Is there a Quicken substitute?

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I know this maybe isn’t the best place to ask this question, but here goes… does Quicken have any competition? I’ve been using Quicken for many years and I upgrade to a newer version occasionally in spite of the fact that the version I am using does everything I want. I don’t like to upgrade because the later version always adds new characteristics that I don’t like and don’t use and don’t want. I’ve recently been notified that my Quicken 2007 will no longer be able to retrieve stock prices after a date in April. My requirements are pretty simple so I’m wondering if there are any alternatives out there.

Is there a better place to ask this question?

Thanks,
Bill

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This question probably should be moved to the “Other Software” forum. (Any moderator can do that if there is agreement.)

Historically, the main competitor to Quicken was Microsoft Money. I don’t know whether that still is sold. In recent years, I think online competitors have sprung up; this assumes you are comfortable with having your data live in the internet cloud.

With respect to cost, some financial institutions have given away Quicken (or other personal finance software) or offered it at a discount.

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This question probably should be moved to the “Other Software” forum. (Any moderator can do that if there is agreement.)

Historically, the main competitor to Quicken was Microsoft Money. I don’t know whether that still is sold. In recent years, I think online competitors have sprung up; this assumes you are comfortable with having your data live in the internet cloud.

With respect to cost, some financial institutions have given away Quicken (or other personal finance software) or offered it at a discount.

Why upgrade if what you are using works.
I’m still using MS Money 2002 – it works on vista and Win7

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I’m still using Quicken 99 on both Vista and XP. Does everything I want it to do, so as long as it will do that, I guess I’ll continue using it.

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Why upgrade if what you are using works.
I’m still using MS Money 2002 – it works on vista and Win7

Because on April 30, Quicken 2007 will lose ALL of its online functionality – which is the only reason why I use it. Intuit’s attitude is that you’re only RENTING the software.

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Yes, Other Software probably would be a better forum. Thanks for the info. I don’t think I want to put it all on the web. Quicken has a special price right now that will last only a couple more days and I may have to just go ahead and take it.

Thanks,
Bill

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I know this maybe isn’t the best place to ask this question, but here goes… does Quicken have any competition? I’ve been using Quicken for many years and I upgrade to a newer version occasionally in spite of the fact that the version I am using does everything I want. I don’t like to upgrade because the later version always adds new characteristics that I don’t like and don’t use and don’t want. I’ve recently been notified that my Quicken 2007 will no longer be able to retrieve stock prices after a date in April. My requirements are pretty simple so I’m wondering if there are any alternatives out there.

Is there a better place to ask this question?

Thanks,
Bill

I’m using Quicken Deluxe 2008 with Win 7. Seems to work very well. Yes, options sometimes change with new additions, and more options are added, but you do not have to use all the new options. Just use the ones you have used in the past. I use perhaps 25% of the options on my version and I’m perfectly happy to do so. With their discounts for users of earlier versions, Quicken is not terribly expensive and later versions have incorporated better security as well.

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Well, I’m glad to hear that the 2008 version didn’t force you into anything new that you didn’t want. For a really long time, with my 2007 version, I had to click a No button every time I opened it to say that I did not want to sign up for an online account. That prompt has finally stopped popping up but I imagine it will start again after I upgrade. That’s the kind of thing that bugs me the most. I’ll upgrade later today or tomorrow while the special price is available and see how it goes.

Bill

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I’ve used Moneydance for several years now. It does everything I required of Quicken, is less expensive, and is cross-platform.

I was getting quite tired of the bloat in Quicken. I’d used it for years, and even participated in one panel study at Intuit’s Menlo Park office. Intuit lost me when they left me hanging on their TurboTax “error free” guarantee. They knew there was a bug in their web product but didn’t tell the users. Their customer “service” ran me around for a year: the first number they gave me was that of the IRS, as if they would make good on Intuit’s guarantee. Finally they told me to call sometime when I had two or three hours to go through my return, line by line (for a known bug), with one of their reps. I swore off Intuit entirely at that point.

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I’ve used Moneydance for several years now. It does everything I required of Quicken, is less expensive, and is cross-platform.

