There are also other desktop software tools out there.
Geezeo is a set of free online financial tools that also enlist the help of a social network to encourage you to meet your savings goals. is a similar tool that encourages saving. Jim points out that Intuit seems to have "sewn up the personal finance market." But that's not quite true. The choice depends, according to my Intuit spokesperson, on the complexity of your finances. If Jim is managing a complex portfolio of investments, though, he probably does want to step up to Quicken Deluxe or even Quicken Premier. I am personally a fan of Mint because it makes it easy to share financial information with my spouse - and send him a text message alert to warn him he's going over his budget for, say, personal electronics seconds after he drops money on a new toy. It doesn't do transactions, though it only tracks your money.
It will also suggest areas where you can save money, and it will provide some measure of financial guidance. (Intuit recently purchased Mint.) is tuned to help you create a budget and keep an eye on where all the money is going, even offering alerts to your cell phone when you exceed your budget in key areas. If all Jim is looking for is a checkbook manager, suggests my Intuit spokesperson, the free online might be a better choice. I have been taking Quicken Deluxe 2010 for a spin lately, and I'm pleased with it.īut that doesn't mean it's necessarily the right product for Jim. The spokesperson said the new version is also better at converting files from other programs, a major effort given that Microsoft abandoned Microsoft Money last summer. But is the upgrade worth it?Īccording to the spokesperson, Quicken Deluxe 2010 has been completely redesigned to rely on fewer screens, to be easier to use, and to offer improved use of categories. Of course, upgrading to Quicken Deluxe 2010 will solve Jim's pop-up problem. And entering transactions by hand is a drag. Still, the point of using software to manage money is, for many people, to save time. If he is willing to manually enter his transaction, though, it should work.
And it is alerting him - irritatingly - to this fact. The program should work fine for most actions, but it will no longer connect to his bank and download transactions. A spokesperson told me that it is likely because Jim is using an older version of the product that is no longer supported. I contacted Intuit to find out why Jim is getting these annoying pop-up warnings. Is there anything at all we 'normal' people can use?" I've downloaded GnuCash, but it's very cumbersome. But I recently upgraded my computer and reinstalled it. "I am a longtime user of Quicken Deluxe," Jim writes. Death by a thousand pop-ups is one, as Gripe Line reader Jim recently found out. There are several ways to force your customers to upgrade.
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