Tracking your banking and investing accounts can bring a great deal of order to your finances, but they don't show you the whole picture. Be sure to set up property and debt accounts plus loans to track your net worth, or bottom line. You need to see the total value of what you own, minus the total value of what you owe, to understand the overall state of your financial health.
For example, using a House account lets you track the cost basis of your home, as well as the equity you're building. Your house account can include a linked mortgage account and loan to track your payment schedule and mortgage interest. You'll know how much mortgage interest you're paying long before tax time rolls around (Quicken uses this to help you in the Tax Planner, too). And you can run scenarios in the Debt Reduction Planner to find the easiest way to pay down debt.
All this information will be helpful when you use the Lifetime Planner. And because Quicken updates your net worth with every transaction you enter, you can see how day-to-day financial decisions affect your long-term financial health.
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