I was getting quite tired of the bloat in Quicken. I’d used it for years, and even participated in one panel study at Intuit’s Menlo Park office. Intuit lost me when they left me hanging on their TurboTax “error free” guarantee. They knew there was a bug in their web product but didn’t tell the users. Their customer “service” ran me around for a year: the first number they gave me was that of the IRS, as if they would make good on Intuit’s guarantee. Finally they told me to call sometime when I had two or three hours to go through my return, line by line (for a known bug), with one of their reps. I swore off Intuit entirely at that point.

Does MoneyDance allow you to install it at least on both your desktop and laptop or is it like Quicken–one computer, one copy?

Having read on their web site, it does seem that I’d have to get 2 licenses if I want have it available on both my computers.

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Why not try GnuCash[/url] before spending money on Quicken?

I’ve worked in and out of an accounting office for years, and while they use several different accounting programs, including some that are designed especially for terminal server environments, GnuCash does everything most People need and want in accounting software. The office has to have different versions of Quicken installed, and after while, the cost of licenses, and the incessant prompting to upgrade overwhelm the normal user.

Always use Free and OpenSource Software when you have the chance!

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Why not try GnuCash[/url] before spending money on Quicken?
[…]

I used Microsoft Money years ago before I switched to GnuCash myself. It does everything I need to keep the finances for my family on track and also has a business feature that allows me to keep track of small consulting projects I’m working on occasionally. In addition, I can use it on either Linux or Windows.

I would definitely take a look at GnuCash if you’re looking for an alternative to Quicken.

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Why not try GnuCash[/url] before spending money on Quicken?

I’ve worked in and out of an accounting office for years, and while they use several different accounting programs, including some that are designed especially for terminal server environments, GnuCash does everything most People need and want in accounting software. The office has to have different versions of Quicken installed, and after while, the cost of licenses, and the incessant prompting to upgrade overwhelm the normal user.

Always use Free and OpenSource Software when you have the chance!

I used GnuCash for a couple years (after having used MS Money). When I was presented with an offer for 1/2-price Quicken 2010, I took it – and am using it. But, so far, I don’t like it any more than GnuCash. (Both have plusses and minuses.) So, I should have saved my money and stayed with GnuCash. The biggest advantage – for me, with Quicken is the abillity to download data from all my bank, credit card and retirement accounts. The biggest advantage for GnuCash for me was the ability to easily search for a particular account entry.

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I used GnuCash for a couple years (after having used MS Money). When I was presented with an offer for 1/2-price Quicken 2010, I took it – and am using it. But, so far, I don’t like it any more than GnuCash. (Both have plusses and minuses.) So, I should have saved my money and stayed with GnuCash. The biggest advantage – for me, with Quicken is the abillity to download data from all my bank, credit card and retirement accounts. The biggest advantage for GnuCash for me was the ability to easily search for a particular account entry.

I am surprised one of your disappointments regarding Quicken was the ability to easily search for a particular entry. This is one of Quicken’s strong points, as in the top right-hand corner of any Quicken screen is the universal search box and you can type in any aspect of the transaction. For example, you need to find all entries for 39.99. Just type that into the search dialog and all entries — checks, credit cards, investment transactions — will be presented. Or type in any part of the Payee name or memo field and Quicken will find it.

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Another vote for Moneydance. As to the licensing for users/computers, from their website:

“We have a somewhat simple formula that we like for our users to follow in determining how many licenses they need. Take the number of people using Moneydance and the number of computers no matter the operating system on which it is being used. Choose the lower of the two numbers and that’s how many licenses to purchase. I.E. you can either a) use it on as many computers as you like, or b) have as many people as you like use it on one computer.

For the purposes of our license, couples count as a single person.”

Kevin

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I have Quicken 8, which I had to buy because there was a known bug in the old edition I was using and Quicken refused to patch it. Not very good customer relations considering I have used Quicken for over 20 years. Also no discount to upgrade! Quicken 8 will no longer be supported next year, which means another upgrade, yet Quicken 8 is inferior to previous editions. I use it mainly to track my investments. The effort I now have to exert to enter a simple transaction is ridiculous…. 10 strokes when I only used 1 before. All Intuit say is that they have dumbed it down for the newest user. There are always at least 2 symbols in my portfolio that they are unable to provide information for, yet the information is readily available from other sites.
So, my question is, is there another way to download my investments other than using Money or Quicken?

