When Mint and Intuit announced the latter would be acquiring the former, the Quicken team and Aaron Patzer, the CEO of Mint, now a vice president of Intuit’s personal finance division, claimed that their two similar online product offerings, Mint and Quicken Online, would continue to co-exist. This made little sense to me.

In fact, I asked, “How long will it continue to make sense to maintain two highly similar services under one roof?”

We now know the answer is, “Not long at all.” The acquisition has passed regulatory requirements and is now official. With this news, Intuit has also announced that Quicken Online will cease to exist within six to nine months. This phase out will move Quicken Online users over to the Mint software.

It makes more business sense for Intuit to consolidate these similar product offerings, and I figured that in time either this would be the case or Mint’s software would be re-branded with the “Quicken Online” name.

I am not a heavy user of either Mint or Quicken Online. I prefer the desktop software. With Patzer heading the development of the desktop software as well, I expect some improvements in a year or so with the next or subsequent yearly release.

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Quicken Online Users Will Be Migrated to Mint

Update: The giveaway has ended and the winners will be announced shortly.

Note: This is a long article containing an in-depth review of the new version of Quicken. If you are just interested in the giveaway of Quicken 2010 Deluxe, scroll to the bottom of this article.

It took me a long time to warm up to Intuit Quicken. When I first saw the software in the early or mid 1990s, I wasn’t very interested. That’s not the software’s fault; at that time I most likely did not see the need for tracking money I did not have. When I finally realized I needed to build some control of my personal financial situation, I first looked for free solutions.

After several months of spending less than I was earning and tracking my progress using freeware, I evaluated Microsoft Money alongside Quicken. Money looked nice and ran smooth while Quicken was clunky and unattractive, so I stuck with Money for a few years. After some time, I came to realize that Money’s features for dealing with investments were not as comprehensive as I would like, and for some reason it interpreted the downloaded data from my 401(k) incorrectly. I decided to give Quicken another shot.

While Quicken wasn’t perfect, it worked better with the transaction data I downloaded from the banks and offered configurable reports. So I stuck with it, and I still use a desktop version of Quicken almost every day. I receive questions about why I haven’t switched to popular Web 2.0 applications like Quicken Online (review here) or Mint.com (review here). These websites offer interesting features, particularly those powered by community aggregate information, but they lack some of the basic investing functionality that I get from the desktop version of Quicken.

Quicken 2010 review, first impressions

I received Quicken 2010 Home and Business in the mail yesterday and gave it a test drive tonight.

The upgrade from Quicken 2009, including downloading updates to the software online, took about ten minutes. Tens of thousands of transaction records needed to be converted to the new version, and this took the bulk of the time for the upgrade.

After the upgrade was complete, the software brought me to Quicken.com to register. Although I am already registered at Intuit, I was required to provide my information again before using all of the software’s functionality. Although required, the registration process was quick.

I was impressed with the new version’s look and feel. The interface is redesigned to be cleaner, and switching from one page to another within the software seems to move faster. One of my biggest complaints about Quicken has been its sluggish display but this seems to be greatly improved.

Quicken 2010 opens to a new main screen with three horizontal sections. The top includes a pie chart describing your spending within categories and the middle of the screen lists your anticipated expenses.

The focus here is on your cash flow: how much is left in your spending accounts at the end of the month. Here is the top half of my screen. Click on the thumbnail to view the image full-size (and note the exceptionally large tax expense thanks to quarterly estimated payments).

The bottom section of this screen is new. According to Quicken, it would take 5 minutes to begin tracking spending goals. I began creating spending goals, which seem to form a softer style of a budget. Unfortunately, because I use sub-categories, Quicken’s “average monthly spending” in categories like “Auto,” “Dining,” and “Entertainment” were inaccurate. As a result, the “suggested monthly goals” were not appropriate. I solved this by choosing my own categories, such as “Auto:Fuel” rather than “Auto.”

After assigning several categories to watch, here are my results so far for October.

I also like the new Net Worth tab. Here is what the top half of my Net Worth page looks like.

Downloading data from banks

The “Direct Connect” feature of Quicken, in which you store your bank accounts’ passwords in the software and send Quicken on a mission to download your latest transaction data, has never run smoothly for me. In Quicken 2009, this process would occasionally lock the software, requiring me to kill the process through the Windows Task Manager. Furthermore, this downloading should be a background process. However, whenever you initiate the data update, you are preventing from performing almost every other task in the software.

Quicken 2010 has not fixed this completely. During the update process in the new version, Quicken will prevent you from moving around the software.

