Sneak Preview: Quicken for Mac overhaul due out this fall - Page 2

Why is it going to take til next fall for Intuit to have this new Mac version done? It is WAY overdue as it is. This time-frame-til-release makes me very skeptical.

Lets hope next version will include the following: 1) Be able to use amounts larger than 9,999,999, I think Intuit still living in the 80's, nowdays having more than that amount it's not rare specially here in colombia where I live. 2) Be able to sync Quicken with iPhone. You can do it with the rest of OS's.

Well, I must admit the iBank 3 took me by surprise. I really thought that was permanent vaporware. If they fix the most important problems I had with it when I tried it -- insane account reconciling scheme and problems with account histories -- then I will happily move over to iBank.

And Quicken is promising what exactly? That they will have half a product a year after its original due date? And we're supposed o be excited about it?

umm no it doesn't. Quicken plain and simple is not POS. Before you said Quicken was POS now you changed it to Quickbooks. Even Quickbooks POS is basically dead. Yes LightSpeed is good. But LightSpeed does not sync with AddressBook. Hopefully they will change that. I asked them and they said it was too difficult but actually it's not. It's probably just not worth the effort for them.

I gotta agree with you on that one! I'm looking at the article, thinking about how long it's been since we got an upgrade to Quicken that meant anything, how long it's been since it downloaded stock prices (accurately), etc. And I see how good looking this new version appears.

Then I remember all kinds of Intuit shenanigans. Like turning off features that they advertised as part of the program -- to force you to upgrade, setting up QuickBooks so it would stop running after a couple of years -- to force upgrades. Anyone who would go to Intuit and let them hold your data hostage might just be "asking for trouble."

I'm hoping that iBank fixes some of its problems so I can swap. Personally, I would never use the download transaction feature of a financial program; I've known too many people who had transactions that had been charged to their bank account or credit cards erroneously, and then they downloaded them into their financial program all right, only to discover the alient entries too late. No, I want to enter my own transactions so when I do a reconciliation, I'm comparing the bank's records with my own records, not comparing the bank's records to themselevs.

This Cocoa Application and later QuickBooks and more will be a boon for Intuit.

Probably. But it would have been more help to them if they had started work on the Cocoa version three years ago when the Intel switch was announced. All their delaying has done is drive users to iBank and very soon, to Moneydance 2008.

Do we even have a confirmation as yet that QuickBooks is being rewritten in Cocoa?

does ibank 3 support ofx format and automatic downloads (in the background) presently i use quiken 2003 since the others weren't worth updating to. i download in qfx then import for each account

I think I may have gotten into the 'personal financial application' scene going backwards. I started out with iBank (3.0.2) after reading so many posts about 'Quicken Mac sucks....', and after hearing such high praise for iBank (like their accolades from MacWorld,... oh, and their ads where they state something along the lines of 'You finally have a place to go from Quicken!'

My experience with iBank 3.0.2, and subsequently 3.0.3 (which 1/2 way fixed a bug in 3.0.2 which only helped to reveal another bug in 3.0.3)... okay, you see where I'm going. At $60 for buggy eye candy, I'd rather try $70 for ugly yet financially and numerically accurate (... Quicken).

Don't throw tomatoes yet, but I just don't get the high levels of gripes about Quicken. It's clumsy at times, with it's myriad of panels to deal with.. and I've even had small annoyances where importing data wasn't as smooth as expected. Trust me, that's par for the course on just about EVERY financial mac app out there. After iBank I tried Moneydance, cha-ching, and liquid ledger. In my experience, Quicken is the smartest way to go. With that, I'm looking forward to this Q-my financial life setup. I'll run it as a test along side Q.2007 to make sure any of its 'missing' features aren't ones that I would use anyways. But I think eventually, those missing elements will be available.

If you try iBank, tell me if this doesn't happen: After the 'beautiful-ness' of the interface appearance wears off for you, you start to take stock in 'annoyances'. Quicken has them too, but in Quicken, you say... that's annoying, but I can deal with it. In iBank, you'll say... "that feature doesn't work AT ALL!" There's a difference friends.

