OK I am Officially Fed Up with Quicken - Moneydance anyone?

On another note, anyone using Windows 10 with any financial software (Quicken, Money, Moneydance, whatever...), should be aware that Windows 10 by design comes complete with built in spyware that can be compromised. We have 5 PCs at home (3 desktops and 2 Laptops). Our main computer, where all our financial data is kept with back-up external driver, is running Windows 7. The others are running Windows 10 with one in our music studio running Windows XP (we did not want to update all the studio application software). There is a good reason why the majority of enterprises have not updated from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and why more people are running Windows 7 vs Windows 10 after all this time. Windows 7 is much more stable than Windows 10.
 
Freedom56 said:
On another note, anyone using Windows 10 with any financial software (Quicken, Money, Moneydance, whatever...), should be aware that Windows 10 by design comes complete with built in spyware that can be compromised.
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Could you be more specific about this "built in spyware" that comes with Windows 10? Any news reports of systems being compromised?
 
bobandsherry said:
Agree with you 100%. Just picked up 2 year Quicken Premier "subscription" for $60, that's $2.50/mo. Even as frugal as I am, I can afford that and think it's quite a bargain. The alternative is spending time converting/reconciling accounts into something new, manipulating stock quote entries, creating spreadsheets, etc. And at the end of all that I end up with something that is functionally subpar compared to Quicken and I'm not even sure it's any less expensive option. I now have a new assortment of issues to troubleshoot and resolve (as they say I'd rather deal with the devil I know than the devil I don't). PASS!
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I'm begrudgingly with you and other on this. The reality is that as long as Quicken keeps their price in check, we'll all (well, most of us) come to the conclusion that it's more trouble than it's worth to leave than to keep Quicken. I think they will do well to keep privacy in mind too. As others have said, a cloud based system or one where they can hold you hostage, my be a tipping point.

Case in point, look at PhotoBucket (or whatever company that was) that started charging to store photos if you wanted to link them to other sites. I think they wanted $400. They totally misread the market and as far as I know, virtually no one paid up. They tipped the scale and people determined that there were other options at lesser cost than the alternative of paying up. As long as Quicken doesn't tip out of balance, we'll stay.

As frustrating as Quicken and Turbo Tax can be at times, they work well and the real cost versus alternatives is still reasonable - IMHO.
 
I did some digging, and found my notes from January of this year, the last time I'd done some research to find a MS Money replacement. While I don't recall all the reasons now, three made the short list:

GnuCash (Free, GPL open-source license)
MoneyManager EX (Free, donations)
MoneyDance (Already discussed here)

I don't recall why MS Money Sunset Edition didn't make the list. I know I tried it. Probably because it wasn't any better than the 97 version I'd already bought and paid for, so there was no benefit to switching.

I've never been a big fan of Quicken. I always thought it was over-priced, and it just never struck the right balance of robust functionality and ease of use. Going to a subscription model was the final nail in the coffin, for me.
 
I created all my accounts in MS Money Plus Yesterday and saved the empty setup so I can experiment with migration and fall back to a clean slate. Took me about 20 minutes to do it to where I was satisfied. So I will play with it and see how it goes. I do not track stocks so that part is not important to me at the moment. I do track currencies though and do not know if there is an ustomatic update for that, that works yet.
 
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ShokWaveRider said:
I created all my accounts in MS Money Plus Yesterday and saved the empty setup so I can experiments with migration and fall back to a clean slate. Took me about 20 minutes to do it to where I was satisfied. So I will play with it and see how it goes. I do not track stocks so that pert is not important to me at the moment. I do track currencies though and do not know if there is an ustomatic update for that, that works yet.
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You should do fine with it. I keep track of 9 bank accounts, 7 investment accounts, 3 properties, and three credit cards with MS Money Sunset deluxe. It works well and saves time. I export data to my tax software every year to make filing even easier. I know what I have in income, assets, and expenses down to the penny.
 
cathy63 said:
There is nothing that I do in Quicken that I couldn't also do in Excel if I were sufficiently motivated. When I was working, I didn't have the time and energy to create my own financial tracking system and now that I'm retired, I find I just have other things I'd rather do. Just like it's worth it to some people to pay a service like Blue Apron to do their meal planning and shopping, it's worth it to me to pay someone else a reasonable amount (which I define as under $100/year) to build and maintain a tool that helps me track my finances.

