much out of it. I mean, as a
contractor I can't be sure I'll have the same job at the same pay in
six months so how can I expect an accurate finacial projection a year
from now?
[I do think you can manually enter transactions in the
forecast
that will only affect the forecast, but I'm not 100% certain
of
that.]
But for short-term cash flow projections, you don't need to
enter scheduled transactions into your register. The
"Scheduled
Bills & Deposits" display available for user-created Home
views,
has a nice bar graph that is pretty clear about cash flow
(you
select the account, or accounts, to include in the graph) ...
but displays only one month at a time. [If you have the
patience, you can use that graph to look a long way into the
future.]
Yeah, but it's a month at a time and that makes it hard to
notice financial boundaries and such.
I have no idea what that means.
The graph will tell you whether your cash flow will be positive
or negative for each day for all months in the future ... based
on your known current balance and your future scheduled
transactions.
Yeah, but it takes getting used to. I get paid every two weeks and if
that falls on the first it looks weird to my eye to have no money in
one graph and then a lot of money in the next graph. It's just
something I'm going to have to get used to, as is the case with most
things in Quicken. I'm comming from being a long-time MSMoney user and
I'm going to have to make allowances.
Still looking for a financial package that works correctly...
While I can't comment on whether the Quicken Cash Flow Forecast
works "correctly" (which it well may not), I can say that you
haven't provided me any good reason to care (other than that I
always prefer software to be bug free).
Why you should care is your lookout, not mine: I just asked a
question. I'm not trying to justify anyones participation in a
voulenter message board. You don't care - don't answer. But don't
blame me because you voulentered an answer. I made an off-hand snide
comment that your own admissions have supported, I'm not trying to
make you care. I'm trying to use a piece of financial software.
If you really like the Cash Flow Forecast, and you can't get it
to work; I suggest you lay out your problems in great detail at
the Intuit Bug Report site; making sure that the person who
reads your problem can exactly reproduce it.
When I figure out that I'm using it correctly and it's giving me the
wrong information, I will. One thing I thought I'd do first is get a
little advice from people that have used the product more than I have
and determine if I'm not doing something wrong. I'm not the kind of
person that blames everybody else when I can't get something to work.
It may, in fact, be that I'm using it incorrectly and I thought I'd
explore that possibility before claiming I've found a bug.
Thank you for the help and advice. I appreciate the input.
Tom P. |
|
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