Money Software

[Turquesa]

DH and I have used Quicken Deluxe for many years, and I get really irked at how they "discontinue" your "service" if you don't agree to buy their "upgrade." Could you imagine if your dishwasher worked the same way???

Anyway, we need to shell out for this "upgrade" by the end of the month, and I was wondering if anybody knew of alternative software that didn't do this lousy practice? We would need a means of balancing our bank accounts and tracking investments and loans. DH also likes Quicken because he can link it up with TurboTax.

Having software with a download feature is a definite "must" in DH's mind, but I'd like to reach a compromise and, if possible, try another program. Or do they all force you to keep paying in order to use them?

ETA: Does anybody have experience with GnuCash? Please share!

[Drummer's Wife]

Never tried the one you mention, but what about mint.com?

[changingseasons]

I use MS Money- it has a download feature, and it does everything I need it to. I don't know how the newest versions are because I'm still working with my 2003 version.

[Tradd]

I've read multiple places that MS Money is no longer and hasn't been for a while.

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by changingseasons

I use MS Money- it has a download feature, and it does everything I need it to. I don't know how the newest versions are because I'm still working with my 2003 version.

Tradd is right about MS Money no longer being manufactured. Out of curiosity, did they periodically cut off your service and make you pay for upgrades?

Drummer's Wife, thank you for the mint.com reference! I'm going to talk to DH about using one of these free online services.

Again, if anybody has experience with these, I'd love to hear about it!

[changingseasons]

That's a bummer about Money- I really like that program.

But no- I've never had to subscribe to anything or pay for anything beyond the original program.

[Addie]

We've just started using Moneydance for Mac (though I see it is available for Windows and Linux as well) because DH was tired of Quicken's policies. So far, so good! The website has a free trial.

[RollerCoasterMama]

I tried Mint.com for a while and it wasn't doing what I needed. I still needed to track my spending manually.

I've used Microsoft Money, excel spreadsheets, Dave Ramsey's budget software...and I finally landed at Mvelopes.com and I can't say enough good about it! I absolutely love it!!! The only thing I wish they had was recurring payments, but I'll sacrifice that for the ease of having all of my different accounts downloaded into one place. There's a bit of a learning curve for a month or two, but it pays off by really letting you plan where your money is going. It's basically an envelope system for using debit cards and checks. I spend a few minutes each day or two popping the new transactions into their appropriate envelopes and checking to see that all of the envelopes are still in the black and I'm good to go! And I can quickly make sure that my bank balance and my register balance tally up.

It costs about $13/month if you do the 3 month plan which is the shortest option.