I will give you a list of some of the Quicken features I find valuable, but you will probably say that you have either already invested the effort to ryo, or that these are things that aren't relevant for your situation. Similarly, if somebody comes along and says that some other tool does everything I do with Quicken and it's free so obviously I should switch, I will just laugh, because the value of the time I would spend on having to resolve data issues and learn a new tool is worth far more to me than the actual cost of Quicken.

So all that said, here are the main features I use that I can think of off the top of my head:

- automatic downloads of bank, credit card, investment account transactions (I have a lot of accounts and transactions, this saves me at least a couple hours of manual entry every month plus it prevents typos that are hard to find later)
- automatic categorization of all downloaded transactions for tracking spending
- easy manual recategorization of individual transactions from the default with 2 or 3 keystrokes (e.g. to move a restaurant meal from dining to travel:dining)
- tax reports, especially for Schedules A and E. I also use the B and D reports for tax planning late in the year.
- various portfolio views help me decide what to sell and what to hold
- scheduled credits and debits
- lifetime planner
- track the cost basis for home and rental properties
- research (what year did we replace the windows? what store did we get that little table from?)
- as the treasurer for both HOAs where we own condos, I also keep the finances for each association in their own Quicken files and produce annual budgets and cash flow reports for the other owners as well as the report that is input for the HOA tax returns
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Thank you for the detailed response.

And, you are 100% correct: Some of this I have already built; others are not applicable to my situation; some I do want but haven't got around to building myself.

It definitely isn't the cost of packages, especially things like Moneydance and GnuCash, that stops me from using them. Rather, I want some features to work just so; and, I also want to understand exactly what is going on under the hood. (In theory, I could accomplish both of these with GnuCash; but, that would be overkill for my needs.)
 
I am slowly migrating all my Quicken data to MS Money Sunset Edition. It is going reasonably well. doing the smaller accounts first. Accepting line items one at a time is a pain, but other than that is appears relatively smooth. Any tips would be appreciated.

All I know is I cannot get rid of Quicken fast enough.
 
ShokWaveRider said:
I am slowly migrating all my Quicken data to MS Money Sunset Edition. It is going reasonably well. doing the smaller accounts first. Accepting line items one at a time is a pain, but other than that is appears relatively smooth. Any tips would be appreciated.

All I know is I cannot get rid of Quicken fast enough.
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Just think how much time you are spending converting to a dead product. I guess I don't get it, there's value in my time. But Quicken is working great for me so perhaps there's something you aren't happy with and will find better with the abandoned MS Money programs.
 
bobandsherry said:
Just think how much time you are spending converting to a dead product. I guess I don't get it, there's value in my time. But Quicken is working great for me so perhaps there's something you aren't happy with and will find better with the abandoned MS Money programs.
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I have plenty of time.... I am retired remember.... :dance: I have trouble filling my day at the best of times. I have been retired for 5 years and I am not yet 65. The least I can do is play with software after being in IT for 30 years +. AND if I decide I do not like it, nothing lost.
 
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walkinwood said:
For those concerned about Quicken storing passwords on their site, see this from the Moneydance folks - apparently, Quicken does store passwords on their site if you use Express Web Connect.
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It’s been awhile since I used Quicken, but in general, big software companies are moving to collecting more data about their customers. This includes forced (or annoying) registration pop ups, the feature to store your info in the cloud, etc.

MS with Win10 is a great example. They want to collect data on their users because its an opportunity to monetize their customers in
other ways.

I’m not saying that Quicken is currently doing this, but with the move to subscription, it makes it a lot easier for them to track their customers. I’m a bit old school and like the old software model. You buy the product and have minimal data sharing with the company that sold you the product.

Moneydance fits that profile nicely and in reading all the angst people have with Quicken, I’m glad I bailed a few years ago.
 
I don't have the same concerns with storing my data in the cloud (with my knowledge and approval) as some others here do, but I have yet to find a suitable replacement for Quicken.

I need to track bank & credit card transactions, get automatic transaction downloads from my financial companies, categorize my expenses (including custom categories & sub-categories), track my investment transactions & value, and generate customizable standard reports on spending, investment transactions, net worth and investment performance. And I need the system to keep historic data even after accounts are closed.

I don't use the mobile apps currently, but I've taken a few trips recently without my notebook and I like that. So functional, secure mobile apps are also a requirement.

I still haven't found a package that can do all that as well as Quicken. Quicken has a wide scope though it doesn't do everything well. So for now, it is Quicken for me. Luckily, I can afford it.
 
