Quicken was traditionally known as one of the best personal finance software options for desktop users. However, the Mac version had traditionally lacked the features found in the PC version, and that was disappointing to many users.
Quicken is one of the oldest. Quicken's origins go all the way back into the 1980s, when Scott Cook and Tom Proulx founded Intuit in Palo Alto, CA.
As Intuit's history tells it, they realized that personal computers would change the way people did personal accounting. Quicken was programmed in Microsoft BASIC for the IBM PC and UCSD Pascal for the Apple II. There were several firsts in the origins of Quicken. For example, Intuit offered a $15 rebate on the purchase, the first time software offered a rebate. In 1991, Microsoft created Microsoft Money to compete with them (Microsoft Money was discontinued in 2009).
In 2016, Intuit sold Quicken to H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm in Miami. So how does Quicken 2018 compare with predecessors and should you continue using it? Table of Contents.
The Many Versions of Quicken Quicken has several versions:. Quicken Starter: At $34.99/yr, this version is the simplest version of Quicken with access to the budgeting tools only. Quicken Deluxe: At $49.99/yr, this version is an expansion of Starter with access to the budgeting and some basic investment tools.
Quicken Premier: At $74.99/yr, this mid-tier version offers all that Deluxe covers plus Quicken Bill Pay, Priority access to customer support (a $49.99/yr value if purchased separately), plus advanced investment portfolio analysis. Quicken Home & Business: At $99.99/yr, this type gives you all that Premier offers plus business management tools like invoicing and rental tools.
It's organized such that Quicken Deluxe is for most users who are focused solely on budgeting with an eye towards investments. The investment tools are very basic, meant to keep an eye on things but not necessarily plan for the future. In Quicken Premier is where all the good investment planning and preparing tools exist. You get portfolio analysis, comparisons of your returns vs. Market, track cost basis and create Schedule D tax report, plus budgeting focused tools like bill pay. Quicken Home & Business is exactly what it sounds like – if you have a business, including a rental property, then this tier covers you. I'd argue that you may look at other options for business management tools but this is a good option if you want to keep everything under one Quicken roof.
Personally, I like keeping home finances and business finances separate from a management perspective. I think of business needs differently from personal needs so being in a different package helps cement that difference. There is no legal reason to keep the software separate though, you just need to keep the actual finances separate. The Many Features of Quicken 2018 If you have no experience with Quicken, many of the features of Quicken 2018 will be novel to you but have been around for quite some time.
Some popular features from previous versions:. Transaction and expense management is the hallmark of Quicken, with the ability to track transactions on the go. Bills management lets you see, track, as well as pay your bills within Quicken. Phone support is included with all tiers, priority access is available for Premier and Home & Business. A free credit score is included under Reports Credit Score, you get a free updated score every three months. (there are now ). A powerful mobile app is now included, with investment tracking, offline usage, and charting tools.
What's new for 2018 (just a small sampling):. Online billpay is now available with over 11k+ merchants. Online cloud backup with 5GB of storage on Dropbox. Send invoices via Home & Business and customize them with your logo and other design features. Includes email reminders. The Many Problems of Quicken Quicken's history of issues is well documented. Whether it's downloading transactions, connecting with your bank, accessing data, etc – the laundry list is quite long.
Of course, people don't sing praises as often as they complain about problems. There's always a bias towards the negative when you look online. That being said, it sounds like some of these problems will be alleviated by going to a model where you have a subscription service and have access to frequent upgrades and updates. It remains to be seen whether the sync issues will subside but it's something to keep an eye on. Quicken Premium Support, included in the higher tiers of software, offers to give you hands-on help with practically everything – installation and updates, product registration, online banking, Quicken file migration, and the financial planning tools to include the reports, budgets, etc. If you can get premium support, chances are you'll find a solution and won't be frustrated Googling your way into oblivion. Quicken System Requirements The needs of the Quicken software are modest.
Jim Wang is a thirty-something father of three who has been featured in the New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Entrepreneur, and Marketplace Money. Jim has a B.S. In Computer Science and Economics from Carnegie Mellon University, an M.S. In Information Technology - Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as a Masters in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University. One of his favorite tools is, which enables him to manage his finances in just 15-minutes each month. If you sign up and link up an investment account with $1,000+ within 40 days, you get a $20 Amazon gift card. They also offer financial planning, such as a Retirement Planning Tool that can tell you if you're on track to retire when you want.
He is also diversifying his investment portfolio by adding a little bit of real estate. But not rental homes, because he doesn't want a second job, it's diversified small investments in a mix of properties through. Worth a look and he's already made investments that have performed according to plan. Nice review, Jim!
I’ve been using Quicken since version ’98 that’s a long time. I agree that it does have its pros and its cons – always has.
I’m still running Quicken 2017 and don’t want to move to the subscription model. I’m using Personal Capital and Mint as well and trying to push Quicken to the curb. It’s a tough one since I’ve been using Quicken for so long, but I think it’s time. Do you use Personal Capital exclusively to manage your finances or do you use other programs/services as well?
