4.14. Scheduling Transactions

Often, bills are due at the same time every month, and some are even the same amount every month. For example, your electric bill is due the 19th of the month, but the amount varies each time. Your mortgage may be due on the 5th, and it's the same amount every month. Scheduled transactions are perfect for payments like these. You set up scheduled transactions with the same information you provide for a check you record in the register, and you also tell Quicken when and how often you make this payment.

Not only can the program create future transactions for you, but Quicken also doesn't forget that they're due. When it's time to make a payment or deposit, Quicken reminds you of the task. If the amount is the same each time, you can tell Quicken to create the transaction automatically. With one additional step to set up scheduled transactions as repeating online payments (see Chapter 6), you can turn off your computer, drop the cat off at a neighbor's, and take a month's sabbatical to study reef winkles in Tahiti, confident that your mortgage is paid on time. (After you send the instructions for repeating online payments to your financial institution, it sets up all your future payments automatically and processes them without further action on your part. See "Setting Up a Repeating Online Payment" on Section 6.9.3 to learn more.)

You can schedule a transaction to happen just once to make sure that you don't forget to pay it (perhaps for the down payment on the Ferrari that's on sale until March 31), but scheduled transactions are even better for transactions that occur again and again. They work equally well for checks, transfers, and deposits you make on a periodic basis, from the garbage bill to a disability benefit. In fact, unless you have a scheduled transaction for every transaction you make regularly, you're cheating yourself out of Quicken's most timesaving—and potentially money saving—feature.

The Scheduled Transaction List is a one-stop shop for working with scheduled transactions. Whether you want to set up, edit, delete, or record scheduled transactions, press Ctrl+J or choose Tools → Scheduled Transaction List to open the window shown in Figure 4-24. In the Cash Flow Center, you can open the Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box directly by clicking Add a Transaction.

4.14.1. Setting Up a Scheduled Transaction

The Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box may seem daunting at first, but the top half is nothing more than the same fields you fill in when you record a check in an account register. The bottom half of the dialog box is where you set up the schedule. To open the Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box, in the Scheduled Transaction List menu bar, choose Create New → Scheduled Transaction. This section explains how to use each section to its fullest.

Figure 4-24. In the Scheduled Transaction List window, you can set up new scheduled transactions, edit or delete existing scheduled transactions, or record (by clicking Enter) scheduled transactions. Though you can't see it in this figure, overdue transactions appear in red.

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Note:

The other command on the Create New menu is Paycheck, which you can choose to set up and schedule your paychecks (see Section 4.15).

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4.14.1.1. Transaction values

The top half of the Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box, shown in Figure 4-25, has the same fields as an account register, plus a few more bells and whistles. Unlike transactions you create in an account register, QuickFill doesn't work in this dialog box. You must choose values from drop-down menus or type the values you want.

Here's how you use the boxes and options Quicken offers:

• Account to use. Choose the account to which you make a payment or receive a deposit. This account is the one whose register you would open to record the transaction.

• Transaction method. These are equivalent to the selections in the Num field in an account register. For example, Payment is equivalent to Next Check Num; the only difference being Quicken won't know the next check number until it's time to make the payment. Deposit and Transfer are available, and the Printer Check method from the register is named Printed Check for a scheduled transaction.

• Repeat this online payment automatically even if I don't go online. For accounts that are set up to process online payments, you can turn on this checkbox (Figure 4-25) to create a repeating online payment—the ultimate in transaction convenience. When you turn on this checkbox, Quicken sends the instructions for the repeating online payment to your bank. A month before the payment is due, your bank queues up a payment according to the schedule you set. The next time you launch Quicken and go online, the program downloads the transaction for the next installment of your repeating online payment into your account register.

  Figure 4-25. Although most of the boxes emulate their register counterparts, you can turn on the "Repeat this online payment automatically even if I don't go online" checkbox to set up a fully automated payment that requires no further effort on your part. The Amount section includes an option that sets up a credit card payment whose Amount equals the balance on your credit card.

  

• Payee. This familiar field works the same as in a register transaction.

• Address. Clicking Address opens the Edit Address Book Record, just as clicking Address in the Write Checks window does.

• Category. Choose from this drop-down menu of all categories.

• Split. Because the Category drop-down menu in this dialog box doesn't include the Split button (Section 4.7), you click this button to split a scheduled transaction among categories.

• Amount. The Amount section includes three options. Quicken automatically selects the first, which is simply a text box for entering the amount for the transaction.

  The Estimate from last _ payments option calculates a rolling average from past payments. That is, it adds up the last three amounts and divides by three. If you're whittling down a big credit card balance, you might choose this option to set up a regular payment based on your recent payment amounts.

  The Use full credit card balance option is available if you choose a credit card account. It schedules payments that automatically pay the entire outstanding balance on the card. (And quite possibly give you the best credit rating in the known universe.)

• Memo. This field is the same as in the register. If your scheduled transaction repeats regularly, remember that the memo will also be the same each time.

4.14.1.2. Scheduled transaction frequency

The fields in the Scheduling section of the Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box tell Quicken when it should record your scheduled transactions. Among its advantages, setting up a schedule for transactions lets you:

• Record transactions ahead of time.

• Set reminders based on how often you use Quicken.

• Be sure to record transactions.

The bottom half of the Create Scheduled Transaction dialog box looks awfully busy, but it boils down to three ways to control your transaction schedule.

• Start on. In the "Start on" box, choose the date for the future transaction (or the first of many recurring transactions). Quicken chooses Remind Me, which displays a reminder when it's time to actually record the transaction. If the amounts are the same each month, you can choose Automatically Enter and let Quicken add the transactions without any effort on your part.

  The number of days in advance depends on how addicted you are to Quicken. If you launch Quicken every day without fail, you can set the number of days somewhere between 1 and 3. If you use Quicken off and on, you should set the number of days box to a higher number, so you're more likely to see the reminder before it's too late.

• Frequency. Choose Only Once for a one-time transaction or choose one of the time frames, like Weekly or Yearly. There's also an Estimated Tax choice for setting up estimated tax payments on the 15th of January, April, June, and September. You can specify the day of the month or choose a specific weekday. For example, if your investment club meets on the second Tuesday of each month, you can schedule your contribution to match.

• Ending on. If you choose the No end date option, the scheduled transaction keeps going like the Energizer bunny—until you delete the scheduled transaction. If you choose the On option, you can specify the ending date. The After option is the most popular. For example, you can use it to set up a transfer to pay off a home equity line of credit over, say, two years: Simply choose After and type 24 in the times box.

4.14.2. Paying and Skipping Scheduled Transactions

You can wait until Quicken reminds you to pay a scheduled transaction, or even pay a scheduled transaction before its scheduled time. This second option is especially handy if you're leaving for an extended vacation and don't want your car repossessed before you return. To manually record a scheduled transaction regardless of when it's due, in the Scheduled Transaction List window (press Ctrl+J), click the Enter button in the transaction row.

On the other hand, if you take a temporary assignment in Katmandu and put your cable service, ISP, and garbage pickup on hold, you want to skip some of your scheduled payments. To skip one transaction of the schedule, in the Scheduled Transaction List window, click Skip in the transaction's row.