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mpancha · Feb 1, 2006, 04:24 PM

Currently I use Quicken 2005 to manage my finances, but I have a few peeves with the software. The biggest one is lack of spotlight integration. For example if I search for "auto" to see what I spent money on for the car, it doesn't bring the nice Spotlight search results that we are used to embedded in the software. Instead, it goes one by one through each "auto" entry in my pretty long register.

Other than that, I'm not a fan of the budgeting features, I like what was available on Microsoft Money 2005. Only problem being I don't currently own a PC.

I'm willing to switch away from Quicken given whatever I'm switching to can import my registers from Quicken. I did some reading on Quicken 2006, and it doesn't sound like all that much of an improvement.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

mduell · Feb 1, 2006, 04:27 PM

The Windows version of Quicken inside Virtual PC.

TheIceMan · Feb 1, 2006, 05:19 PM

Try Liquid Ledger.

zro · Feb 1, 2006, 11:09 PM

I use Budget, which is it's primary function.

http://www.snowmintcs.com/products/budgetmac/index.php

There's always MYOB.

http://www.myob.com/us/

Dork. · Feb 1, 2006, 11:50 PM

I'm looking into replacing Quicken myself now. I'm still on Quicken 2003 because I saw nothing in the later version that made the upgrade worthwhile.

I am looking at moneydance right now: www.moneydance.com . So far, it has all the features that I use in Quicken.... The best part is, it's only $30....

DigitalEl · Feb 2, 2006, 06:42 AM

I use the no-frills "CheckBook." Zero problems and several months of use. I found Quicken bloated with features I'd never use. If you're just balanching a checking account or 3, CheckBook works very well.

macintologist · Feb 2, 2006, 07:22 AM

I don't understand why people have to "Balance" their checkbook. Just do online banking so you know exactly how much you have every day.

DigitalEl · Feb 2, 2006, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

I don't understand why people have to "Balance" their checkbook. Just do online banking so you know exactly how much you have every day.

Wrong! Online banking shows you a snapshot of your account yesterday. It does not show you "exactly how much you have every day."

Example: Your balance is $4,000. You pay your mortgage, writing a check for $1,000. Your balance is now only $3,000. If you go online and see your checking account, it still shows you have $4,000, because the bank isn't yet aware of the $1,000 you just spent by check. Then you can end up bouncing a check or otherwise overdrawing your account.

Even if you pay your bills online this can happen. Ever spend a few bucks at a fast food joint or get gas and pay at the pump. Those charges don't usually show up right away. Therefore getting your data via your bank is not an accurate look at what's available for you to spend. The only way to get said accuracy is to religiously monitor your spending yourself and seize responsibility for your own "books."

Hey, I try to explain this to my wife and she doesn't get it either. She likes to call the bank's 800-number to find out our balance.

mpancha · Feb 2, 2006, 11:23 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

I don't understand why people have to "Balance" their checkbook. Just do online banking so you know exactly how much you have every day.

I not only balance my checking and savings accounts, I also monitor my Visa. My wife didn't get it either until I sat her down and showed her a chart of how much I spend on gas vs how much she spends on shoes. It helps me monitor my spending, adjust, and save for my (hopefully) early retirment. I use online banking too, and it shows my up to the second updates of my checking and debit spending. However, I still do have to use checks for a few things, and checks don't show up immediately. At least 2x in 2005 there have been bank errors that I got fixed in a matter of minutes by going to a teller and showing them my records on Quicken and the discrepancies with their online banking information. To me its useful, to some its not.

I few other things I forgot to mention, I want whatever software I change to to allow me to set a budget, and monitor how well I am following it. And I want something that will monitor investment accounts as well.

Thus far, Quicken does it all, but I'm used to the ease of use of Money, and Quicken just isn't that.

>> I downloaded the 60 day trial of Liquid Ledger, but haven't had time to play with it. I'll be trying the rest of the suggestions... after I fix my current problem

El Gato · Feb 2, 2006, 05:53 PM

I downloaded iBank last night after reading this thread. I've only had a chance to play with it for a little bit, but it seems like it takes care of all the financial stuff that I need.

Looks like it also let's you set up budgets and track your spending against it, and it can monitor stocks and securities.

madmacgames · Feb 2, 2006, 06:01 PM

iBank... I've ben using it since version 1, which I really liked... but man I love version 2.

Dork. · 06:57 PM

Originally Posted by El Gato

I downloaded iBank last night after reading this thread. I've only had a chance to play with it for a little bit, but it seems like it takes care of all the financial stuff that I need.

Looks like it also let's you set up budgets and track your spending against it, and it can monitor stocks and securities.

I took a look at iBank today. It's really nice looking, but its reporting facilities seem a bit limited, it doesn't know about short stock sales, and it doesn't automatically amortize loan payments.

