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Giveaway Reminder: 5 Winners of Extreme Finance Package

This article was written by in Giveaways. Add a comment.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.

This week I will be giving away five “extreme finance packages” containing Quicken, TurboTax, and QuickBooks. Each winner will be able to choose their flavor of each piece of software.

Today is the last day to enter to win this giveaway. Response has been much slower than I expected, so your chances of winning are currently very good.

In order to put your name in the hat, read these instructions. There are many ways to increase your chances, as well, from participating with Consumerism Commentary on Twitter and Facebook.

The giveaway ends at 11:59 PM Eastern Time tonight, so make sure you enter today.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.

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Giveaway: 5 Extreme Finance Packages (TurboTax, Quicken, and QuickBooks)

This article was written by in Giveaways. 71 comments.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.

Thanks to the team at Intuit, Consumerism Commentary has “extreme finance” packages to give to our readers. This is a complete package that covers personal finance management, tax filing, and even business accounting. Five of these packages are available. Although the company balked at my initial idea of giving away free tax filing for life, I’m happy to say we were able to come up with something just as extraordinary.

This has the possibility of being a popular giveaway, so I am offering Consumerism Commentary readers a number of ways to qualify. But first, here is what is included in the “extreme finance” package, worth up to more than $300 each.

If you win, you will be able to select your choice of tax software, personal finance management software, and business accounting software.

The winner will choose one of the following options for filing taxes:

The winner will choose one of the following options for managing personal finances:

The winner will choose one of the following options for handling business accounting:

I’d like to point out that in addition to the above software, Intuit provides these free options. For filing your taxes, you may qualify for the TurboTax Online Federal Free Edition and for managing your personal finances, you may be satisfied with Mint.

In order to win this giveaway, readers can accumulate points. Each point represents one chance to win one of five of these “extreme finance” packages. The maximum number of points is 20. In other words, if you follow each of the suggestions, you will be 20 times more likely to win than someone who just leaves a comment below. Here is what you can to in order to increase your points:

  • Leave a comment below (one point)
  • Include in your comment a Quicken or TurboTax tip (two points)
  • Subscribe to the Consumerism Commentary RSS feed (two points)
  • Follow @flexo on Twitter and let me know that you have in a comment below (one point)
  • Retweet the giveaway on Twitter: “Pls RT! Awesome TurboTax/Quicken giveaway from @flexo! http://bit.ly/aH8vnR” and let me know that you have in a comment below (two points)
  • Become a fan of Consumerism Commentary on Facebook and let me know that you have in a comment below (two points)
  • If you have a blog or other website, link to this article (three points)
  • If another reader mentions in their comment that you referred them to the contest, you will receive up to seven matched points as the referrer

Of course, if you already subscribe to the RSS feed, if you already follow @flexo on Twitter, or if you are already a fan on Facebook, let us know in the comments. You do not need to re-do these actions in order to receive points.

When you comment, don’t forget to let us know what additional actions you have taken to ensure you’re awarded all your points. Also, if someone referred you to the contest, let us know who referred you so the referrer can receive their matched points.

This giveaway will remain open until Friday, March 12, 11:59 PM Eastern Time. Your comment must be posted and all actions must be complete by that time in order to be awarded your points. You will need a mailing address in the United States and must be at least 18 years old to qualify.

Now for some fine print. Intuit is providing this software directly to Consumerism Commentary readers. The software is being provided independently of the recent review of TurboTax Online and any other software reviews posted on Consumerism Commentary. Consumerism Commentary is an authorized affiliate of Intuit.

The giveaway has ended. Thanks to everyone who has participated. The winners will be notified shortly.

Check out the Intuit product blogs for QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Mint.

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Personal Balance Sheet, September 2009

This article was written by in Monthly Update. 8 comments.

Now that I am working with an accountant, I have been making some changes to the way I track my finances. By the end of the year, I hope to have all of my business-related finances in QuickBooks. Although I am not quite at that point, I am working to separate my personal finances from by business finances. Currently, I tend to move money from my business bank accounts to my personal bank accounts as needed, which makes it difficult to track.

The report I publish on Consumerism Commentary each month will no longer contain anything business related. Any business bank accounts or credit cards will not be listed. I also won’t be publishing my business income online.

This change has affect by net worth numbers going back several years, so if you compare today’s report with any prior month’s report, the bottom lines will be significantly different.

September was another good month in terms of income. My online business continue to diversify and grow. Even with a significant payment to the IRS for quarterly estimated taxes, I managed to bring more in money than I spent. While I won’t be including a full income and expense report, I will post a quarterly investment report shortly.

Read the full article →

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QuickBooks 2010 Now Available, Discounts for Readers

This article was written by in Software. 15 comments.

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.

QuickBooks Pro - Save up to 20% & Free Shipping

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.

Consumerism Commentary is an authorized affiliate of QuickBooks and Quicken.

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Weekly Blog Roundup: Minimum Wage, Life Insurance, and Milk

by Flexo

Here are some articles I’ve enjoyed this week from the MoneyBlogNetwork and beyond. Commentary on What Minimum Wage Would Buy. Mighty Bargain Hunter approves of the minimum wage hike and hopes business can deal with the change. Save Money on Life Insurance by Paying Annually. Five Cent Nickel’s title to this article summarized the concept ... Continue reading this article…

2 comments Read the full article →

Wachovia to Start Charging for Direct Access to Quicken

by Flexo

Along with my monthly checking and savings account statement, I received the following notice in the mail: Important Message for Personal Account Holders Who Use Quicken, QuickBooks, or Microsoft Money Beginning April 1, 2007, a monthly fee of $5.95 will be assessed if you access Wachovia Online Banking directly from within your personal financial management ... Continue reading this article…

12 comments Read the full article →