Quicken 2018 available

[Ready]

I don't know if now that Quicken is separate from Intuit if they'll be so quick to bundle together. Guess we'll find out.

Good point - I forgot about that! Probably not going to happen if they are separate companies.

 

[Jerry1]

From their FAQ:
What happens to my data if my subscription is cancelled or expires?

The Quicken Data Access Guarantee means that whether you renew your subscription or not, you'll always have full access to and ownership of your data. You can view, edit, export, and manually enter transactions and accounts for Deluxe and higher versions, even after your subscription ends*. Access to online services, such as transaction download, quotes, and mobile sync, along with access to Quicken Support, will end if your subscription does. We’ll continue to let you know about product changes and enhancements within the Quicken product.​

Thankfully, I do not use their online services. Basically just use it as a check register with good search and reporting tools. I've unplugged my computer for the internet and used Quicken (2016) so I am comfortable they will not shut off access to the data file even after they sunset the version I'm using. To do so, they'd have to do something like put a function in the program to shut down after a certain date. Possible, sure, but I can't see them doing that. We'll see. Anyway, I'm going to run the version I have as long as I can and hope for the best.

Generally, I agree with bobandsherry that the value is there. Quicken and Turbo Tax both provide a lot of value for the cost. Especially compared to having someone with the knowledge built into those programs do the work for you. I'm not opposed to paying for something, but Quicken, much like many other programs, has gotten to be so much more than I need that I don't want to upgrade any longer.

 

[Freedom56]

"Membership" going forward rather than buying the software and billpay free only with Premiere or greater. Details and pricing....

https://www.quicken.com/content/quicken-launches-2018-product-line

MS Money sunset edition is free and never expires. It's much better than Quicken. I have been using MS Money since 1989. Microsoft discontinued support in 2011 and provided the sunset edition for free (it never expires). My last version was Money 2007 before upgrading to the Sunset edition. I tried Quicken and did not like it and stayed with the Sunset edition. The Quicken data import did not work well and I was not about to throw away all my historical data.

 

[Senator]

I will be buying the subscription, likely next month. I will be buying the Quicken Home, Business & Rental Property version, although I typically do not use the rental property features.

I use it to track register/account balances, send invoices, track rents owed/paid, produce business reports, search for transactions, etc. I always enter all my receipts, and reconcile every account.

I typically purchased it every year, but mostly from OEM companies at a discount. I did not ever want to get into a situation where I had data that was too old to upgrade to the next version. Or have a security issue.

Luckily, I can write it off...

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Does the new Quicken store your PERSONAL & financial info on the cloud? If so that is a show stopper for me. I like all my data Local.

 

[explanade]

It's nice to see that the Mac version is available for all versions through Premier. In the past Inuit made very little effort to keep the Mac version up to date with Windows. Macs have never had the Quicken Lifetime Planner. It will be interesting to see if the 2018 Mac version now includes it.

No reviews on Amazon yet. It looks like it was just released today. Early reviews of new Quicken releases have been awful in the past because the software was typically very buggy until they released a few software patches. I'll be keeping an eye out for reviews as people begin to purchase it.

I would expect they will have a promotion in a month or so where they bundle it with Turbotax for a discount.

Pretty sure it won't have QLP. But they dangle the promise of new features if you subscribe.

I bought Quicken 2017 for Mac. I don't want to give Quicken my login credentials so I log into my credit union and download QFX files.

I try to import them into Quicken and there's an error. It won't work unless I enter my login.

It supposedly supports "web connect" or QFX and OFX files but I guess they want to make sure you use it in such a way that when it sunsets you will have to buy a new version.

I downloaded Bankivity trial and the same files import fine, without my having to give them my bank logins.

 

[jonat]

Does the new Quicken store your PERSONAL & financial info on the cloud? If so that is a show stopper for me. I like all my data Local.

Not unless you activate the "Quicken Online" feature, in which case only some of the data is copied to the cloud. You don't need to use that option.

Regarding the Dropbox 5GB add-on, yes, you can add that to an existing account. I just did.

 

[wenglish]

While I will willingly give Microsoft ~$100 a year for access to Office, I'm going to find it hard to swallow giving Quicken $50 a year for a product that only has become worse with time.

I am definitely going to sit this one out until my current version sunsets, and then I will probably pony up (because, like some others here, I haven't found a good replacement).

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I will probably dump it in 2019 when mine expires and go back to the Abacas.

 

[dvalley]

Dumb question since I haven't used Quicken or Money in almost 12+yrs...what do you get with Quicken that you don't with the free services like Personal Capital, Mint.com (both of which I've had for many years). They show transactions, they track networth, categories, budgets, bill pays, investment and retirement planning etc. Not to mention with the apps for IOS and Android I can access all the info from wherever I am.[

I think many do not want financial info put into the "cloud". Quicken maintains the data locally.