Moneydance is uglier but has all this stuff. I think I'm sold on it!

(and for those of you who remember my alter ego -- no, neither Dork. or dreilly1 are related to anyone at Reilly Technologies, at least not that I know of! I don't even think they'll give me a discount!

)

valerie1102 · Feb 2, 2006, 08:03 PM

thanks for posting this question. I've been wondering what software I could use as well for personal finance. I dont have much to finance, but I need to start keeping track of things and staying on a budget. I used to religiously check my bank statements online like some of the other posters, but I found my self getting nervous of bouncing a check everytime my bank funds were low.

lots of idea on here.... i will definitely check them out. iBank, MoneyDance, liquidledger......

thanks for the help!

valerie1102 · Feb 2, 2006, 08:05 PM

one more thought though..... which software would be the best for a beginner who has no accounting experience? I tried using Money when i used to own a PC a year ago, but it got me all confused.

Dork. · Feb 2, 2006, 08:45 PM

Valerie, you might want to give the "Budget" program, which zro linked to above, a try. It uses a variation on the old "Envelope System" -- you create "envelopes" for all of your expenses and when your paycheck comes in, you put "cash" into each of the "envelopes" depending on your budget. When the bill comes due, you empty the envelope, and start over again. If you stick to the plan, you'll never lose track of things!

I didn't really look into it all that closely myself, but if your main concerns are balancing your checkbook and credit cards, and creating a budget you can stick to, it looks perfect.

mpancha · Feb 2, 2006, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by valerie1102

one more thought though..... which software would be the best for a beginner who has no accounting experience? I tried using Money when i used to own a PC a year ago, but it got me all confused.

valerie1102 >> if you have a mac, chances are on the restore CDs that you got you'll find a copy of Quicken. I suggest installing it, and just playing around. But, it is a bit on the confusing side if you haven't gotten used to using budgeting/money managing software.

Try some of the free simple software folks suggested on this thread. Once you've forced yourself to use somethign it gets pretty easy, just a matter of making sure you track every dollar you spend

>> everyone else, thanks for the suggestions, and please do keep them coming. I've been searching for months and have come up empty handed. But in the days since I asked the question, I've gotten a lot of help. I'll be trying all the suggestions this weekend.

driven · Feb 19, 2006, 06:27 PM

I tried most of the apps mentioned here. In the end I went back to Quicken that came on my wife's iBook.

mpancha · Mar 25, 2006, 01:35 AM

Finally got around to trying a few of the apps. Liquid Ledger, its GUI just doesn't do it for me. I can't put my finger on why, I just don't care to look at it.

iBank I like thus far. I'm still trying to figure out a few things that I used to do with simple clicks on Quicken, but there's always a bit of a learning curve. The one thing I love however is the spotlight search built in. If only Quicken had bothered incorporating this into Quicken 2006, I would have given them my money. That was the biggest thing missing for me in my money managing experience on OS X.

Abbas · Mar 25, 2006, 02:52 AM

Is there an app thats Web Based and allow Small Business Activity as well?

-a

mpancha · Apr 2, 2006, 01:28 PM

Abbas, not sure.

iBank I've grown to love, i've used it for a few weeks now, and have completely dropped Quicken. iBank I must say is very well thought out and developed. Cheers to the developers.

Abbas · Apr 2, 2006, 04:09 PM

I looked at iBank, but being in a mixed environment, I would prefer something that works on Windows as well as OSX. iBank is only for personal finance right? For small business activity, I think the same developers make ibiz but again, its OSX only.

Originally Posted by mpancha

Abbas, not sure.

iBank I've grown to love, i've used it for a few weeks now, and have completely dropped Quicken. iBank I must say is very well thought out and developed. Cheers to the developers.

shiff · Apr 2, 2006, 05:23 PM

Abbas... Quickbooks has an online only version of its software. I do not know if it is expensive, but it might be worth the look..

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/

mpancha · Apr 3, 2006, 12:31 AM

Abbas >> iBank is designed for personal software, and like you said the developers also have iBiz, but OS X only. Shiff's suggestion sounds like it would do the trick.

Abbas · Apr 3, 2006, 01:25 AM

This would've been great but its Windows only. It requires an Active-X xomponent to be installed on your system.

-a

Originally Posted by shiff

Abbas... Quickbooks has an online only version of its software. I do not know if it is expensive, but it might be worth the look..

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/

GENERAL_SMILEY · Apr 3, 2006, 06:50 AM

What about UK users?

mpancha · Apr 3, 2006, 09:11 AM

I believe Quicken and iBank both work for UK users as well. iBank currently doesn't automatically connect to any banks. Quicken I know has US and Canadian banks, but not sure about UK.