Contents

Moving around in Finance 101

Finding what you want

Working with information


Savings rate analysis

  Income includes your salary and any profits from businesses you own. Enter your income before taxes.

  Do not include interest income or income from your investments.

  You may type in your yearly income or monthly income.

  Expenses include your taxes, mortgage payments or rent, car payment, insurance, food and entertainment expenses, and other items.


Emergency reserves analysis

  Enter the amounts you have available in your personal savings accounts, checking accounts, and money market funds.


Net worth analysis

  Financial Assets include all your savings and investments. However, unless you plan to sell your home sometime during your retirement, don't include its value in Financial Assets.

  Financial Liabilities include all your consumer debts, such as credit card debt, auto loans and other liabilities. If you included the value of your home as a financial asset, then you should include your mortgage debt as a financial liability.


Portfolio allocation analysis

  For each question, select the answer which best represents your situation.

  The best mix of investments for you depends on:

•	Your attitude toward risk

•	How aggressive you need to be to meet your goals

•	Your investment horizon


Debt analysis

  Mortgage Debt is the amount you owe on your home.

  Debt for Business, Education is the amount you owe in loans for tuition or businesses you own.

  Consumer Debt includes the amount you owe on credit cards, auto loans, and other revolving debts.

  Total Debt/Income Ratio is calculated as the sum of all your debts, divided by your annual income.

  Consumer Debt Income Percentage is calculated as your consumer debt divided by your annual income.


How much mortgage can you afford?

If you know your income and your debts, you can use this worksheet to help determine how much financing might be available to you.

1.	Enter your income.

Lenders consider your income to be an average of your earnings over the past two years before taxes. Your earnings include salary, self-employment income, interest, dividends, and so on.

You can enter your monthly income (choose Monthly from the Total drop-down list) or your annual income (choose Annual from the Total drop-down list).

2.	Estimate and enter your monthly mortgage costs.

This figure should include the monthly costs for principal, interest, taxes, and insurance.

You can get these figures by talking to brokers, loan officers, insurance agents, and property owners.

3.	Enter your monthly debts.

Include items such as a student loan, car payments, and required credit card payments.

When you've completed the worksheet, Finance 101 displays the front ratio and the back ratio. Using these figures, you can get a general idea of your ability to finance a house.

  The front ratio is computed by dividing your monthly mortgage payment by your monthly income. In general, banks will underwrite a mortgage with a front ratio of less than 28%.

  The back ratio is computed by adding your monthly mortgage payment and your monthly debt payments and dividing the sum by your monthly income. In general, banks will underwrite a mortgage with a back ratio of less than 33%.

Note: Of course, if you put down a 20% down payment, these ratios can go as high as 33% and 36%. Remember, real estate prices vary from region to region. If you live in a place where real estate prices are higher than the norm, these ratios may be higher and lenders will make adjustments to accommodate borrowers. If you are a first-time buyer, lenders may be less likely to vary these limits.


History

The Topic History box displays the last 50 topics you've visited.

 To return to a topic, double-click the topic name or select the topic name and then click Go To Topic.


Search

Use the Search window to find information on a particular financial topic.

  Enter the word or phrase you are looking for.

  Click Search.

Finance 101 searches in each topic to find occurrences of the words you entered.  The topics containing these words are displayed in the List of Topics found box.

  To display a particular topic from the list of topics, select it and then click Go to Topic or double-click the topic name in the list.


Print

  Choose Section to print the chapter you are currently reviewing.

  Choose Entire book to print all of Finance 101.


Bookmark

Just as you can place bookmarks in a printed book to mark specific references, you can place bookmarks in Finance 101 to mark a topic. After you have placed a bookmark in a topic, you can access that topic quickly from the List of Bookmark Topics.

Finance 101 displays the name of the current topic in the Define Bookmark box.

To add a bookmark to the current topic:

1.	Click Add.

This topic title now appears on the List of Bookmark Topics box.

2.	Click OK.

To view a topic that has a bookmark:

1.	Select the topic in the List of Bookmark Topics box.

2.	Click Go To Topic.

To remove a bookmark:

1.	Select the topic in the List of Bookmark Topics box.

2.	Click Delete.

3.	Click OK.


Adding a bookmark
Viewing and adding Bookmarks

To place a bookmark in the current topic:

1.	Click Bookmark on the Menu bar.

Finance 101 displays the name of the current topic in the Define Bookmark box.

2.	Click Add.

This topic title now appears in the List of Bookmark Topics box.

3.	Click OK.

To go to a topic marked with a bookmark:

1.	Click Bookmark on the Menu bar.

2.	Select the topic in the List of Bookmark Topics box.

3.	Click Go To Topic.

To remove a bookmark:

1.	Click Bookmark on the Menu bar.

2.	Select the topic in the List of Bookmark Topics box.

3.	Click Delete.

4.	Click OK.


Moving around in Finance 101

You can access information in Finance 101 in a number of ways. To move through the book, choose any of these methods:

  Go to the Introduction and Table of Contents page.