I’ve been using Quicken for years and while it’s bloated and cumbersome I have customized it to such an extent that to get the same customization in YNAB, Personal Capital, CountAbout, etc is not only time-consuming it’s darn near impossible. These apps simply cannot cope with the level of customization I’ve done with Quicken which, in some sense, is a testimony to Quicken’s flexibility. That said and with Mint clearly out of the picture for Quicken, I am hoping that the company takes Quicken online so that I can use it with my Pixelbook. On the fence.
Thanks for the review. Been using Intuit products since the blinking “c” prompt days, it seems. Quicken, Quickbooks and TurboTax.
Always quirky but you learned to deal with it. Non-existent tech support (thank goodness for the committed community members!); bugs not fixed for years or work-around’s that quit working (ctrl-copy to get rid of voided checks and un-matched transactions), etc. I’m using premier 2015 and it quit downloading from my banks earlier this month. In the past, I would buy a new copy every three years (write it off on my rental home business) but now I’m hesitant to move forward. As a network administrator, I’ve never upgraded software until after the first major service pack!
Let others beta test! I liked the fact we were able to load a copy of Quicken on up to three computers.
I got both my late-teenage kids using it, while their financial situation is simple. Do you know if that is still allowed with this 2018 version? Overall, Quicken, despite its quirks, was always a bargain in my book. Every penny into and out of our household was tracked, one way or another. Made pulling reports to do my taxes in TT a breeze. All the time spent during the year in Quicken, paid of during tax season. I’ll probably give it a go because old dogs don’t like new tricks, but might do things manually as I wait and see what happens with this new ownership.
Again, thanks for your balanced review. I know what you mean about not upgrading until at least version X.1 – a former software engineer, I recognize that new versions always have something unintended and that X.1 minor release is crucial! П™‚ With everything on the cloud now, I suspect the software won’t let you buy it once and use it three times. It is a bargain, but you should check out some of the alternatives that are free. They won’t replicate Quicken but they do get more updates (by virtual of being software that runs in the cloud) and I’m a bigger fan of them. But I understand you 100%, if the system works for you now (even if you have to use a few workarounds), there’s no push to switch and learn a new thing. I agree, good review.
I think the connectivity issues and the decades-worth of bloat the software has accumulated are a deal-breaker for me. Here is our experience: We went through the 7 hours long painful process of linking all our accounts to the software (banking, credit cards, investments, etc) but Quicken Deluxe 2018 cannot connect with any banks or firms reliably (we use several national banks). It brings in duplicate transactions or no transactions and the balances are never right.
Quicken blames the banks, but really how can multiple national banks be wrong when Quicken is the company we are paying for this service? It’s their job to get it right, not blame every bank in America for poor connectivity. The investment and retirement planning tools simply do not work. Adjust your retirement age from 65 to 70 nothing changes.
Add your current 401k deferral rate: it says you will have $0 net worth at retirement. There is no support for Quicken. Unless you call the phone number during business hours and hold for 30 minutes. There is no email support.
Quicken admits it discontinued email support in 2013 to ‘better serve customers’. The Community Support posting site is not even run by Quicken, you need to sign up for to post any issues.
Money completely wasted. This is from a husband/wife team of a math major and a software engineer. Incredibly frustrating and money wasted. I have been a Quicken user for many years. Previously, I used it for investment transactions but for the past few years I have gone to a spreadsheet. Quicken is not able to track options and it constantly placed downloaded transactions with placeholders. I am frustrated and as others have said, Quicken support is non-existent.
Now I use it strictly for checking, credit card transactions, and only one financial house. For whatever reason, Quicken often can’t download transactions Discover and Citi Bank.
I am using Quicken DeLuxe 2017 version. Starting January 1, I will be switching over. I need a program that will keep track of my checkbook transactions and credit card accounts. I am looking at Count About as an alternative. I find myself with the same conundrum expressed by so many people. I’d keep my 2017 forever to avoid the subscription service and terrible product if it would keep downloading my bank transactions and stock prices.
STUPID what they’ve done to the product. The UI has gotten progressively worse to the point simple data-entry has become a pain even with 2017 version, no way in heck I’m going to 2018 and beyond with all the complaints of usability (I am also resistant to ANY subscription model, that alone makes me want to abandon my 25 years of Quicken use). BUT – in this day and age of personal-data mining I am reluctant to trust companies to have my data. At least Intuit allowed us to keep our data on our hard drive – they could still grab pieces I suppose but the thought of letting Mint or Personal Capital know every single detail about my personal financial life scares the cr.p out of me. So we’re all basically screwed!
I am NOT HAPPY. I will keep using 2017 for as long as physically possible. I guess I’ll just hand-enter stock prices and hand-reconcile from my bank/CC statements until someone wakes up and creates an app that we can trust and that works.
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