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N^thing GnuCash

I used Quicken for years, but I switched to GnuCash and will never switch back.

For what its worth, GnuCash also runs as a portable app.

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I recently switched from MS Money to Quicken. The Quicken 2010 Starter edition was free with TurboTax last fall. Since Money is no longer supported I took the plunge. I also tried Gnu Cash. It was OK, but I immediately missed the ability to import directly from financial institutions. At first I didn’t like Quicken. The register in particular felt clunky. Money had the ability to setup nick names for common payees which made entering transactions very fast. Quicken doesn’t do that. I’ve gotten used to it though. Where Quicken shines for my purposes is bill reminders.

There seems to be a misconception about licensing for Quicken. It appears that from version 2008 and newer, you are allowed up to 3 copies on your own computers. Here is the clause:

(i) Single User License. You may install and use a copy of the Software on up to three (3) computers used by a single household. If you purchased a valid license for the Software and received an Authentic Intuit CDROM, such CDROM is your backup copy of the Software. If you purchased a valid license and received the Software pre-installed on a new computer or through an electronic download, you may make one backup copy of the Software, but only for the purpose of reinstalling the Software, if needed, on the computer(s) referenced in (a) above.

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The “problem” with Quicken is that it sunsets updates (eg stock prices and brokerage accounts like Ameritrade) after 3 years and you have to update to the latest version to continue to use those features. So after the end of this April, Quicken 2007 users will either have to upgrade to Quicken 2010 or lose the update features.

For those using Turbotax, they have already sunsetted direct import of Quicken 2007 data into Turbotax and you have to export/import via a txf file.

Turbotax also picks up stuff from prior years and this can get quite complex to do manually, especially if you are involved in Alternative Minimum Tax and loss carryovers from stocks and K1s – so Intuit has you somewhat locked into Turbotax, and if you want to import data to it, Quicken.

Do any of the Quicken alternatives do a decent job of importing your existing data from Quicken and let you update stock prices and brokerage accounts?

And are there any Turbotax alternatives that will import prior year Turbotax data? And preferably import from the Quicken alternative.

To me, this seemed too much to ask for and I have allowed myself to remain locked into Intuit!

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You should check out Free Personal Finance Software, Budget Software, Online Money Management and Budget Planner | Mint.com[/url].

Note: In September 2009, Intuit agreed to purchase Mint.com. See Why Mint.com + Intuit is a Big Idea | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice[/url] & Intuit to Phase out Quicken Online in Favor of Mint.com – PCWorld Business Center for more details about the acquisition.

Joe

--Joe

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You should check out Free Personal Finance Software, Budget Software, Online Money Management and Budget Planner | Mint.com[/url].

Note: In September 2009, Intuit agreed to purchase Mint.com. See Why Mint.com + Intuit is a Big Idea | MintLife Blog | Personal Finance News & Advice[/url] & Intuit to Phase out Quicken Online in Favor of Mint.com – PCWorld Business Center for more details about the acquisition.

Joe

Second vote for mint.com here–It’s easy to use, logs into all of your accounts online and imports your data automatically. It sets up budgets automatically for food, utilities, etc, and categorizes your expenditures. Then, it can email or text you when you go over budget.

It also provides charts that help you determine whether you’re breaking even each month and by how much, as well as your total net worth.

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I’ve been using Quicken for around 9 years and currently running Version 2008 (was on a Win2k, just moved to a Win 7 machine). I have an account with a brokerage firm, actually multiple accounts including bond, stocks, bond and stock funds, IRAs, …. What I’ve noticed as my financial planners have moved to different firms (A.G. Edwards, Wachovia, Raymond James, Edward Jones, …) is that Quicken and Money are the only two universally supported. So, if you plan to download transactions you need to be aware of what software your financial firm supports.