One vote of confidence for IGG Software, makers of iBank... they honored their 30-day money back guarantee. So if you MUST try them, you can do it without feeling like you've seriously laid $60 on the line.

Looking forward to this new Quicken on the Mac,
Cheers.

Did you try the new version of Moneydance?

Yeah, I did. I'd say out of the 4 packages I tried other than Quicken, Moneydance was the better of the 4. That programs biggest strength though is probably in its cross-platform design. That, and price. At $40, it was a better experience than iBank's $60. I tried it for a few days, set up about 1/2 of my accounts in it to get a feel for it. I gave quicken the same spin, and liked it better. I don't care for Quicken's myriad of panels as an interface design... but once you get the hang of how to keep track of them, it's good.

I'll say this: If you operate in both Mac and Windows, ie. Mac at home and Windows at the office, and you want something to keep your finances straight in both places... Moneydance is worth a look. When I was researching it for my own use, that point was one of the bright spots that kept coming up for people who really loved it. Apparently, your data file can go from one environment to the next, and the app will digest it. Pretty nice.

Mojo151

from what i understand the online product won't allow me to make category printouts for say business reimbursement or taxes, they also don't keep all your data, say i want to compare over 3-5 years i don't think it does it. when i investigated online quicken which really could be a great product they really don't want it to replace the standard products. the cost over a few years is high. but i need to be able to import their data to a spreadsheet or print for taxes, even email the registry. so i looked at "mint" it won't let you import to quicken, and won't let you chose your own categories, or print a category summary for a time period, say last year.
so i looked at ibank as stated above has limitations
i will look at money dance and see if i can print category summaries, download my bank stuff in the background, and it will import to quicken. i wonder if moneydance will allow you to pay bills directly from moneydance then sync with my bank NATIONAL CITY.

quicken has such a lousy product for mac that all these other products see an opening i wish macworld did a detailed evaluation of what's available

i'm working with q2003 and there is no compatibility with 10.5, so if i want to go to 10.5 i have to dump quicken. unless i can reboot in 10.4 and select the OS

maybe we can produce a table of features, pro and con of each of the top 3-5 programs if there are that many of quality to choose from, does anyone know of a review site that has done this? or we can ask MACWORLD for a updated review of personal finance software

if my bank could keep 3 years of data and (longer for a price) allow categories, and category summary printouts for specified time period i wouldn't need quicken

I've been looking for a good replacement for MS Money since I moved to Mac in 2006. So far nothing. I run a PC just for MS Money. I haven't seen any serious reviews of the available personal financial software for Mac.

The top programs seems to be: Quicken, Moneydance and iBank.

Here is a complete list of the programs that I found at Apple's download centre.

The Competitors

Quicken Mac 2007 http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-f...al-finance.jsp
iBank\thttp://www.iggsoftware.com/ibank/
Moneydance\t\t\thttp://moneydance.com/
Liquid Ledger\t\t\thttp://liquidledger.com/
Fortora Fresh Finance for Mac\t http://www.fortora.com/ffmac/
Squirrel\t\t\t\thttp://squirrelapp.com/
Cha-ching\t\t\t\thttp://midnightapps.com/
Mint.com\t\t\t\thttp://www.mint.com/
Wesabe\t\t\t\thttps://www.wesabe.com/
Moneywell\t\t\t\thttp://nothirst.com/moneywell/
iCash\t\t\t\thttp://www.maxprog.com/iCash.html
Personal Finance\t\t\thttp://www.cafeinasoft.com/produtos/...lfinance.shtml
Flowing Pennies\t\t\thttp://www.clarkwood.com/flowingpennies/
MyMoney\t\t\t\thttp://www.mthbuilt.com/
CheckBook Pro\t\t\thttp://www.splasm.com/checkbook/index.html
Money\t\t\t\thttp://www.jumsoft.com/money/
Prospects\t\t\t\thttp://www.motimotion.com/prospects/index.php
iCompta\t\t\t\thttp://angeman7.free.fr/iCompta/?language=en
iFinance\t\t\t\thttp://www.synium.de/products/ifinance/index.html
Accounts\t\t\t\thttp://www.nano.com.au/
EasyMoney\t\t\thttp://www.ttpsoftware.com/Products/easymoney.html
SpendThrift\t\t\thttp://blackllamafaction.org/spendthrift/

It seems like this type of software is very popular to create but that no one (so far) has put together all of the features that users are asking for and put them in one Mac friendly package. I have been reading the support forums and testing some of the test programs.

