More Than a Glorified Checkbook - But You Can Still Use It That Way
Written: Sep 23 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: simple to use, good help, lots of tools and capabilities for high-end users
Cons: pushing their online services very hard
The Bottom Line: For fifteen years, Quicken Software has kept my household budget in line -- and they just keep making it better...
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| scmrak's Full Review: Intuit Quicken 2002 Basic Full Version for PC (247... |
There's an element of anal-retentiveness in everybody, I'll wager. A few of us instruct that our martinis be "shaken, not stirred" (and claim to know the difference); others demand that our steaks be cooked just so! You might keep all or your CDs in alphabetical order by artist or order your personal library using the Dewey Decimal system. I've seen pantries in which every item is in a carefully labeled space and garages whose owners draw an outline of each tool on the pegboard where it's supposed to hang. There's nothing wrong with organization, after all.
One arena, though, in which many of us seem to go distressingly free form is personal finance. When the monthly statement arrives from the bank, more than one of us has been driven to drink by the complexity of balancing his checkbook! It's gotten even worse in the era of EFTs, ATMs, Debit Cards and Direct Deposits. More than one of us has reached the point of throwing up his hands and screaming, "Enough!" before running naked into his suburban cul-de-sac.
And then to top it all off, there's tax time, with all our shoe boxes crammed with crumpled receipts. "Next year I'll get organized," we mutter in our annual belated New Year's resolution (that usually seems to be made around April 14th).
Here's How I Finally Got Organized
About fifteen years ago I invested a few bucks in a DOS-based (yes, DOS-based!) program called "Quicken" from the folks at Intuit. Basically, that version was little more than an on-screen image of my checkbook with enough stored information that, come tax time, I could print reports of income and expenditures to help me fill out my 1040 and Tax schedules. Assuming that you come up with some reasonable system for filing receipts (I use a manila envelope for each month) you're actually in pretty good shape for tax time and, God forbid, an visit to the auditor.
Growing with Quicken
I'm on my fourth version of Quicken now: the second was Quicken for Windows and the third was Quicken-99. Now I also have Quicken 2002, which came installed on my laptop (though I still use 99 at home). Over the years and versions, Quicken has grown up and out to become the most popular personal finance software on the market (it blew Microsoft Money out of the starting gate years ago). But Intuit has never been one to rest on their laurels; so new versions mean new functionality. Over the years, Intuit has added such capabilities as
* calculating an amortization schedule for loans (this lets you track the variations in interest and principal payments through time)
* tracking the results of investments over time using various tools (annualized rate of return, etc.)
* seamless interface to Intuit's TurboTax software
* charting the value of assets and liabilities though time with bar charts
* budgeting tools for people who want to save for a house or the kids' college funds
* pie charts of income and expenditures by general classification.
* A kicky new look heavily influenced by browser technology, with hot links and cascading style sheets out the wahzoo.
* Capability to back up your data online and download your credit-card information in Quicken format
Even though Intuit has continued to give their users more and better tools to for tracking investment accounts (remember the days when half the people you knew fancied themselves day traders), the heart of the program remains a sophisticated system for balancing your checkbook!
I'm Not an Accountant, Nor Do I Play One on TV!
Hey, scmrak here - I'm a scientist, not a bean-counter. I've never taken an accounting class in my life, and I still have to look at a crib sheet to figure out the difference between debits and credits (don't give me that look - so do you!) But Quicken makes it easy to do those mundane monthly financial tasks: balancing the checkbook, reconciling my credit card statements, writing the checks to pay the maids, the cook, the chauffeur... well, it would make that easy!
On an ongoing basis, Quicken lets me keep track of expenditures (lots) and income (not much) in a register that looks like a video checkbook. Not only, though, do I enter numbers and dates, I can also - and this is the anal retention thing - define types of expenditure so that I can track taxable expenditures for next April. Quicken has categories set up already (medical, charity, groceries, utilities...) and also lets me define my own categories (pets, hobbies...).
Besides my checking account, I also have separate accounts for each credit card, for loans, for investment accounts, and for tracking pocket cash. In an hour or so each week, I can transfer information from the checkbook register and from collected receipts into Quicken. Then, when statements from the bank or credit card companies arrive, I can easily highlight any activity that I don't recognize and research it. If everything's on the up-and-up, I can reconcile my records against the statement. This means that I always have an up-to-date picture of my (depressing) financial status, and I can also track possible fraud or bank mistakes in something like real time
It's Gotten Easier Over the Years
Everything used to be hand-entered, but since Quicken-99 it's become dirt simple to keep the checking account and credit card registers up to date. If you're so inclined, you can keep all the account info on-line (not a good idea if you have a slow connection). If you prefer not to let your financial records out of the house, it's very easy to download transaction information from your bank or a credit card into a Quicken-formatted file and import into your software.
Other Quicken Tools I Use
Reporting and Charting Building a report of your expenditures (or income) is very simple with the Quicken tools; you can track how much money you spent on entertainment and dining out over the last quarter (Wow! That much!?) or on charity so far this year (Boy, are we stingy!). You can save the settings for reports you'd like to run frequently, but set-up is just a matter of choosing from lists and clicking buttons. The display can either be a text report or (depending on the subject) a nice pie chart or bar graph.
Interface to TurboTax The past three or four years, I've picked up a copy of TurboTax for filing my income taxes. If your finances are complex enough that you need to itemize deductions, then using TurboTax can probably save you the cost of a copy of the software. You can dump all that information you entered over the past year straight into TurboTax when it comes to filing - no more scrabbling through piles of receipts trying to figure out what's deductible!
Investment Tracking Well, I used to use this feature - it's too depressing nowadays! But you can download the current value of your stocks and mutual funds, thereby getting an accurate picture of the ups and downs of your portfolio. You can also use the software tools to determine your ROI (assuming you know what that means). Owners of Quicken software can also use the financial tools at Quicken.com.
Loan Tracking You can define a loan at any point in its life (you need to know such variables as date of first payment, interest history, etc.) and see exactly where you are in the life of the loan, how much your payout is, etc.
Tools I Don't Use (But You Might)
Check Printing Quicken's always offered you the service of printing your checks for recurring bills and the like instead of writing them by hand. It's never seemed all that useful to me.
On-Line Banking They've had this for awhile, too; and their bank has a pretty good rep. I just prefer to do my on-line banking with the brick-and-mortar bank across the street from my office.
Quicken MasterCard Gee, I have enough credit cards as it is! Since all my credit card accounts let me download straight to Quicken or to keep the records online at Quicken.com, I fail to see any particular reason to get another card just for this service.
OnLine Backup, OnLine Services Call me old-fashioned, I'm just fine with backing up to a Zip disk or a CD-ROM. This is also better for folks with broadband.
Business Use
I've tracked a couple of cash-only businesses over the years with a household version of Quicken. If you have a more complex business (especially one with employees) Intuit has a small-business version that's much more suited. If all you do is sell a few things at the local craft fair, normal Quicken works just fine. Be certain to set yourself up with an account structure separate from the household finances, just to keep things simpler.
Overall
Easy to use and full of some good on-line help, Quicken is an indispensable tool for keeping track of ordinary household finances. It helps with budgeting by letting tracking "bulges" in expenditures, and can be a godsend late in the evening on April 14th.
There are plenty of tools for tracking investments and for online banking and money management. Don't think that you're required to use them, though - most owners still only use the software as an electronic means of keeping the household books.
Recommended:
Yes
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