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The total deal-breaker keeping me from switching to a Quicken alternative (which I would love to do due to Intuit’s abusive policies) is the functions that Quicken does that others do not. For me, the biggie is the bill pay function which pays bills entered in Quicken through banks (not “Quicken Bill Pay”). That is the main thing I use Quicken for, and I have not found another product which does that.

From what I read previously, many (all?) of the alternative products don’t download account transactions either.

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When my Quicken 2004 stopped downloading stock prices, I thought there was something wrong, so I contacted Intuit support. When they told me they “no longer support” that version — and that’s why it could no longer download stock prices — I was incensed. I wasn’t asking for support, just for the program to do what it had always done. My point was that they were crippling functionality that I had paid for, but they weren’t listening. I have not upgraded, and I never will. I have been entering stock prices manually. But thanks to this forum, I’m going to take a look at GnuCash. Sure it would be easier to just fork over for a Quicken update, but there is a principle involved. Others have commented on Intuit’s abusive policies, and I just won’t support it.

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Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I’ll look at GnuCash for future consideration. Its too bad this discussion didn’t happen back when I started this thread. I had only a couple of days to consider a 50% off offer on Quicken and I took it before the time ran out.

Bill

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I was a Quicken/TurboTax user years ago, but soured on Intuit because 1) the same defects remain uncorrected in their products year after year while they release superficial changes, 2) it’s hard to imagine a company less inclined to listen to the Voice of the Customer. So, way back, when Intuit pulled the plug on their user forum (your only hope for useful technical support was from other users) I decided to switch to Money and Microsoft’s tax product. I found both to be superior to Intuit product, but, of course, Microsoft dropped out of the tax software biz long ago. My aversion to intuit was strong enough that I began using TaxCut rather than switch back to TurboTax. Now, of course, Microsoft has abandoned its Money customers. I’ve chosen to switch to GNUCash, which I’m running parallel with Money. My Money online services have expired, but I’m able to download data from banks using their manual download. I’ve also contrived to keep updating stock prices by adapting Python scripts you can find on the Web. I’ll likely stop running parallel at the end of this month.

I’m generally happy with GNUCash. My stock prices are updated via Perl scripts and I can import the same data I download for Money (OFX files) into GNUCash. There is an elegance about GNUCash that is lacking in Quicken and Money, but it may be hard to see because of an outdated appearance and sometimes awkward, untuitive user interface. Anyone switching to GNUCash from the commercial products will have to climb a learning curve. I’m well along that climb now and satisfied that I made the right choice, going to GNUCash rather than Quicken or Quickbooks. The biggest problem for most former users of Money or Quicken will likely be the switch to double-entry accounting. Personally, I find it preferable to the dumbed-down categories of the commercial programs. Be advised, however, that GNUCash isn’t in the same league with OpenOffice. It lacks the polish of OpenOffice and is rough around the UI edges, The libraries used in the software don’t always run gracefully in my Windows XP environment, producing annoying display anomalies now and then.

I use the software both for personal and business financial record keeping. One major consideration is that small business accountants almost universally use QuickBooks, and may want your data provided in that format. QuickBooks consulting is often a sizable part of their business, so I guess they don’t mind putting up with Intuit’s poor software quality and deaf ear.

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Thanks to all for advice. Unfortunately I’m based in Canada, and invest primarily in the TSX. Neither Mint or GNUcash handle Canadian stocks, but I’ll keep an eye out for a Canadian edition.

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First a little background:
The product became viable with Version 3 for DOS in 1989. DOS did what I needed in 1989, and a lot better than my own Lotus 123 spreadsheets. Version 8 was the last for DOS, but it plodded along (using the infamous DOS box with Windows 98) into the summer of 2004. That was a interesting year. First, I discovered that my Quicken data file had finally outgrown the base-16 numbering scheme with which I was familiar, and then my ‘586 ISA motherboard was pronounced irretrievably dead. This all required building a new machine (I was able to salvage the case) and then embracing Windows XP before figuring out how to port my 16-bit data into Quicken for Windows 2004. Having been through that once, I now “upgrade” every year into the current data format.

Yah, but why would one want to? To be able to talk with the outside world, or maybe the other way around. My lawyer, my son-in-law, and the executor of my Will all speak Quicken 2010, and for a lousy 100 bucks a year my affairs will continue to be decipherable when I no longer cold-boot. Compare that with paying $250.00 per hour to merely talk about the problem. In the meantime my son-in-law and I “back up off site” by simply swapping QDF files via e-mail.