What to look forward to

All things considered, this seems to be a good upgrade with my limited experience so far. But like most yearly, incremental software updates, there is not a lot to justify buying the software if you already have a recent version of Quicken.

The best news from Intuit is not reflected in Quicken 2010. As a result of Intuit’s pending acquisition of Mint.com, the CEO of Mint.com, Aaron Patzer, will be leading the development of the desktop version of Quicken in addition to the online personal financial management software. I expect future versions of Quicken will look slicker and work faster as Intuit leverages the team and the talent behind Mint.com.

Latest prices for Quicken 2010 versions

Before you buy, consider trying to win the giveaway for Quicken 2010 Deluxe. Instructions for entering the giveaway are below. Free is always a better option. Also, Intuit often offers discounts. Right now the software is offered for full price only. But keep watching Consumerism Commentary to find out when new discounts are available.

If you’re a Mac user, hang on until February 2010. A new version of Quicken for Mac will be released next year, and Intuit says the will be a major upgrade from the most recent release. Alternatively, you can run software on the Mac that emulates Windows and allows you to run these updated versions of Quicken.

Giveaways

Intuit sent me two copies of Quicken 2010 Deluxe to give away to readers. Here is how you can win one of these copies. Each of the following will provide you with one chance to win, so you have a maximum of three chances.

• Leave a comment on this post.
• Become a fan of Consumerism Commentary on Facebook and let me know in your comment below.
• Mention and link to this review on Twitter. Your tweet should say:

Pls RT! Review and giveaway: Quicken 2010 from @flexo! http://bit.ly/RjD3y

You must be over 18 years old and must have an address in the United States in order to qualify. The winners will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org. Thanks and good luck! The giveaway will end Friday night, October 23, at 11:59 pm.

Update: The giveaway has ended and the winners will be announced shortly.

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Quicken 2010 Review and Giveaway

I’ve been a relatively faithful user of Quicken for the past five years after switching from Microsoft Money and other more basic personal finance management software. Even though I continue using this software to track my income and expenses and to share my finances with the world, I have never been silent about the software’s drawbacks.

Here are the latest Intuit Quicken products available for download or for shipping.

More Quicken products are available here.

Unfortunately for Mac users, Intuit is still working on an updated version of Quicken. Quicken Financial Life for Mac is slated to be released in February 2010. I should have my hands on the latest edition of Quicken Home and Business in a few days and I plan on reviewing the upgrade as soon as possible.

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Quicken 2010 Available Now

My accountant has strongly suggested I move my business-related financial accounting out of my personal Quicken file and into QuickBooks. It has been a slow process so far, and I have determined that I have not done a great job of separating my business finances from my personal finances.

QuickBooks 2010 was released yesterday. The software comes in a number of different flavors and the variety is a bit intimidating. I downloaded the QuickBooks Simple Start Free Edition in order to get started, but this edition of the software is limited to the point that it is insufficient for me. The Free Edition is limited to only twenty customers. In this version there is no connectivity with banks. While a very basic business could get by with these features, even running websites requires something more robust. One feature I would have liked with the free version, or the $100 (on sale for $80) QuickBooks Simple Start, is the ability to enter my bills as I receive them.

If you’re serious about keeping your books, it looks like your best bets are QuickBooks Pro ($200 on sale for $160) or QuickBooks Premier ($400 on sale for $320). You can also find editions of Pro and Premier that allow more than one user to access your data at the same time for an additional price.

Intuit also offers one version of QuickBooks for Mac.

My accountant says he has a few clients who upgrade their version of QuickBooks every year, so in order to complete their tax returns, he must also upgrade every year. It looks like I’d be best suited for QuickBooks Pro but I want to do as much as I can in the free version of Simple Start.

There are too many flavors of QuickBooks to list, but you can find discounted prices on all Intuit QuickBooks products here.

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QuickBooks 2010 Now Available, Discounts for Readers

Soon. As in, October-soon.

It looks like the first iPhone app to bring us real-time traffic alerts, and that comes with offline maps, will be the Navigon MobileNavigator (Earlier CNET review. iTunes Store link.)

The AT&T Navigator (CNET review) also has live traffic data, but takes more time to download maps as you go, and while initially free, has a $10 monthly fee. Navigon has a steep $90 price tag, and you’ll pay $20 or $25 for the live traffic upgrade, but if you use it for more than a year, it’s already cheaper than the AT&T version.

(I’d like to take a moment to congratulate both Navigon and AT&T for sensibly choosing just one business model – monthly fee, or upfront fee – instead of both. Too many companies these days get away with a charge upfront and also making you pay monthly. I’m sure they have their reasons, but as a consumer, it just seems wrong.)

