As a longtime user of Quicken I was intrigued when the folks at Intuit's Quicken group called to pre-brief me on an new product announcement. I was hoping for a SaaS version of Quicken. What I got was an improved version of. That's a small step in the right direction. Marcus Aiu, Senior Product Manager of Quicken, calls'an upgrade for Quicken Essentials users' that represents the next step in its goal to 'get the Mac product up to the point where can migrate Quicken Mac 2007 users over to a more modern platform.'
That's music to my ears, as Quicken on the Mac has long been a poor cousin to its Windows counterpart - so much so that five years after moving to a Mac I still have a Windows laptop lying around for the sole purpose of running Quicken for Windows. Related: Quicken 2015 for Mac, $74.99 and available only via download until October, sports a new user interface that's similar to Mint, Intuit's free cloud-based financial management tool. For example, the new Quicken dashboard displays accounts on the left side of your screen and a report summary screen on the right. A few other changes of note include:. A drop-down on transaction line that can be edited on the fly. The ability to track investments.
A transactions and portfolio view similar to that of Mint. The ability to break out and print taxable transactions, such as capital gains, for the year. Compatibility with the Quicken Companion Mobile App, including the ability to view charts and to use it to take a photo of a receipt and attach it to a Quicken transaction. So what does the Windows version have that Quicken 2015 for Mac doesn't?.
How do I download and install or reinstall my Quicken purchase from. How to Update Quicken for Mac 2018 Release of Quicken for Mac Release Notes.
The ability to see a calendar view of transactions and bills and your net worth over time. More sophisticated reporting capabilities. The ability to provide investment performance information and projections. Support for Quicken Bill Pay 'In six months we’ll have more capabilities,' Aiu promises. Like some other users I have a love-hate relationship with Quicken. I have many different accounts, and something is always getting bolluxed up with the various downloads. I have one bank account where, if I don't turn off Quicken's renaming rules, it incorrectly relabels every transaction.
I've been unable to resove this with Quicken or the bank and have given up. Another issue: Requests for responses to challenge questions commonly stall downloads. And more recently One Step Update stopped downloading transactions for five bank accounts associated with my primary financial institution. I've been manually downloading activity updates and importing them for months. Then, suddenly this month, it started working again. I want all of these problems off of my plate. By moving to a SaaS version of Quicken, more of these back-end plumbing problems and glitches will become Quicken's problem.
Instead of spending my time going back and forth between Quicken tech support and that of my financial institution I want you, Quicken, to talk to them directly and work things out. As the consumer I don't want to be in the middle anymore.
And I'm not any more worried about the privacy of my data in a Quicken cloud than I am with online banking with Fidelity. Quicken is considered a financial institution, and as such is obligated to follow the same regulations as any bank. I've toyed with using Mint, but it's really a statement reporting and viewing tool.
You can't build custom reports to track, say, rental property income and expenses, and hammering in and reconciling future transactions to project where I'll be at the end of the month just doesn't work very well. But while I'm waiting for Quicken Cloud Edition I'm going to take hard look at Quicken 2015 for Mac. I may not be able to move to the cloud. But I may be able to retire that Windows laptop.
Quicken 2015 helps you manage all your personal finances in one place, so you can see where you're spending and where you can save. Quicken automatically categorizes your financial transactions, helps you stay on top of bills and set goals so you can save more. You can even access your data on the go. Features:. View All Your Accounts in One Place - See all your bank, credit card, investment and retirement accounts in one place, so you know exactly where you stand. Quicken 2015 downloads your income and expenses from your accounts, so you don't have to enter transactions manually and avoid the hassle of going to multiple websites.
See Exactly Where Your Money Is Going - Quicken 2015 automatically categorizes expenses like groceries, entertainment, and more, so you don't have to edit them manually. You can easily see where you're spending and where you can save. Plan, and Stay on, a Budget - We make it easy to get on a budget you can live with. Quicken 2015 automatically sets up budget goals based on what you've spent in the past. You can customize your plan, and we'll track your progress. Never Miss a Bill - Quicken 2015 automatically creates bill reminders for you based on your previous bills; you can customize or add reminders as needed. We'll alert you when bills are coming up, so you can pay them on time and avoid late fees.
Make Smart Money Decisions on the Go - Check your account balances and budget on the go. Our free mobile app syncs data from your computer to your iPhone and iPad.
Take pictures of receipts to track key purchases. Manage Your Investments and Plan for Taxes - See how your investments are performing. We'll continuously update quotes to keep your portfolio value current. We make tax time easier by tracking cost basis estimating capital gains, and creating Schedule D tax reports. Getting Started Is a Breeze - Step-by-step guidance helps you get up and running fast.
Just answer a few simple questions; we'll show you how Quicken works, and what to do next. You'll see your financial picture come quickly into focus. Import Data From Previous Quicken Versions - Easily import data from Quicken Essentials, Quicken 2007, and Quicken Windows 2010 or newer versions. Note: Quicken 2015 supersedes both Quicken 2007 and Quicken Essentials (previously, both apps were offered for sale next to each other). New & Improved:.
New option on Calendar report to allow showing gains and losses for investment holdings. This option will show the total percent day change (gain or loss) for the investing accounts included in a Calendar report. This is the change in value of the positions held, excluding cash. Click this indicator to see a breakout on gainers and losers for that day as well as dollar amount change. Improved the Download/Financial Institution settings on the Account settings sheet. This change focused on eliminating duplicate options, streamlining user flows, and simplifying the functionality of managing the connectivity status of your accounts such as changing connection types, deactivating downloads for either Direct Connect or Quicken Connect accounts, or updating password for Quicken Connect accounts (for example, after you change a password at your Financial Institution) and changing the Password for Direct Connect accounts.
Direct connect accounts also now let you explicitly set the date range of transactions to download-useful for troubleshooting or filling in missing transaction data.