Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Topic Author
Scorpion
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:56 am

Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Scorpion »

So I forgot that my Quicken version is 2013 - when I went to update it today, it errored out because my three year period of online updating for transactions has expired. I was surprised that Quicken Premier 2016 was $100. Have never paid even close to that much. Far worse, however, were the user reviews - virtually everyone is experiencing massive problems, including corrupted data, corrupted passwords, etc. I have used Quicken for 10 years and am dependent on it to track all my investments and spending. I also understand Quicken has been sold to another company, but I can't wait another year for them to put out another version (if ever).

I immediately thought of the many Bogleheads who must be in the same boat. What are you guys doing? Are there reliable alternatives that we can expect to be around for a while? Are you forging on with Q16 in spite of the bugs? Really appreciate any advice anyone has.

Edit: in case relevant, I use Quicken to track a budget, track and categorize all spending, track all investments including internal rate of return, basis for cap gains and losses, etc.

Edit 2: I can't imagine using any program that won't download all my info from Quicken (if that is even possible...)
Last edited by Scorpion on Sun May 08, 2016 11:24 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by prudent »

I buy a year-old version on ebay. Install, let Quicken update and you have all the patches for that version. Downside is you only have 2 years of downloading eligibility left, but the savings makes up for it.
User avatar
Kenkat
Posts: 9539
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:18 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Kenkat »

I am using Quicken Deluxe 2016 without any issues. I got it with Turbo Tax Deluxe in a bundle for $50 for both; Quicken Deluxe 2016 is $30 on Amazon at the moment.

Do you really need or use the features of Premiere?
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14459
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Toons »

Quicken 2016 Deluxe here.
Downloaded from Amazon.
29.99 In January.
No problems. :happy
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
MarkBarb
Posts: 908
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 11:59 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by MarkBarb »

It appears to be $50 for Quicken Deluxe on Amazon right now. Even Home and Business, which is $94 now, regularly drops below $56 according to CamelCAmelCamel. The reviews for Quicken are always bad. It is complex, buggy software. It always has been.

As far as alternatives, there really isn't anything directly competitive. There are sites like Mint for keeping track of bank accounts. There are sites and apps for tracking investments. I don't know of another application that does it all.

FWIW, Intuit recently spun off Quicken. Time will tell whether it gets better or worse.
User avatar
bertilak
Posts: 10711
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:23 pm
Location: East of the Pecos, West of the Mississippi

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by bertilak »

Quicken 2016 Premier here.

Overall I am satisfied.

There have ALWAYS been bugs, but so far no bug has ever compromised my data. When I have had problems Quicken tech support has always been good. Real English spoken. Technically capable of solving the problems with higher-level support always at hand. It would be better if there were no bugs but what is there is manageable.

Here is my last bog: Changed password for Quicken Bill Payment. I decided to use a better password so included mixed case and a special character. Worked just fine when done online. The Quicken program failed on the next download. AHA! I forgot to change the password within Quicken! Oddly, Quicken would NOT let me change the bill pay password. Quicken support immediately asked me if my password had any special characters. I said yes and was told the Quicken does not like special characters in the password! Seemed bogus since I had already successfully changed OTHER passwords and Quicken accepted the special characters. Turns out Quicken ONLY cares about this for bill pay, even though the web page is happy with them. This is a typical kind of problem I have with Quicken: some apparently arbitrary quirk. Annoying but not fatal.

I do keep daily backups (7 deep) because the data is so important to me, not just for record keeping but for running/automating all my cash flow. It would be a big hassle to try to keep up with all the bills and various auto-pays by hand. Some auto pays are pushed from Quicken and some are pulled by the biller. Some irregular bills (lawn guy, doctor visits, etc.) I need to initiate manually (in Quicken).
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
User avatar
tuningfork
Posts: 884
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:30 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by tuningfork »

MarkBarb wrote:As far as alternatives, there really isn't anything directly competitive. There are sites like Mint for keeping track of bank accounts. There are sites and apps for tracking investments. I don't know of another application that does it all.
MoneyDance does pretty much everything Quicken does: bank accounts, credit card accounts, investment tracking, reminders, budgeting, reports, bill pay, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Downloads never expire although they may not support direct downloading from as many banks as Quicken does. They have a free trial so you can see if it's for you.
Topic Author
Scorpion
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:56 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Scorpion »

thanks for all the responses. Based on them, I decided to take a chance and just bought premier 2016 on ebay for $49. I'll make sure to backup my files thoroughly first! I have upgraded in the past by simply installing the new version and not uninstalling the old first. If anyone has any tips on doing anything different, please let me know. thanks again.
Da5id
Posts: 5058
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:20 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Da5id »

Quicken kind of sucks, but it is better than any alternatives I know about.