I’ve already recently cut at least 5 minutes off my daily commute by utilizing traffic data of other drivers. This is a win/win, since bad traffic throws me in a rage faster than anything else, and I’m not the most defensive driver. If I can have a tool with me that warns me of upcoming traffic problems, and helps me navigate around them, so much the better.

On the other hand, it seems I’m always driving to the same ten or twelve places. I’m not what marketers like to call a “road warrior” (isn’t this just a euphemism for salesperson?), so I don’t think I can justify the cost just yet.

Have you used the Navigon or AT&T apps? What do you think?

Navigon GPS iPhone app to get live traffic, Dong Ngo, CNET, Sep. 16, 2009

Photo credit: borderlys

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Real-time Traffic GPS for the iPhone

The news in personal finance today is that Intuit, the makers of Quicken and TurboTax, purchased internet start-up Mint, a service that has come into its own in the past few years. The two companies offer competing products: Quicken Online and Mint are both free web applications that aggregate your financial information across a wide variety of banks, credit cards, and investment accounts.

We’ve reviewed both offerings at Consumerism Commentary. We offered one of the first looks at Quicken Online as well as an early look at Mint, both from 2007. We’ve also spoken to representatives from each of the companies for the Consumerism Commentary Podcast. On May 3, we spoke with Aaron Patzer, the CEO of Mint and on June 7, we spoke with Barron Ernst, the product manager of Quicken Online. Both interviews offered interesting insights into the software and the philosophy behind the companies.

There has been fierce competition between the two companies as they raced to announce higher user numbers. Intuit challenged Mint not too long ago to substantiate their claims that they were adding 3,000 users a day. Any bitterness seems to have subsided for the time being. Mint seemed to be winning the battle over users, and it’s not a bad move for Intuit to buy the competition.

Each application has its own strengths and weaknesses. Personally, I use the desktop version of Quicken to manage my own finances. I don’t believe the software is perfect, but I prefer it above any of the web-based applications.

With this deal, Intuit obtains customers it was unable to reach and Mint obtains the backing of one of the best-known software brands. Intuit will continue offering both web-based services for free, and there are no current plans to integrate one set of users into the other piece of software. How long will it continue to make sense to maintain two highly similar services under one roof? Consolidating the users of the two separate services into one larger user base would solidify the surviving software’s spot at the summit among other similar services such as Geezeo.

Read Quicken’s announcement | Read Mint CEO Aaron Patzer’s opinion

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Intuit Buys Mint for $170 Million: Quicken Online and Mint to Coexist

Until now, I never paid much attention to the different companies and providers, but I’ve learned that not all GPS devices are equal. I’ve recently been tempted by the TomTom app for the iPhone, especially in connection with the car kit. Turn-by-turn directions, as well as charging my phone, and playing music through the car’s speakers? Yes, please.

But I don’t just go throwing around $100 at every iPhone app. I figured it was at least worth a little research, and I found that one of TomTom’s special attractors is something they call IQ Routes. In short: they gather anonymous user data to provide:

… the driving experience of millions of TomTom users into your maps, calculating your route based on actual speeds driven on roads compared to speed limits. With TomTom IQ Routes you always get the smartest, most efficient route. Saving you time, fuel and money by driving like a local.

Much the same as GMail’s method of eliminating spam e-mail, TomTom “crowdsources” traffic routes in order to save you time. The good news is that you can try out their route planner for free right now and see if it can shed any light on some of your normal routes.

When I started my new job last November, I spent weeks trying different scenarios to and from work, and thought I had it nailed, so I was shocked when I tried the route planner and found a new way home that saved me 5 minutes.

And as we all know, time is money, and in this case, fuel. Give it a try yourself and let us know in the comments how it works out for you.

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Crowdsourcing My Ride Home

For the increasing number of Mac users in the audience, today’s the day to start deciding whether you want to upgrade your operating system: “Snow Leopard” is on the scene.

Number-wise, this is a move to OS 10.6. It will only work on Apple computers with an Intel processor and at least 1 GB of RAM. For anybody whose Mac came with 10.5 (Leopard), this should include you. And for you, it’s a $29 upgrade. (Users of 10.4 “Tiger” will need to spend more if they want to upgrade, but it’s still possible.)

The $29 fee is kind of a double-edged sword for me: it’s the cheapest operating system upgrade of, I think, my entire life. And yet, because it’s so inexpensive, that must mean it’s not necessarily worthwhile. Apple’s been pretty upfront about that, though… most of the changes are pretty boring.

