I'm done with Quicken! - What else?

As many have pointed out, it's not just functionality but also ability to import years worth of data. I've not found any alternative that does a good job of importing data.
 
It seems to me that a big reason many stick with Quicken is because they tried another and had a less than perfect experience importing all their old data so they gave up.

AFAIK there is no such thing as a perfect import, because there is no such thing as a combination of a perfect Quicken export and another program having the exact same assumptions in every instance.

When I switched to Moneydance a number of years ago I just resigned myself to spending several hours on cleanup tasks and also starting some accounts over from scratch. Meanwhile I exported everything I could from Quicken into spreadsheets and stuck them in an "old records" folder.

Eventually I realized that 98% of the time I have been just fine with my "from scratch" accounts in Moneydance, and the other 2% of the time when I need to look something up from the dim past I can do it easily with a Find command in one of the old spreadsheets.
 
I'm sticking with Quicken for now as:
  1. Anything else will cost me something additional now - I have 2 more years left with my current Quicken program
  2. I'll waste more time converting and fixing data or tinkering with other workarounds
  3. I'll waste even more time learning new software
  4. Whatever alternative I choose will have a bug or other issue that I will have to spend time researching and since the alternative will have a smaller user base it may take more time to find a solution - issues now that may pop up in Quicken are usually quickly resolved since I've been down that path before
  5. I end up with less functionality than I have today with Quicken.

Spending more money, more time and getting less functionality is not glide path I want to take at this time.
 
I stopped using Quicken many years ago. Main reason along with having to learn the "How To's" of using Quicken is discovering that I really didn't find myself needing to retrieve historical data. My main need with Quicken was budgeting. But only for current year. Once when the year is over, I'm was done with the data and on to the next year's budget.
 
Can one just keep using one's current Quicken software going forward without a subscription fee if one doesn't need or use downloading of transactions?
 
I used Gnucash for Linux in parallel with Quicken 2010 last year and it works fine and has download capabilities but lacks a lot of the reports I'm used to producing with little effort in Quicken. I found that importing my Quicken data (which goes back to 1992) resulted in a massive cleanup effort that was simply not worth my time so I started 2016 with a clean slate and set up accounts as needed in Gnucash. I could live with Gnucash but after the year trial I went back to Quicken 2010 as I don't need the download capability and was missing Quicken's reporting richness.
 
ejman said:
I used Gnucash for Linux in parallel with Quicken 2010 last year and it works fine and has download capabilities but lacks a lot of the reports I'm used to producing with little effort in Quicken. I found that importing my Quicken data (which goes back to 1992) resulted in a massive cleanup effort that was simply not worth my time so I started 2016 with a clean slate and set up accounts as needed in Gnucash. I could live with Gnucash but after the year trial I went back to Quicken 2010 as I don't need the download capability and was missing Quicken's reporting richness.
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I thought gnucash interface was awful. i use homebank for linux, but it has some usability issues as well, so I stayed with Quicken 2000 running using wine, obviously I don't need the internet capability since it was disabled a long time ago when they tried to force me to upgrade.
 
teejayevans said:
I thought gnucash interface was awful. i use homebank for linux, but it has some usability issues as well, so I stayed with Quicken 2000 running using wine, obviously I don't need the internet capability since it was disabled a long time ago when they tried to force me to upgrade.
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Indeed, it took a while to get used to the Gnucash interface but as with most things, using it over time got me to the point where that wasn't really a problem. I just got used to its quirks. I currently use Quicken 2010 running under wine in my linux setup (linux mint) and it works just fine. I'll probably stick with this until something so superior shows up that I'm compelled to upgrade ( I might croak first :)).
 
I have been using Quicken 98 (for Windows) for quite some time now. I never need a password for anything, but I manually enter or import all results. It never updates itself on the Internet or anything like that.

For formal dual-entry accounting tasks I have also used GnuCash.

-gauss
 
I just went through the Quicken password reset. Again. I have to do it at least once a month now. It isn't easy. I have to drive a few miles to get in text message range for my cell phone.

