Quicken - Alternative?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Post Reply
User avatar
Topic Author
BullMoose
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:15 pm
Location: USA

Quicken - Alternative?

Post by BullMoose »

Friends,
I am at my wits end with Quicken. It was rolling along somewhat usefully for the first two plus years, but now won't connect to Capital One 360 to download transactions (stuck in a re-authorization cycle despite it saying sucess on page #1, but not downloading on page #2). I'm also seeing issues with Schwab (discussed on an alternative thread). I've tried to start a new ledger and have the same issue. I've deleted the Capital One accounts and re-added.

I have just used Quicken to help me understand where money is being spent and to track this over time. We don't use bill pay, mobile or any other the other features.

Please walk me off a ledge or push me the other direction. Should I tough through this, pick it up another day and hope for a better experience? Is there an alternative that we should consider? Does someone have pre-built spreadsheets that they love that I can leverage?

Sincerely,
Frustrated and Angry With Inanimate Software
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
Spewin
Posts: 183
Joined: Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:52 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by Spewin »

Mint, YNAB, Personal Capital will all do want you want. Also, Quicken does have phone support now.
retire2022
Posts: 3286
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:10 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by retire2022 »

Op

There was this thread a few days ago:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=337389
HappyPappy
Posts: 287
Joined: Sun Jan 02, 2022 3:05 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by HappyPappy »

I’ve been using Quicken since before I can remember. Probably since around the early 2000s. Initially I just used the ledgers, then started using it keep track of asset allocations, now I use its budgeting also, maybe one day I’ll use it for tax planning as well. It has a lot of functionality, but you do get glitches with the downloading. I mean, I NEVER have had any serious issues with any accounts associated to a major institution. I frequently get issues with Synchrony, who administers our Amazon card. Quicken has an ok user forum where you can ask for help.
mhalley
Posts: 10432
Joined: Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:02 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by mhalley »

I switched from YNAB to Simplifi by quicken last year, no problems so far. Subscription though.
tvubpwcisla
Posts: 1167
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2019 9:09 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by tvubpwcisla »

I would stick with Quicken and simply work through the issues.
User avatar
Artful Dodger
Posts: 1952
Joined: Thu Oct 20, 2016 12:56 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by Artful Dodger »

I have the same problem downloading my Fidelity Visa card account. I open up the account in Quicken, then log into the VISA account, go to download data, specify date range, then check download in QIF format. The Quicken icon flashes, I click it, and the history down loads to my VISA account on Quicken. It sounds more complicated than it is.
softwaregeek
Posts: 951
Joined: Wed May 08, 2019 8:59 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by softwaregeek »

I like personal capital a lot but as I am a free member that concerns me. Quicken may be mediocre but the paid subscription model means they are much more likely to maintain service. Personal capital is better in many ways but I would not be surprised if they limited the free service. I am at the point where I need assurances of service and don’t care about paying 50 or 70 a year.
MGBMartin
Posts: 1145
Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:09 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by MGBMartin »

I have used Quicken for more than 30 years but I grew tired of their subscription model.
About a year ago I started using MoneyDance but kept Quicken up to date at the same time.
MoneyDance works very well and does somethings better but I was having a hard time living with some small but very annoying quirks in MoneyDance.
When I saw a Quicken 1 year subscription for a low price I switched back to Quicken.
I will run both in parallel and keep the data up to date in MoneyDane in case I switch back.
Bad spellers of the world untie | Autocorrect is my worst enema
slyboots
Posts: 41
Joined: Sat Dec 03, 2016 4:37 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by slyboots »

I struggled with Quicken for years and settled on .... keeping using Quicken

It is clunky legacy software but the last time I looked, the competition doesn't support private investment tracking in any useful way. Also, the historical reporting from Quicken is really good. Finally, the new owners are actually investing in the product which you can really see.

Serious question, though - what software do family offices or advisors to VHNW individuals use? I figure whatever they use should be great for the rest of us, but I cannot figure that out. Quickbooks? Something else?
fortunefavored
Posts: 1425
Joined: Tue Jun 02, 2015 8:18 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by fortunefavored »

I've noticed increasing connection troubles too (20+ year quicken user.) Some Quicken's faults, some unknown. But it is starting to be a drag given you have to pay every year.