Ed Jones

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Try MYOB. They do an excellent job in Australia and NZ, and I believe they recently expanded to North America.

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I’ve been a Moneydance user since 2006, when I dumped MS Money. Got sick of the bloat and advertising slowing down the system, and the seemingly forced upgrades. Newest version is available here: http://moneydance.com/trac/wiki/Moneydance2010Beta. Their licensing is very flexible – basically, one license per household. Best thing about it is the support – much better than the major players. There is a very active community at http://help.infinitekind.com/

Jim.Mpls.MN

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For amusement only

Intuit stopped supporting Quicken some years ago, here in the UK. My bank stopped offering download of transactions in Quicken 2000 format (which I was using) without warning. So I wrote a Python script to convert Quicken 2001 to Quicken 2000 while looking for an alternative. I never found one. So I’m still using Quicken Basic 2000, converting downloaded transactions, and sacrificing the securities valuation facilities, which were discontinued in any case.

I’d used MS Money previously – dreadful! Mickey Mouse stuff. I tried GnuCash, but it wasn’t fit at the time – maybe now it might be. But I shall soldier on with Quicken until the .QEL file bursts (now 3 MB). Of course, I can’t get securities automatically valued, and I can’t download bank and credit card transactions directly into Quicken, but that’s not too hard to manage.

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…. and I can’t download bank and credit card transactions directly into Quicken, but that’s not too hard to manage.

Paying bills and seeing the bank and credit card transactions are 90% of my use of Quicken. Everybody is different, but for me, without those, Quicken would be useless.

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I have used Quicken for years and it does the job just fine. That’s not to say I haven’t been frustrated with having to repurchase the entire package every three years… The comments here have been all spot on about Quicken (for me its the devil I know) and for Microsoft Money. I was going to suggest http://www.mint.com but I see it won’t be helpful at least to the original poster. If you are looking for paying your bills online, Quicken is likely the way to go, if you are looking only to understand your money flow so you can make better decisions, Mint (being free) is not a bad way to go.

Although I am impressed with those who write custom scripts to keep their banking software running and doing exactly what they want… your average person will likely want to have something that gets them from A to B with a minimum of customization. In comparison, It is pretty cool to maintain an old Dusenberg but it’s not the kind of car you would commute to work in every day… Well…OK… some people might…

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The best I’ve found is Personal Stock Monitor . It supports the new options symbols and both US and Canadian Stocks and M/F.

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Money Manager Ex is an excellent free program for checkbook, stocks, paying bills, etc. if you are looking for simplicity. It’s my choice for MSMoney replacement.

http://www.codelathe.com is where to find it.

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Does Intuit stick it to me (again) and disable major functions in Quicken 2008 in 2011?

I have questions in to the Money Manager EX company. I really hope it will do what I need because I sorely want to to reverse the “stick it to” direction. I think some company is really missing the boat by not putting out a challenger to Quicken with essentially the same functionality–but without the auto expiration. There are a boatload of people who would like to show Intuit to the door. I’d even think a modest yearly fee to cover the continuing online processing costs would not be objectionable.

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Like Jack Tinker stated:

GnuCash is personal and small-business financial-accounting software, freely licensed under the GNU GPL and available for GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

Designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible, GnuCash allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses. As quick and intuitive to use as a checkbook register, it is based on professional accounting principles to ensure balanced books and accurate reports.

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As James Sykes has remarked, Intuit precipitously discontinued Quicken in the UK market quite a while ago, which does not help. I am using Quicken 2002 Deluxe & Business, having started with Quicken 3 many years ago. What locks me in is the need to interrogate old data, but my worry is that at some stage it will fail to respond to a new operating system or its file size will fall over. My main file is 20MB, so James you should be safe for a while. The problem I will have then is that I doubt I will be able transfer my old data to a new package.

I also object to the Rent Me approach to pricing, and refused to upgrade when that came in. However, I do not download stock prices, because I trust my own real return calculations not those of a package. On the other hand, I have always regarded Quicken’s reporting routines to be the best of the bunch.