My investment data in Quicken is messed up and I think instead of trying to fix it, I will just start anew with Money Dance for checking and savings and use Vanguard for investment tracking because that will be where all my investments will be. I also use Quicken to track net worth, but I don't keep values up to date, so it is not accurate at all. Net worth is just an arbitrary number, so I think I will just drop tracking it. I plan to transfer all my 401k to a Vanguard IRA in the next year or so. That will allow me to do Qualified Charitable Distributions instead of RMDs when I turn 70. I will limp along with Quicken until I move everything to Vanguard, but it sure is a PIA.
 
Hermit said:
I just went through the Quicken password reset. Again. I have to do it at least once a month now. It isn't easy. I have to drive a few miles to get in text message range for my cell phone.

My investment data in Quicken is messed up and I think instead of trying to fix it, I will just start anew with Money Dance for checking and savings and use Vanguard for investment tracking because that will be where all my investments will be. I also use Quicken to track net worth, but I don't keep values up to date, so it is not accurate at all. Net worth is just an arbitrary number, so I think I will just drop tracking it. I plan to transfer all my 401k to a Vanguard IRA in the next year or so. That will allow me to do Qualified Charitable Distributions instead of RMDs when I turn 70. I will limp along with Quicken until I move everything to Vanguard, but it sure is a PIA.
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I was in a similar boat several years ago with Quicken. But one day, during spending more time than I really wanted trying to figure out something out in Quicken (Quicken had the included manual..about 1/2 inch thick back then. Not sure of manuals still included in book) decided to abandon.

Now, though not as unified, I'm happy with a system (a spreadsheet here, a spreadsheet there, separate budget software, Vanguard summary) that tells me what I want instead of head scratching or too many options.
 
W2R said:
A lot of us do not use a canned program like Quicken, but instead just use Excel or one of the Excel-like freebies, such as Open Office (which I use), or Libre office. We did a poll on that once, and IIRC spreadsheets were a popular option.

I actually bought Quicken back in 2010 because so many forum members that I respect use it. I tried and tried to like it, and absolutely HATED it. So I uninstalled it, threw the disk in a drawer, and went back to Open Office.

Personally I much prefer being able to do what I want to do, in the way I want to do it, and if you are like that then you might love a spreadsheet approach. :)
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I've been thinking about this approach and wondering - are you able to automate data downloads from bank and brokerage accounts, e.g Wells Fargo and say Vanguard?
 
wanaberetiree said:
I've been thinking about this approach and wondering - are you able to automate data downloads from bank and brokerage accounts, e.g Wells Fargo and say Vanguard?
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For Wells Fargo, you can't automate the downloads unless you are going to rebuild the Quicken logic that logs in for you and parses the data it retrieves. However, you can do manual downloads and then import the files. Starting from WF's main account lists page:
  1. click on an account name then scroll down to the Activity tab
  2. click on the Download Account Activity link
  3. enter the appropriate date range if your import tool does not handle duplicate entries
  4. scroll down and select the radio button for Comma Delimited (ASCII, Spreadsheet) (the other choice is Quicken Web Connect)
  5. click the Download button
  6. scroll back up and select the next account in the drop down list and click the Download button for it; repeat until you've downloaded the transactions for each account you track

This gives you a csv file for each account, which you can import into a spreadsheet or database. Excel or Access can easily add the downloaded records to the end of an existing table. I assume all the freebie office tools like LibreOffice and Google Sheets can also do that.
 
wanaberetiree said:
I've been thinking about this approach and wondering - are you able to automate data downloads from bank and brokerage accounts, e.g Wells Fargo and say Vanguard?
Click to expand...

You can, IIRC, but it makes no sense for me to do that because I only have five funds at Vanguard. I type them in by hand - - about 20 total keystrokes for the five share prices, which I don't feel is too onerous. Excel multiplies by the number of shares and adds them up for me. All in all, it takes maybe 20 seconds or less versus hours of aggravation battling with Quicken in the fruitless effort to get what I want out of it.

