A few years ago I learned how Microsoft was doing away with Money which bummed me out because I have been using it for years, however I decided to keep it until it no longer worked since I am a creature of habit.
Well, as of yesterday, online services are gone meaning I cannot automatically update my accounts. So, the writing is on the wall… :mad:
I am looking for replacement software that will do what I use Money for: Organize my finances (banking and accounts including mortage, car payments and credit cards), track bills, investments (just a 401k now) and print checks (I don’t use them often but I prefer to print them). Customizable reports on spending and income are nice as well.
It should be able to update automatically with many banks and financial institutions in America.
Having a mobile application so I could synch the info onto my Windows Mobile Smartphone is a nice bonus but not a deal breaker (MS Money cancelled their Mobile app some time ago but I found a third party application I could have used; that would be fine as well.)
Vitally important: It should also be able to convert my data files from the format that Money uses to whatever it would be using with minimal headaches.
I am not too concerned with cost as long as it is inline with MS Money. Of course I would welcome less expensive! And free trials so I can make a decision are nice too.
Anyone else in my boat make the switch? What did you switch to? Or maybe you don’t knwo much about MS Money but love the software you have always used and think it will give me the functionality I need? Please opine…
I’ve never used Microsoft Money, but I have used Quicken for almost twenty years. It doesn’t have a mobile version yet, but the same company bought Mint, a free web-based personal finance program, a couple of years ago.
Quicken will do what you need it to, but I’m waiting for a mobile app and better online support. Also, note that they come out with a new version every year, but the differences each year are only slight, so I only upgrade every two or three years.
I’ve been using Quicken about 5 years now. I don’t have any investments - just bank accounts, money market accounts, credit cards and loans - but they do have an extensive investments section.
One thing about Quicken and their upgrades is that while you might be cool with whatever old version you’re using at the moment, but their online banking protocols will change just enough to get you to upgrade every few years if you want to keep doing online banking.
Sneaky but that is how all Intuit products work. And that is why I envy Intuit.
Well, mint.com is mobile if you’ve got a smartphone. There used to be a tool called Pocket Quicken, which allowed you to enter transactions on your Palm or Windows PDA and sync to your desktop but that’s been dead for several years.
Intuit is really screwing people who use desktop Quicken (like us), by failing to provide ANY conduit between the online version and the desktop version. Not even support for a one-time transfer one way or the other. As we’ve got 12ish years of data on the desktop, the online version is basically useless to us.
For someone new to tracking money, mint.com is probably just fine.