Quicken Essentials: OK as a checkbook?

aliaswyvernspur

I tried searching the forums, but I kept getting this error:

"The requested URL /search.php was not found on this server."

So, if this is a duplicate, I'm sorry.



Anywho, I've been a Quicken user (Windows) for years. But I don't do all the fancy stuff like download transactions, monitor retirement accounts, etc., etc. All I use Quicken for is a glorified checkbook. I manually enter everything, and I match everything up with my bank's websites myself.



My question is: would Quicken Essentials work for me? I keep seeing so many reviews just trashing the software, but people are pissed it doesn't do things that I don't need the software for. I've tried MoneyDance, iBank, MoneyWell and while they're nice programs, I just didn't like using them.



I'm just a very simple user and I'm wondering if while QE doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Windows version, does it work for something as simple as tracking a few checking and savings accounts?



Thanks!

rmusikantow

Yes it will work for that. Despite some bad reviews I am actually quite pleased with it. Why enter anything in by hand though, when it is much easier and more accurate to download your transactions?

waywardpondering

Have you thought of trying Mint.com? It works the same, except for Mint.com stores everything in the cloud, good because you can access it from anywhere, including an iPhone with a designated app, but bad if you don't like the idea of your banking info being in said cloud. Also, Quicken Essentials may give the user more manual control over accounts and account creation, but then Quicken Essentials costs around $40.00 to do what Mint.com is doing for free.



The biggest rub I've seen from user reviews of Quicken Essentials is that your not getting much for your money compared with free offerings, like the aforementioned Mint.com, or with what is available for Windows.



Quicken Essentials is intuitive, easy to use software that handles the basics of tracking your accounts, creating budgets and providing reports.

aliaswyvernspur

Sorry for such a long time between postings, work is crazy.



I've been using Quicken Essentials and am quite pleased with it. There are a few things I'd like them to add: like balances next to the names of my accounts, little things like that.



As for both of your questions: I like manually entering it because some places I shop, the money doesn't automatically hit my account right away. So by downloading transactions, money might not show as being out of my account (for example: gas from Wawa shows as $1 for a day or 2, Target doesn't even show for 2-3 days).



I have tried Mint, but I'm not thrilled with it. For some reason, I just like having the check book as separate from the online components.



Thanks again for your suggestions!

cylon

I tried essentials. It was ok, but lacked basic functions like loan amortization. I have switched to iBank in preparation for switching to Lion soon. Little bit of a learning curve, but it works. I just don't like the way you reconcile accounts with it.