Upgraded from 2013 to 2016 this weekend, did software download/upgraded from Amazon. Couldn't get into Quicken, as it errored out with my Intuit ID/password. My id/password could log me in on the web though, so it was good. Sigh. Played around and googled, and after some unhappiness found my answer was a need to manually update to the latest 2016 deluxe version (release 2 was downloaded, latest is release 6). After that, could get past the Intuit id, and things mostly worked. It stopped pulling data for two of my credit cards (both Chase), and I needed to check a box to make it stop asking my Intuit password in addition to my vault one, but it all seems to work now far as I can tell.

Mind you, I got no new features I cared about as all, just had to pay. I'd personally rather pay a $20/year fee and not be forced to "upgrade" (the forced upgrade is basically a $20/year fee anyway for Deluxe).

3 years from now I hope there is an alternative I find acceptable...
User avatar
bertilak
Posts: 10711
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:23 pm
Location: East of the Pecos, West of the Mississippi

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by bertilak »

Scorpion wrote:thanks for all the responses. Based on them, I decided to take a chance and just bought premier 2016 on ebay for $49. I'll make sure to backup my files thoroughly first! I have upgraded in the past by simply installing the new version and not uninstalling the old first. If anyone has any tips on doing anything different, please let me know. thanks again.
I believe installing a new version will uninstall the old version. Don't know if there is an option to prevent that. I think the new just installs right over the top of the old.

To be safe, be sure you have installation media for the old version or install the new on a second machine to test it out. I have installed on a second machine (my wife's) not to check out the new version before going "live" with it but to work with the current version while my laptop was out for repairs. There were no "Gotchas."

EDIT: When I installed via download from Amazon, Intuit had no record of my purchase so product updates didn't work -- my copy was not authorized for the update. I called Intuit and they fixed it. (I had to email them the Amazon invoice.) No problems after that. Perhaps Amazon didn't have things set up right or there was some other glitch in the registration process. Whatever you get off of eBay will almost certainly need to be updated to the latest level so you might run into the same situation -- if not now, later.
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
Bacchus01
Posts: 3182
Joined: Mon Dec 24, 2012 8:35 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Bacchus01 »

Loved MS Money

Hate Quicken

Don't feel I have a choice, however.
User avatar
abuss368
Posts: 27850
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:33 pm
Location: Where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players!
Contact:

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by abuss368 »

We used Quicken for many years and back in 2008 or 2009 decided that it longer provided value to us. We were happy for the reduced complexity and the additional time to spend doing other things.

As such, our "alternative" is using a very small Excel spreadsheet for a Balance Sheet and small budget/analysis. The file does not include any cost basis or capital gains/(loss) information as Vanguard provides this information and we have never seen a mistake.

Best.
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
Da5id
Posts: 5058
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2016 7:20 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Da5id »

abuss368 wrote: As such, our "alternative" is using a very small Excel spreadsheet for a Balance Sheet and small budget/analysis. The file does not include any cost basis or capital gains/(loss) information as Vanguard provides this information and we have never seen a mistake.
Best.
I'd be cautious trusting Vanguard on the cost basis. There have been a whole series of posts about errors in cost basis from Vanguard. I've seen it first hand -- Vanguard screwed up the basis of my son's UMTA when my wife passed away and I became custodian. It is still being fixed (they acknowledged fault and estimated 23 days).
meebers
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:20 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by meebers »

