Another year, and another update of Quicken from Intuit. I bought and installed Quicken Premier 2013 from Amazon.
I’ve been a faithful user of their product since 1992 – over 20 years. We track 54 accounts within Quicken – to say I’m a power user of their product would be an understatement. We track every bank account, credit card, asset, retirement, investment, and liability.
Intuit never does radical changes with their updates. They incrementally add features to Quicken, and the enhancements tend to be evolutionally. Since Microsoft Money has been discontinued, there aren’t many other competitors in the personal finance desktop software category.
Sure there are other applications that we’ve reviewed: YNAB (You Need A Budget) or Moneydance. But neither comes close in marketshare usage, or the comprehensive personal finance features that are available in Quicken. Online, the only service that comes close is Personal Capital.
Quicken 2013 vs. Quicken 2012
Quite a few items were improved in the Quicken 2013 edition. Overall I’m happy they’ve progressed forward with the latest version and not kept their focus on solely on just Mint.com.
As I mentioned previously, the trend is to merge of what’s stored locally on your desktop to what’s available in the cloud. After two years ago stating they needed to go in this direction, Quicken 2013 finally merges Intuit’s desktop software with online availability.
Though this feature is really from the 2012 edition, the first thing I noticed right out of the box is improved connectivity problem resolution. The crutch to either Quicken or Mint is how well the application can sync data from financial institutions. It looks like Intuit is making this process much more seamless. This is a much needed improvement.
In brief, here’s what’s new and improved in Quicken 2013.
Free Quicken Mobile App
iPad Screenshot (Click To Enlarge)
In keeping with their free personal finance service Mint.com, they now offer a similar service for Quicken users. There is an app for iPhone, iPad, and Android users. All apps are free to use and no additional cost. Hopefully this feature won’t disappear like their previous online service. Once they bought Mint.com they quickly disabled the Quicken Online service that allowed for syncing to their web site. To enable this feature you must signup and create a Quicken Cloud ID. From the mobile app you can:
- Get your accounts balances from anywhere
- Monitor your budget
- Enter transactions as they happen
Email and Text Alerts
Keep informed about any changes to your finances. Again just like Mint, you can get alerts via E-mail or via SMS text. For important issues such as:
- Credit Available – If credit available drops below a specific amount
- Bank Fees – If bank charges are over a specific amount
- Unusual Spending – If spending in any category is above average
- Large Deposits – When a deposit is over a specific amount
- Large Purchases – When you spend more than an amount
- Low Balance – When accounts go below a dollar amount
- Overbudget – If you go over your allocated budget
- Interest Rate – If the interest rate changes
- Total Credit Available – If credit usage could cause a change in your credit score
Oddly enough, they have only weekly and monthly notifications. I personally would like to get alerts on a daily basis. Just like with the mobile apps, you must also create a quicken Cloud ID to enable this feature.
Improved Loan Tracking
Improved loan functionality (Click To Enlarge)
This was a much needed improvement over older versions. Quicken can automatically download your loan information.
This now includes loan balances and transactions, including your principal and interest. The new loan dashboard allows you to monitor your pay-off date, pay-off progress, and interest paid against your loan.
Quicken allows you to perform “What If..” scenarios to see what’s the best way to pay-off your debts. One option is to change the order of debts paid.
Flexible Budgeting
Lastly, but certainly not least for many users of Quicken, is their budgeting section has been dramatically improved. You can get a birdseye view of your budget by the annual view. The one neat feature added is the ability to rollover underages to the next month.
Technical Requirements
Quicken’s requirements have always been the middle to low lend-end of new computers sold. The specs listed below shouldn’t be an issue if your hardware is less than 5 years old. These are the same specs needed to run Quicken 2011. I suspect you’ll need a slightly more powerful machine than listed.
- Processor: 1 GHz
- Operating System: Windows XP SP2+, Vista, Windows 7 (32- and 64-bit)
- Memory: 1 GB
- Hard Disk Space: Up to 450 MB free space; up to 1 GB if .NET not installed
- Display: 1024×768 or higher resolution
- CD-ROM Drive: Required
- Internet: 56 Kbps (broadband recommended for online services)
- Printer: Any printer compatible with Windows XP SP2 or later
- Additional Software (included in Quicken installer): Microsoft .NET 2.0 or later; Windows Installer 3.1; Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
Using Quicken for Windows on a Macintosh
Like I stated, I’ve been using Quicken since my first MS-DOS computer. Now that I am Macintosh user, I could have used the bastardized version Quicken Essentials for Mac, but I still prefer Quicken for Windows. The Windows version is much more robust and doesn’t appear to be an afterthought in Intuit’s product line.
I run Quicken 2013 Premier by running it in a VMWare Fusion instance. The added benefit of virtualizing Windows is added security, since no other software is installed on that instance. You don’t have to worry about any rogue viruses or software compromising your finances. This technique is also possible on a Windows based machine.
Quicken Review
The mobile option is a nice new feature to Quicken. I’m on the go a lot and like the ability to see this information in near realtime, like Mint.com. Although it doesn’t have any investing details, it would be nice if it had this option like Personal Capital’s app does. Worst case I continue to use both while mobile. I suspect future versions will even more blur the distinction from desktop to cloud-based application.
The alerts are also a welcomed addition, though I wish they offered a daily alert option. Since installing Quicken I’ve already seen four updates. While it’s great that Intuit is actively updating the product from customer feedback, it’s concerning that they have encountered so many bugs in the latest release. Most of the bugs have been related to the mobile options.
