Quicken 2006 for Starters: The Missing Manual

Book excerpt: Intuit's Quicken is one of today's most popular and convenient ways to keep track of personal finances, and Quicken 2006 For Starters: The Missing Manual for Windows is the indispensable guide to using the program to simplify your finances and make the most of your money. Whether you're new to electronic banking or just new to Quicken, this refreshingly funny and sensible book zeroes in on exactly what you need to get into Quicken fast. It teaches you how do such essential things as: balance your checkbook on your computer, keep tabs on your spending, create and manage a budget, monitor and pay bills on time, determine more ways to save and stick to your savings plan, manage loans and maximize investments, make tax preparation easier (even find hidden tax deductions!), and much more. Financial-software writer and personal finance expert Bonnie Biafore delivers clear explanations and step-by-step instructions for the Quicken features you need, as well as relevant advice and plenty of real-world examples. Beginners will appreciate Biafore's clear guidance on how to set up Quicken to streamline their money management tasks. Power users will benefit from her insightful tips, tricks, and shortcuts for working around Quicken's idiosyncrasies and saving even more time and money. The book is designed to help you get up to speed fast. Biafore steps you through the basics of Quicken. Then, as you become a more efficient and sophisticated Quicken user, she helps you take advantage of the program's little-known but powerful features. And throughout the book, she offers invaluable money-management principles. You'll be generating useful reports and graphs with ease; ensuring accuracy and consistency among all your accounts; and planning, saving, and controlling your finances like never before. The book that gives you exactly what you need, Quicken 2006 For Starters: The Missing Manual helps you quickly make the most of Quicken 2006 for Windows.