I can understand that...I work in IT security but unless the data at home lives on a computer that's not in any way connected to the network or the Internet there's no difference and likely less secure behind a consumer grade firewall, no intrusion detection system and potentially unencrypted data at rest. Also, Quicken is connecting and pulling data down from the banks hence the data is already out there. So while I get it I think the reality is quite the opposite

 

[rbmrtn]

There may be ways to manually get around the sunset issue by importing. For stock prices google finance portfolio has the option to download an OFX file. For transactions most financial sites have an option to download OFX files ( Schwab does not ) or CSV data files. there are conversion tool for CSV to QIF/OFX.

 

[cathy63]

While I will willingly give Microsoft ~$100 a year for access to Office, I'm going to find it hard to swallow giving Quicken $50 a year for a product that only has become worse with time.

I am definitely going to sit this one out until my current version sunsets, and then I will probably pony up (because, like some others here, I haven't found a good replacement).

I'm pretty much in the same boat. There's no single solution that does everything I use Quicken for, but from some research I did last year, I think I can replace the features I use with a combination of Mint and Personal Capital. I'll probably spend some time next year importing data into those and running in parallel to make sure the combo will work for us. That solution does store more data online and create more of a security risk though, so as usual there are pros and cons.

I might also be able to eliminate the need for Personal Capital if I can get our investment accounts consolidated to a single brokerage. We still have a few exercised stock options and ESPP shares that our former employers are requiring us to hold at their captive brokerages, but we're working on selling those slowly. If we accelerate that plan then we could close the extra accounts and just use the remaining brokerage's online tracking and reporting tools for our investment accounts and Mint for banking, credit accounts and categorizing spending.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Anyone tried GNUCASH?

 

[PatrickA5]

FYI - Amazon has Quicken 2018 w/"Amazon exclusive 27 month membership" and also includes additional 15GB DropBox storage. There is also a 20% discount available if you shop with American Express Membership Reward Points (see info below). Pricing on Amazon:

Starter: $59.99 ($48.99 w/AMEX discount)
Deluxe: $89.99 ($71.99 w/AMEX discount)
Premier: $129.99 ($103.99 w/AMEX discount)
Home/Business: $159.99 ($127.99 w/AMEX discount)

I know, it kind of sucks to go to "membership" option, but honestly for as much as I use it, I'll pay it. Those who have found an alternative that works, great. However, I've tried all the others and they were missing something that I have found I need/want in Quicken.

Now for the details on the 20% off promo. Amazon is running a promotion through with American Express Membership Rewards. Use your American Express Reward Points and get 20% discount. Please note you do not (and I do not recommend) that you pay for your purchase entirely with points. You only need to apply some points, I applied 10 cents in points (14 points).

NOTE THAT THIS PROMOTION EXPIRES TODAY @ 11:59PM PT

Details here: https://www.amazon.com/b?node=17170797011

Yep, I hate "subscriptions" as much as the next guy, but I have a hard time believing people will jump through major hoops just to keep from paying $60 a year. I spent more than that taking the extended family out for ice cream last week and didn't even think twice. But, I get it. I'm not sure why something like this bothers me so much. I'll pay the ransom. I like Quicken too much to stop now.

 

[JoeWras]

Yep, I hate "subscriptions" as much as the next guy, but I have a hard time believing people will jump through major hoops just to keep from paying $60 a year. I spent more than that taking the extended family out for ice cream last week and didn't even think twice. But, I get it. I'm not sure why something like this bothers me so much. I'll pay the ransom. I like Quicken too much to stop now.

Skip the ice cream, and you will lose weight too!

We're all going to have to get used to this. Marketing school has taught the execs that recurring revenue models is the way to go. "The Kids" take it in stride. It is "normal" to them. Us old codgers are the problem.

I will likely stay with Quicken for a while at least too. Look I do get a lot of value out of it. I could enter the stock prices manually and be OK, but is sure it convenient. I actually don't really use the download transaction feature. I used it for my dad's accounts, but not my own. I enter the transactions. It keeps me close to what is going on.

I thought a retirement project may be to play with gnucash, but I'm not so sure. I'm starting to just want to do anything else except programming, or anything that comes close to programming.

 

[ejman]

Anyone tried GNUCASH?

I have tried Gnucash (linux) and used it in parallel with my Quicken 2010 for about 6 months. It works fine but it is a totally different environment from Quicken and there is a definite learning curve.

Unlike Quicken which uses accounts (i.e checking/savings/investment accounts) and income/expense categories, Gnucash sets up accounts for everything as in a true double entry accounting system with a chart of accounts.

After my 6 month trial period I decided to continue using Quicken 2010 because of the extensive data I've accumulated (been using Q since 1992) which turned out to be difficult to clean up once imported to Gnucash and the wealth of reports available in Quicken which are difficult to replicate in Gnucash. Gnucash has standard income/expense, net worth and investment reports but does not have easy to use customizing features like Quicken does.

At this point I intend to continue using this version of Quicken as long as Linux supports it thru the WINE software that allows the use of some windows programs in Linux.

