Quicken is a convenient way to keep track of personal finances, but many people are unaware of Quicken's power and end up using only the basic features. Sometimes Quicken raises more questions than it answers: Return of capital from stock? Net worth? What are they and why do you need to know about them? Luckily, Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual picks up where Quicken's help resources leave off. You'll find step-by-step instructions for using Quicken on your Windows PC, including useful features such as budgeting, recording investment transactions, and archiving Quicken data files. You also learn why and when to use specific features, and which ones would be most useful in a given situation. This book helps you:

• Set up Quicken to take care of your specific needs

• Follow your money from the moment you earn it

• Make deposits, pay for expenses, and track the things you own and how much you owe

• Take care of financial tasks online, and quickly reconcile your accounts

• Create and use budgets and track your investments

• Generate reports to prepare your tax returns and evaluate your financial fitness

And a lot more. Quicken 2009: The Missing Manual accommodates readers at every technical level, whether you're a first-time or advanced Quicken user. For a topic as important as your personal finances, why trust anything else?

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 10 Ratings

Pretty good overall program coverage! - 2009-03-06
Reviewer Rating:
The book covered the Quicken 2009 program effectively - good explanations on how to use pretty much every function available in the program. While most of the information was readily available elsewhere, the book had some very useful info that can't be found anywhere else (at least very easily)-- particulary related to file functions such as the capabilities of the "File Copy" feature. Excellent return for the money.

BEST BOOK FOR UNTANGLING QUICKEN 2009 - 2009-06-27
Reviewer Rating:
If you don't consider yourself an experienced Quicken user, the best solution is a good book.

Even veteran Quicken users need help when they update to a new version. In response to these needs, Bonnie Biafore continues her jargon-free, step-by-step instructions in this volume covering Quicken 2009. Just as Quicken seems to balloon as it adds annual bells and whistles, the 2009 Missing Manual is nearly 75 pages longer than last year's edition. However, unlike some of Quicken's additions, these are valuable and highly understandable pages, covering what has become a pretty complex program. And for those upgrading from an earlier version, there's a whole section in the Introduction that describes what's new this year. (Not too much.) To my jaded eyes, the true gift of this book is that the author not only tells you WHAT Quicken does, but WHY and HOW it's done, as well as why you might want to use the feature she's describing.

This Missing Manual is divided into fve parts: Getting Started; Getting Down to Business (follows your money from paycheck, to deposit and spending, to reconciling accounts); Tuning your Financial Engine (budgeting, tracking assets, debt and investments, planning, using Quicken reports and tax planning); Quicken Power Tools (customizing Quicken, protecting your data, exporting and importing data); Appendixes (keyboard shortcuts, guide to Quicken resources, and installation and upgrading instructions).

The book is written to accommodate readers at all levels of Quicken knowledge. The main text discussions are aimed at beginner or intermediate users. But special boxes titled "Up To Speed" add basic information in more detail to clarify an issue. "Power Users Clinic" boxes offer technical tips, tricks and shortcuts for the more experienced user. There also are "Frequently Asked Question" boxes, covering such things as where on earth your data fIles are kept by Quicken, and
"Troubleshooting Moment" boxes, covering panic-causing incidents like the sudden loss of a window. Actually, there are more box titles than this, but all of them are useful, and the tips they offer are very valuable. In addition, black and white illustrations abound, providing screen shots that help you visualize instructions. As a fairly experienced Quicken veteran, I found it fun to just leaf through the book and read the special boxes fIrst...I picked up some tips I'd never heard before and found other information that I never saw documented before. As O'Reilly says of its "Missing Manual" books," this is the book that SHOULD have come with the program". But even back in the days when most computer programs came in a box with a bound User Manual included, rarely were they as comprehensive, clear, and amusing as this one. (Not to mention the fact that some of those old manuals lost something in the translation from an original unknown language!) Biafore presents us with a must for your bookshelf and sanity when using Quicken.

Quicken 2009: The missing Manual - 2009-03-08
Reviewer Rating:
The maker of Quicken 2009 definately left me with many unanswer questions of just how to begin. It didn't help that they offered to answer my questions (at an additional expense)because I wasn't even elightened enough to ask good questions. The book was very helpful and was well done. It was indeed The Missing Manual.

Its better than "Quicken for Dummies". - 2009-05-18
Reviewer Rating:
I gave the book a 3 star, because I don't know what to think. It is not well laid out. It, like other "missing manual" books I reviewed, contains a mishmash of topics jumbled together in less than logical order. But, compared to the "Quicken for Dummies" books, it is more consistent, has better examples and illustrations.
It may not be the author's fault. Quicken is a junk product. But, they have a corner on the market because no one else will take the time to do the simple programming to create a decent competitor. So the author may have been hamstrung with the material she had to work with.
As with my other reviews, I recommend browsing the Quicken "how to" book until you find the one that seems logical and demonstrative to you and buy that. But, ethics would require you to then purchase that copy from the establishment in which you did the browsing.

Quicken 2009 - 2009-08-25
Reviewer Rating:
I found the manual to be very helpful. The product does not come with any written instructions, so this manual becomes a necessity.

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