Mint.com vs. good ole' Quicken

[cristina47454]

Don't they do virtually the same thing? I guess I'm a little worried about having all my financial info linked on an online website. Anyone care to comment?

[orangecanoe]

I had started using it after it was recommended and even put the app on my iPhone. The problem I kept having is that it would sometimes put my grocery purchase in the calculations twice and I would wonder why it was saying I spent $837/mo for groceries. It also wouldn't/couldn't import one of my other credit accts that I wanted to factor into my budget, misread some check transactions as bank fees and/or debits. So all in all, not useful for me at this time. I've never used Quicken, so I can't compare.

[applecider]

Mint.com is free and is from the makers of Quicken. But yeah, if you are worried about having your info out there, don't do it! I love mint.com but I did just start using it. I was tracking stuff in excel, but I wasn't keeping up with it. I like how I can have a running tally of what I've spent so I know how much I have left in each category. I do everything online so I guess one more thing doesn't really bother me. They rate really well for security.

eta: I do have to go in and make sure my transactions are being classified correctly, but frankly, I'm a bit obsessive like that so it works well for me. I also like how you can split transactions into different categories. Also, I"ve never used quicken so I don't have anything to compare it to!

[tinuviel_k]

Call me paranoid, but I don't want ANY program or website to link in to my bank account! I know it is supposed to be safe and secure and all, but I just don't trust it. Hackers happen. My husband works in software development and he would never, ever feel safe using a program like that.

I like the old fashioned way of entering in my own receipts. I've used Quicken and similar programs and we simply used it without having it link up with our bank accounts.

[Smithie]

I'm not worried about the online security aspect, but mint.com just wasn't robust enough for me. You couldn't even budget different amounts for your categories in different months! I went back to Quicken.

[rightkindofme]

I used Quicken for about a year and I found it a serious pain in the @$$. It was not better than how I used to do things in Excel. It was just way way way over complicated for my usage. I started using Mint about five months ago and I am in love. I think it is wonderful. I log in daily and check that I am staying on track. It downloads everything easily and without fuss. I never got Quicken to be a quick/easy process--it took me forever. We have a bunch of different accounts that we use for different things and we go back and forth between a bunch of credit cards as well. Having to go between all the different screens on Quicken made me batty. I love that Mint puts it all in one 'master' sheet for me. You can choose to look at things separately but you don't have to.

I made the switch at the recommendation of a CPA friend and I'm mad at myself for waiting so long.

[AKA_PI]

I like Mint, I've been using it for quite some time but I had to stop. I don't like that it doesn't give you a "clean slate" each month. So if I wanted my records to only show purchases and things going for March, it won't do that. It will show 12,000 pages with all my transitions.

I'm not sure how the reporting side of it, let's say you want to run a report on certain transactions, I'm not sure if you can get down in the weeds with it. I too was and still am a bit skeptical about the safety of my information.

I haven't tried Quicken but I am considering it now that I recently bought my first home.

[sunnysandiegan]

We've used Quicken for Macs for many years (late 90s for me; DH for nearly 20 years). DH likes it more than I do. I prefer pencil and paper for basics and Excel for reports. However, as our finances have gotten more and more complex over the years, I do appreciate Quicken. It makes tracking much quicker! Running reports is very quick and easy, too. I dislike the way Quicken prints reports, though (too much wasted space and multiple pages when one would do, etc), so I export the report to Excel, reformat it, and print more efficiently. Sometimes, depending on how I much reformatting I did, it is faster to run the report in Quicken and just type in the new information into my Excel spreadsheet versus exporting and reformatting (having a large monitor where two full screens can be open at the same time helps immensely).

I have only briefly glanced at Quicken's online version. Not enough to compare those particular two options. We have so many years of financial data in the version we have that I'm not interested in switching. We backup regularly and Quicken for Macs works for us.

[yitlan]

Old thread, I know. We're about to enter a new "phase" of our financial life and I'm wondering if it's a good time to upgrade to the internet age. I use Quicken Home and Business from 1999 or 2000. I have my system, but it's time consuming. This used to be fine b/c I like entering each transaction, as it reminds me of where I'm spending the money and has me double check amounts and transactions. But I am now homeschooling and have three kids and a small business. Time is precious and I'm older and more tired. I could get behind the automated transaction tracking.

The one area I'm worried about is the reporting. I like to be able to call up reports like "how much have I paid to.." and "how much did I spend on...." and easily call up category reports for tax time. Can mint do this?

Any others want to add any experience with moving from Quicken to mint.com?