Have been with Q for a very long while, no problems except the ones I introduce myself. I have the 2016 H&B version which by a programming error, was supposed to be $10 off, but it was $10 total. Check slickdeals.net for conformation. The error lasted over the weekend and then was shut down. :D I have tried Money, Mint, excel but revert back to Quicken. Quicken has just been sold, might be playing a different tune next year.
User avatar
oncorhynchus
Posts: 196
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 2:30 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by oncorhynchus »

meebers wrote:Have been with Q for a very long while, no problems except the ones I introduce myself. I have the 2016 H&B version which by a programming error, was supposed to be $10 off, but it was $10 total. Check slickdeals.net for conformation. The error lasted over the weekend and then was shut down. :D I have tried Money, Mint, excel but revert back to Quicken. Quicken has just been sold, might be playing a different tune next year.
That was an error? Ha! I thought they were just trying to juice their sales numbers before control passed to the new company. I got in on that deal after hearing about it here, but I definitely wouldn't have picked up H&B 2016 for only $10 off. So far I've had no issues with 2016; only time will tell if the new owners are interested in improving the software.

o
-- Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. --
azanon
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:34 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by azanon »

I'm still a Quicken user (Quicker 2014), and have net worth/investment/quicken data dating back to the beginning of my work career (1996), ... so ~ 18 years. I love plotting a net worth graph for 18 years and see all of my hard work.... I digress....

Personally, I've never found any other option that's as thorough as Quicken. I have religiously balanced/reconciled my main check book, which is where my money comes into and is distributed out of for most things. The investment IRR calculation is also incredibly powerful. I am blow away that it can calculate my actual investment return taking into account virtually everything.

The only thing I've tried recently that has moderately impressed me is Personal Capital. That's one neat online software program they have there. But it's still no Quicken substitute.
cricketlives
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 2:07 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by cricketlives »

tuningfork wrote:
MarkBarb wrote:As far as alternatives, there really isn't anything directly competitive. There are sites like Mint for keeping track of bank accounts. There are sites and apps for tracking investments. I don't know of another application that does it all.
MoneyDance does pretty much everything Quicken does: bank accounts, credit card accounts, investment tracking, reminders, budgeting, reports, bill pay, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux. Downloads never expire although they may not support direct downloading from as many banks as Quicken does. They have a free trial so you can see if it's for you.
Does MoneyDance import all the Quicken history? I need to give it a try and see if it works with my institutions. I have a serious love/hate relationship with Quicken. I've been using it since '98 and consider it invaluable but holy hell are they a PITA.

I got in on the 2016 upgrade for $10 so I have a few years before I need to make any decisions. My main institute is a local credit union so I suspect MD may not work but I ought get the trial and see.
User avatar
Rob5TCP
Posts: 3811
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 7:34 pm
Location: New York, NY

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Rob5TCP »

Bacchus01 wrote:Loved MS Money

Hate Quicken

Don't feel I have a choice, however.
I've kept the MS Money sunset version. It is far more intuitive and gives me much better results than Quicken did. I switched to Quicken twice after MS Money died and ultimately got disgusted and went back to MS Money.

I find that I spend 3-4 minutes a week manually updating my equities (I've set them up in Moningstar in alphabetical order only showing price) - so it's a breeze. As for bank accounts - other than my two checking accounts, I manually update quarterly (takes about 15 minutes) and review my checking account 5-10 minutes a week.

It's worth the hassle not to deal with Quicken (which I thought was the worst). If this ever fails, I will go to Mint or use other business software I have to track this.
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14459
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Toons »

azanon wrote:I'm still a Quicken user (Quicker 2014), and have net worth/investment/quicken data dating back to the beginning of my work career (1996), ... so ~ 18 years. I love plotting a net worth graph for 18 years and see all of my hard work.... I digress....

Personally, I've never found any other option that's as thorough as Quicken. I have religiously balanced/reconciled my main check book, which is where my money comes into and is distributed out of for most things. The investment IRR calculation is also incredibly powerful. I am blow away that it can calculate my actual investment return taking into account virtually everything.

The only thing I've tried recently that has moderately impressed me is Personal Capital. That's one neat online software program they have there. But it's still no Quicken substitute.

+1 :happy
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
michaeljc70
Posts: 10837
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 3:53 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by michaeljc70 »

I've used Quicken for 20+ years and have been disappointed with the quality/pace of the upgrades for several years. That being said, I haven't found a better alternative that does everything I need it to do.