I have a big problem with Intuit’s approach to service which started with Quicken 2002. I found that their computation of VAT was wrong, which exposed me to the sledgehammer of the Inland Revenue, and that this version removed all the timesaving features of Business transaction entry (memorised transactions specifically). Net result was a great deal more time spent on input and on detailed checking of VAT each period. Intuit refused to acknowledge the problems, let alone correct them, despite the legal liability that their clients were exposed to from the VAT flaws.

I have introduced a client to MYOB, which I think is a good package, but I did not use it myself because of the weaker reporting and the fact that transferability of data substantially locks me into Quicken.

Chris
Win 10 Pro x64 Group A

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… What locks me in is the need to interrogate old data, but my worry is that at some stage it will fail to respond to a new operating system or its file size will fall over. My main file is 20MB, so James you should be safe for a while. The problem I will have then is that I doubt I will be able transfer my old data to a new package.

I have introduced a client to MYOB, which I think is a good package, but I did not use it myself because of the weaker reporting and the fact that transferability of data substantially locks me into Quicken.

It is indeed the exporting of data (if only to keep file sizes reasonable) that is a pain. However, I did manage to get all my transactions from 1994-2008 into MySQL database which is quite good for querying, and better now that MySQL Workbench has been so much improved. And GnuCash can use it, though only if you’re happy to use an admittedly unstable release.

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Why not try the free Microsoft Accounting Express 2009 – a 161MB download – while it is still available?

Free Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2009 –

“With Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2008, the software behemoth from Seattle proves it’s capable of producing high-quality, free software for the masses. Beneath the clean layout, big icons, and point-and-click interface sits a foundation of solid business features that can benefit almost any company.”

http://download.cnet.com/Microsoft-Office-Accounting-Express/3000-2066_4-10599757.html

Download – http://www.zdnet.co.uk/downloads/business-software/2009/04/21/microsoft-office-accounting-express-2009-39201394/2/

You don’t have to use all of the features if you are just doing your personal finances.

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Why not try the free Microsoft Accounting Express 2009 – a 161MB download – while it is still available?

This product was discontinued —

Microsoft Office Accounting will no longer be distributed after November 16, 2009.
We would like to thank the many dedicated users and partners who have been enthusiastic supporters of Office Accounting over the years.
[ Source ]

— but a new service pack was issued in February (link from Wikipedia page Microsoft Office Accounting – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

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I know this maybe isn’t the best place to ask this question, but here goes… does Quicken have any competition? I’ve been using Quicken for many years and I upgrade to a newer version occasionally in spite of the fact that the version I am using does everything I want. I don’t like to upgrade because the later version always adds new characteristics that I don’t like and don’t use and don’t want. I’ve recently been notified that my Quicken 2007 will no longer be able to retrieve stock prices after a date in April. My requirements are pretty simple so I’m wondering if there are any alternatives out there.

Is there a better place to ask this question?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,
Just a quick note. I too used Quicken and Microsoft Money, however, for the last 5 years or so I have used the open source GNUCASH.

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Dan, I’ve made a note of GnuCash and I may change to that next year. I had already paid for the new version of Quicken by the time all these suggestions came in. I haven’t installed it yet but I probably will and use it for a while.

Thanks,
Bill

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For future reference, here’s some websites that review personal finance software:

http://www.consumersearch.com/accounting_software

http://www.consumersearch.com/personal-finance-sites

http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/index.html

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Thanks for the links, Gary.

Bill

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Okay, This post is a little late and I’m not sure what it does for stock prices, but you could check out CommonCents from Common Cents Software (http://www.commoncentssoftware.com)

It won’t cost anything to try. The only way to buy it is to download the trial and then purchase it when you’re convinced it works for you. I have another product my wife and I have been very happy using, but I know several people who really like CommonCents.

