Looking for finance app

[superboyac]

THanks momonan for the details.  I'll have to take a look at Quicken pretty soon.

Let me say one thing, there's no way in hell I'm going to enter each transaction manually like you do, I would lose my mind!  Hopefully, I can import my account statements into Quicken without any problems.

[mouser]

by the way - quicken works wonderfullly with paypal - paypal will export all transaction history to quicken format.  extremely convenient for those who use paypal alot.

[pro3carp3]

I've used quicken for many years and must say that it is a great product.  There are a few negatives, such as hiding the built-in categories that I don't use.  You can, by the way, search for transactions with a blank category by entering a space.

Classes add an additional dimension to categories.  I don't use them myself as I have no need, but it would be simple to set up classes for home and business and easily be able to separate the two on reports and so on.

[superboyac]

Momonan, I've been fiddling with Quicken, and I think I like it better than Money.  It seems like it's a little easier to get the job done with Quicken.  Money looks more polished and "web"-ish than Quicken, but I could care less about that stuff.   

[tinjaw]

I'd like to revisit this thread. I have used Quicken and MS Money in the past. I still have a copy of MS Money 2005. I haven't used either for over a year. I want to start the new year off right.

I don't want to use Quicken or Money because the number one aggravation I had was that the software did 1,001 things and I only wanted to use 10 of them. I had to put up with all these fricken menu items and tabs and wizards and crap. I found it aggravating and I already have enough to be aggravated about when it comes to money.

So what I am looking for is the following:

Free or under $10.
Standard checking register
Standard passbook savings
import/download transactions from my bank's website
Basic/Simple budgeting

That's it. No stocks and bonds. No loan wizards. No savings wizard telling me I should start saving $153.21 dollars a month for a $100,000.00 mortgage at3.14% every time I just want to check my balance. Arrrrrrrgh! I want notepad, not M$ Wurd 2020 Deluxe Super Extreme Special Edition (even if it is free).

I think you get the point. Any suggestions?

[iphigenie]

I know it is old but when I read the beginning of this thread, in the spirit of this forum, there's "the question": Try suggesting to the dev of AceMoney the features that you are missing...

I used to hang out in the acemoney official yahoo group and he was very responsive, both in suggesting how to achieve things but also doing small releases fulfilling requests

Worked for me on little things which annoyed me in the entry of transactions (I had abandoned MS money when it got too bloated but missed a few shortcuts for efficient entering especially of dates. It got added!). It was about 2004 iirc so maybe he got slower later.

[tinjaw]

Bump 

I got to install something today and get this going. Any suggestions on what I am looking for up there on the other side of iphigenie's post? If not, then I am going to install Money 2005 and suffer through it.

I can't seem to justify spending money on new software that is supposed to help me save money when I already have software that will do it. 

[iphigenie]

I do all you mention in acemoney - that includes downloading from the banks website. Although one annoyance is that some entries have branch numbers in them (such as STORE754) which I havent found a way to nicely map to one global name (such as simply STORE). I do it manually when reconciling, but it really would help if there was a way for the program to learn these and apply them automatically later....    -- /me is off to find her yahoo login to follow her own "ask the dev" advice--

I dont know how many accounts you can have in the free version nowadays. edit: it is just one. so cant do both a current/checking account and a savings account separately.

I have an account for each of my current accounts (4), one per credit card, one for cash expenses by each person in the household and even a separate one for spending when abroad (euros/chf/dollars) (but i could have all those in one "cash spending"). It supports the multiple currencies etc.

[iphigenie]

Apps I am aware of:

open source: I only really ever heard of gnucash (http://www.gnucash.org/) and grisbi (http://www.grisbi.org - grisbi slang for money in 1960's french)

online: lots of buzz around online sites like mint which recently won awards. I find any app which works with masses of data to be ackward online (eg: bookmark management, its to slow to move/edit one by one via a browser. I suspect I would think the same of bank records)

[muntealb]

You can also try MoneyManager Ex, it is free and opensource.

http://www.thezeal.com/software/

[nogojoe]

Money 2006 is gone, Quicken 2006 is here! Quicken blew my mind... it's nothing like Money. Far more customizable, extremely user-friendly, tons of tools, very nice interface, powerful... it's rather amazing. I'm thinking about buying it already.. and I've only played with it today. I just need the Deluxe version. Even that one, the most basic Quicken, comes with more features than I'll ever use.

Does anyone know if they offer student discounts?