Here’s what I recommend for right now:

• Find yourself a good, detailed review of the Snow Leopard features
• Wait at least a week and keep your ear to the ground for problems people are having: I’ll be watching my Apple friends on Twitter and this part of the macnn.com forum.
• Not sure how often this will be updated, but I also found a list of programs that we know don’t work (or are restricted) with Snow Leopard
• If you can manage it without losing any software, I strong recommend doing a clean install that wipes your hard drive first. In my experience–and I used to do this for a living–the only reason to upgrade an operating system (as opposed to a clean install), is to document what goes wrong.

Personally, I’ll be watching to see what new gee-whiz features Apple will soon introduce that won’t work on anything earlier than 10.6.

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Happy Snow Leopard Day

Adriel, the product manager for the new Quicken product for Apple Mac, has posted an update about the software’s development. There is good news for users of Quicken 2007 who have been anxiously awaiting an update for the software on par with the updates that Windows users receive each year.

First of all, the delayed product called “Quicken Financial Life for Mac” will not be released as planned. The new Quicken for Mac will be released in February 2010, incorporating some aspects of Financial Life, barring no further delays. According to Adriel, the programming team is incorporating user feedback during the testing phases for both the Quicken Financial Life for Mac and the new Quicken for Mac.

Mac users have an option to run a Windows version of Quicken in a “virtual computer” within OS X with the help of certain software, and the new Quicken for Mac should have a seamless upgrade option to migrate your data from the Windows version to Mac.

Quicken for Mac 2010 Update for August 2009, Adriel, August 11, 2009.

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Good News for Mac Users: Quicken for Mac 2010 Coming Soon

I’m a previous customer of the Mac Bundle Box, and I’m always curious to see what’s on the offering block when it reappears.

If you’re unfamiliar with the program, it’s one of the best ways you can save money on Mac software. Not only can you get $460 worth of software for $50, but 10% of each sale goes toward charity. This time it’s charity: water, which provides clean drinking water to developing nations.

Of particular note to our readers are two apps in the group dedicated to personal finance:

iCash

iCash is a software intended to control your personal finances, keeping track of incomes, expenses, credits, debts and Banks transactions for you. As simple as creating the accounts you need and move money between them! You don’t even need to know about accounting or even care about it! Your finances depend largely on good organization that lets you know where your money comes from and to where it goes.

Chronicle

Keeping track of your bills has never been so easy! Intuitive and remarkably simple to use, Chronicle will help you pay your bills on time, every time. It takes only a few seconds to add a new bill for Chronicle to remember. Once you enter your bills, Chronicle’s overview shows you all your upcoming bills at a glance, and alerts you when one is due soon (Leopard only). Plus, payment history and statistics by year and month help you determine when, where, and how much you spend. Chronicle also automatically averages your payments for bills that fluctuate, like credit cards and utilities, helping you budget for the future more accurately. You can also use Chronicle’s goals to work toward reducing a balance or paying off a loan. Late payment fees often cost $25 or more. Why risk it? Let Chronicle keep track of all your bills simply and easily!

There are twelve programs in the bundle, including the very-well-reviewed DEVONthink.

If you’ve used any of the apps in the bundle, I’d love to hear your comments, so our other readers can decide better whether it’s worth the $49 to them.

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Mac Bundle Box 2009

On the heels of Microsoft’s announcement that the company’s desktop financial management software, Microsoft Money (Plus) will be discontinued, Intuit is jumping on the chance to win customers by offering decent discounts on its Quicken products.

These discounts are similar to those offered earlier this year. It looks like Intuit brought them back shortly after Microsoft’s announcement.

I’ve been a user of the desktop versions of Quicken for several years and though I’ve complained about certain bugs and idiosynracies, I still think it’s the best software out there for managing the whole personal finance picture for an individual or family.

Here are the latest discounts:

Intuit is currently beta testing a new version of the software for the Mac, but I have not yet heard any news regarding its release date. Macintosh users have been neglected by Intuit for some time, with the most recent version of the software, released in 2006, is not as fully featured as the Windows version.

With the new conversion tool planned by both Intuit and Microsoft, upgrading from an older version of Money to Quicken 2010 when it is released later this year should be less painful than previous conversions.

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Quicken Courting Microsoft Money Users With New Old Discounts

Microsoft is ending its support of Microsoft Money, the desktop financial management software that feebly competed with Intuit Quicken. This comes as no surprise to me. Microsoft appeared to have given up on the Money product several years ago. Personally, I switched from Microsoft Money to Quicken in 2004. Although I was happy with Microsoft Money 2004 in the autumn of 2003, after trying the equivalent version of Quicken for several months I decided to permanently switch.

Quicken has not been perfect, but some of the interface drawbacks were outweighed by the superior reporting functionality and tracking of investments. I revisited Microsoft Money occasionally in the last few years but never saw a compelling reason to switch back. With Microsoft’s announcement, I am pleased with my decision.