As for my bank account, I check it everyday anyway to record my spending. After doing so, I type in the balance, just one number. It's really not hard, although it would be if I had carpal tunnel, I suppose. I don't.
 
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conversationalphrase said:
After resetting my newly required Intuit password half a dozen times and still not being able to get logged in I'm fed up and done with Quicken. I've used Quicken for 20+ years and it's only gotten worse.
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Perhaps I see the problem. You mention you are setting up a new Intuit password, you actually set-up a new Quicken account and password. If you are trying to do with with Intuit that's the problem.

I just received upgrade for Quicken that required me to set-up my new Quicken account instead of Intuit. Set-up was easy, upgrade went find and I'm now logged into the latest Quicken version with my Quicken account. No problems encountered.
 
bobandsherry said:
Perhaps I see the problem. You mention you are setting up a new Intuit password, you actually set-up a new Quicken account and password. If you are trying to do with with Intuit that's the problem.

I just received upgrade for Quicken that required me to set-up my new Quicken account instead of Intuit. Set-up was easy, upgrade went find and I'm now logged into the latest Quicken version with my Quicken account. No problems encountered.
Click to expand...

My 2016 version still forces me to login to Intuit. I just went through this a couple of days ago.
 
bobandsherry said:
Cost $99 with upgrades costing $39, not sure how often one needs to upgrade.
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Not often (unlike Quicken). I'm still using FundManager 2014 and have not had any compelling reason/need to upgrade..

Worth every penny IMHO. There are things I can do in FM that I've wanted to for years in terms of managing my portfolio. Really a very well done piece of software. If I'm not mistaken I think they have a trial / 30 day eval version available..
 
Hermit said:
My 2016 version still forces me to login to Intuit. I just went through this a couple of days ago.
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I'd suspect then you'll be getting the new upgrade soon. As I mentioned, mine just had upgrade listed today when I did an "update" of my transactions. It's now R14 (Home and Business).
 
So, what's everyone's favorite for (reasonably) accurate automatic assigning of transactions to categories?

I'd like to like Mint...but it uses a different backend and so won't pickup a couple of my major accounts (Yodlee or anyone who uses them works fine, but I hate the new Yodlee Money)
 
ncbill said:
So, what's everyone's favorite for (reasonably) accurate automatic assigning of transactions to categories?

I'd like to like Mint...but it uses a different backend and so won't pickup a couple of my major accounts (Yodlee or anyone who uses them works fine, but I hate the new Yodlee Money)
Click to expand...

AceMoney imported all my categories from Quicken. It will download transactions from USAA and ALLY. The only one it will not download is PenFed. One shortfall is that it will not download all accounts simultaneously. You have to go into each account and say download. It does detect duplicates and you can hide reconciled transactions.
 
I use Quicken 2000, but I make all entries manually, not downloading from the Internet. For one thing, this serves as a check. I do have a significant task to update investment accounts monthly, as I update their values manually.
 
I got the dreaded upgrade today for Quicken 2017. It went well, generally.

It told me to re-register for investing.quicken.com in order to download quotes. OK, "np" I say. Clicking on the "register" button next to the prompt took me to the normal one-step-update screen. Only after going through this endless DO loop a half-dozen times did I notice a button at the bottom of the OSU screen to activate investing.quicken.com. It would have been nice if the first button had taken me to the correct place.

The other issue is that after signing into the iOS mobile app with my new quicken ID I was presented with two copies of the quicken data file. "The Google" took me to web pages that claimed that the only way to delete the second data file was to telephone tech support. No thanks; I'm sure they're swamped with this new upgrade.

Otherwise, all seems to have gone well (knock on wood).
 
I use Quicken Deluxe 2006 and run it in compatibility mode on Win 10. All I use it for is keeping track of our Chase checking and CC accounts. We gave up on trying to track everything years ago. Investment account web sites do a good job of keeping track of what's there.
 
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