I purchased 2016 a month or two ago for $10 for Home & Business. Intuit sent an email with a promotion. It was download only (no media or anything).
User avatar
tuningfork
Posts: 884
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:30 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by tuningfork »

cricketlives wrote:Does MoneyDance import all the Quicken history? I need to give it a try and see if it works with my institutions. I have a serious love/hate relationship with Quicken. I've been using it since '98 and consider it invaluable but holy hell are they a PITA.
Yes it does, but it's not necessarily easy. When I did it many years ago I had about 20 or 30 accounts. I had to import each account one at a time, and then correct any transactions that were imported incorrectly. As I recall, most accounts imported fine but some accounts imported the starting balance incorrectly so I just had to update the first transaction. I think some of my investment accounts may have mis-imported some relatively rare transactions like stock splits or spinoffs that had to be corrected, which can be time consuming to find. I spent much of a weekend doing the import of all the accounts. But once it was done Moneydance retained all my history (since about 1995).

The MD support site has a knowledge base article detailing how to import from Quicken or Money. They may have made it easier since I did it. They may have fixed bugs in the import process since I did it. I don't know.

The MD free trial lets you do something like 100 transactions before you must buy the software. The import does not count against the 100 limit (unless you have to change some transactions to correct errors) so you can import as much as you want using the trial, then run it for a few days or weeks depending on how many daily transactions you do to see how it works with your financial institutions and decide if it will work for you.

(In actuality, I moved from Quicken to MS Money long long ago, then went from MS Money to Moneydance long ago. The import process from Quicken to Money was generally the same as Money to Moneydance with respect to having to fixing various errors during import. I suspect it's a problem with Quicken's file export format.)
gd
Posts: 1638
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2009 7:35 am
Location: MA, USA

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by gd »

Yeah, they should just allow yearly download subscriptions without updating the product (within reason), and actually improve the UI from year to year instead of just change it. They probably would have made more money in the end. As with their tax products, Intuit's marketing department is their biggest adversary. Maybe a new owner will figure that out. But they actually have a pretty good service for a few tens of dollars a year, and increasingly unique. Think about it-- it's not worth $10-20/year to daily download all your prices & transactions of all types? Really? Disclaimer-- I don't even use the downloads, do everything by hand, and buy a new one every 10+ years. 2015 wasn't a net improvement over 2004.
lostdog
Posts: 5361
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2016 1:15 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by lostdog »

I transferred everything to Google sheets BUT I still use Quicken 2015. I am addicted to Quicken so I'll populate Google sheets and Quicken.
Stocks-80% || Bonds-20% || VTI/VXUS/AOR
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by prudent »

gd wrote:Yeah, they should just allow yearly download subscriptions without updating the product (within reason), and actually improve the UI from year to year instead of just change it. They probably would have made more money in the end. As with their tax products, Intuit's marketing department is their biggest adversary. Maybe a new owner will figure that out. But they actually have a pretty good service for a few tens of dollars a year, and increasingly unique. Think about it-- it's not worth $10-20/year to daily download all your prices & transactions of all types? Really? Disclaimer-- I don't even use the downloads, do everything by hand, and buy a new one every 10+ years. 2015 wasn't a net improvement over 2004.
One thing that you may need to watch for is the ability to import your data to a new version when waiting that long between updates.
User avatar
Cloud
Posts: 662
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:43 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Cloud »

Every time I've looked there's been no viable alternatives for me.

Picked up a copy of Quicken Premier 2016 on Amazon in March for $44.95. No issues here.
waxman003
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:25 pm

Financial tracking software

Post by waxman003 »

First time poster and happy to be amongst friends.

Apologies if this is an old question but looking for a replacement for Quicken. All I see is personal capital but am loathe to lose 10 years of transactions. Then again I feel like I am wasting my life cataloging every sigle transaction.

Any suggestions both practical and philosophical
User avatar
LadyGeek
Site Admin
Posts: 95466
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:34 pm
Location: Philadelphia
Contact:

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by LadyGeek »

Welcome! I moved your post into here, which is the latest "Quicken replacement" discussion.
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
Flora
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:19 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Flora »

I have Quicken 2014. I downloaded the "Mondo" update last week because I could no longer download transactions from my checkling acount and credit cards.