For my family we don’t actively use the budgeting feature. I do think the updates are a welcome addition for budget fanatics. The loan improvements I do use, and it is great they updated a section that hasn’t been updated in approximately ten years.
One little minor feature not mentioned in any of the advertising material is the ability to reclassify any manual account. We have a few accounts that I track within Quicken (i.e. Betterment), that previously would only be listed under the assets section. Since Betterment is an investment I would rather it be listed under the investing section. Quicken 2013 now allows you do this.
Summary
Overall this version, like previous, is an incremental upgrade, and doesn’t have any drastic improvements. If you are an existing user of Quicken and your version is a few years old, I suggest upgrading. I’m sure for many, the mobile app option is a welcomed additional feature.
If you are a new user and have a mid-level to advanced finances, I would without question recommend purchasing it. I much prefer Quicken over Mint, because it can handle a much more complex financial scenarios. Quicken can definitely grow with you when your finances become more complex.
Personal Capital is another possible option if you are looking for a purely cloud-based solution, and you have more complex investing options than Mint.com. For now though, Quicken still remains the champ of personal finance applications – locally installed or in the cloud.
Buy Quicken Online
There are many versions of Quicken to choose from. You can order and download immediately from Amazon’s web site. Save up to 40% off the list price.
- Quicken Premier 2013 – $51.94
- Quicken Deluxe 2013 – $37.99
- Quicken Home & Business 2013 – $56.90
- Quicken Rental Property Manager 2013 – $129.99
Update: Per some of the negative reviews on this page, and seen on other sites we have decreased the rating from five stars, to four. Though the author of the review has not seen any of the bugs mentioned online. The overall viewpoint of the product remains the same – it is a decent update and worthy to purchase.
It would appear your passing mention of the mobile app’s shortcomings is putting it VERY mildly given the average rating of 2 stars on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.intuit.quicken).
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the info. I did not review the Android version, as I do not have that platform to test on. The iPad/iPhone version does not seem to have the same bugs.
Amazon users are also giving the desktop version 2 stars and there’s a virtual mob scene on Quicken’s support community pages. Apparently not their finest release.
Hi Patrick,
I checked out Amazon’s reviews recently, and I have’t had any of the issues described. Perhaps it was because I waited a few days after it came out and upgraded to the latest patch R4 version before using it?
I do agree from prior experiences their tech support is useless.
Thanks for the review, I think I’ll be ‘purchasing’ Quicken 2013 Premiere for the first time this year. I want to be able to quickly assess all my retirement accounts since I have a 401k with fidelity and Roth through Vanguard. It’s a PITA to check what my year to date earnings are since I contribute lump sum to roth and bi weekly to 401k. Sounds like windows version is the way to go though? I have a mac, but I’ll probably just buy the windows version and run it on parallels if this is the case. thanks!
Do NOT buy the Macintosh version. Stick with Windows/Parallels (or what I prefer VMWare Fusion).
Larry, still using Quicken 2005! Any problem upgrading to 2013?
It should be ok, but I have not tested it myself.
A number of years ago I switched from Microsoft Money to Quicken — I’ve forgotten what release it was. After a lot of finagling, and learning to live with a few annoying little quirks, I finally got Quicken to function to my satisfaction. Then, of my own free will, I upgraded to Quicken 2010 Deluxe, though I don’t remember why. Once again, with a *lot* of fiddling, and learning how to deal with a few new Quicken quirks, I was, once again, a happy Quicken user.
Now, after committing all of my financial data to Quicken for at least a decade, I was literally forced to either upgrade to Quicken 2013, or lose one of Quicken’s most valuable functions, e.g., downloading transactions from my financial institutions, effective April 30, 2013.
I’m not upset by this *forced* upgrade or the $64 upgrade fee. I gladly submitted to this passive form of corporate greed, though I clearly was not interested in any of the proposed Quicken 2013 “enhancements” and Mobile Access support. My thinking was that, at the very least, I would retain the Quicken functions I currently used.
Wrong!
So far, I’ve wasted hours simply trying to configure Quicken 2013 so it looks and functions even vaguely like any other version of Quicken I’ve ever owned. Try as I may, I can’t come close to duplicating my former Quicken 2010 functions or user interface.
For example, why would the Quicken developers take away my ability to display an IRA account in the Savings section instead of the Retirement section, even though Quicken 2013 Help says I should be able to do so? What happened to the Banking tab?
Much more importantly, what happened to the little red flag that used to show up next to any account that downloaded transactions during a OneStep Update? According to Quicken’s crack “Online Chat” support staff, I’m told that now, after doing a “OneStep Update,” I’ll have to open EACH AND EVERY ACCOUNT REGISTER and check the “Downloaded Transactions” tab to see if any transactions were downloaded — how brilliant!!!
I notice that on their “Quicken 2013 Hot Topics and Known Issues,” webpage (where they have resolved exactly *ONE* Online Banking Register issue-:), Intuit is quick to point out that they “back Quicken 2013 with a 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee.” Now that my Quicken 2010 data has been converted to a new Quicken 2013 format, what the hell is the point of giving me my money back? Even if I could successfully go back to Quicken 2010, what am I to do come May 1, 2013?