After June 30, 2009, Microsoft Money Plus — the newer name for the desktop software — will no longer be available for retail purchase. The feature that allows bank activity to be downloaded and reconciled with the transactions entered in the software will cease to function after January 31, 2011. For those looking for a seamless switch, Microsoft is working on a file converter that will allow users to directly upgrade from Money to Quicken 2010.

While Intuit claims they are committed to to customers like myself who prefer the robust desktop application over the free and lightweight Quicken Online, I expect the company’s focus to continue shifting toward the more mainstream online product.

Announcement from Microsoft, June 10, 2009
Microsoft to discontinue MS Money, Ina Fried, CNet News, June 10, 2009

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Microsoft Money Will Be Discontinued

If you’re interested in tracking your money with Intuit Quicken 2009, and you’d like to upgrade to or install the newest versions, there are three days left before prices for the software go up. On June 1, no discounts will be offered on Quicken software, and if discounts do return later, they may be not as generous.

I’ve been an avid Quicken user for several years, after switching from Microsoft Money. It appears that Mac users are unfortunately still out of luck, with no new releases of Quicken for Mac since the 2007 version was released in 2006.

Here are the discounts, valid until the end of May. Note that some discounts have already expired.

More discounted Quicken products and other deals are available here.

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Quicken 2009 Discounts Available for Three More Days

Starting today, Mint will begin beta testing some significant new features. Mint, a web application that helps you track your financial transactions, account balances, debt and budget, is branching into financial advice. For a few weeks, beta testers will have exclusive access to these new features described below. I have 200 invitations to share with Consumerism Commentary readers who would like to be part of this beta testing group. Keep reading to find out how you can receive an invitation to the beta testing program.

Almost two years ago, Consumerism Commentary contributor Sasha reviewed Mint, freshly minted. As I mentioned at the time, I figured I would not become a regular user of this software. I am a devoted user of Quicken Home and Business, and I am comfortable with my process. When Smithee noticed that Mint.com had been offering new features earlier this year, I still didn’t pay too much attention.

But I had the chance to speak today with Mint’s CEO Aaron Patzer and experience a preview of the new features the company plans to release to the public in a few weeks. To prepare, I signed into my Mint account for the first time in several months. I was pleasantly surprised to see Mint now supports automatic updates of a variety of investment accounts, loans, and house values, as well offers the option for manual entry accounts for cash expenditures. The charting and reporting functions are much improved.

New features now available for beta testers

Mint wants to get the word out about new additions that take the application’s financial insight and visibility to the next level: action steps to help you improve your financial situation. The developers worked with real, live financial advisers to develop five broad principles for guiding their users towards making healthy financial decisions: knowing your money, spending less than you earn, using debt wisely, investing your savings, and preparing for the unexpected.

A number of tasks are provided for each of these principles, and when you complete these tasks, Mint awards you points. The more points you earn, the higher your score. Mint also explains why each of these tasks is important for a financially fit lifestyle. Here’s what their task suggestions look like:

For each of the tasks, Mint walks you through the decision making process. Based on what Mint knows about your finances — and if you use Mint right, it will know just about everything — the application will provide you suggestions for high-yield savings accounts, even giving you a breakdown of the fees and minimum balance requirements if anything. For optimizing your credit card debt, Mint takes the amount you pay towards your debt each month and tailors its suggestions to your particular spending and payment habits. Based on a few assumptions, Mint explains how much you will save by switching.

It’s true that Mint has a relationship with many banks and credit cards. In other words, if you sign up for a savings account or credit card through Mint, these companies will pay Mint a small fee. According to Aaron Patzer, the choices are presented without preference towards these companies. If the best card for you is the Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Signature Card, it will be listed first, even though Mint may not get paid if you sign up for that particular credit card.

As I mentioned earlier, you receive points for making sound financial decisions. Some examples are surviving a month without being charged bank fees, reviewing your transactions each month, checking your credit report for errors annually, and investing for retirement. The points system is based on a game; you are awarded “trophies” for consistently performing well, a fun incentive for making the right choices.

There is some work to be done. Although the options presented for many of the tasks are personalized, the tasks themselves are only those that would apply to everyone. For example, while health insurance is covered in the fifth principle, life insurance is not. Right now, Mint does not know whether you are someone who would benefit from life insurance. This personalized level of suggestions is not yet possible through Mint. When asked about this, Aaron explained that Mint would not ask participants whether they have dependents, which would help determine more personalized financial advice. They may, however, use home ownership as a trigger; those who own homes are more likely to have dependents and would therefore benefit from life insurance. These enhancements might be developed later.

