Page History

In Graph View, each category group and category has a either a green, red or grey bar next to it.

• For expense categories: A green bar means that you have spent as much or less than you budgeted; a red bar means that you have spent more than you budgeted. The actual amount you've spent appears as a number in the bar.
• For income categories: A green bar means that you have received as much or more income than you budgeted; a red bar means that you have received less income than you budgeted. The sum of your income in the category appears as a number in the bar.
• A grey bar (no green or red at all) means that there has been no income or expense activity in the category group or category during the selected date range.
• A light green or light red segment within a bar means that there are reminder transactions (transactions that will occur in the future) included in the category group or category. The sum of the reminder transactions appears as a number in the segment.

In Annual View, each month has either a green or red line under its column header(s).

• For each month: If you are on budget, or under budget, the line is green; if you are over budget, the line is red.

You'll see a lot of different numbers in the Budget window. Here is a brief description of where they appear and what they mean.

• Budget column: The budget amounts you've assigned to each category for the selected date range.
• Actual column (in Annual View): The actual amounts spent or received in each of your budget groups and categories for the selected date range. You cannot change the actual amounts in your budget because they are calculated based on the sum of your transactions. If the actual amounts are incorrect, you'll need to change the transactions themselves. Click any actual amount to see your monthly spending or income history for a category.
• Actual amounts (in Graph View): The red and green colored bars display the actual amounts spent or received in each of your budget groups and categories for the selected date range.
• Balance column: The difference between your budget amounts and your actual amounts for the selected date range. For expense categories, red numbers mean you have spent more than you budgeted; for income categories, red numbers mean that you have received less money than you budgeted. Black numbers mean that you have money left in a category to allocate or spend.
• [Year] Summary (in Annual View): The balance of each of your budget groups and categories for the budget year.
• Totals (in Annual View): The sum of the Budget, Actual, and Balance amounts for all of your budget groups or categories for the selected date range.
• Rollover Reserve (in Annual View): The sum of the rollover amounts in the Balance column for all of your rollover budget categories for the selected date range. You must have at least one category enabled for rollovers, and the Balance column must be displayed for the Reserve Rollover total to appear.

• If necessary, use the options at the top of the Budget window to select the Monthly date  date range and then select the budget month you'd like to set amounts for.
• To enter a single budget amount, click the budget amount you'd like to set and type a new amount.
• To copy, calculate, or enter multiple budget amounts, click  next to an amount and then choose:
  • Apply [the selected month] budget forward to the end of [the budget year]. This copies the currently selected category budget amount to all future months of the budget year.
  • Apply [the selected month] budget to all of [the budget year]. This copies the currently selected category budget amount to all months, past and future, of the budget year.
  • Edit Yearly Budget. This lets you manually enter monthly budget amounts for the currently selected category for any or all months of the budget year.
  • Calculate Average Budget. This lets you set monthly budget amounts for a category based on an amount per time period. Quicken then calculates a monthly budget amount based on the amount per time period you specify and inserts it into your budget.
  • Set [the selected month] budget based on average [spending or income] for this category. This calculates and enters a budget amount that is the average spending or income for the category over the past 12 months.

In Annual View

• If necessary, at the top of the Budget window select either the Details or Budget only filterfilter.
• Click the budget amount you'd like to set and type a new amount.
• To copy, calculate, or enter multiple budget amounts, click  next to an amount and then choose:
  • Apply [the selected month] budget forward to the end of [the budget year]. This copies the currently selected category budget amount to all future months of the budget year.
  • Apply [the selected month] budget to all of [the budget year]. This copies the currently selected category budget amount to all months, past and future, of the budget year.
  • Set [the selected month] budget based on average [spending or income] for this category. This calculates and enters a budget amount that is the average spending or income for the category over the past 12 months.
  • Edit Yearly Budget. This lets you manually enter monthly budget amounts for the currently selected category for any or all months of the budget year.
  • Calculate Average Budget. This lets you set monthly budget amounts for a category based on an amount per time period. Quicken then calculates a monthly budget amount based on the amount per time period you specify and inserts it into your budget.
• To copy all budget amounts from one month to other months in your budget, click the Budget      column header of the month you want to copy, and then choose how you want to copy the amounts: to future months, to past months, or to all months in the current year.

Select Graph View from the options at the top of the window to assign budget amounts and analyze your spending using a simple bar chart presentation. You can also choose Budget Actions > Switch to Graph View to change to Graph View.

You can create budget categories that rollover from one month to the next into a cumulative balance. This means you can start a month with more money in a category if you've underspent in previous months, or with less money in a category if you've overspent.

Use rollover categories when:

• Budget amounts fluctuate. In this case, you budget an average amount but the actual amount is always a little more or less. For example, you don't use as much heating in the spring so you build up a rollover balance that will shrink again in the summer months when you use a lot of air conditioning.
• Budget amounts are large and infrequent. In this case, divide the amount by the number of months in the payment period. The amount in the category rollover will increase until the month in which the payment is made.

Interested in using rollovers?

• Create rollover categories

  When you first create a budget, none of the budget categories are rollover categories. You need to explicitly create rollover categories. Here's how:

  1. Click the Planning tab.
  2. Click the Budgets button.
  3. Select a category in your budget.
  4. Click  next to the category, and then choose one of the following:
     • Rollover balances at the end of each month

       The cumulative rollover amount for the category will be added to (or subtracted from) the balance displayed on the category line.

     • Rollover only positive balances at the end of each month

       The cumulative positive rollover amount for the category will be added to the balance displayed on the category line. If there is a negative rollover amount, it is ignored and not subtracted from the balance.

  Note: A sub-category will add or subtract its rollover amount from a parent category if the parent is also a rollover category. If the parent is not a rollover category, it will ignore the rollover amount of the sub-category.