Then, I opened Quicken, tried to link to my bank account to download transactions, was asked for a different type of password (Intuit?) which I don't have, then was asked to verify myself and click OK to have an email sent to the email address of record.

Just as I was about to click OK, my laptop shut down without warning (overheated or battery at 0%).

Now when I open Quicken, if I try to download account transactions (bank or credit card), Quicken closes out.

Any suggestions or do I just need to buy Quicken 2016?
User avatar
bertilak
Posts: 10711
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:23 pm
Location: East of the Pecos, West of the Mississippi

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by bertilak »

Flora wrote:I have Quicken 2014. I downloaded the "Mondo" update last week because I could no longer download transactions from my checkling acount and credit cards.

Then, I opened Quicken, tried to link to my bank account to download transactions, was asked for a different type of password (Intuit?) which I don't have, then was asked to verify myself and click OK to have an email sent to the email address of record.

Just as I was about to click OK, my laptop shut down without warning (overheated or battery at 0%).

Now when I open Quicken, if I try to download account transactions (bank or credit card), Quicken closes out.

Any suggestions or do I just need to buy Quicken 2016?
The first thing I would try is reinstalling the mondo patch.

If that doesn't work, and if possible, uninstall and reinstall from original installation media followed by mondo patch.

If all that fails, spring for the 2016. You will need to upgrade eventually anyway if you want to continue downloading transactions.
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
Flora
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:19 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Flora »

Thanks for the suggestions. I had already tried reinstalling the mondo patch. I'm not sure where my original Quicken 2014 CD is located.
User avatar
bertilak
Posts: 10711
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:23 pm
Location: East of the Pecos, West of the Mississippi

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by bertilak »

Flora wrote:Thanks for the suggestions. I had already tried reinstalling the mondo patch. I'm not sure where my original Quicken 2014 CD is located.
I think there are three kinds of passwords involved:
  1. Individual passwords for each account you want do download from. These will be kept in your Quicken program's password vault.
  2. The password vault will have its own password, unrelated to all your account passwords.
  3. A Quicken.com online password. I THINK Quicken wants/needs this to register your program. Go to http://www.quicken.com and sign in. You may need to retrieve your existing account ID and password. You may even be able to download a whole new 2014 installation file.
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
Flora
Posts: 196
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 6:19 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Flora »

I will try that, thanks!
Topic Author
Scorpion
Posts: 388
Joined: Mon Sep 14, 2009 6:56 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Scorpion »

Sorry for resurrecting this, but since i was the original poster, I just wanted to post and let everyone know that Quicken 2016 has worked nearly flawlessly for me, despite a lot of the concerns I had seen online. I had to get online connectivity fixed on two or three of my accounts, but that wasn't a big deal. Thanks for all the replies!
User avatar
prudent
Moderator
Posts: 9079
Joined: Fri May 20, 2011 2:50 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by prudent »

Appreciate the feedback on the results.
Grasshopper
Posts: 1208
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:52 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Grasshopper »

My name is Grasshopper and I am a Quicken user. I bought Q2016 this January knowing, but cautious about having to update from Windows 7 to 10. Well I I I finally updated to W10 and all is well, now if only I could run it on my ChromeBook.
tmccartney
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:59 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by tmccartney »

You will never tried to use Quicken 2016 (first the Starter and then the Deluxe) as much as I have tried over two days. Why? Because My Large Bank made changes at their new web site, and it appeared that it will no longer work on Microsoft Money to get data. And then Quicken tried to get check account data only to have Quicken be too obtuse (duplicate bank transaction details) for even me. Quicken has been acknowledging this huge problem.

But the bank support person sent me a message to tell me how to work on Money. It worked, and Quicken will be sending my purchase price back to me. Quicken knows what it has laid a huge egg. Ugh.