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Unlike just about everybody, I only use Quicken to maintain my checkbook. I did ujpgrad to Quicken 2008 but I found no improvement whatsoever. Quicken has a few annoyances which are never corrected. One of them is that the date reverts to the current date as soon as you do anything a bit out of order. There should be an option to maintain the date you last entered so that you don’t have to keep correcting the date. I will try to avoid updating as long as I can.
Actually if you want to pay bills or do banking, many banks provide this service online at little or not cost. I am not sure why one has to use software for tha purpose. I never do any banking online but if I did, I would not use Quicken.

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Yes, banks do provide bill pay capability, but I do everything possible to simplify my life.

If I pay bills through the bank web site, then do all my other financial “stuff” in quicken, I now have TWO things to interact with instead of one. And have to be sure everything is synced and up to date with each other, etc. And have no “away from the internet” capability, and so on. I am not contending that it isn’t doable, but it is less convenient, more trouble.

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(Just caught up with this thread.) I’ve been a user of Quicken since ’98 when I bought it for both personal and business use. I, too, encountered the problems with VAT but my accountant discovered the errors (over £400) before the VAT man did, saving my honour.

Since 2004 I’ve only needed Quicken for personal use, which is just as well as that’s when Intuit ceased support in the UK. Quicken XG (2004) still serves me well and there’ve been no problems when upgrading Windows through XP Pro and 32-bit Vista Home Premium to 64-bit 7 Home Premium.

The essential parts of Quicken for me are:
1/ the ability to download and update my bank accounts
2/ the excellent Calendar function which I use to show me when I need to shift money into my current account to cover an upcoming large bill
3/ the very flexible and endlessly customisable Reports

I was very worried a couple of years ago when my current account information stopped downloading from my bank and I thought I may have to find an alternative application. However, my bank found and solved the problem (which occurred because my account number had a leading zero). The best thing about Quicken support in the UK was that it officially ceased to exist; after then you couldn’t kid yourself that someone in Intuit would care about your plight.

If I find alternative software that fulfils my three essentials and that can input my existing Quicken data, then I’ll certainly try it. Until then: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

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I’ve been using Microsoft Money for years. The version I’m using now is 2006. I didn’t even know MS doesn’t support the program anymore. I guess now they’re doing everything with that Live Essentials. MS Money is about the only MS program I’ve never had a problem with. I’ve only upgraded the software once since 2000, and I’m not sure the upgrade really provided anything I didn’t already have. Money is wonderfully easy to work with, and has never bombed or messed up my files or crashed or frozen, which makes me wonder if MS hired some other company to create the software for them.

I don’t use the online component for synching with my banks, because my banks never supported it. I don’t mind, though, because I like to do that part myself: it keeps me on top of my financial situation. I’m afraid if I let the program talk to my bank all the time, I’d zone out and lose track of the situation.

I only use MS Money for personal banking, not stock portfolios or credit cards. It does have a credit card capability, but I found it a bit difficult to deal with, so I don’t use it for that, and I’ve never used the investment portfolio part, so I don’t know if that’s any good. But for keeping track of personal and business checking and savings accounts (and a home equity loan) it’s aces.

It might be possible to purchase an old version from one of the software houses, or not. I’ve only ever received one support update from MS for this program, and that was to make it compatible with the Live Essentials. So I doubt that MS’s withdrawal of support is really that critical for this program.

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Whilst not free, I’d recommend Moneysoft’s Money Manager. I’t’s a programme we have used for over 10 years. No annual licensing.

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I received Microsoft Money 2005 Deluxe as a Christmas gift from my kids in 2005 and have used it ever since. Of course, when Windows 7 came out, the Microsoft Compatibility web site indicated that version was incompatible with both the 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows 7, so I did not bother to install.

However, after observing several Windows Updates that were issued to enhance compatibility, I gave it a try on my Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, and have had no negative issues whatsoever. But I have never used the online capabilities of the software so I cannot vouch as to compatibility on that front. I have been able to use it with the same functionality I have always enjoyed and will continue to do so until I find something I like better. After the success on my desktop, I installed it on my Win7 Home Premium laptop, and have enjoyed the same reliability.

It may be possible to buy MS Money 2005 Deluxe from eBay real cheap, but I have not confirmed that to be the case.

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If you are using money and decide to change over to Quicken 2010, just note that Quicken 2010 will only convert money 2007 and later. Anything before 2007…Not possible.

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