Tracking Reward Points

Posted by John on November 12, 2008, 8:40 pm

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Forgive me if this has been discussed but what is a good way to track
bonus points and Frequent flier mileage in Quicken?
I am using 2006 Dlx and I remember that this can be done.
So far I have a cash account set up with a balance of 23586. Quicken
thinks it is in dollars. Unfortunately it is not - it is in points. Can
I apply a conversion rate of some kind? I would like to do the ame with
my Worldperk miles.

Any advice is appreciated from the group.

Cheers,
john

Posted by Oilcan on November 12, 2008, 10:08 pm

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Hi John,

I no longer have Q2006D installed, but basically want you need to find
is the flag to turn off the account from being included in your totals.
In Q2009D, it is a flag on the Account that states "Do not include this
Account in Net Worth total". I no longer keep track of this type of
activity in Quicken, but when I did I used Credit Card accounts because
of the ease of reconciliation. If you have many of these you might want
to used a naming convention such as "Rewards=Northwest",
"Rewards-Discover Card", etc. so they are all grouped together.

Oilcan

-----Original Message-----
From: John [mailto:cegraphic@gmail.com]
Posted At: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 5:41 PM
Posted To: alt.comp.software.financial.quicken
Conversation: Tracking Reward Points
Subject: Tracking Reward Points

Forgive me if this has been discussed but what is a good way to track
bonus points and Frequent flier mileage in Quicken?
I am using 2006 Dlx and I remember that this can be done.
So far I have a cash account set up with a balance of 23586. Quicken
thinks it is in dollars. Unfortunately it is not - it is in points. Can
I apply a conversion rate of some kind? I would like to do the ame with
my Worldperk miles.

Any advice is appreciated from the group.

Cheers,
john

Posted by danbrown on November 12, 2008, 10:59 pm

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I agree with Oilcan that you want to exclude the rewards accounts from
any net worth reporting.

But I disagree MIGHTILY with the whole concept of tracking reward
points in Quicken.

Quicken tracks DOLLARS. Income! Expenses! Assets! Liabilities!
Reward points are, almost, assets but they're most definitely not
equivalent to dollars.

When you receive them, you don't have INCOME. When you spend them,
you don't have an EXPENSE. They're not convertible to DOLLARS.

KEEP THEM OUT OF QUICKEN!!!

There are any number of freeware "Reward Trackers" available on the
net. USE THEM.

Let's not mix oranges and orangutans. (This doesn't even come close
to oranges and apples).

db

Posted by John on November 15, 2008, 5:13 pm

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danbrown wrote:

> I agree with Oilcan that you want to exclude the rewards accounts from

> any net worth reporting.

> But I disagree MIGHTILY with the whole concept of tracking reward

> points in Quicken.

> Quicken tracks DOLLARS. Income! Expenses! Assets! Liabilities!

> Reward points are, almost, assets but they're most definitely not

> equivalent to dollars.

> When you receive them, you don't have INCOME. When you spend them,

> you don't have an EXPENSE. They're not convertible to DOLLARS.

> KEEP THEM OUT OF QUICKEN!!!

> There are any number of freeware "Reward Trackers" available on the

> net. USE THEM.

> Let's not mix oranges and orangutans. (This doesn't even come close

> to oranges and apples).

> db

Wow. That is kinda negative isn't it?

Actually the points I have from Wells Fargo are dollars. 2500 = $25 to
be exact. So I do have income and when I spend then they are an expense.
Perhaps you are not familiar which these types of things and how they
work. They come in handy when the the old gift giving season approaches.
So in a sense they are a cash asset. Somewhat like a life insurance
policy - which I also track in Quicken. Much to your dismay I am sure.

I did remove the account from the totals and just went from there.

Cheers.

Posted by TomYoung on November 16, 2008, 9:49 am

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> danbrown wrote:

> > I agree with Oilcan that you want to exclude the rewards accounts from

> > any net worth reporting.

> > But I disagree MIGHTILY with the whole concept of tracking reward

> > points in Quicken.

> > Quicken tracks DOLLARS. =A0Income! Expenses! Assets! Liabilities!

> > Reward points are, almost, assets but they're most definitely not

> > equivalent to dollars.

> > When you receive them, you don't have INCOME. =A0When you spend them,

> > you don't have an EXPENSE. =A0They're not convertible to DOLLARS.

> > KEEP THEM OUT OF QUICKEN!!!

> > There are any number of freeware "Reward Trackers" available on the

> > net. USE THEM.

> > Let's not mix oranges and orangutans. =A0(This doesn't even come close

> > to oranges and apples).

> > db

> Wow. That is kinda negative isn't it?

> Actually the points I have from Wells Fargo are dollars. 2500 =3D $25 to

> be exact. So I do have income and when I spend then they are an expense.

> Perhaps you are not familiar which these types of things and how they

> work. They come in handy when the the old gift giving season approaches.

> So in a sense they are a cash asset. Somewhat like a life insurance

> policy - which I also track in Quicken. Much to your dismay I am sure.

> I did remove the account from the totals and just went from there.

> Cheers.

Well then, put the account back into the totals and just enter the
points as dollars and cents. So if you make a purchase and earn 2500
points enter that in your Wells Fargo Points asset account as $25.00,
offset to your Wells Fargo Points Earned category. When you look at
your accumulated total in the Wells Fargo Points asset account
mentally move the decimal point 2 places to the right.

Tom Young