Intuit, I’ll be more than happy to pay you your $64 ransom fee. Just give me back the vital Quicken 2010 features you took away! As an extra, added bonus, you can keep all those amazingly stupid Quicken 2013 “enhancements,” which, other than possibly Mobile Access, nobody will ever use!
“For example, why would the Quicken developers take away my ability to display an IRA account in the Savings section instead of the Retirement section, even though Quicken 2013 Help says I should be able to do so?”
The only accounts I think that can do this are “Other Asset” and “Other Liability” in which you can classify them however you wish. Though as you describe this, I’m not sure I understand why you would want to do this anyways. Tax differed accounts should be grouped together and separate from savings accounts. Savings accounts typically mean taxable.
“Much more importantly, what happened to the little red flag that used to show up next to any account that downloaded transactions during a OneStep Update?”
If I understand what you are stating, that does this for me still… For any account which has new downloaded data, I have a red flag next to it.
I have been retired for 19 years and have three IRA/401K “Retirement” accounts, which I prefer to show in the Banking tab (which is gone in Quicken 2013), under “Savings.”
In Quicken 2010, I can assign these or any other account to any tab and any section of that tab. Quicken 2013 won’t let me change where “Retirement” accounts are displayed. No big deal, right? I guess my main point is why keep screwing with the user interface. Why do loyal Quicken users have to relearn everything every two years? It’s ridiculous!
I have all my preferences set correctly and still don’t see any red flags next to accounts with new downloaded data.
IMHO, most serious Quicken users would be happy to pay a reasonable maintenance fee to cover the cost of maintaining older versions of Quicken that they still like. I know I would pay for the right to continue using Quicken 2010.
In the IT industry, there’s an old adage that says, “the best computer application is the one that’s installed, works and you know how to use it.”
Let’s face it, nearly all of Quicken’s new, “enhanced” releases are simply lame excuses to increase revenue. I seriously doubt that it costs Intuit much money to maintain older versions of Quicken.
My solution to the Quicken 2013 fiasco is to reinstall 2010 and wait until April 2013 to see if any of the Quicken 2013 issues are resolved. Based on progress to date, I’m not hopeful that any significant issues will be resolved. Intuit seems to have adopted the same “screw the customer” arrogance that has been the downfall of *many* large corporations in the IT industry.
If, come April 2013, Quicken 2013 is still the piece of junk it is today, I’ll install Quicken 2012, and hope it meets my basic needs. Then I will have a few years to find a replacement for both of my Intuit products: Quicken and TurboTax.
My 35+ years of experience in this industry tells me that some new, innovative company will see the open opportunity in this market segment and go for it.
I could not agree with the previous posts. Quicken is holding their customers hostage and this latest blackmail “upgrade since your version will not support online syncing with your bank/investment/retirement accounts as of Apr30,2013″ is an audacity. We are forced to stay with them. Like you we have everything on Quicken. I travel extensively and until this idiotic new version I was still able to use my pocket quicken. Now I had to weigh online downloads vs. this old and tried mobile app. I upgraded. Stupid, stupid, stupid me. Thinking, their mobile app, despite warnings and low ratings, would hopefully work somewhat. It’s totally useless. My cash account, yes i still use cash, does not sync to their cloud and I can’t update transactions on the road. So I hope passionately that Quicken will be brought down by some clever software engineer that develops a usable alternative and will not get bought out by Intuit.
I am, unfortunately, 100% in agreement with the feeling of being held hostage to the poor quality of the Quicken upgrade process. I tried upgrading from 2010 to 2013 and spent hours and hours trying to get my transactions to cross into the register. Basically, the entire program is broken,and two different hour-long support sessions have failed to find a resolution. I have been using Quicken for at least 12-15 years, and have never had an easy upgrade path – it has always taken many hours to get the system working again – but this is the worst, and support can’t fix it either. I have uninstalled 2013 and opened my back up copy of 2010. I am just waiting until May 1 to see if they go through with their threat to stop my communication with the bank. Like Jim, I’d even pay a yearly maintenace fee to stay with a stable version. Does anyone have any other suggstions of a program that isn’t owned by Intuit?
Earla,
See the list we have here:
http://investorjunkie.com/24249/mintcom-alternatives/
It talks about Mint alternatives, but obviously applies to Quicken as well.
Can it run on Windows Surface tablet? The mobile app running on my PC has had major problems with it…really needs to be refined.
A current Windows Surface tablet is an ARM chip based CPU. Quicken is Intel based (so is traditional Windows desktops/portables) So the existing Windows Surface tablets cannot run Quicken. There is a planned Intel based (that is approx $1k) Surface tablet that should be able to run Quicken.
Thank you for your speedy feedback! Like yourself, I am a very long time Quicken user – since their first release – and I am disappointed by the performance of their mobile app. It really skewed my data on several occasions, so I basically gave up on it. Do you know if they have corrected the issues yet? Also, do you know if that same app will be able to be installed on the Surface once Intuit works out the bugs?
I haven’t had the issue mentioned around the net with the mobile edition. Not sure if it’s specific items you have to do to cause that bug, or use specific financial institutions. Intuit is now up to Quicken R7.