By the way, you can still get Microsoft Money for free, as you probably knew.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=20738
Nearly A Moose
Posts: 1237
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 5:28 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Nearly A Moose »

I think this is relate enough not to be hijacking the thread (but Mods please move if it's a problem): are there any Mac Quicken users out there? The reviews all make it sound like a "glorified check register", which is not something I need. I'm looking for a tool to track investments across various accounts, run reports and projections, etc. I'm having a bear of a time figuring out if Quicken for Mac can actually do this.

All my machines are Mac. I could but am not dying to get Crossover to run the (but would be interested in the experiences of any who have).

Edit: sorry, didn't make my ask clear:
(1) Can anyone speak to whether the Mac version can do what the pc version does in terms of investment tracking and analysis?
(2) Can anyone speak to running Quicken PC on a Mac using a software program like crossover or Parallels (I'm not interested in a full Bootcamp-style dual booting setup)?

Thanks!
Pardon typos, I'm probably using my fat thumbs on a tiny phone.
Material Guy
Posts: 103
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2011 11:28 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Material Guy »

We got Mac Quicken last December at my insistence and moved from a previous Windows version. My DW who is an accountant and manages our day-to-day finances hated the Mac version. A recent update messed up previous reconciliations. She got mad and recently transferred everything to Quickbooks (which is a story in itself), which she regularly uses for work. She appears to be very happy with the move though she is still adjusting the accounts and the setup.

Obviously, a move to Quickbooks is not for everyone--you need someone well-versed in it to set it up and also you need access to Quickbooks. I am learning to enter transactions etc. leaving the reconciliations and more complex stuff to her.

To the previous poster with the macs, if you already have parallels, I suggest getting Quicken for Windows (I have not used this configuration of course, but it should work).
Nearly A Moose
Posts: 1237
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 5:28 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Nearly A Moose »

Material Guy wrote:We got Mac Quicken last December at my insistence and moved from a previous Windows version.[....]
Thanks for the feedback. I don't know where I stand in the spectrum of Bogleheads, but I'm primarily interested in using whatever software I have for analyzing my investments rather than tracking expenditures, reconciling cashflows, etc. That may or may not be relevant.

It definitely seems like it's worth getting access to the Windows version, though. I wonder why they never made it an online program ala Turbo Tax? Seems like that would avoid the entire problem. Oh well. :?
Pardon typos, I'm probably using my fat thumbs on a tiny phone.
User avatar
tuningfork
Posts: 884
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:30 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by tuningfork »

Nearly A Moose wrote:I wonder why they never made it an online program ala Turbo Tax? Seems like that would avoid the entire problem. Oh well. :?
There used to be a Quicken Online. Intuit created it to compete against Mint. I tried both Mint and Quicken Online for awhile before giving up on both of them. They were both pretty clunky and didn't do all the things the PC version did. Then Intuit bought Mint and got rid of Quicken Online. So Mint is your online version of Quicken.
michaeljc70
Posts: 10837
Joined: Thu Oct 15, 2015 3:53 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by michaeljc70 »

Grasshopper wrote:My name is Grasshopper and I am a Quicken user. I bought Q2016 this January knowing, but cautious about having to update from Windows 7 to 10. Well I I I finally updated to W10 and all is well, now if only I could run it on my ChromeBook.
I am faced with the same thing (running Quicken on a Chromebook or Android tablet). After looking for viable alternative to Quicken for the features I use, I haven't found any.

Have you tried virtualization for Quicken? I was thinking of trying http://www.cameyo.com/. Basically, you install your software on their server. It runs on their server and you can access it from a web browser. Obviously, since you are dealing with financial data, you have to be confident in the security.

Another thing you can do (and I do use this) is if you have Quicken running on a PC somewhere (like at home), you can remote into that PC and use Quicken using one of the many available remote control software. I use UltraVnc, but there are many options. Microsoft has their own Android version of Remote Desktop to connect to a Windows machine and Chrome has an extension I believe for remoting in.
Grasshopper
Posts: 1208
Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2010 3:52 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Grasshopper »

michaeljc70 wrote:
Grasshopper wrote:My name is Grasshopper and I am a Quicken user. I bought Q2016 this January knowing, but cautious about having to update from Windows 7 to 10. Well I I I finally updated to W10 and all is well, now if only I could run it on my ChromeBook.
I am faced with the same thing (running Quicken on a Chromebook or Android tablet). After looking for viable alternative to Quicken for the features I use, I haven't found any.

