Quicken???

[Dog]

I've haven't been diligent in tracking expenses since 2010. We keep an eye on overall expenditures, and credit cards are always paid off each month, but it is time to get serious knowing where all $ are going with my pending retirement just 12 months away

My last version of Quicken was 2008. It is too late to upgrade and looks like I need to start new. My bank supports Quicken but not Mint. Any reason not to invest in Quicken again?

Happy New Year to all!!!

 

[Corporateburnout]

I've just upgraded from 2010 to 2014 for $38. At some point Quicken will stop supporting downloads from banks and financial institutions for older versions and you will be forced to upgrade.

 

[Sirka]

... At some point Quicken will stop supporting downloads from banks and financial institutions for older versions and you will be forced to upgrade.

+1
For Windows customers using the 2010 product, online services expired April 30th 2013
Quicken Discontinuation Policy - Quicken Support

 

[audreyh1]

Interesting - Quicken for Mac 2007, with the 16.1.4 build which has a copyright including 2013 - was some kind of patch to address newer MacOSs - still runs and still downloads transactions in QFX form.

 

[rbmrtn]

I believe the only thing that stops is the online pricing updates and downloads from the financial institutions but the other functions work. You can update prices manually from yahoo. You can still upgrade to the current version.

 

[Dog]

Yes, I tried to update from my credit card accounts and bank this morning and my version is not supported any longer. Looks like I will be upgrading.

 

[braumeister]

A number of us here like using Moneydance. It runs on all computers and has most of the functionality of Quicken with hardly any of the grief. Just a thought.

 

[Corporateburnout]

+1
For Windows customers using the 2010 product, online services expired April 30th 2013
Quicken Discontinuation Policy - Quicken Support

I was surprised to see the discontinuation date of April 2013 as I was still able to download transactions with my 2010 version up until two weeks ago when I upgraded to 2014.

 

[ziggy29]

Interesting - Quicken for Mac 2007, with the 16.1.4 build which has a copyright including 2013 - was some kind of patch to address newer MacOSs - still runs and still downloads transactions in QFX form.

They haven't been time-bombing the Mac product because Quicken 2007 is the last relatively "full featured" Mac version they have created. They have some really dumbed down version for the Mac now, but it's actually a major downgrade in terms of functionality so they are still supporting Q2007... at least on the Mac side.

 

[FinBiz]

I’ve used Quicken for years and occasionally update when it stops accepting bank and cc downloads. I pay almost everything via credit card or online bank payment; all of which I download regularly. All my financial tracking is at my fingertips for easy view anytime.

 

[Katsmeow]

I use both Quicken and YNAB (you need a budget). For most of what I do in budgeting and keeping track of money I find YNAB far superior to Quicken.

Quicken's budgeting is poor. However, I do like that you can "better" categories in Quicken and it has much better reports. So, to analyze data I use Quicken. But, for day to day keeping track of spending and budgeting I use YNAB.

 

[Birdie Num Nums]

I'm still using 2010. Although it won't download transactions from my accounts anymore (since late last year), it'll still update price quotes if I click in Actions: Investing Actions, then Quotes.

 

[racy]

Alternative approach: you can track expenses without buying Quicken, just use your existing spreadsheet. It's easy to setup your own categories of expenses. Create categories that mean the most to you, and in the level of detail you want.

I 'download transactions' (in .csv format) of my checking and credit cards from my bank once a week & put them in my expense categories.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am using Quicken Premier 2011, and have been nagged about updating prior to April 2014.

I did not check my email, and missed the 50% off offer on their list price of $105. Am thinking about buying from Costco at $70. Is there another place to get it for less?

I just downloaded Moneydance to check out. The import of QIF file output by Quicken was far less than perfect (don't know if the problem was on Quicken's or Moneydance's end). It would take a lot of manual edits. I had to do that when importing from the defunct MS Money into Quicken, and do not want to have to go through that again.

 

[steelhead]

I am using Quicken Premier 2011, and have been nagged about updating prior to April 2014.

I did not check my email, and missed the 50% off offer on their list price of $105. Am thinking about buying from Costco at $70. Is there another place to get it for less?