The competition for online financial management is intense, with Quicken Online and Geezeo adding new features frequently as well. I may be too stubborn to discard all that I have done with my desktop software in favor of a web-based application, but as these online applications mature, I’m starting to see the value for people other than financial novices.

How to become a Mint beta tester

I have 200 invitations available for those who would like the chance to enjoy these new features of Mint several weeks before the broader public, and importantly for the software developers, provide feedback and suggestions. Here is all you need to do in order to receive access.

• If you haven’t already, set up an account at Mint.com. It’s free and secure.
• Send an email to consumerism-getfit@mint.com requesting access and include the email address you use to log into Mint.

In a few days, you will be inducted into the beta testing program and you will receive access to these new features.

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Mint.com Will Provide Personalized Financial Advice: Beta Test the New Features

As of Tuesday, March 10 at 10:00 am ET, the giveaway of the free Quicken Home and Business 2009 is closed and no more entrants will be accepted.

I’ve been using Intuit Quicken for the last few years to keep track of my savings, investments and expenses. After trying Moneydance, GNU Cash, and Microsoft Money throughout the past ten years, I’ve settled on Quicken Home and Business edition. It’s not a perfect piece of software, but it’s more complete than any other package.

Today, I upgraded my installation to Quicken Home and Business 2009, the latest version. After separately backing up the financial data files I have been using with Quicken 2008, the installation of the new software removed Quicken 2008, installed Quicken 2009, and download the latest patches and bug-fixes.

The new interface shows there is more to explore. As always, a list of accounts sits on the left. On the right, there a new section which can be toggled between a number of new sidebars. The “To Do” tab displays your outstanding bills, predicted income, and a reminder to download the latest transactions from your banks to reconcile your entries. The other tabs contains hints, help, and advertisements.

Between the two side columns, the main window offers many more options for viewing your data. The program opens up by showing an overflow of your cash flow by default. Here is an example.

The views are customizable, so you can create new views and include the data you would like to see on one screen.

There are several issues with Quicken that haven’t been resolved. When you download transactions from banks, you are prevented from using the software fully. Updates should happen completely in the background, but I find that the screen continually refreshes and Quicken has problems accepting new transactions I enter. Screen refreshes are a problem on its own. I have a fairly quick computer, but if I resize the application window, Quicken continually redraws the screen. This and other processes are slow, and make the software feel sluggish.

Another trend that bothers me is the addition of more advertising to the software interface. Perhaps I erroneously believe that free software can be supported by advertising while software you pay for should be free from commercial interruption, but I may be in the minority. I thank Quicken for providing the option for hiding most of the advertising. On the setup screen, hide the Quicken Tab called, “Quicken Picks.” More advertising is included in the “Services” tab along the right sidebar. This cannot be hidden from view, but you should be able to avoid clicking on the tab by accident. If you want to find out which credit cards Quicken suggests, you can always take a look.

Latest prices for Quicken 2009 software

Here are some of the discounts available to Consumerism Commentary readers. Many of these discounts are better than those shared when Quicken 2009 first became available in August 2008.

Quicken Home and Business 2009 Giveaway

If you would like to receive a free copy of Quicken Home and Business 2009, you have a few options. Leave a comment here with an interesting tip for using Quicken or other financial software such as Microsoft Money Plus, Mint.com, or GNU Cash. If you don’t have any tips, feel free to leave a comment about tracking your own money. By leaving a comment, you will receive one chance in the drawing for Quicken Home and Business 2009.

For a second chance to win, share this article using one or more of the tools listed below, like Twitter or Facebook. I will leave the giveaway open for one week and announce a random winner once I close the giveaway. Thanks and good luck!

As of Tuesday, March 10 at 10:00 am ET, the giveaway of the free Quicken Home and Business 2009 is closed and no more entrants will be accepted.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken Home and Business 2009 Review and Giveaway

Mint.com, a free online money tracking system, has just started including property values like houses and vehicles when calculating your net worth.

Previously, the service would total up your cash and other positive account balances, then subtract your credit card debt, loans and mortgage amounts, leaving you with an almost certainly negative net worth. In my case it was somewhere around -$178,000.

Now you can go into “Your Accounts” and tell it about the real things you own that have value. It uses a service called cyberhomes to estimate your home’s worth. Fortunately, it also lets you override this automatic value, since cyberhomes had no data for my house. I got an amount for my house from the local county appraisal district Web site and added in the Kelly Blue Book value for the two cars we have. Et voilà, our net worth is now approximately $50,000 in the black.