In the introduction, you'll learn what's in Finance 101 and all about its author, Eric Tyson. You can start there, or choose a topic to review or a worksheet to fill in. You'll also find these worksheets interspersed throughout Finance 101.

The items in the Table of Contents correspond to the tabs you see on the edges of the book.

  Click a tab to go to a particular chapter.

Each chapter has a Table of Contents, so you can easily click on and go to a particular topic.

  Go through the book page by page.

Click the arrows at the bottom of the page to move from page to page.

What you'll see along the way

  Finance 101 uses icons to let you know that there's more information on a page for you to review.

	Click Chart to see a relevant pie chart or bar graph.
	Click Example to review an interesting illustration of a particular point.
	Click Worksheet to display a worksheet related to the topic at hand. Finance 101 has gathered information from Personal Profile and your Quicken data and prefilled some information.
  Check out the graphics, too. When you pass the cursor over a graphic with a purplish cast or outline, notice that the cursor changes to a hand.

Click on the graphic; Finance 101 displays a related topic or plays and audio clip.

  Click on red underlined text for additional information.

Want to play a video?

The introduction to Finance 101 has a couple of videos. To view them, go to the Contents & Intro tab.

•	To see an introductory video, choose Introduction.

•	To see a video about the author, Eric Tyson, choose About the Author.

You'll also find a video at the beginning of every chapter.

Want to visit other places?

Finance 101 provides lots of opportunities to go to other places on the disk. Whenever you see a link, click it if you'd like to go to a feature that covers a related topic.

In this example, you'd click on a link to hear what Marshall Loeb or Jane Bryant Quinn has to say on a particular subject, or go to Quicken Help to see learn how to perform a related task in Quicken.


Finding information in Finance 101

Have a particular topic in mind? You can use the search facility in Finance 101 to find all topics that contain the word or words you want to find.

1.	Click Search or press S to display the Search window.

2.	Enter the word or phrase you are looking for.

3.	Click Search.

Finance 101 searches in each topic to find occurrences of the words you entered.  The topics containing these words are displayed in the List of Topics found box.

Finance 101 then displays a list of the topics found.

4.	To go to a topic, select it and then click Go to Topic.


Working with information

Getting around in Finance 101 is easy. In addition to the navigation methods, you can also work with the text and information in Finance 101 in these ways:

	Click Search when you want to locate all occurrences of a particular word or phrase in Finance 101. You enter the word or phrase; then Finance 101 displays a list of topics that contain it. For details, see: Finding information in Finance 101
	Click Bookmark to mark a page in Finance 101 with a bookmark. For details, see: Adding a bookmark
	Click History to see a list of the last 50 places you've visited in  Finance 101.
	Click Print to print all of Finance 101 or a section of Finance 101.
	Click Personal Profile to enter or update the information stored in your Personal Profile. Finance 101 bases the worksheet analysis on the information you record here (and information it finds in your Quicken data file).


Exiting Finance 101

  To close Finance 101, choose Close from the Window Control menu.

  Alternatively, you can double-click the window Control menu box or press Alt+F4.


Print Set up

This window displays the name of your current printer and other printer settings. If you'd like to change to a different printer or change the settings, you can do that here.

Use the Print Setup to make these changes:

What you see:

Printer

Orientation

Paper

Options

Network


Printer

To print to a different printer, select it from the drop-down list.

If your printer is not listed, use the Windows Control Panel to install the printer driver for your printer. See your Microsoft Windows User's Guide for installation instructions.


Orientation

Click Portrait to print in a vertical format. Click Landscape to print in a horizontal format.


Paper

The Paper Size box sets your printer's default paper or form size.

The Paper Source box sets the default paper input tray or option.

You can use the Auto Select setting if your printer has more than one paper tray.

You can also use the Auto Select setting if you print on more than one size of paper. For example, you can use a letter-size paper tray for one tray and a legal-size paper tray for the other. When you choose letter paper from Financial Address Book, the printer will automatically select the letter-size paper tray.


Options

Click Options to change settings that are specific to the printer model you are using.


Network

Click Network to change a printer connection or set printer options.


Effect of Taxes on Your Investments analysis

This worksheet helps you see how profitable your investments are after taxes are considered. Since different types of investments are taxed at different rates, you should compare their after-tax yields, rather than pre-tax yields. To determine an investment's after-tax yield:

1.	Select the type of investment from the Investment drop-down list.

2.	(Optional) Change the marginal tax rate if you need to.

Your marginal tax rate may be 15%, 28%, 31%, 36%, or 39.6%, depending on your income and marital status.

3.	Enter the yield you expect from this investment in the Pre-tax box.

The Equivalent After-Tax Yield is computed automatically.

You may want to use the Tax Planner in Quicken to figure out the most appropriate tax rate to use in the worksheet.