Have you tried virtualization for Quicken? I was thinking of trying http://www.cameyo.com/. Basically, you install your software on their server. It runs on their server and you can access it from a web browser. Obviously, since you are dealing with financial data, you have to be confident in the security.

Another thing you can do (and I do use this) is if you have Quicken running on a PC somewhere (like at home), you can remote into that PC and use Quicken using one of the many available remote control software. I use UltraVnc, but there are many options. Microsoft has their own Android version of Remote Desktop to connect to a Windows machine and Chrome has an extension I believe for remoting in.
Thanks, I have been using Chrome Remote Desktop, sharing my Windows 10 laptop, that sits in my office.
User avatar
heartwood
Posts: 2681
Joined: Sat Nov 23, 2013 12:40 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by heartwood »

tmccartney wrote:You will never tried to use Quicken 2016 (first the Starter and then the Deluxe) as much as I have tried over two days. Why? Because My Large Bank made changes at their new web site, and it appeared that it will no longer work on Microsoft Money to get data. And then Quicken tried to get check account data only to have Quicken be too obtuse (duplicate bank transaction details) for even me. Quicken has been acknowledging this huge problem.

But the bank support person sent me a message to tell me how to work on Money. It worked, and Quicken will be sending my purchase price back to me. Quicken knows what it has laid a huge egg. Ugh.

By the way, you can still get Microsoft Money for free, as you probably knew.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downloa ... x?id=20738
I continue to use MS Money, not for portfolio tracking, but for budget. It works fine with Windows 10. I also have problems as CC companies and others, including Vanguard brokerage upgrade. One of my CC companies no longer provides any download compatible to Money; I enter the several transactions there manually. The Vanguard brokerage upgrade has also complicated downloads. I've got so many years of information in Money I'm more likely to quit tracking my expenditures rather than start a new platform.
FreddieG
Posts: 188
Joined: Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:42 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by FreddieG »

michaeljc70 wrote:
Grasshopper wrote:My name is Grasshopper and I am a Quicken user. I bought Q2016 this January knowing, but cautious about having to update from Windows 7 to 10. Well I I I finally updated to W10 and all is well, now if only I could run it on my ChromeBook.
I am faced with the same thing (running Quicken on a Chromebook or Android tablet). After looking for viable alternative to Quicken for the features I use, I haven't found any.

Have you tried virtualization for Quicken? I was thinking of trying http://www.cameyo.com/. Basically, you install your software on their server. It runs on their server and you can access it from a web browser. Obviously, since you are dealing with financial data, you have to be confident in the security.

Another thing you can do (and I do use this) is if you have Quicken running on a PC somewhere (like at home), you can remote into that PC and use Quicken using one of the many available remote control software. I use UltraVnc, but there are many options. Microsoft has their own Android version of Remote Desktop to connect to a Windows machine and Chrome has an extension I believe for remoting in.
I did something remotely (no pun intended) related to this. I have a 22-year love-hate relationship with Quicken that ended badly. One day, it just stopped updating my accounts (Vanguard, credit cards, etc). This was just one more issue that I've had over the years.

So I installed Mac OS X as a VM on my Windows machine using these instructions. VMWare's VMWare Player is free for non-commerical use.

https://techsviewer.com/how-to-install- ... are-on-pc/

I then installed Banktivity on the Mac, and converted my Quicken data over. It took some tweaking. I gave it a month running parallel, and have now decomissioned Quicken. I wrote a Mac shell script to take a snapshot of Banktivity, triggered by a cron @reboot. Then, the folder containing the snapshots is automatically backed up using Mozy, which is free for up to 2 GB. So I have daily snapshots of Banktivity for 90 days.

I was so pleased with how it all works that I backed up the Mac VM, and dumped Windows entirely. I now run Ubuntu linux as a host, and the Mac as a guest.

No more Windows and no more Quicken.

I have a fairly high end PC, so it doesn't make sense to switch to a Mac now, but when this 4 year-old PC does die, I will easily do so. I am retired IT, so this undertaking was not too difficult.
Carls
Posts: 105
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 5:45 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Carls »

2 oct 2016

Thanks all for the alternatives to Quicken.