My CU "succeeds" but no transactions are downloaded (random, if I force a single account update it works again)
One 401K no longer is "recognized" even though it is supported and used to work.
One BOFA card now requires 2FA *every update* - so no automatic nightly downloads (BOFA's choice, but still limits Quicken's utility.)

My vague plan is to just simplify as many financial institutions as possible and switch to something like Mint - at least I won't be paying extra money for something that doesn't work very well.
mggray17
Posts: 231
Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:09 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by mggray17 »

I just switched over to Quicken this week from happily using Microsoft Money with various scripts to keep downloads operational for years.
Why the switch?? Schwab. I had a brokerage account at Vanguard and a 457 at Prudential that downloaded fine with the script I was using and was able to manually download OFX/Q** files from my banks to Microsoft Money without issues. I had my Roth IRA at Schwab with only one position (VTI), so I manually updated the daily price.

Schwab is using the "next generation" of OFX, which is FDX, so there is no longer any workaround for Microsoft Money. I have been looking for alternatives in anticipation of rolling over my 457 at Prudential to Schwab. It seems that Quicken is the only option that works with the new FDX standards for downloads. I rolled over my 457 last week and purchased Quicken. I was able to add all of my accounts except Schwab, the day I downloaded the program. I made another attempt at Schwab yesterday, following all of the suggested methods on the Quicken Community site and had success adding Schwab. Can't predict if there will be future problems, but for now all of my accounts are working with Quicken.

Schwab went from the usual OFX standard to the new higher security FDX standard.
You can see who is onboard with the new FDX standard here:


https://financialdataexchange.org/
maineminder
Posts: 148
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 9:48 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by maineminder »

I've yet to find an alternative that fits my needs and I've tried the usual alternatives.

Love/Hate relationship here, but with all the recent 'issues' I seem to be able to tolerate it. I now watch the quicken community forums to get a heads up on current issues and post the ones I have.

We'll see if this improves the situation:

https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/09/quick ... tuit%20Inc.

Nearly 30 year user here.
TheRealJohnDoe
Posts: 118
Joined: Wed May 02, 2018 10:06 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by TheRealJohnDoe »

Are you absolutely certain you have the latest version? Right now, I'm showing version R37.67 build 27.1.37.67.

The core Quicken software is generally rock solid. However, the changes in transaction downloads from financial institutions must keep them very, very busy keeping up with constant changes in protocols, actual real security, and mostly security theatre. Yes, Vanguard transaction downloads were broken for a couple months once. Schwab downloads were broken fairly recently, but only for a short time. Bank of America, Navy Federal, and some others do require multi-factor authentication each and every time you download. That's the decision of that financial institution.

I'm sure they wished that financial institutions would get things where they need to be and then stop dicking with it. The subscription model for Quicken is the only viable way to have an income stream to pay developers to keep up with external changes.

If transaction downloads are part of your personal finance process, then I don't think you are going to do any better than Quicken. As long as you keep up-to-date with upgrades, it actually works pretty well.

If transaction downloads are not part of your personal finance process, see if you can find the last version that had a perpetual license (2017?) and use that.
DetroitRick
Posts: 1488
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:28 am
Location: SE Michigan

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by DetroitRick »

It would be tough for me to walk you off the ledge because, for the first time since Quicken got sold (Intuit to H.I.G. Capital in 2016), I'm losing my patience again. Since late last year, when Quicken announced that Aquiline Capital Partners would take a majority stake, I'm inclined to play wait and see for a while longer. On the brighter side, it appears that the installed user base has grown since the end of the Intuit days. Perhaps more leverage???

My problem is that Quicken addresses my current needs better than any alternative. It conforms to my processes, rather than vice versa. And I saw improvement in product performance and stability since the late Intuit days. Like you, I don't use Bill Pay or Mobile. But I also lean on Quicken for investment management support. Because I manage accounts for multiple family members, it would be difficult to replicate what I get from Quicken via another package. No way would I be willing to frequently do manual downloads into a spreadsheet either. For simply managing income and expense, Mint (I've tried it) would work fine. But not for the other features that I use. More than anything, I want those One-Step Updates for instant account activity. So, right now, I'm stuck too and can't find a better alternative that does everything I need.

