Reports and discretionary spending categories

[David Arnstein]

I am using Quicken 2010 Premier. I would like to understand "discretionary"
categories a bit better.

I just went through all my categories and I edited the ones that I
consider non-discretionary spending. Specifically, I right-clicked on
each of these categories, selected "edit," and in the ensuing dialog
box, I checked the box marked "spending is non-discretionary."

I would like to know how I can use this "spending is non-discretionary"
attribute that I just applied.

Regarding the above general question, I executed the standard report
named "Spending by Category." I customized it to select only the Category
Group "Discretionary." The resulting report was empty. Similarly, I
customized the report to select only the category group "Mandatory
Expenses." The report was again empty.

So far I have learned that the attribute "spending is non-discretionary"
of a category has no relationship to the Category Groups "Discretionary"
and "Mandatory Expenses" found in the Reports Center.

Should I avoid using the "spending is non-discretionary" attribute of
categories? Maybe it does not do anything at all.

What is the best way to generate reports of discretionary spending in
Quicken?

Thanks for any explanations.

--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstei...@pobox.com {{ }}
^^