I can post most detailed reviews soon but my initial impressions were:

Moneydance: the real deal but it doens't look like a Mac program could and doesn't take advantage of the eye candy charts available in some of the other programs. It is cross platform and not made for the Mac. That's a plus or a minus. Your call.

iBank: pretty but has a number of bugs and basic programs as a replacement for Quicken or MS Money. For example I think it couldn't handle a 0% loan and hitting increase the date by one at the end of the month goes to the first of the same month rahter than the first of the next month, most of th etime that is tomorrow or the next day. Bizzare. Reconcilliation isn't standard. Expensive.

Squirrel: Nice looking, shows promise but is not even a 1.0 release yet. For example will have scheduled transactions soon.

Liquid Ledger: also nice but lacks support for sub-categories, a key feature of nearly every other program.

Mint and Wesabe are getting for knowing where my money went but they don't (yet) help me manage transactions and model the short future (i.e my mortgage payment comes out next week)

Cha-Ching: looks to have gone into hibernation. No responses to user on their support boards about the next release.

I'd love to strap the look of iBank or Squirrel on to Moneydance.

i'm using ibank 3 trial, works ok, but i'm trying to make a category summary for business reimburesement, so next week i will try again. also after importing my quicken "recent" or making a my ledger "this year" only goes back to the date of my last quiken entry. still working with support, i'll say support has been very responsive, better than quiken.
it download from my bank OK, i'm trying to learn to use "smart downloads" but my bank doesn't include the "memo" portion, so i can't use this as a filter.
oh well i'll get there. ibank so far is nice, but it runs on leopard not my tiger macbook
thanks for all the work. the company that can come up with a nice bug free, good support alternative to quickmess will win over many mac fans and money fans.

thanks again

Nice list. Any of those handle small businesses, and most importantly, Canadian GST returns?

A few handle small business. There were some business specific ones that I didn't include as I was looking for personal software only. Seems like all the ones that do double entry are aimed at business as well as personal. Check out "Accounted" it's not on the list but looked like it was for small business.

Don't flame me, but I would really like to read what people here use personal finance software for. I manage two checking, two savings, IRA, Mortage, CD and two credit card accounts on-line. My wife and I have accounts scattered across four states and five financial institutions, and I have never sat down and said "Gosh... I wish that I had a copy of all my financial data right here on my hard drive." Would anyone mind sharing how Quicken, or other software like it, fit into their own financial lives?

Thanks.

Hi Kishan, no problem re: flaming, a question I have for you is why wouldn't you want an up-to-date, all-in-one picture of your financial situation?

You mentioned all your different accounts but, in my opinion, it's not the number of accounts that determine if you use the software. It is a tool to know where your money goes. Some people need the tool, some people don't and some don't want to know. Some people have enough money that it doesn't matter.

I use financial management software to understand exactly where I spend my money so I can make plans for the future by understanding my past and where I can make adjustments.

I recognize that a lot of people don't use this type of software but it is important to me to know (not guess, or wonder, or assume) where my money goes. Most people I have spoken to on the subject would like the results I get but without the work. It doesn't work that way.

Here is an example, I have no idea how someone would plan the purchase of something like a more expensive home, with all the increased costs that it could entail, without a history of what they spend their money on, an existing budget and a future budget. But that's just me. Some people just hope for the best, I guess.

This type of software is, to me, the most important software I own and use. Most of my friends think I am too serious about it but I think they have essentially closed their eyes and hoped for the best. Frequently they wonder why their financial situation is getting worse or never improving.