I have been using GnuCash for keeping the books for an organization that I am treasurer of.... it's fine... and free... but the UI is a bit primitive and the reporting capabilities are so-so. I'm not sure if I would prefer paying for Quicken or using GnuCash for free and then importing data into Excel for reporting. Time will tell.

I'll probably just pay up since the cost of Quicken is fair in relation to what it does for me... I've got a couple more years to decide.
 
ShokWaveRider said:
I am slowly migrating all my Quicken data to MS Money Sunset Edition. It is going reasonably well. doing the smaller accounts first. Accepting line items one at a time is a pain, but other than that is appears relatively smooth. Any tips would be appreciated.

All I know is I cannot get rid of Quicken fast enough.
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Guess I've been spoiled. Purchased MS Money in 2002 after looking into Quicken. Don't remember why I didn't like Quicken, maybe it didn't handle investments very well, which is my biggest reason for having a personal finance program.
Moved to MS Sunset in 2012, it has been meeting my needs for many years. Someday it may not play well with some future operating system.

And I use it, rather than learn Quickbooks, for keeping records when Treasurer of some volunteer organization, such as school soccer boosters, cub scouts, boy scouts, pool club, soccer club, PTA, etc.
 
bobandsherry said:
FYI - Quicken does not require that you put your financial info "in the cloud". You store your file locally, they offer the cloud as a back-up option for your data file (or whatever else you want to use it for, up to 5GB).

I used MS Money many years ago and preferred it, at the time, to Quicken. But I'm wasn't going to invest my time in recording data in a program that isn't supported.
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I used a program called Money Counts years ago. I think Money bought it. I stayed with MC a few more years. Then data got corrupted and I had no way to recover. Still hate I lost all that data.

It was better than any of its successors in my view.
 
RE2Boys said:
Guess I've been spoiled. Purchased MS Money in 2002 after looking into Quicken. Don't remember why I didn't like Quicken, maybe it didn't handle investments very well, which is my biggest reason for having a personal finance program.
Moved to MS Sunset in 2012, it has been meeting my needs for many years. Someday it may not play well with some future operating system.

And I use it, rather than learn Quickbooks, for keeping records when Treasurer of some volunteer organization, such as school soccer boosters, cub scouts, boy scouts, pool club, soccer club, PTA, etc.
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I am having a few "minor" issues with the data migration from quicken. But tweaking the QIF file fixes most. I have got everything over except CC data which is giving me heartburn. Data is from 2003 to present.
 
Montecfo said:
...Then data got corrupted and I had no way to recover. Still hate I lost all that data.
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I think this is a very timely warning for all of us.

I have multiple backup copies and archives of my MSM database, but only MSM can read them now, and it's unsupported!

One of these days I'm going to open all the old archive files and export everything into some more durable format. Text (like .csv) for sure, and probably some Q** format and a spreadsheet, too.

That will also give me the raw data to import into whatever I use next, as well as the ability to go back and search for anything I might need.
 
I've enjoyed Quicken since it's beginnings. I've always considered it a bargain compared to how I used to maintain a check book and my other banking needs. What joy it is every evening to hit the 'update accounts' button and every one of my financial institutions report in on their day's activities. I usually will reconcile them twice a week, just because I can.
Whether it's Quicken or another program, it's so beneficial to be on top of my spending and verifying my income in today's world of identity theft.
I'm not going to begrudge Quicken for wanting to make a buck. Heck, I want them to continue to prosper so I'll have the means to continue with a software program I know how to manage. If it costs me an extra $20 or so a year, I don't see that as a problem. I'll spend that on a single trip to Jim Boys Tacos for the wife and I and not blink an eye and this has much more value to me than freeing us from cooking and dishes for one night.
 
bobandsherry said:
Just think how much time you are spending converting to a dead product. I guess I don't get it, there's value in my time. But Quicken is working great for me so perhaps there's something you aren't happy with and will find better with the abandoned MS Money programs.
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You need to ask yourself, what type of improvements could they possibly make to a personal software management package? Why go through the hassle of annual upgrades and extortion by Intuit when you can spend that money on other things. It's not a lot of money, but there is absolutely no reason to upgrade so frequently. MS Money was far ahead of Quicken in terms of features back in late 2011 when the Sunset edition was released. In addition to bank account management, I needed a tool for investment portfolio management (Bonds, Stocks, CDs, funds, etc...). MS Money was far better at it. Also the report generation was far better in MS Money. I upgraded MS Money every 8-10 years or so. Right now I see no need to upgrade for a long time unless banks fundamentally change how we do business. The package in its current state has more functions than I use.
 
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