FYI Quicken has a page that lists all of the bug fixes:
http://quicken.intuit.com/support/help/patching/quicken-2013-for-windows-release-notes–updates–and-mondo-patch/GEN85043.html
I’ve been doing online banking since 1995, with MS Money and I too wish Money was still in the game. I loved that software and thought it was much more intuitive and user friendly. Maybe not as robust as Quicken but perfect for my household finances. I also suffer from updates with Quicken and this 2013 update has been a PITA for me. It duplicated payees, erased online payees, automatically enters payments…….. I’m having fits with it and would pay thousands to have MS Money back – never an ounce or problem with that program. I keep thinking I’ll be happier with future upgrades – NOT. I’m stuck with Quicken
I too am disappointed that MS Money is no longer around. The reason being that as long as MS Money existed, Intuit had competition and kept Quicken updated with competitive features and bug fixes that made for a better product. Now there is no major competition and we seem to be seeing fewer new features with each yearly version as well as more bugs. I can understand that there is less incentive to pump money into the program as so many people use their bank’s online web banking instead of spending money on buying desktop software. Guess I’m a dinosaur as I prefer being able to set up desktop financial software and download banking transactions from the bank into it. I’ve been using financial software since MS Money back in the early 1990s and switched to Quicken in the late 1990s and have used it ever since. As long as I’ve used desktop software, keep my transactions downloaded and entered debit card and check transactions as soon as the were done, I’ve been able to keep my checking account in balance at all times, something I was never able to do before financial software. I just wish there was more competition again on the desktop/mobile app front.
Mostly to do with categories (somehow changed info), corruption of the data file (the main data file), not accurately linking to all my accounts (via web updates), old accounts suddenly becoming active. One year, I had to install the software twice b/c the first time it became so corrupted for no apparent reason.
I have only done my upgrades at the 3-year mark (2003-4, 2007, 2010) and I was a hoping to not have to do this year but it seems I will. The main feature I like is to be able to quickly update my accounts from my financial websites (banking & brokerage). I don’t want the cloud storage, mobile apps, etc. currently i’m happy just being able to do everything on my laptop.
All the new bells and whistles are mostly irrelevant to me. I just want a solid stable dependable program. I’d pay a small fee rather than upgrade. Jere’s a potential niche for Intuit!!
With any upgrade, always make sure you do a backup first.
See my site reviews for possible alternatives. Though the alternatives IMHO are not as integrated with downloading data, or missing features a more advanced user wants.
The others may or may not suit your needs. At least for my review criteria, none do not and Quicken is still IMO the best personal finance app out there. But that isn’t saying it’s perfect – far from it. What I suggest it’s the best of what’s out there in the marketplace. MS Money was a much better app, but as you stated no longer available.
hi Larry, i am a Quickbooks user but recently for work i had to learn quicken. i recently updated to the 2013 version but i really want to go and take a course of some sort that would teach me how to resolve glitches i run into. i have looked and looked online and i cant find anything. i am in the los angeles area and if you have any suggestions they will be incredibly helpful. thanks
Hi Lana, I don’t know of any classes you could take, but what issues are you having? Be specific.
well i run into syncing issues all the time. it does not recognize my financial institution sometimes, even though it has in the past, it gives me inacurate information when it comes to balances…if i was to erase all of the expense categories i have created and i start from scratch, what would that really do to the data i already have in quicen? it really frustrates me when it syncs info from the bank and puts it in categories that are incorrect, what is the best way to fix that?
thanks
Make sure you have the latest version. Other users have reported issues as you describe, unfortunately (or really fortunately) in my case I haven’t seen such issues.
I have Quicken 2011. It seems I would need the Quicken 2013 to use their new mobile app? Does Quicken offer an “upgrade” fee to get the latest version?
Hi Brooke,
Intuit doesn’t offer an upgrade version. You just purchase Quicken 2013. It’s the same price for new users or existing users who upgrade.
Thanks for the fast reply! So I can’t use the mobile app unless I upgrade?
Correct.
Larry
When you run Quicken Premier 2013 for Windows on your mac (Mountain Lion), using VM Ware Fusion, can you still (i) direct download from financial institutions and (ii) sync up with iphone and iPad through iCloud ? Also, which should I download first, the Quicken or the Fusion?
Mike
Hi Mike,
VMWare Fusion makes a Windows instance on your machine. Do keep in mind you also need a license for Windows as well. Quicken runs because it’s for all purposes a separate machine on your Mac. Quicken has no idea it’s really running on a Macintosh and thinks it’s on a Windows desktop.
All features that work on a normal Windows machine with Quicken will work on Quicken installed within VMWare fusion. VMWare Fusion is a virtualization software that creates a container with Windows running within your Macintosh. Hope this clears things up.
I have used Quicken for many years on a PC. Current version is 2011. I am thinking about changing to a MAC. Will I be able to use Quicken 2013 and download all that I have backed up on the on-line Quicken?
online quicken? it just syncs from what’s on your desktop. So you would need to transfer your quicken files to the virtualized Quicken for Windows on your Macintosh. Again keep in mind you must buy the windows edition of quicken and use virtualization like VMWare Fusion or Parallels in order to run Windows software on your Macintosh.
Larry,
I have been using quicken for many years. Currently, I use bootcamp to run the Windows version of Quicken Rental Property Manager version 2012. I used to run it on a PC and recently purchased a Mac. I want to run the data downloads using safari and pull them in Quicken using the import function but Quicken does not find the download. I want to avoid purchasing virus software for windows as I am only running my Quicken program. Any suggestions on how to get the download file in the quicken program? Also, any suggestions on how I would go about grabbing the updates/patches, etc for the program using safari.