At least overall though, I have gotten far more benefit from Quicken than it has cost me in time and aggravation. So, until something clearly better comes along, I remain stuck.

Two big areas where I see problems (and where 1000's of others have seen the same over the years): managing data file integrity and maintaining connectivity. For the first, I can handle it okay, but it seems sort of 1990's to me. They could do better. For the 2nd, I've seen improvement and can mostly live with it as-is. Especially when I can use the user community to see how universal an issue is before doing any diagnostics. Or, better yet, when they send alert message in the software itself that problems are being experienced (big kudos on starting to do that).

But this whole Schwab connectivity thing has been my most recent catalyst for re-thinking Quicken again. That's a major reason why I use Quicken in the first place. There was an obvious lack of testing and I lack the information as to where the blame should be placed (my guess would be Quicken, though). In and amongst the tons of issues people found in November and December, there were some common universal issues. Quicken did not do a good job in remediating those in particular, and their employee support was very heavy on the bs, at least early on. Their user community is populated with "super users" that appear to be posting merely for volume. Regular support is also generally poor, but I'm glad that I can always (so far) avoid it.

So I sit on the ledge too. Depends what happens next. I suspect performance over the next year will push me one way or the other. Or growth in user base will support a new and better product by a new player. The main thing that I try to remember is that Quicken largely runs and supports my decision-making without much intervention at all - very little input and mostly no effort on my part. Thus, I'm torn....

Edited to add - I'm using Quicken For Windows, Premier version. I have no idea what Quicken for Mac is now like.
User avatar
Kenkat
Posts: 9549
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 10:18 am
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by Kenkat »

I am having the same problem as you are with my CapitalOne Quicksilver credit card account. Endless re-authorization loop that never gets resolved. I tried all of the suggested fixes to no avail. One thing that is unclear to me is whether this is a Quicken problem or a CapitalOne problem. Everything worked fine until CapitalOne “required” me to re-authorize. It is possible that process doesn’t work on the CapitalOne end and there is nothing Quicken can do about it.

I have switched as a work-around to going to the CapitalOne website, downloading a QFX file for a specified date range and then opening that file which imports the transactions into Quicken. A little more complicated but not enough to make me consider a switch. I just have too much invested in Quicken and don’t think there are clearly superior alternatives out there. Hoping it gets fixed someday.

Here is a link to the Quicken community alert for this issue:

https://community.quicken.com/discussio ... 901#latest
FIRWYW
Posts: 320
Joined: Thu Dec 23, 2021 8:11 am

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by FIRWYW »

For the last year I have been using personal capital and quicken simultaneously. I am not sure which is better or worse.

First- the reason why I tried the change and then the cons of personal capital. I have not liked that quicken forced people into a yearly subscription so have thought of changing for a while. Tried mint very shortly but did not like it at all years ago. I held off on the quicken upgrade for 5 months this last time. Then I undated thinking I would have to manually enter 2-3 months of information. (Since it can download the last 90 days). However none of my accounts lined up. Something happened in that update where the last 5 years of information got some transactions got duplicated and some did not convert over. In short it took about 15 hours of manually going through things to get accounts correct (kind of funny looking back at that time though- on paper I lost 80% of my net worth in minutes- maybe it was to prepare me to remain calm for the market correction :). The other reason is that I have had intermittent problems with accounts connecting since and before. Finally I will not use quickens mobile app. Every time I have done so over multiple years, it will duplicate random transactions across the platforms and I have to manually remove those.