Anyway that's why I use this type of software.

i've been using this for the last month. it can do what you want, i'd send your post to ibank info, you can get a contact email address. there support has been very helpful (email) and timely. maybe it's the trial period "effect" to sell. but i believe it can do this. so far it downloads all the information from my bank, i can rename all the accounts, and if its online i believe it can "grab" it.
but my needs are simple, i have two account,( i don't monitor as closely my credit cards since i pay them off each month and simply review the statement for errors--maybe i should be more vigilant) but i use my software to keep track of business reimbursements and tax based stuff for my cpa.
if i can put the correct category it allows me to see it in many different ways. OK i'm learning about making category summaries, which are not like quicken. but ANYTHING BUT QUICKEN, they have ruined their franchise by poor product and poorer customer service. also with ibank3 it will upload a copy to idisk, and sync with my future iphone.
take a look. i know they push their "Mac" look, but i really don't care about that, its the ease of setup and getting the info i need quickly. like anything it took me a while to set up correctly, my quicken stuff from quicken for mac 2003 took a while to get to the right format (it was a date format issue )but i got it to work. with ibank the big thing are categories, so you can organize. it does allow any definable chart.
send you question to ibank and see what they say. oh, also, ibank 3 works only with leopard, i was going to upgrade from tiger but can't till i am confident that ibank3 is for me. so far so good.

the other nice feature are smart downloads, when you download from your bank, you are given a chance to place them in the category, rename, pretty much anything for that "payee" so next time you import them they automatically are populated with the info you need. so before you import a download you can set these up--very helpful, since many times the bank calls my cell phone charge some weird name and number and i can set it up that when i goes into ibank it says At&t Cell phone......and category: Business: cell phone.

are you starting fresh or changing from other software, money, quicken. because this might have a baring on your case.

Cha-Ching has come out of hiding and is preparing a beta for this week and a release for the "end of the summer"

http://www.midnightapps.com/blog/

I've also heard that Jumsoft's Money is aiming to release version 3.0 before the end of July.
http://www.jumsoft.com/money/

Looks like a lot is happening on the financial software front.

Maybe that elusive Quicken killer is just around the corner. Finally.

when quicken for mac is released hope hope macworld will do a review and give us some direction
i don't like the idea of using trial versions to test find weaknesses not sure to live with or get another app. the one that makes all the planets align for us mac people will win huge
i like ibank 3 but is there something better, and has a better search ability. when i search it nearly crashes....it works ok but needs some heavy buffing

Quicken has updated their web site and gives some more details about the next Quicken for Mac.

All the real info is hidden in the FAQs. The comms person should be fired.

"We have two announcements about our product release and timeline:

1. We will be releasing the product this Winter.
2. The public Beta of Quicken Financial Life for Mac will begin this Fall."


http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-f...al-finance.jsp

this quicken thing is tireing i've been using ibank3 and i can get through it had trouble printing but found a work around
i just need categories, category summary for selected dates, eg year to date, last year keep 5 years data and be able to print or copy paste (ibank doesn't have this)
basically i want quicken to download my stuff in the background and give me the above, ibank gets to about 85% which is ok it can be better, but there is a huge need out there as more and more get mac.
by the time any new quiken comes out, i'll have it down with ibank 3 and quicken can just kiss my ....., i hate being ignored, and quicken has ignored macs toooooo long
as above some mac-centric site must do a review of ALL mac financial software and then i will pay attention

HEY IBANK3 PLEASE GIVE ME COPY/PASTE, AND GET THE PRINTING CORRECTED.

any news if it'll support multiple currency?

if it does, I'll happily junk ibank..

The new version of Quicken has now been pushed to Winter.

bummer--just visited quicken mac site. banner on upper right now announces "summer 2009!"

That's unbelievable (well, not really for Intuit...)

I hope iBank and Moneydance have new upgrades to showcase at MWSF. They will have a field day with Quicken users.

Oh, it's quite believable if you're in the public beta.

Mac OS 10.7 will not support PPC apps like Quicken. Any solution, other than rebooting to 10.6?