Hi Anne,
Two suggestions. Microsoft has a free anti-virus software called Microsoft Security Essentials. Second I would recommend installing a web browser or using the built in browser IE. Your windows install should be treated like a regular PC. Updates should (actually must) be done within the install. You cannot download them from Mac.
PLEASE any future questions not related to the review itself should be directed to the forum we have:
http://forum.investorjunkie.com/
I’m more than happy to answer questions there.
I have been using Quicken since 1998 or so but always have entered my own transactions. How difficult is it to convert accounts (both spending and investment) so that I can download transactions–esp invetments? I am just converting from 2012 to 2013.
Hi Nancy, I would assume Intuit supports this based upon their web site:
http://quicken.intuit.com/support/help/convert-data-from-an-earlier-version-of-quicken/GEN82390.html
For Canadian version, TFSA should be in “Spendings & savings” section and not in the” Investing”.( Income tax is not paid from this account ) and for customers, is better to see all savings at glance. And there is diffcult to track money in and out of TFSA, when you don’t want to share from this account any profit with the Government. ( Govrnment regulation for this TFSA.Please help. Frank
I could not agree more with this person’s posting. I have been with Quicken since the software first hit the market. I have faithfully upgraded to each new version, but this upgrade is, in my opinion, a real “dud”. Oh, if we could only get our money and our old features and transactions back. Let them try to squeeze more money from me in the future!
Curious on some more feedback regarding running Quicken on a Mac. I too am a Quicken “power-user” (every financial account and transaction since 1997) and am now considering a MacBook Pro. Did you use or consider Parallels before deciding on VMWare Fusion? What about Bootcamp (I know it requires a re-boot but has access to all of the Mac’s processing power and memory). Any issues with VMWare Fusion? Is it slow? Finicky? If you don’t mind, what are the specs of your Mac in terms of memory and processor?
I picked VMWare Fusion because I am already familiar with VMWare, and VMware images can be moved between their various platforms without issue. Parallels while not bad, I don’t think is a mature as VMWare Fusion. Bootcamp I don’t consider an option because that means you must reboot to run Windows. I prefer to run everything at once.
I have 8GB of ram and 4 Core machine (2010 MacPro). With any virtualization the more memory the better. Windows really needs at least 1GB of ram, and I gave it 2 cores. It could run with just one though.
The budget module is a disgrace. The budget screen that the reviewer said was such an improvement is so full of bad programming and just plain bad logic. The rollover feature is badly implemented. Scheduled transactions are included in this screen.. For the whole year in other words before the transaction has taken place, a clear violating of every accounting practice known.
Reviews like this have no place seeing the light of day. Quicken 2013 as of mid January has had 10 maintenance releases. The budget module still has so many issues. Do not buy or upgrade to this product.
Fred,
The purpose of a budget is for estimation. Why shouldn’t scheduled transactions be included? I believe this functionality was in previous versions of Quicken, and wasn’t just introduced for 2013. This isn’t an accounting package and doesn’t have to follow accounting standards (Even Intuit’s Quickbooks doesn’t follow accounting standards). The purpose of a budget is to help with outflow estimations. Can you be specific with your issues in budgeting?
Regarding the 10 releases, yes they have that many but on the positive it also means they are actively fixing issues. Granted some of the issues should have been resolved prior to releasing the product, but that is a whole other issue. In my personal use, I still not seen any bugs that other users have experienced.
What is your definition of actual? For example yesterday the annual budget screen showed that I had “spent” $200,000 yet the same bar graph on my home screen said that I had “spent” only $100,000. The later was correct. The difference was the annual budget screen added the “scheduled” transactions before they took place and as such became a actual transaction. The result was a overstatement of the money that had been actually spent.
Unless done very carefully parent categories with child categories can lead to a world of hurt as well. There are instances were the sum of the child categories will not add up correctly in the parent category.
The 10 releases have been mainly for the mobile portion and has not addressed the many budget issues.
Should have added that the scheduled transactions should already be in the budget as a budgeted expense or income. To then have them included as actually taking place results in reports and screens like I mentioned that are confusing and just plain wrong. If the situation had involved scheduled income events and somebody suddenly saw that they had twice as much income Whoo Hoo and then went out and bought an expensive item as a result… Words mean something and in this case “actual income” or “actual expense” is defined as an event that has taken place. A scheduled transaction (that may or may not take place) does not meet this criteria and should not be included.
SOmeone above asked if could upgrade from 2005 and was told probably could. My experience is that you must upgrade every three years, or use intervening software to upgrade. (I borrowed intervening software CD from a friend as a bridge to transfer data that was over three years old once, when I discovered this.
Pat,
The official word from Intuit is this:
http://quicken.intuit.com/support/help/install–register–and-convert/using-an-intermediate-version-to-convert-older-versions-of-quicken/GEN82211.html
Though obviously if you don’t have an intermediate version you should still be able to upgrade
I too am in need of updating my Quicken software, but am concerned about several of the reviews and comments of other long time users. Have you ever reveiwed or compared the features of MoneyAce with Quicken?
Hi Scott,
I am not aware of that product.
Anyone having problem with split entries in 2013? i am not sure what is causing it, but i am suspecting that when I sync with cloud, it is creating duplicates on my split entries
ex, before sync:
Household $12
clothing $29
after sync
Household $12
clothing $29
Household $12
clothing $29
uncategorized -$82
Chances are it is the mobile app causing the discrepancy. There are still many issues with it even after 10 maintenance releases.
