I have been testing various programs for personal
finance. I started with Quicken in 1994 because it was in the software
package included with my 1st PC. Then I switched to Microsoft Money
95. I preferred MS Money, but there really was not much difference. At
that point, I only used the software to keep my checkbook register.
Neither Money 95 not my bank offered online services at that time, so I
entered everything manually. After online banking became available, my
son bought me an updated version of Money & I connected my accounts.
I still used Money basically as a checkbook register & added the
savings & credit cards. It was nice to have the download & not
have to enter everything manually. I upgraded to Money 2004, which came
with a new computer purchase, and continued to use Money up until
Microsoft decided to discontinue it in 2010.
I switched back to Quicken (2010 Starter Edition) and I had problems
with it. The automatic downloads did not always work. The initial
download from my bank set up my credit card, but then would not download
transactions to in after the initial download. When I tried to
manually download the transactions, Quicken tried to set up a new
account - would not let me download it to the existing account.
I gave up & went back to MS Money. Now I can continue to use MS
Money as long as I want without support & without online services.
Microsoft offered all Money users a "sunset" version for free. I can
download transactions manually, and even financial institutions that no
longer provide downloads for MS Money (AKA Discover), provide download
to a QIF file, which MS Money supports.
I have been looking for alternatives to Quicken, should there come a day
when I can no longer use MS Money. Preferably free. If I am going to
pay, I would buy Quicken Deluxe, and hopefully find resolutions to the
problems I experienced with the Starter version.
Mint.com - comes from Intuit - makers of Quicken. It is free & it
works very well. Works better than Quicken 2010 Starter did for me.
Mint has become an essential part of my personal finance plan. Mint is
an online service, and some people might not be comfortable with keeping their financial information in
the cloud.
Ace Money Light - The light version is free, but it only allows you to
add 2 accounts. It is a good program for a beginner to learn to work
with personal finance software. The full version costs less than
Quicken.
Grisbi - Free. I liked it at first, but then I could not enter a split transaction.
GnuCash - is more business oriented, but can be used for personal
financed. It is free, but I found it complicated. Double entry is not
for beginners.
KMyMoney - Free. Also uses double entry, but less complicated than GnuCash.
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