Just to clarify a point on Gnucash - although it will import Quicken data my database was so large (over 100 mb accumulated since 1992) that the import clean up process was overwhelming. I suppose it would be simpler and easier with a much smaller Quicken database

 

[explanade]

I can understand that...I work in IT security but unless the data at home lives on a computer that's not in any way connected to the network or the Internet there's no difference and likely less secure behind a consumer grade firewall, no intrusion detection system and potentially unencrypted data at rest. Also, Quicken is connecting and pulling data down from the banks hence the data is already out there. So while I get it I think the reality is quite the opposite

Here's the thing though. Quicken is a much bigger target. So these big hacker groups and state-sponsored hackers are more likely to go after the big whales.

There may be ways to manually get around the sunset issue by importing. For stock prices google finance portfolio has the option to download an OFX file. For transactions most financial sites have an option to download OFX files ( Schwab does not ) or CSV data files. there are conversion tool for CSV to QIF/OFX.

I wouldn't assume that. I couldn't even import OFX files into a new version of Quicken 2017 for Mac unless I entered the login credentials for that institution.

Yep, I hate "subscriptions" as much as the next guy, but I have a hard time believing people will jump through major hoops just to keep from paying $60 a year. I spent more than that taking the extended family out for ice cream last week and didn't even think twice. But, I get it. I'm not sure why something like this bothers me so much. I'll pay the ransom. I like Quicken too much to stop now.

That could be true but if this move alienates enough of the user base, they may not have enough sales to sustain development. They're promising all kinds of things but will the revenues support them?

 

[zinger1457]

While I will willingly give Microsoft ~$100 a year for access to Office, I'm going to find it hard to swallow giving Quicken $50 a year for a product that only has become worse with time.

I doubt I'll go with the Quicken subscription model and I certainly get a lot more utility from Quicken then I do from Office. Don't see the need to subscribe to Office since they still offer non-subscription models for a little over $100 that come with a 10 year 'end of life'. Open Office is free and seems to get good reviews, I'll likely check that out when my Office 2010 expires in a few years.

 

[24601NoMore]

For those of you that keep Q* to get the online price updates for your Portfolios, a MUCH better Portfolio Management tool (IMHO) is Fund Manager. It's $99 (I think) ONE TIME, and you don't "have" to upgrade every couple of years.

Oh, and it's the "old fashioned" software that you BUY, not rent via a hostage..errr...subscription..model.

Really nice and very full featured program for investment management. I'm still running the 2014 version and have not "had" to upgrade yet as it does everything I want and then some..

 

[Snidely Whiplash]

Just as an FYI : I purchased a subscription today with the intent of deciding in a year if I want to continue the subscription or just use the limited features. Quicken automatically sets your account to auto-renew at whatever price is current at the time of renewal. You could change every account setting online except for the auto-renew option. To remove auto-renew you have to call customer service which resulted in a very long wait to reach a representative then the representative put me on hold for several minutes before finally taking my account off of the auto-renew status.

 

[explanade]

Pretty shady.

 

[pb4uski]

While I will willingly give Microsoft ~$100 a year for access to Office, I'm going to find it hard to swallow giving Quicken $50 a year for a product that only has become worse with time.

I am definitely going to sit this one out until my current version sunsets, and then I will probably pony up (because, like some others here, I haven't found a good replacement).

When I bought my new laptop in January I was in Florida and did not have ready access to my Office CDs so I have been using LibreOffice.... my spreadsheet, word processing and presentation needs are modest now that I am retired and LibreOffice works well for me.... and its free!

I think Quicken is killing the golden goose with its subscription model but time will tell... I'm hoping that if I don't sign on that they will contact me with a "special offer" for long-time customers but if not, then cie la vie.

 

[Smitty700]

I'm of two minds about the subscription. Sure, I hate the annual payment. But I've already bitten the subscription bullet for Microsoft Office and the Adobe Photography Plan. If this will give Quicken the resources to support the software properly, which Intuit did not for years (just ask Mac users), I'm for it.

But for me, it depends if Quicken Mac now supports the ability to include or exclude transfers on budgets and reports in Quicken for Mac. This has been a shameful omission on previous versions.

 

[Jerry1]

To remove auto-renew you have to call customer service which resulted in a very long wait to reach a representative then the representative put me on hold for several minutes before finally taking my account off of the auto-renew status.

That right there tells me all I need to know to sit this out as long as I can. A phone? Seriously? From a company/software product that is so highly connected to the internet and electronic transaction world? That's a decision that was purposeful and disgraceful. What is a company afraid of that doesn't allow for easy cancellation of their subscription?

 

[NanoSour]

I run a checking account and a budget on Quicken for Mac 2007. Meets my needs and I can't stand the new and "improved" user interface they started with Q Essentials in 2012. Even though they officially ended Q2007 in 2012, it still works fine and I'll just keep plugging along.

I've supplemented with Mint since 2011. Together they seem to keep me on track.