I am having trouble with the “budgeting” feature. I have a budget in Quickbooks and want to migrate to quicken. I have balances in accounts/categories, however, I cannot seem to get starting balances to add up correctly. I have turned on “rollover balances” at the end of the month but it doesn’t seem that the #’s ever add up. For instance, I have Auto & transportation. the total spending is $411, however the two subcategories are Auto Insurance (total spending of $100) and Gas & Fuel (total spending of $186) do NOT add up to these amounts. How can this be? What am I missing? Shouldn’t this be basic math? Any assistance is greatly appreciate.
One of the workarounds that may fix this is as follows. Open the budget and make sure that is is on annual view and that you have the 2013 budget selected. Turn off the rollover balances feature. Now in each of the “parent” categories like your Auto and Transportation enter a 0. Do this for each parent category for each month of the budget. Now see if they add up properly. Be aware of another gotcha in the budget. If you schedule any transactions such as a mortgage payment Quicken will list those payments in the budget as actuals that have taken place for all future month left in the budget even though they have not take place yet.
Nope, it still didn’t work. Thank you for trying. How can a financial program not add things up correctly? this makes me hesitate to keep it if i can’t trust it.
Sorry that is all I know to do. This version has been the worst update ever. I understand updates have issues but this software still should be considered a Beta version. Too many data integrity issues.
Thanks! I appreciate you trying. I contacted them and I’m supposed to send them screen shots, we’ll see if it gets anywhere.
Larry,
Like you, I’ve been using Quicken since 1992. I’m currently running 2010 Deluxe and have been delaying the “forced” upgrade because of seeing so many negative comments here and on Amazon (currently only 2+ stars with 1,025 raters).
The iOS app isn’t really important to me, so I don’t focus on those reviews. But, I am very concerned about the high number of reports about bank accounts not syncing and duplicate transactions.
Do you have any suggestions about upgrading that might help avoid these issues?
I have the original 2010 upgrade CD. Do you know if I would be able to do a complete install with this CD in case my 2013 upgrade goes sour? I always make two backups (including one offsite) after each session, so I’ll be prepared in that respect.
Thanks
Hi Mike C, I suspect the duplicate transactions has more to do with your bank, than really Quicken itself. The data comes from the financial institution, not Intuit. I personally have seen this with our Quickbooks (not my personal Quicken) and Chase. I haven’t had this issue with other financial institutions. So to put it simply it will depend upon the banks you use. Hence this is why this problem isn’t globally occurring. Hope this helps.
Hi. I see you have use quicken since 1992 I have a question Will u answer before I waste anymore money on quicken. On the 1992 on you could pull reports per home ( I’m a landlord) from memo line. The nine upgrades have deleted this feature as I still use the 1992 one I have tried rental program. I don’t want to double type all entries as it already takes me months to enter checks as I write over 100 checks a month. Did they put this feature back in any if the years in didn’t purchaser software. Thank you very much
Hi Karen, what you do in modern versions of Quicken is tag the items associated with that rental unit. The tag option allows you to assign income and expenses to a specific rental until and then filter within the reports to only show that tag. Hope this helps..
Thank you I’ll give it a try
We have been using Quicken since 2.0 for dos…. a long while with virtually no problems. Quicken Deluxe 2003 has been doing great so we have stayed with it. We have 3 computers networked and all good since. Last week we started having odd occurances in some of the files such as being able to open the same file with 2 computers at the same time and updating a file from one computer and the entry does not show up on the main computer hard drive. Has anyone reported problems networking (hard wired) multiple computers using Quicken? I have been thinking that we should up date to Quicken Home & Business 2013. However, after reading your website it sounds like updating to 2013 is a bad idea. Any comments on these issues?
I’m surprised that you’ve been able to successfully network ANY version of Quicken since the company says that it is not intended to be a networked software. My advice – if it ain’t broken and it’s working for you in its present iteration, leave it alone! The latest version of Quicken converts your current data to a format that is not backward compatible. Like yourself, I’m a very longtime user, and I wish I had left the version 2012 alone…you’ll be locked in to version 2013 for better or worse if you “upgrade”.
Why not run Quicken 2007 for Mac, its $15 and was updated to run on the latest versions of the Mac OS.
Instead of using the online features why not download from your bank the QIF files and import into Quicken? There is also an Automator feature in the Mac OS that could be used to automate the download of QIF files and importing into Quicken 2007.
Personally I despise Intuit — their QuickBooks program for Mac have problems, transferring data between the Window and Mac versions often introduces data corruption, the feature lists between the two OS’ and compatibility for all the productions is awful. Despite the major increase of Mac adoption Intuit still refuses to write a native Quicken application that replicates Windows app. The develop,net tools are out there that would allow the same code with minimal modification be compiled for Windows and Mac OS.
There is a huge business opportunity for a savvy business software developer to release a Quicken alternative, and given the large base of unhappy Intuit users there would be a mass exodus.
Hi Ben,
Quicken 2007 for Mac isn’t that great, I still recommend staying on the Windows platform. At least for me personally, the amount the software cost is minimal every 3-4 years.
