When you first create a budget, Quicken sets up estimated budget amounts based on your spending history. This topic explains what each amount in the Budget window represents and how to change or copy those amounts. For a single quick change, see Change a budget amount.
Budget summary
At the top of the Budget window is a summary for the selected date range.
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When you budget expenses, the summary shows the total you've budgeted, how much you've spent, and how much is left or how much you've overspent.
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When you budget income and unbudgeted money remains, that amount appears as Savings in the summary.
Bars and lines
In Graph view, each category group and category has a green, red, or gray bar next to it. The actual amount spent or received appears as a number in the bar.
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Expense categories: Green means you've spent as much as you budgeted or less. Red means you've spent more.
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Income categories: Green means you've received as much as you budgeted or more. Red means you've received less.
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Gray means there was no activity in the category group or category during the selected date range.
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A light green or light red segment inside a bar represents reminder transactions scheduled to occur in the future. The sum of those transactions appears as a number in the segment.
In Annual view, each month has a line under its column header. The line is green when you're on budget or under budget, and red when you're over.
Budget columns and amounts
The Budget window displays several different figures. Here's where each one appears and what it represents.
Budget column: The amounts you've assigned to each category for the selected date range.
Actual column (Annual view): The amounts spent or received in each budget group and category for the selected date range. You can't edit these, because Quicken calculates them from your transactions. If an actual amount looks wrong, correct the underlying transactions. Click any actual amount to see your monthly history for that category.
Actual amounts (Graph view): The colored bars represent the same actual amounts shown in the Actual column.
Balance column: The difference between your budget amounts and your actual amounts for the selected date range. Red numbers mean you've overspent an expense category or fallen short on an income category. Black numbers mean money remains in the category to allocate or spend.
[Year] Summary (Annual view): The balance of each budget group and category for the budget year.
Totals (Annual view): The sum of the Budget, Actual, and Balance amounts across all budget groups and categories for the selected date range.
Rollover Reserve (Annual view): The sum of the rollover amounts in the Balance column for all rollover categories in the selected date range. At least one category must have rollovers enabled, and the Balance column must be displayed, for this total to appear.
Everything Else amounts
When only part of a category or group is budgeted, Quicken collects the remainder under Everything Else. What the line represents, and how you get rid of it, depends on where it appears.
Within a category, such as Auto & Transport
Everything Else appears inside a category when you've selected the parent category for budgeting along with at least one, but not all, of its subcategories. It represents the total spent or received in the subcategories you didn't budget.
You have three options:
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Ignore the amount. If the total isn't a concern, leave the line alone.
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Reduce or eliminate the amount. Review the subcategories the amount covers and add them to your budget. To remove the line entirely and budget only the subcategories you chose, clear the parent category. See Work with a budget for the steps.
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Budget the amount. Click the Everything Else line and enter an amount to create a single budget covering all the subcategories it contains.
Within a category group, such as Personal Expenses
In Graph view, Everything Else also appears at the bottom of a category group. It represents the total spent or received in the categories in that group you haven't budgeted. There's no parent category behind this line, so the only way to remove it is to budget every remaining category in the group. The line shows a zero amount when those categories have no activity.
You have three options:
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Ignore the amount. If the total isn't a concern, leave the line alone.
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Reduce or eliminate the amount. Review the categories the amount covers, then click the add icon, the green circle with the plus sign, to the right of each category and enter an amount.
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Budget the amount. Click the add icon to the right of the Everything Else line and enter an amount to create a single budget covering all the categories it contains.
Change or copy budget amounts
You can type an amount directly into any budget field, or use the amount options menu to copy and calculate amounts across months. The available options differ slightly between the two views.
Set the view and date range
In Graph view, use the options at the top of the Budget window to select the Monthly date range, then select the month you want to set amounts for.
In Annual view, select either the Details or Budget only filter at the top of the window.
Enter a single amount
Click the budget amount you want to set, then type a new amount. This works the same way in both views.
Copy or calculate multiple amounts
Click the settings icon next to an amount, then choose one of the following:
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Apply [month] budget forward to the end of [year]: Copies the selected category's budget amount to all later months in the budget year.
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Apply [month] budget to all of [year]: Copies the selected category's budget amount to every month in the budget year, past and future.
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Edit Yearly Budget: Lets you enter monthly amounts for the selected category across any or all months of the budget year.
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Calculate Average Budget: Sets monthly amounts for a category based on an amount per time period that you specify. Quicken calculates the monthly figure and enters it in your budget.
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Set [month] budget based on average [spending or income] for this category: Calculates and enters the average spending or income for the category over the past 12 months.
Copy an entire month
In Annual view, you can copy every budget amount from one month into other months. Click the settings icon in the Budget column header of the month you want to copy, then choose whether to copy to future months, past months, or all months in the current year.