Tried personal capital - the good. 1) quickly downloaded things on startup. Mobile, online and Mac app stay up to date with each other and don’t duplicate. I like the net worth and planning features. Hate the selling of things to me- constant reminders that I can meet with a planner. However similar to quicken accounts loses their connection and I have to verify again- I gather this is the banks and security system so will be the same with any program. However it can never connect to my mortgage company. Quicken will. What I like more in personal capital in addition to working well across platforms, it does give a few suggestions to improve investing such as pointing out higher fees, changing Roth contribution to traditional and investing savings in taxable (which WILL come out better for me but may not for everyone) and that includes a built in Monty Carlo outcome. Bad on investments is that (similar to quicken) it does not recognize mixed funds (Ie target date funds or 529 funds), and that they recommend changing to investments that really do NOT help long term (Ie including commodities. I worry about that suckering other people into making bad investment choices or getting confused enough to pay their 0.89% advisory fee)

Although you can budget in both, quickens budget features are MUCH more useful to me. I also can have a separate account for my kids so they can learn to budget. I am going to continue both until my current quicken subscription expires. May change purely to personal capital and pull the budget into a spreadsheet to monitor more but I don’t like the extra work.
User avatar
mrpotatoheadsays
Posts: 546
Joined: Fri Mar 16, 2012 2:36 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by mrpotatoheadsays »

Execution of old, non-subscription-based Quicken on the latest Mac OS X is impossible. I moved to non-subscription-based Moneydance; it runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. It's not the greatest, but it's a one-time fee of $50.
User avatar
Topic Author
BullMoose
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:15 pm
Location: USA

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by BullMoose »

HappyPappy wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 7:29 pm I’ve been using Quicken since before I can remember. Probably since around the early 2000s. Initially I just used the ledgers, then started using it keep track of asset allocations, now I use its budgeting also, maybe one day I’ll use it for tax planning as well. It has a lot of functionality, but you do get glitches with the downloading. I mean, I NEVER have had any serious issues with any accounts associated to a major institution. I frequently get issues with Synchrony, who administers our Amazon card. Quicken has an ok user forum where you can ask for help.
Thanks for the reminder to check out the forum - I've availed myself of the search function here, but forgot to look there!
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
User avatar
Topic Author
BullMoose
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:15 pm
Location: USA

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by BullMoose »

DetroitRick wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 9:45 am It would be tough for me to walk you off the ledge because, for the first time since Quicken got sold (Intuit to H.I.G. Capital in 2016), I'm losing my patience again. Since late last year, when Quicken announced that Aquiline Capital Partners would take a majority stake, I'm inclined to play wait and see for a while longer. On the brighter side, it appears that the installed user base has grown since the end of the Intuit days. Perhaps more leverage???

My problem is that Quicken addresses my current needs better than any alternative. It conforms to my processes, rather than vice versa. And I saw improvement in product performance and stability since the late Intuit days. Like you, I don't use Bill Pay or Mobile. But I also lean on Quicken for investment management support. Because I manage accounts for multiple family members, it would be difficult to replicate what I get from Quicken via another package. No way would I be willing to frequently do manual downloads into a spreadsheet either. For simply managing income and expense, Mint (I've tried it) would work fine. But not for the other features that I use. More than anything, I want those One-Step Updates for instant account activity. So, right now, I'm stuck too and can't find a better alternative that does everything I need.

At least overall though, I have gotten far more benefit from Quicken than it has cost me in time and aggravation. So, until something clearly better comes along, I remain stuck.

Two big areas where I see problems (and where 1000's of others have seen the same over the years): managing data file integrity and maintaining connectivity. For the first, I can handle it okay, but it seems sort of 1990's to me. They could do better. For the 2nd, I've seen improvement and can mostly live with it as-is. Especially when I can use the user community to see how universal an issue is before doing any diagnostics. Or, better yet, when they send alert message in the software itself that problems are being experienced (big kudos on starting to do that).

But this whole Schwab connectivity thing has been my most recent catalyst for re-thinking Quicken again. That's a major reason why I use Quicken in the first place. There was an obvious lack of testing and I lack the information as to where the blame should be placed (my guess would be Quicken, though). In and amongst the tons of issues people found in November and December, there were some common universal issues. Quicken did not do a good job in remediating those in particular, and their employee support was very heavy on the bs, at least early on. Their user community is populated with "super users" that appear to be posting merely for volume. Regular support is also generally poor, but I'm glad that I can always (so far) avoid it.

So I sit on the ledge too. Depends what happens next. I suspect performance over the next year will push me one way or the other. Or growth in user base will support a new and better product by a new player. The main thing that I try to remember is that Quicken largely runs and supports my decision-making without much intervention at all - very little input and mostly no effort on my part. Thus, I'm torn....

