Which Financial Software?

[becca-becca]

I have resolve to start tracking/budgeting, etc. I can not decide which financial software to use. I have used both Quicken and MS Money before. I read that MS Money is no longer being supported. I wanted to get your opinions on what you liked and what you do not like.

I have tried to read some reviews, but did not come away with a specific product. I have read about YNAB, Quicken, Moneydance and Menvelopes and Veritas Financial.

What I am looking for:
1. Easy use for budgeting
2. Track all expenses (checkbook, credit card, etc.)
3. Inputting stock and retirement fund info would be a plus
4. I do not want to pay some monthly fee, and if a software requires this to be fully usable, I don't think I want it
5. I really like the cash enevelope system, but it is too hard nowadays with everything being so electronic. I had read about Menvelopes or something like that, but figured it wouldn't have all the other stuff I need, does any other program have a feature like this?

I would love to hear what you like/dislike about the program you have.

THANKS!!

 

[yoopermom]

I have to keep track of our personal accounts and my DHs small business accounts (and I'm a librarian, so numbers aren't my thing). I used to use Quickbooks, but didn't like how some of the business aspects were set up (more for a larger business than what I needed). At Christmas I bought Quickbooks for Home and Business, and am so far pretty happy with it. I set it up so that our credit union accounts automatically stream into it with a click of a button (although I have to go back in and change each "name" from "check number XXX" to whomever I wrote it to). I also added subcategories for accounts, because I'm very picky (aka didn't just want "auto" wanted subcategories for oil change, gasoline, repairs, etc). It's a simple and pretty dummy proof program. There's no monthly fee. It will do stocks/retirements/etc. I just glossed over it, but I do think there was somewhere you could basically do your "envelope" type thing, tell it how much you want to budget for let's say gas for the month, and it'll warn you when you get close/get there. You can also put in recurring bills, and it will warn you/track them.

Any of these programs are only as good as the person who keeps them up . Once you set them all up, they run themselves pretty easily.

Terri

 

[mrspaha]

I've used Quicken for years and really like it. I don't use it for quite everything you're looking for - like the stock information, so I don't know how well that works.

But it's great for me to track expenses -- I enter all of my credit card purchases, checks written, and especially things I've paid cash for. It's great to use to reconcile bank statements and credit card statements.

You can add new categories or sub-categories if you want.

I use it at the end of the year to help me with income taxes. I pick out the categories that are tax-related and print a report for the year to plug numbers into my return.

 

[akcire]

If you properly set up your bank accounts and credit cards in Quicken, Quicken will log into the financial institutions and get all the data for you. You will not have to manually input anything other than unidentified cash transactions. You can even track your investment accounts, depending on which version you purchase.

I currently use Quicken Deluxe 2008--I am looking for a new version since mine is "expiring"; and have been nothing but pleased with its ease of use and performance. The only thing I have to do is select the "spending category" for a transaction. The individual transactions are collected from the banks website.

You can also initiate bill payments from the program. This is not something I choose to do. I schedule all of my online bill payments on my bank's website, and then Quicken collects the transactions and inputs them in my Quicken register.

Since we keep track of 20+ bank accounts (really long story) this has been a real blessing.

MSN Money used to be able to do a similar thing, but since MSN is no longer making the product, banks are no longer supporting it.

If you wanted to try a free "light" version of Quicken you could set up a Mint account. My sister-in-law is in college and it provides all the functionality she needs and is free; when I looked at her program I found it to be somewhat similar to Quicken.

 

[becca-becca]

We live in a very small town and have a local bank. So, I doubt I can import anything from them. However, I could import any credit card purchases.

I have narrowed it down to YNAB and Quicken. Just not sure which way to go still. Most people have commented about Quicken, so I may try a trial version and see how it works.

 

[akcire]

We live in a very small town and have a local bank. So, I doubt I can import anything from them. However, I could import any credit card purchases.

I have narrowed it down to YNAB and Quicken. Just not sure which way to go still. Most people have commented about Quicken, so I may try a trial version and see how it works.

Is you local bank's bill pay product powered by Checkfree? You may need to call the bank's bill pay department and ask them directly. A small bank does not develop their own online banking solutions. If they are you should have no problem using Quicken.

 

[vicki_c]

Love YNAB (www.youneedabudget.com) - we've been using it for about a year for tracking & budgeting and it's really good at what it does. I download info from my bank and credit card companies just using the Quicken format - that works great.

They also have very helpful forums and excellent webinars (free) on using the software.

The budgeting piece is basically a virtual envelope system.