I just recently updated to the Quicken 2013 version as well. I’ve been a Quicken user since the 90′s and for the most part have never had any major issues that I couldn’t resolve or just accept till now. I absolutely loved the Debt Reduction Planner in Quicken and monitor and tweak it regularly. I am so disappointed now that I’ve upgraded. It is so frustrating to have a financial software that can’t do simple math equations. The other feature that no longer works which really upsets me is I can’t make loan payments from the property and debt list anymore. You used to be able to “make a payment” and the splits would be applied based on the amoritzation schedule originally set up in Quicken. The help feature says to either memorize the payment or set a reminder but neither does it properly. Support through Chat couldn’t help but did offer to reimburse me or suggested going back to the 2012 version which they downloaded to my online acct for free. Fortunately I haven’t backed up the new 2013 file and could go back. I’m just hesitant and hopeful that upgrades will soon follow. Any idea how long these different upgrades take and how are they updated to your present version.
Wow, am I glad I found this site and conversation! I used Quicken on our old PC for years (probably 2000-2009) and wanted to start using Quicken again (but on my Mac). I knew there wasn’t a “Mac” version the last time I checked, so I was looking again for one.
I was thinking about running the Windows Quicken on the Mac, but it sounds like the “new” Quicken is nothing but trouble. I never used the downloading of statements (I was in Canada and none of my banks were supported), so it was mainly just for recording transactions.
Is there another program that anyone has had luck with instead of Quicken? I would key all transactions as it doesn’t do any good to download from the bank since I split to reflect categories on the receipts [clothing (children: each child, mom, dad), food (take-out, groceries, alcohol), tax, etc.]. Anal, I know, but I had to report to a “higher authority” (bread winner: “where does the money go?”) and it was helpful to just do reports for the Schedule A expenses. My accounts were all set up as “chequebook” type registers – nothing fancy. I’m have a MacBook Pro, but would install the VMWare to run a Windows program if need be.
Unfortunately, I think I got rid of the old Quicken software when we moved the last time, so reinstalling on the Mac isn’t an option. Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
Jolie,
We have a list of alternatives. I still consider Quicken 2013 to be the best program out of the bunch, though I don’t know your exact needs.
http://investorjunkie.com/24249/mintcom-alternatives/
If I were you, I’d continue using quicken, but use a version before the 2013 version. What makes for trouble with the 2013 version is the so-called “cloud”. Since you don’t download data from your bank anyway, simply keep your data “locally” and continue your manual entries as I used to do before they interfaced quicken with various (American) versions. My categories are also detailed as they have been for many years, so not to feel neurotic about your entries. As you well know, consistency is the key to accurate data entry.
Forget mint com! It’s useless and inaccurate!
I read the reviews on YNAB and Moneydance. I am trying Moneydance based on Miranda’s reviews (although YNAB sounds good with the “budget with the money you have, not that you’re going to get”.
Anyway… I’m doing a trial with Moneydance right now. Not sure how it’s going to work out (and their tech guys are hating me right now – I’m all about operator-error), but at least it was created for Mac. And I would rather not give Intuit the business (Mac owners are NOT second class citizens).
If neither of those (YNAB or Moneydance) works for me, I’ll probably have to do Quicken (an earlier version) – or maybe something else will come along…
Thanks for the help.
For those of you who use liability accounts to track bank loans, information loans to friend or family, or to track money you have spent taking care of a family member, BE CAREFUL WHEN UPGRADING TO QUICKEN 2013. Loans have been completely rewritten in Quicken 2013. Quicken 2013 will automatically, without confirmation, convert those accounts to loans as they are all loans from a bank. The new system will not allow you to see your transaction registers any more for loans unless you manually track a loan. Since it automatically converts your data first, all that historical data you have been tracking will be converted and you can no longer see or edit the details. EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING when you have been tracking some transactions for decades (such as money spent caring for an aging family member). You cannot get that data detail back if you make a mistake and allow Quicken 2013 to overwrite your data file. I suggest keep a copy of the old data file, and do not allow Quicken 2013 to remove the old copy from your computer. Install it elsewhere, or be sure you can re-download it. I am furious that Quicken touched my loan data without allowing me to confirm what the product was doing.
I am trying to migrate out on money 2007 to quicken delux 2013 am I cannot get the right (latest) money file to mograte over..or even find it on my computer…any help would be appreciated
If you can’t find it I would suggest searching for the file. Quicken files typically end in .qdf.
I bought Quicken 2013 based on your review and I have to say, I am astonished by the glitches in the system and the lack of coherent customer support.
Set up was a breeze and I watched in happy anticipation as Quicken connected with my bank. I had it synchronize 5 accounts – and it appeared to “work.” Until I looked more closely and noticed that the balances for all five accounts were off. Some were off by a few dollars, others by thousands.
Ok. No need to panic. I immediately logged into the “online chat” for help. The CS representative wrote that “sometimes Quicken duplicates transactions or schedules payments in the future in error.” The only way to fix it, I was told, was for me to “get all (my) paper bank statements and go through each transaction to find the errors.”
Uh – me and what army? That would take hours – possibly days. There are thousands of transactions. More importantly, if I have to reconcile the account manually, what is the benefit over simply keeping a ledger? The whole point of Quicken is that it is supposed to “get” my data for me.
I asked for email or fax contact information for customer service and was told that they do not have that information.
So, to summarize, I was told that the product doesn’t work, to manually check all the data myself and that they could not connect me with anyone else at the company who might possibly be of service.
I’m trying to imagine the response from our customers if we responded in this way to a request for service/help.