Thanks!

-moerl (October 02, 2005, 06:51 PM)

Methinks that Micosoft bought out Quicken a few years ago when Money couldn’t foot it with Quicken.

[nogojoe]

I'd like to revisit this thread. I have used Quicken and MS Money in the past. I still have a copy of MS Money 2005. I haven't used either for over a year. I want to start the new year off right.

I don't want to use Quicken or Money because the number one aggravation I had was that the software did 1,001 things and I only wanted to use 10 of them. I had to put up with all these fricken menu items and tabs and wizards and crap. I found it aggravating and I already have
enough to be aggravated about when it comes to money.

-tinjaw (December 29, 2007, 06:25 AM)

Stick with Quicken

Hi Tinjaw

May be if you open up your account in Quicken and then do as follows (from Quicken help)

Normally, Quicken reopens the same windows you were using when you exited Quicken. However, you can make Quicken remember a specific set of windows to reopen.

To save a specific set of windows for your desktop:

1   Arrange your desktop the way you want Quicken to remember it.
2   Choose Edit menu > Options > Desktop.
3   Select Save Current Desktop, and click OK.
   To return to the normal setting, where Quicken remembers a new version of your desktop every time you exit, choose Save Desktop on Exit instead.

It bypasses everything and goes straight to the account you want.

There is a lot of surplus stuff on starting up but all that can be eliminated by various means

nogojoe

[Deozaan]

You Need a Budget is software in the likes of MS Money and Quicken, except it actually does something right that these other two "expensive" applications don't: It helps you budget.

Quicken and MS Money usually are just about tracking your expenditures. You log how much money comes in and where it goes out, but it doesn't help you plan and budget. It's more like just balancing your checkbook.

You Need a Budget has some guidelines to help you stop living paycheck to paycheck, make an effective budget, and actually makes it very easy to deal with emergencies or accidentally going over your budget.

As with most useful financial things: It's not a quick solution. It takes a change in behavior for it to really be effective. I just found out about it 4 days ago, so I'm not very far into it myself, but it all sounds like very good advice and I plan on making it a part of my life as soon as possible.

Check out the website at You Need a Budget.com and be sure to read the main page, especially the 4 rules.

[MrCrispy]

I have a rant against online banking - I have an account with Wells Fargo and tried to set it up so that Quicken would download transactions automatically. It gave me 2 choices - Direcy Connect and Web Connect and I chose Direct since it was more powerful. i was then told that I needed a special pin to access it and was directed to an online page to get the pin.

Well I thought this was just like registering for online banking and filled it out. It was only upon reading closely that I find its a paid service, $3/pm!! I then call them and they won't even let me cancel it till my 'application' is processed, at which time I will have to call again or get billed.

I know it is my fault for not doing due diligence but IMO both the software and the website  should have given me bold warnings that this was not free and made me agree to disclaimers. I also hate the trend that banks nickel and dime for everything e.g they will not let you download account history for more than x months.

[MrCrispy]

momonan, do you know of any website which has Quicken tips/guides for new users. I have just started using it and it is pretty overwhelming.

[superboyac]

Yeah, beware of any kind of direct online sync with your bank account.  Most of the time, they have fees.  The annoying thing about it is that they don't make it clear that it has fees until it's pretty much too late.  It's so shady.

[Deozaan]

Speaking of Online Banking... well this is a little different, but take a look at this:

Online Savings Accounts

If your bank is like mine, your savings account is making something near 0.25% interest annually. Well, this page (from GetRichSlowly.org) reviews online savings accounts that have rates from 2.75% to 3.85% APY.

Apparently ING Direct is the most recommended because you don't have to jump through hoops or "play any games" to get the advertised rate, plus if you get a referral they will give you $25 to help start your savings account. Check it out and find what's right for you if you want to make a little more interest on your savings.

[J-Mac]

Old, old thread we're posing in here!  Since it was "resurrected" last moynth, I haven't seen any mention of Expensr.com.  It is an online Web 2.0 app that mimics - to an extent, I'm sure, what Quicken and Money do from your desktop.  I took a quick look but I was hoping to find some feedback from those already using it before I gave it a real try.

I've used Quicken since about 1998, but on and off.  I was using Quicken 2006 Deluxe up until early February of this year but then it somehow got corrupted. (More on that in a separate thread).  Before I reinstall Quicken I thought it was a good time to look around and see what else was out there.

Has anyone used Expensr.com?

Thanks!

Jim