I downloaded 2014 Quicken Home & Business from Amazon two weeks ago for $50.43 after discovering that it was nearly $20 cheaper than Premier. The Home & Business version has all the features of Premier and the business stuff I won't use isn't in my way. The prices on Amazon bounced around a lot so I pounced when H&B got back to $50 after I delayed and saw it go up. (I upgraded from Quicken Premier 2011.)

 

[rbmrtn]

I did not check my email, and missed the 50% off offer on their list price of $105. Am thinking about buying from Costco at $70. Is there another place to get it for less?

I usually check ebay, quicken premier 2013 | eBay

I got premier 2011 in april '12 for about $10, good for 2 years.

There are some discount software sellers

Buy Quicken Premier 2013 for PC from Intuit - Quicken -Quickbooks, 419337

Quicken Premier 2013 028287038356 on eBid United States

 

[W2R]

I've haven't been diligent in tracking expenses since 2010. We keep an eye on overall expenditures, and credit cards are always paid off each month, but it is time to get serious knowing where all $ are going with my pending retirement just 12 months away

My last version of Quicken was 2008. It is too late to upgrade and looks like I need to start new. My bank supports Quicken but not Mint. Any reason not to invest in Quicken again?

Happy New Year to all!!!

Happy New Year!

If you like Quicken, then I think your answer is to go ahead and upgrade.

Based on the glowing recommendations for Quicken here and elsewhere, I bought it for the first time last year. I thought that since so many truly intelligent people, whose opinions I respect so much, agreed on Quicken, that I would like it too.

It turned out that I just can't stand Quicken, and prefer to do my expense tracking in an Open Office spreadsheet. I *would* have to be different. But the purchase was worthwhile, because now I know.

 

[jebmke]

I have reduced my use of Quicken to tracking the basis for my taxable assets. I can get the valuation of everything from Vanguard's site -- at least close enough for what I need in terms of rebalancing etc.

Spreadsheets work fine for me for tracking expenses. I don't track the details anymore -- did it for a couple of years to get a feel for the major categories and now I'm OK with just tracking the total from credit cards and the bank.

 

[audreyh1]

They haven't been time-bombing the Mac product because Quicken 2007 is the last relatively "full featured" Mac version they have created. They have some really dumbed down version for the Mac now, but it's actually a major downgrade in terms of functionality so they are still supporting Q2007... at least on the Mac side.

Right.

I bet they regret abandoning the Mac platform!

 

[NW-Bound]

I downloaded 2014 Quicken Home & Business from Amazon two weeks ago for $50.43 after discovering that it was nearly $20 cheaper than Premier. The Home & Business version has all the features of Premier and the business stuff I won't use isn't in my way. The prices on Amazon bounced around a lot so I pounced when H&B got back to $50 after I delayed and saw it go up. (I upgraded from Quicken Premier 2011.)

I think I can still hold out for a couple more months to see if there's another sale.

I usually check ebay, quicken premier 2013 | eBay

I got premier 2011 in april '12 for about $10, good for 2 years.

There are some discount software sellers

Buy Quicken Premier 2013 for PC from Intuit - Quicken -Quickbooks, 419337

Quicken Premier 2013 028287038356 on eBid United States

The older versions go for a bit lower, but then their life is shorter. I have to think about this.

...
It turned out that I just can't stand Quicken, and prefer to do my expense tracking in an Open Office spreadsheet. I *would* have to be different. But the purchase was worthwhile, because now I know.

I remember that you do not use credit cards, and pay in cash. Quicken won't do much for you then. We use credit cards for 99% for our expenses (what we spend in cash is minuscule and not worthwhile to track), and Quicken can download all transactions off the banks, and automatically classifies the expenses for us. For example, it "knows" that what we spent at Safeway is for groceries, and at a Shell station is for gas. If I had to do it by hand, I would not track everything because it's too much work.

We also have several tIRAs, Roth IRAs, 401ks, and brokerage accounts, and as I hold individual stocks, the trouble Quicken or any other software for that matter saves me from having to enter in all the dividend payouts is worth the cost. And I love to be able to search up any expense I incurred, any check we wrote, or to call up the gain/loss and income from any account, or to look back at any stock transaction.