That’s a report from one new user. I’m relatively computer savvy, work in a high tech field and have a doctorate degree. Couldn’t get anywhere with the software or the company.
Hi Jes,
What bank accounts had the duplication you described? I’ve personally yet to experience that issue.
Hi, Larry.
To clarify, I don’t know whether the issue is due to duplication because I haven’t “taken my paper statements” and done a line by line comparison. I gather there could be other reasons, such as “future payments” scheduled in error. Not sure what the latter even means.
The accounts are with USAA – savings, checking an one money market. We have many other accounts but wanted to start with a handful. All but the money market show incorrect balances.
It’s a shame because the product is just what we need, having “outgrown” USAA’s proprietary money management software. I’d appreciate any advice you have.
Jes,
I don’t have a USAA account.
I take back my original statement. The more I think about it I do have one account who’s data isn’t downloaded properly. I have a Discover credit card that inserts zeroed out not relevant entries. But the data isn’t duplicated.
I believe the issue is depending upon the provider you download the data from and don’t believe it’s a Quicken issue per se. Quicken doesn’t create that data, your financial institution does. I would contact them about the problem. If you can test on an older version the issue should still occur.
Some have suggested it’s related to syncing to Quicken Cloud. Perhaps it’s an mixture of the financial institution, and if you are using Quicken Cloud as well.
Outside of this I can’t offer more insight.
Hi, Larry, Thanks for your reply.
According to the scant help I received from Quicken, they do, in fact, “create” the data. Quicken has acknowledged that the problem is due to the software creating errors, such as duplicate transactions. According to the reviews at Amazon, this is not limited to USAA.
USAA was extremely helpful and says that this is an issue with Quicken 2013. Exporting data to both Mint and Buxfer from USAA worked fine.
I have not tried the cloud option, because a Google search suggested that there are several “bugs” still being worked out.
In my opinion, the issue isn’t what is causing the problem. All parties agree that Quicken 2013 is causing the problem. The issue is that Quicken will do nothing to support the software, *even while acknowledging that it doesn’t work.” That’s nothing short of astonishing.
What would be helpful would be contact information for anyone at the company who could help, if you happen to have it.
Thanks very much again.
Jes
Hi Jes!!
I can sense your frustration with the Quicken 2013 and can releate to it too as I was going through a Similar situation with my accounts over at the Chase bank…Now, what I did know was that I was paying Chase about $10 a month as Online banking fee in order to be able to download my data directly into quicken and also be able to pay my bills off of it….so when I see a difference amount of about $3000 on my checking account and the numbers are all red…I panicked as I had only reconciled my accounts about a month ago while doing taxes on Quicken deluxe 2011….So I called Intuit support and they said I needed to check my register and figure out exactly where my balances are throwing off….in other words, for each entry in the ledger there’s a corresponding account balance to the extreme right coulumn…that’ll tell you exactly where you’ve gone off…then what you gotta do is to unreconcile all the entries post the correctly balanced entrie…to do that you’ll have to multin select the entries and then do a right click –reconcile–unreconciled…what this does is give you a correct opening and ending balance in the reconciliation window where you can easily identify whether your transactions have been duplicated or are missing from the ledger…of course for that the Settings should be reconciliation by paper statement and not by the Online Balance…
Anyhow, in my Case it turned out my transactions had been duplicated…then they said this happened as post conversion of the file the bank server lost the last file signature and pushed in the predownloaded entries…on another account though the issue was slightly different…there quicken had failed to match some of the donwloaded entries with the entries that I’d manually put in….as a result some of the entries were duplicated and were throwing the ending balance off of the Online balance..so what you want to do is to go to Edit–preferences—and select Downloaded transactions and uncheck ‘Automatically add to banking register’ so that when you download transactions from the bank you can manually match them down at the downloaded transactions windows, if they haven’t been matched already…..Fortunately for me Quickeck tech support guy was prompt enough to suggest that I go back to one of my backup files from prior to when I think the problem ocurred….there they asked me to Validated my data file to enure no data damage or corruption..and then they checked the connection method i was using..With Chase I was on Direct Connect whereas with BoA I was using EWC(Express Web Connect)….so my insight is, if your connection method is Direct Connect…it’s most likely to be your bank issue(not to say they’ll offer much help)…whereas if you are using Express Web Connect…you might wanna contact Quicken Support directly…From my experience with Quicken I’ve found that whenever a problem in terms of data arises, the best way forward to to go back to a backup files a couple o’days ago and just redownload the data and observe more carefully for what happens..
Now their tech support atleast in my case was extremely helpfuly…the guy just hooked on to my computer and practically did it all for me…but I guess I was lucky enough to get one of the competent ones…but my advise to you is, look for a recent backup files…there sould be one as quicken does that for you automatically..
I hope this helped!!
Also, to answere you question about the export of the data to other financial apps working fine,
a Lot really depends on the format that is being used for the download..which in case of quicken is QFX(Quicken Financial Xchange) or Qucken Web connect as it is more commonly known…
Now, the scrpting of this data in the said format is what is done by your Bank..so even though you may be exporting data to other applications such as Excel correctly, that’s no gurantee that your data in the qfx is also scripted right….so I, atleast partially, agree with Larry that most of the data error happen due to bank server issue…althouge at time quicken can also make error reading the scripted data…which would ususally happen due to a bug on the file or a connectivity issue(in case of EWC)..