Hi Tom,
We were never a fan of Quicken showing the reminders in account
registers. As I recall, there were numerous issues when the
functionality was introduced. Instead, we relied on the Quicken's
"projected balances" views, which is why I favored using the Balance
Forecast report in GnuCash when we migrated.
Regards,
Sherlock
On 12/2/25 1:58 AM, Tom Route36 wrote:
Hi David,
I just want to clarify how Quicken's Bill Reminders actually work.
Quicken doesn't PREDICT anything. What it does is it sets the amount of
each Reminder to be the CURRENT balance of each Credit Card account. The
current balance is exactly that -- it's the balance of the transactions
that have actually been ENTERED into the Credit Card account -- nothing
more. It doesn't predict future transactions that haven't yet been
entered.
When a user creates a Bill Reminder in Quicken, only three basic items
are needed (although there are several other optional bells and whistles
if a user wants them). The three basic items are: [1] The PAYER account
(e.g., Checking), [2] The PAYEE account (e.g., The Credit Card company),
and [3] The payment DUE DATE. That's it. Nothing more.
When the user opens the PAYER account register, there's a list there of
all upcoming Bill Reminders, typically (depending on user preference)
for the next 7-10 days. Each Reminder lists three key pieces of
information: [A] The payment DUE DATE (same as item 3 above), [B] The
PAYEE account (same as item 2 above), and [C] the CURRENT AMOUNT of the
Payee account. That item C here is exactly as described in my first
paragraph above. It's simply the current account balance of the Payee
account, updated in real-time. Nothing more. And it's the key piece of
information that's not available for Scheduled Transactions in GnuCash.
Yes it's available when looking at the balances on the Accounts tab. I
know that. But what's missing is that the current real-time account
balance isn't available as a variable for the Scheduled Transactions.
I understand that there are workarounds, and that the info is ultimately
available. But the Bill Reminders in Quicken are much more user-
friendly and keep the amounts up-to-date in real time; whereas the
amounts for Scheduled Transactions in GnuCash are static and don't show
a true picture of what will be due to each payee as the due date
approaches.
I hope this helps clarify the Quicken vs. GnuCash differences here, as
well as what I'd hope to see available someday in GnuCash.
Tom
On 12/2/2025 1:19 AM, David T. via gnucash-user wrote:
This was what I was proposing with the reconcile/pay process.
Quicken apparently predicts how much money a user plans to spend and
tells you what it thinks you are going to owe based on the scheduled
(i.e., hypothetical) transaction. GnuCash, however, follows a more
traditional accounting path and only tells you about transactions
(past, present and future) that you have entered into the books.
Personally, I don't need that Quicken-type of prediction; if I need to
project my accounts in the future, I will create the necessary
transactions (past, present and future) to allow me to adjudge the
financial status. It might be in the OP's best interest to look at
some of these other suggestions to achieve their goal, albeit in a
different manner than Quicken's.
On 12/2/2025 7:35 AM, Stan Brown (using GC 4.14) wrote:
On 2025-12-01 18:00, Sherlock wrote:
The running balances in the account don't include scheduled
transactions
and the only known date of a balance on Accounts tab is today
(present).
So, No. In my opinion, they don't suffice.
But do they need to be _scheduled_ transactions? When my credit card
statement comes in, I check it against my records, then enter a
transaction dated on the day the payment will be made, since I now know
the exact amounts. That keeps both my checking account and my credit
card account up to date for all past _and_ known future transactions. So
I can look at either account's register and see what the balance will be
on any desired date.
Stan Brown
Tehachapi, CA, USA
https://BrownMath.com
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