Tech: Financial Management software online?

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 10:43 AM

We use online banking also, but that only reports what you have spent that they are aware of (at least, that is how my bank does it). I want to enter in things in advance, have reminders along the way, and have a way to keep track of what bills are coming up. I could do it on paper, but the computer method is a lot easier. :)

Does your bank have software you download, or are you talking about simply watching their online reporting of your deposits, spending, and transfers?

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Howard Jones
Date: 21 Jan 10 - 05:30 AM

I used to use MS Money but I also had too many problems with downloads not working properly and records getting scrambled, which took hours to sort out. It was useful in its day, but now my bank offers online banking I find this much more convenient.

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 07:23 PM

I've been happy with Money--there have been a couple of glitches over the years, but they were probably operator error. But they're not updating it and they're not going to support it, so I'm sure the banks are going to stop offering it as a format for downloads. I'll take a look at your site Bill, and will report back. Thanks!

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 06:23 PM

I kept my financial records on Microsoft Money from about 1990 until 2009, when the program scrambled my financial records. At first, I entered all my account and transaction information manually, but later I had it set up to automatically download transactions from my banks and stockbroker. All went well until early last year, when it unexpectedly combined two of my credit cards. I wrote over the backup before I notice the error.
Bank of America has a "portfolio" which does a pretty good job of keeping track of my information for the current year, but I'm glad I have paper backups for past transactions.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Amos
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 05:40 PM

We use QUicken and have for fifteen years. Although it has been known to blow up once in a great while, it is very convenient in its interface design and the way it manages many different registers in a composite program. It is handy with reports, less so with graphs, and will export to Excel on request.

It can be set to automatically back up you main file on closing so you have two copies at all times. Because financial data is such a headache when it goes awry, I recommend a thorough backup system in general which includes your Quicken files.

Mint is highly attractive but it stores your data online, I believe.


A

Subject: RE: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Bill D
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 05:12 PM

Here's a pretty comprehensive list of the free stuff avaialble: (I got a couple of these, with AceMoney looking like a decent one, but my wife does most of our bookkeeping, and I have not done much with them personally)

http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_BUSINESS-HOME.php

scroll down to 2.0 section.

Subject: Tech: Financial Management software online?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jan 10 - 02:33 PM

I should clarify--this isn't so I can load my information somewhere online, this is so I can find a software program online, free if possible, that I can download and save on my computer.

For the last 10 years or so I've been using Microsoft Money. Last summer a message from Quicken started popping up on my screen when I started it, saying Microsoft's program was being discontinued. The time has come to consider switching over from Microsoft to Quicken, or to go a new direction and use one of the free services. Looks like some are online, some are downloads.

Have any of you compared these products? I am not interested in parking my financial information online anywhere, but a downloaded program that does simple tracking and downloads from the bank is all I need. Setting up a schedule of payments would be nice also. I'm not asking it to do any high-end stuff.

It looks like the folks at Quicken (Intuit)have some kind of free program called Mint. There are others, I'm not sure if they're all free, but they're available for download, such as one called MoneyStrands and I also see YNAB 3 (You Need A Budget).

Yes I can do bill pay through my bank, but I prefer to do it site by site where I have the accounts. I want to be able to download information from banking and account sites into the software to keep track of the various threads of my finances.

What are you using, what else have you looked at or tried?

Thanks!

SRS