In other words, there are other software that can help minimize my data entry, and Quicken just happens to be the one I use. And I have to use one, in order to save me time to surf the Web.

 

[W2R]

I remember that you do not use credit cards, and pay in cash. Quicken won't do much for you then. We use credit cards for 99% for our expenses (what we spend in cash is minuscule and not worthwhile to track), and Quicken can download all transactions off the banks, and automatically classifies the expenses for us. For example, it "knows" that what we spent at Safeway is for groceries, and at a Shell station is for gas. If I had to do it by hand, I would not.

I do not buy groceries or gas using cash. I have a trivial number of transactions each month. I can type in a week's transactions faster than typing this post.

 

[Khufu]

I would be lost without quicken. I'm using the H&B 2012 version, which will lose support in April, 2015. We have numerous bank, credit card, credit union and brokerage accounts in two countries and two currencies. I don't download transactions except for dividends and interest from brokerage accounts. Everything else I enter by hand and reconcile at least monthly. Quicken has about 15 years of complete transactions, including cash since I enter those also. My wife started a business last year and we track that through Quicken. Version 2012 is the last one that will sync with PocketQuicken running in my PDA, an excellent app. Unfortunately, next year I will have to decide between abandoning either PocketQuicken or the price downloads.

Running a household is like running a small business. The minimum requirement, in my opinion, is to track everything so that you know just where the money goes. I make a budget every year and track it monthly as the year progresses. I use most of the features, except for tax estimating which I do in Excel. I especially like the ability to download brokerage and bank statements and store them in Quicken.

Quicken has many annoying warts, the result of the lack of competition. If there were a better program I would switch in a minute, but none of the others provides all the functionality and integration. I used to write portfolio accounting software early in my career and could write a program or spreadsheet to replace the basic Quicken functions myself, but frankly I would rather put my head in a bucket of varnish than spend my time writing software for a payback of less than $100 per year. I don't begrudge the developers an annual fee, but for the fact that they have dropped support for PocketQuicken running in my PDA. I would not consider storing my data in somebody's cloud.

 

[Katsmeow]

It turned out that I just can't stand Quicken, and prefer to do my expense tracking in an Open Office spreadsheet. I *would* have to be different. But the purchase was worthwhile, because now I know.

For me it is definitely a love hate relationship. Many moons ago, I used Managing Your Money until it went away (I did love it though). Then I switches to MS Money. I got annoyed with it, though, particularly the continuing failure to correct known bugs while adding fluff every year. So, I tried Quicken. And, I also hated it. I went back to Money.

When it finally went away (well, wasn't being updated any more), I switched to an early version of You Need a Budget. It has added a lot of functionality over the years but I really love it.

For keeping track of basic spending and for budgeting it really has no peer. It does budgeting differently from everyone else. And, frankly, it just blows them all out of the water.

But, I still ended up buying Quicken again. There are just things that it does that you can't get elsewhere. So I use it for those purposes although I really only use it for the things where I have to use it. Otherwise, I rely on YNAB.

 

[bUU]

Any reason not to invest in Quicken again?

I have a number of complaints about Quicken, but even with all those problems that leave Quicken still far and away the most effective, efficient and user-friendly means of getting a handle on personal finances (yes, even as compared to Moneydance, at least given my standards and criteria), and its cost is so modest (every three years) that it is a great value.

I bet they regret abandoning the Mac platform!

I doubt it. Mac OS is still less than 15% of the market and without a complete rewrite of Quicken top-to-bottom the development and maintenance costs for essentially having a second product line are probably far too high.

They really should do that complete rewrite though, run the UI in a browser-like environment so 90% of the code can be used on any platform and then they just need to put their proprietary algorithms and such in a small, easier to maintain, native library.

 

[steelhead]

New Costco discount on Quicken

Just got an email from Costco showing a $20 discount on Quicken making 2014 Premier $49.99. There's $2.99 S&H additional. Not sure if it's the same discount in store to avoid shipping because the e-mail said "online-only offers."