While thrashing around for an alternative to Windows 10 (as I see others are having to do...), I found Moneydance. For me, it's worth starting fresh : my Quicken file is too large and unwieldy to import. I'm bring over basis info, etc. for calculations, but it's the brokers tax report that establishes the tax basis regardless of what I have recorded.

This Moneydance program is quite similar in appearance and operation, as other have pointed out, but they've neglected noting the 90-day trial period. Nice customer service rep's tip: just start again for another 90 days. Certainly not suggesting trickery here, but I was afraid 90 days just wouldn't let me really test out the program with dollar and euro accounts.

BTW it runs on Windows and my new "real" linux computer (Mint Mate ... so far so good).

BTW in the course of this search, I found that the Quicken file format is legally protected and costs the banks to use! That explains the extra cost for using Quicken downloads at some banks, apparently.
User avatar
Uncle Pennybags
Posts: 1835
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:05 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Uncle Pennybags »

I'm totally disgusted with Quicken, it has jumped the shark. It is now only good for balancing a check book as it can't handle anything more complicated without massive errors. I'm may have to learn Excel.
User avatar
Toons
Posts: 14459
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:20 am
Location: Hills of Tennessee

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Toons »

Uncle Pennybags wrote:I'm totally disgusted with Quicken, it has jumped the shark. It is now only good for balancing a check book as it can't handle anything more complicated without massive errors. I'm may have to learn Excel.

:shock: :shock:

2017 Deluxe working fine here,
Tracking everything and I mean everything financially related.
Improved since Intuit sold the business.
"One does not accumulate but eliminate. It is not daily increase but daily decrease. The height of cultivation always runs to simplicity" –Bruce Lee
User avatar
Uncle Pennybags
Posts: 1835
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:05 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Uncle Pennybags »

Toons wrote:
Uncle Pennybags wrote:I'm totally disgusted with Quicken, it has jumped the shark. It is now only good for balancing a check book as it can't handle anything more complicated without massive errors. I'm may have to learn Excel.

:shock: :shock:

2017 Deluxe working fine here,
Tracking everything and I mean everything financially related.
Improved since Intuit sold the business.
Good for you. I switched to a broker account at Vanguard and Quicken is now = totally unusable for the Vanguard account. You are lucky or only do check book balancing. Quicken is doomed.
sketchy9
Posts: 205
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 2:10 pm

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by sketchy9 »

Uncle Pennybags wrote:
Toons wrote:
Uncle Pennybags wrote:I'm totally disgusted with Quicken, it has jumped the shark. It is now only good for balancing a check book as it can't handle anything more complicated without massive errors. I'm may have to learn Excel.

:shock: :shock:

2017 Deluxe working fine here,
Tracking everything and I mean everything financially related.
Improved since Intuit sold the business.
Good for you. I switched to a broker account at Vanguard and Quicken is now = totally unusable for the Vanguard account. You are lucky or only do check book balancing. Quicken is doomed.
Works fine with my Vanguard brokerage account.
User avatar
Uncle Pennybags
Posts: 1835
Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2014 2:05 am

Re: Alternatives to Quicken 2016?

Post by Uncle Pennybags »

sketchy9 wrote:
Uncle Pennybags wrote:
Toons wrote:
Uncle Pennybags wrote:I'm totally disgusted with Quicken, it has jumped the shark. It is now only good for balancing a check book as it can't handle anything more complicated without massive errors. I'm may have to learn Excel.

:shock: :shock:

2017 Deluxe working fine here,
Tracking everything and I mean everything financially related.
Improved since Intuit sold the business.
Good for you. I switched to a broker account at Vanguard and Quicken is now = totally unusable for the Vanguard account. You are lucky or only do check book balancing. Quicken is doomed.
Works fine with my Vanguard brokerage account.
You didn't transfer from a regular Vanguard account did you? So yours working it totally irrelevant to Quicken's incompetent programing. It's hung up on the slush fund and won't even let me manually fix it. Turbo Tax flawlessly downloads and fills in tax forms from Vanguard. Quicken is now only good at hustling usurious loans form the great unwashed.
Post Reply