A little while ago, I asked if any FMF readers had questions about Quicken since I had a Quicken expert available to answer them. Well, now we have the answers. Here are the first few of them -- these dealing with Quicken Online and Quicken for the Mac.
This is Chelsea from Quicken. Thanks for the chance to help out your readers. If they want to stay connected with Quicken on the Web, they can follow me or Quicken Online on Twitter (@QuickenPRChels and @QuickenOnline), read the Quicken blog, or become a fan of Quicken or Quicken Online on Facebook. Hope these questions and answers help, and feel free to put me in touch with any readers that follow-up with you for more information. I’m going to watch the comments too so I can help out.
Quicken Online
Q. I am looking for a good online money management tool. Obviously, I must choose between Quicken Online and Mint. My friends use Mint, but it will only store up to 3 months of financial information. Storing only three months of info makes it hard to budget for an entire year. My question is, does Quicken Online store information for more than 3 months? If it does, then my decision is easy.
A. Hi @SAH, The answer is yes. Quicken Online stores more than three months of data. We want to help people be prepared for tax time, so we’ll definitely have data for the whole year but you’ll want to start before April 15 so you get all the information you need by next year. On first download, we only grab the first three months from your financial institution, but we store everything from that point going forward so you can build a history. We’ve also just added cash tracking and have some exciting new things coming this spring.
Quicken Mac -- ELOC Loans
Q. I use Quicken 2007 and am pretty much a beginner. My question is how do I categorize equity line of credit loans (transferred to accounts to cover bills, etc.)? They show up as income on my reports. So, my reports show my income almost quadrupled what it actually is. Is there some other category I should be using? HELP!
A. Great question! Here are two tips from the product team: First, set up an equity line of credit loan as an account in Quicken and next, go back to the original account and treat these incoming funds as transfers. If this doesn’t work for you, please visit www.quickencommunity.com or let FMF know, and I can get in touch with you to provide you with more help.
Quicken Mac -- Quicken Financial Life for Mac
Q. Why has the release date for Quicken Financial Life for Mac product been pushed back so many times? If I bite the bullet now and buy Quicken for Mac 2007, will *all* the data be easy to import into QFLM when it finally does come out in the summer (hopefully)?
A. We’re rebuilding Quicken Financial Life for Mac from the ground up to take full advantage of the new Apple OS. Along the way, we re-evaluated what we need to deliver a superb experience and are committed to releasing a great product for you. Ultimately we chose to delay the product rather than release something our discerning Mac customers wouldn’t love using every day. Quicken Financial Life for Mac will be out this summer, and will come with a simple conversion utility that will help you import all of your Quicken Mac 2007 file into the new product.
Quicken Mac -- General Question
Q. Also, what the heck is up with their quicken for Mac version? I'm a new MAC user & would love to transfer my files over to my new computer. However, I've read awful review about Quicken for Mac and they are not up-to-date with the PC versions. There's no equivalent accounting software for MAC & my husband is really tired of me using his PC laptop to do our finances after we bought me a new computer that I can't use Quicken on.
A. You’re correct that our most current personal finance software for the Mac is Quicken Mac 2007. Quicken Financial Life for Mac will ship this summer. PC to Mac data transfer is one of our top priorities as we rebuild the product from the ground up. Quicken Financial Life for Mac is currently in beta, and we’ve got lots of passionate testers (both Mac novices and experts) giving us great feedback and suggestions. Here is a recent review of the beta so far (keep in mind, this is just a beta and features are subject to evolve and change): Also, here’s a video of the Quicken Financial Life for Mac product manager talking about the beta at MacWorld 2009.
The premise for the first question is wrong. My Mint account has around 2500 transactions from back to September 2007 (a couple months before I started using Mint) in it. I think it will also only download the most recent three months to begin with, though. I think this is a limitation of the data service both Quicken Online and Mint use.
Posted by: Matthew | March 26, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for clarifying. Yes, you're correct, Quicken Online pulls only the first three months of your data. If you start fresh, the product will continue to build a history for you over time.
Hope this helps,
Chelsea, Quicken Online
Posted by: chelsea | March 26, 2009 at 08:15 PM
The beta version for QFLM is horrible. Doesn't give me any hope that it will be very good whenever it finally arrives.
I've made the switch to Mint.com, and haven't looked back for a second.
Posted by: tag | March 27, 2009 at 09:31 AM
If I buy Quicken 07 for Mac now, will I get some kind of discount to upgrade to quicken 09, or will I end up buying 2 products this year for full price?
Posted by: Michelle Mendoza | April 05, 2009 at 03:39 PM