Edited to add - I'm using Quicken For Windows, Premier version. I have no idea what Quicken for Mac is now like.
Appreciate the feedback. I can't imagine how much "fun" it must be to have to interface with all of the banks and their continual change in approaches.
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
User avatar
Topic Author
BullMoose
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2020 8:15 pm
Location: USA

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by BullMoose »

TheRealJohnDoe wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 8:32 am Are you absolutely certain you have the latest version? Right now, I'm showing version R37.67 build 27.1.37.67.

The core Quicken software is generally rock solid. However, the changes in transaction downloads from financial institutions must keep them very, very busy keeping up with constant changes in protocols, actual real security, and mostly security theatre. Yes, Vanguard transaction downloads were broken for a couple months once. Schwab downloads were broken fairly recently, but only for a short time. Bank of America, Navy Federal, and some others do require multi-factor authentication each and every time you download. That's the decision of that financial institution.

I'm sure they wished that financial institutions would get things where they need to be and then stop dicking with it. The subscription model for Quicken is the only viable way to have an income stream to pay developers to keep up with external changes.

If transaction downloads are part of your personal finance process, then I don't think you are going to do any better than Quicken. As long as you keep up-to-date with upgrades, it actually works pretty well.

If transaction downloads are not part of your personal finance process, see if you can find the last version that had a perpetual license (2017?) and use that.
Thanks - I'll make sure to check the version.
“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
dcuser
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue May 03, 2022 3:44 pm

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by dcuser »

What about Goldman Sachs "Marcus" for keeping track of accounts (investment and bank)? It's "free" but is it worth even that to keep an up-to-date birds-eye view?
User avatar
abuss368
Posts: 27850
Joined: Mon Aug 03, 2009 2:33 pm
Location: Where the water is warm, the drinks are cold, and I don't know the names of the players!
Contact:

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by abuss368 »

BullMoose wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 6:19 pm Friends,
I am at my wits end with Quicken. It was rolling along somewhat usefully for the first two plus years, but now won't connect to Capital One 360 to download transactions (stuck in a re-authorization cycle despite it saying sucess on page #1, but not downloading on page #2). I'm also seeing issues with Schwab (discussed on an alternative thread). I've tried to start a new ledger and have the same issue. I've deleted the Capital One accounts and re-added.

I have just used Quicken to help me understand where money is being spent and to track this over time. We don't use bill pay, mobile or any other the other features.

Please walk me off a ledge or push me the other direction. Should I tough through this, pick it up another day and hope for a better experience? Is there an alternative that we should consider? Does someone have pre-built spreadsheets that they love that I can leverage?

Sincerely,
Frustrated and Angry With Inanimate Software
I took a different strategy and it has paid off. I was a long time Quicken user (over a decade). Together with supplemental spreadsheets I spent a lot of time and analysis.

I focused on revamping everything and simplified over the years. It was never an end goal but rather an evolution and journey. Still is after incorporating two additional items this week that will simplify even more.

Our personal finance now takes minutes at best every couple of weeks.

I would consider this approach and pass on the time, cost, and complexity. You and your loved ones may be happy.

Best.
💪
Tony
John C. Bogle: “Simplicity is the master key to financial success."
HarmlessDrudge
Posts: 54
Joined: Fri Apr 29, 2022 4:41 pm
Location: Washington State, USA
Contact:

Re: Quicken - Alternative?

Post by HarmlessDrudge »

slyboots wrote: Sun Jan 23, 2022 7:15 am I struggled with Quicken for years and settled on .... keeping using Quicken

It is clunky legacy software but the last time I looked, the competition doesn't support private investment tracking in any useful way. Also, the historical reporting from Quicken is really good. Finally, the new owners are actually investing in the product which you can really see.

Serious question, though - what software do family offices or advisors to VHNW individuals use? I figure whatever they use should be great for the rest of us, but I cannot figure that out. Quickbooks? Something else?
Yeah. Me, too. I tried others and found them clunkier. I don't like the subscription model, but I pay it. And the product is improving.
Post Reply