I think it could probably use a little fine-tuning but at least now I don’t feel so bad about our situation. Read more by Flexo about how to calculate your net worth.

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Increase Your Net Worth at Mint.com

This week, Quicken Online (reviewed here), a free service, has added a few new features to help you more accurately and efficiently track your spending and manage your finances.

As credit card offer increasingly unfavorable terms and abandon rewards, and as fewer people qualify for credit cards, more are turning to spending using cold hard cash. Until now, Quicken Online has only tracked spending for accounts where transaction information can be directly downloaded from a bank, limited to credit cards, debit cards, and checks. Although users could enter future transactions for these accounts, spending analysis was never complete; even the most dedicated credit card users still use cash once in a while.

To fill in this hole, Quicken Online has added the facility for users to manually enter and categorize cash transactions. Unlike automatic downloads, this relies on the user’s honesty and accuracy. Here’s the cash entry form you will see as you enter a new transaction. Click on the thumbnail to see the full-size screen.

Remembering your cash transactions where you don’t take a receipt can be difficult, so that accuracy may be in question. Quicken Online offers a companion interface for mobile phones at http://m.quicken.com — and soon, a unique application for the iPhone — to allow you to record your transactions while away from your computer. This integration is key. While it may be somewhat inconvenient to stop whenever you use cash and access a mobile application, it will help improve accuracy of your reports.

You want your spending analysis to be as accurate as possible because this is where Quicken Online really shines. The software now forecasts your future spending and indicates your level of overdraft risk based on your recent transactions and account balances.

Another small but worthwhile improvement is the account bar. Quicken Online has improved the way it lists accounts to be grouped by type. For example, credit cards are grouped together, as are savings accounts and loans.

These new features start to roll out to all Quicken Online customers today. Quicken Online is free, so there’s no financial risk to try it out.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken Online Adds New Cash Tracking Feature

Quicken 2009 has been available since last fall. I’ve been meaning to upgrade my version of Quicken 2008 Home & Business, but I don’t think my computer can handle any software changes until I reinstall the operating system. I’ve been using Quicken to manage my finances for the last several years. I used to use Microsoft Money (now called Microsoft Money Plus).

I prefer the desktop software over the free, web-based Quicken Online. I use the investment features of Quicken Home & Business. While Quicken Online offers great cash-flow features, it isn’t strong when dealing with investments.

Anyhow, if you’re interested in purchasing an updated Quicken product, make sure you’re getting the best price. These discounts are available until January 25.

For most of the editions of the software, the new $20 discount is better than the previous 20% discount. The software can be downloaded or delivered to your house on CD-ROM for the same price.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

New $20 Discounts on Intuit Quicken 2009 Products

Last Monday, I offered a copy of Quicken Premier 2009 to two Consumerism Commentary readers who have suggestions for avoiding overdraft fees.

I’ve extended the giveaway for an additional few days, and the winners will be announced at the end of the week. There is not a large number of participants, so your chances of winning are still very good. If you’re interested, please read about the giveaway and leave a suggestion or comment. Good luck!

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken Premier 2009 Giveaway Extended

Starting today, Quicken Online (review) will be free for all customers. Quicken Online is the web-based financial software that replaces many of the features of the desktop versions of Quicken and competes with Mint (review), Geezeo, and several more emerging web applications.

Until now, customers who wished to use Quicken Online were required to pay a monthly fee. I mentioned in my initial review in December 2007, “For software I will likely not use often [because I prefer the full-featured desktop software], for me it will come down to price. $2.99 per month is actually a very competitive price for an online service, but the other offerings are currently free (though full of advertising).”

The fee elimination will allow Quicken Online to compete with other free web-based offerings. If you’d rather work with the desktop software, as I do, you can find discounts on the 2009 versions of Quicken here.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken Online Will Now Be Free

I am not a Mac user, so until recently I was unaware that Intuit’s Quicken offerings for Mac are below standard in comparison to Intuit’s similar products designed for computers running Microsoft Windows. It looks like the inferior software is getting a much-needed rewrite from scratch and a new name, “Quicken Financial Life for Mac.”

This should be good news for a number of unhappy customers.

Unfortunately, even this new product will not have the same features as Quicken 2009 for Windows. Like Quicken Online (review here), Quicken Financial Life for Mac will focus on cash flow without sophisticated features for tracking investments.

The new version of the software will provide basic information about your investments, however. Here is a screenshot of an investment summary.

Here are some interesting items to note, according to the product’s FAQ:

The software will be released this winter but you can sign up to participate in the public beta test. To run the software you will need the “Leopard” version of Mac OS. You can import old Quicken Mac data files without losing any information, but you cannot import Microsoft Money data files.

