Smart Buying
Quicken '06 Stays a Step Ahead
Pop-up spending reports and the ability to attach electronic documents will help this personal finance software maintain its number-one spot.
By Dan Rutherford
August 1, 2005
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After 22 versions, one would think the programmers of Intuit's Quicken software would run out of things to improve.
But for the second year in a row, Quicken's developers hit the road to meet with thousands of users and implemented more than 100 changes to its 2006 software, which goes on sale today on Quicken.com and is expected to hit store shelves later this month.
Unfortunately the new version of Quicken offers only a handful of "gee whiz" upgrades. The remaining changes can be categorized as functionality tweaks.
The most notable improvements are creating electronic attachments and more streamlined, easier to read income and spending reports.
Quicken 2006 comes in a variety of packages, each offering more features than the last:
- Basic, $29.95, is the bare-bones banking and budgeting tool. You can reconcile checking, savings and credit accounts, download transactions, and create a budget.
- Deluxe, $39.95 after a $20 rebate (available through November 30), has all of the above features plus tools to help reduce debt and set savings goals.
- Premier, $59.95 after rebate, contains everything in Deluxe plus a suite of investment tools that includes portfolio tracking, analysis, news and price updates.
- Premier Home & Business, $69.95 after rebate, adds tools to help you run your home-based or small business, including invoicing, creating a business plan, help with your Schedule C, tracking accounts payable and more.
Quick reports
We tested the latest Premier version, and felt right at home. On the surface, the program looks and acts just like previous generations. If you upgrade from Quicken 2005, the only indication you're looking at a different software package is the new year in the title bar. But once you dive into your check registry, you'll find the first key improvement.
Q06's coolest function is one-click mini reports. Want to know how much you spend on dining out every month? Click on the "category" block of one of your registry's restaurant entries. You'll see a snapshot of how much you've spent in the past 30 days to three years (set to the time period you prefer). Want to get even more specific? Click on the payee for a similar report -- to see how those trips to your favorite burger shack add up, for example.
Of course, accurate reports require you to religiously categorize each transaction in your registry -- dining, entertainment, utilities, auto, etc. For those of us who don't do that, or for new users downloading several months of bank records for the first time, Quicken has made it possible to select and edit multiple entries from the reports section of the software. You can highlight blocks of expenses using your shift key, or cherry pick, say, all of your utility payments by holding down your control key and clicking each entry. Older versions required users to assign spending categories line by line.
The itemized payee and category reports are also included in a more streamlined reporting center. Once you've properly recorded your transactions, one click delivers graphs for any spending category or payee. If you want to print, save or send your report to your accountant or spouse, simply export a PDF copy.
Go paperless
New banking regulations allow checks to be processed and delivered electronically. Many banks now deliver only copies of checks with your paper statements and provide electronic versions online. With Quicken '06, you can download those e-copies and attach the images to items in your registry. You can also scan and save warranty information, receipts, or save electronic statements with their corresponding credit, investment or bank accounts. (This feature is not included in the Basic edition.)
Attaching documents to your Quicken data will not increase your data file size. The images are kept in a separate folder and synchronized when you back up your information.
And a new keyword search function makes it easier to find that payment, receipt or document later.
If you've paid for a product or service you wish you hadn't, Quicken also now gives you the opportunity to rant online. Select any line in your registry and you'll see a blue star off to the right. This is Zipingo, an Epinions-style you-rate-it service.
The folks at Quicken believe users will rate their favorite plumbers, furniture stores and auto mechanics. Other users could then refer to the local reviews when making a buying decision. Convenience? Maybe, but it's more likely another advertising vehicle for the company. (Note the litter touting Quicken's credit cards and other services on your desktop after installation.) It's hardly an original idea and, because it's brand new (the Zipingo Web site launched this week, too), it could be some time before ratings reach an objective critical mass. After all, how many people rave about the neighborhood grocery store?
Quicken doesn't need to rely on this kind of gimmickry. It is the market leader in personal finance software, and the other features in this version are strong enough to keep it there.
Who should buy it?
So should you buy the latest version? It depends on how you use the software. If you want a comprehensive program to track your spending and organize your bill paying, then, yes, the new features make Quicken '06 much easier to use. Experienced financial software users will love the customized reporting features and the overall power and flexibility of the higher-end product lines.
If, however, you purchased the 2005 Premium version to follow your investments then save your money. There were few noticeable improvements in 2006.
First-time financial software buyers should also keep walking. For this group we recommend Microsoft Money 2006. Money's Web-based design is much more familiar and easier to navigate. Money also enables users to pay bills from multiple accounts in one place. One drawback: You have to upgrade to new Money versions every two years to maintain this and other .Net Passport-based features. After two years, though, you may be ready to check out Quicken's more advanced features. Both companies make it very easy to convert data from one program to the other.
Quicken '06 also offers an all-in-one bill-pay service, but you must pay $9.95 per month to use it. And it too requires an upgrade about every three years.
But there is no question Quicken remains a step ahead. During their demonstration, Quicken's spokespeople picked off Microsoft Money 2006's new features and explained how Quicken had come up with the same functions years or decades earlier. For example, despite few new upgrades this year, Quicken's investment tools remain superior to Money's.
They also pointed out how Quicken has expanded chat rooms and launched bulletin boards to help users get the most out of the program. But truly intuitive software shouldn't need that much explanation, which is probably why Quicken programmers keep coming up with new improvements.