Those running an older version of Mac OS, those who want to track individual investments, and those who want customized reports are encouraged to buy Quicken Mac.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken Financial Life for Mac: Rebirth of Quicken for Mac

I opened Quicken this evening to update a few financial items and I was distraught by what the software was trying to tell me. This is something you never want to see in a piece of financial software that analyzes your spending and offers hints for managing your money.

I’m actually a little insulted. It’s very rare that I eat at Dunkin’ Donuts. In fact, a quick search in Quicken tells me that I’ve eaten there four times in the past four years. It must be time for my yearly doughnut.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Something You Never Want to See in Quicken

Fuelly is a new, free online service which helps you track your mileage. It pays attention to what kind of car you’re driving, how much you’re spending, and creates helpful charts to let you know whether your mileage is improving or declining over time.

It has great support for mobile browsers, which is exactly what I needed, since I can’t be bothered to keep a notebook and pen anywhere sensible in my car. What’s more, it also has a social networking aspect so you can invite your friends to compare mileage trends. There are also dozens of tips for improving your driving style, as well as a user discussion forum.

But I think the neatest aspect is the vehicle browser. For example, this list and graph of Toyota Priuses (Prii?), tells me that some combination of factors is forcing my mileage below the average of Fuelly members. Still, it’s a lot better than my friend’s pickup truck, who just clocked in at under 14 MPG…

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Introducing Fuelly

Are you looking for Quicken 2010? Quicken 2010 is available now and here are the latest products.

The new versions of all the Quicken products are available to purchase starting today, and shipping of the new software will begin on September 9. Intuit, the company that develops the Quicken software and owns the brand, is offering some special discounts to certain websites including Consumerism Commentary. I was not selected to be included in the Quicken 2009 beta test, so I have not seen the software yet. I will most likely download the latest version and share my thoughts as soon as possible.

I’ve been generally happy with my switch from Microsoft Money to Quicken several years ago. There were some improvements I hoped for last year after my dissatisfaction with the earliest release of Quicken 2007 and my reconsideration after Intuit released some fixes. None of the ideas on my wish list were included in the 2008 version, so I’d like to get a look at any improvements in the newest release.

Here are the products now available as well as the discounted price for each. These prices beat even those listed by Amazon.com. All of these products except for the Online Edition can be ordered as CD-ROMs to be delivered to you or as direct downloads.

More discounted Quicken products and other deals are available here.

I will continue to be a Quicken user. There have been many attempts to develop web-based software for money management, including Mint, Geezeo, and even Quicken Online (review here). None of these programs suit my needs at this point.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

Quicken 2009 Available Today, Discounts for Blog Readers

It’s barely been a month since the iPhone update which allows people to download applications written by 3rd-party developers, and there are already more than 1,000 to choose from. Here are a few of the more promising entries in the field of Personal Finance:

Loan Shark

(Web | iTunes)

It’s unreasonable to expect that a person, when presented with a loan offer, can glance at the numbers and determine whether the salesperson is trying to rip them off. If it hadn’t happened to a friend of mine, I might’ve chalked this scenario up to simple paranoia, but it does happen. Thankfully, what with the Internet empowering us all, it happens less and less.

If all you’re looking to do is check the math on a loan offer, there are other ways to go about it. For example, you could point your mobile browser to CalcNexus’s Auto Loan Calculator and get an answer pretty quickly. The major advantage to the Loan Shark iPhone app is that it saves loan details to a Favorites screen so you can compare offers from different banks.

It also shows amortization tables and works as well for credit cards and home loans. For my money, in this case US$4.99, that’s a lot more convenient than carrying around a notepad and a pen.

Save Benjis

(Web | iTunes)

At some point (for me this happens weekly), you’ve been in a store, looking at something you probably want to buy, and you thought to yourself, “I could get this cheaper somewhere else.” Save Benjis answers your doubts for you in a matter of seconds. Best of all, it’s free, so you have nothing to lose if you want to give it a try.

Pick & Choose – Groceries

(Web | iTunes)

“Okay, I’m at Target. What was that other thing I needed to buy?” The analog lifestyle solution to this conundrum was always to keep a shopping list on the fridge and take it with you. But more often than not, I’m coming straight from work, or I forgot the list at home.

You may have noticed by now that I have a sort of contempt for paper records. Anyway…

This app has a built-in database of over 1,500 grocery items, so you barely need to type anything. In fact, I think I’m going to buy this app right now.

The Consumerism Commentary Podcast is in full swing with new episodes every Sunday. Listen and subscribe now!

iPhone Finance (Mostly) Apps, Vol. 1