Equity Finance » Checking Account

Personal Finance Software Review of Quicken Product Offerings

admin — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:14:05 +0000

In this article I would like to conduct a personal finance software review of the Quicken product offerings designed for personal use. There are several personal finance software products on the market that do wonderful jobs of helping families manage their finances, but I am most familiar with Quicken as I have been a user of its products for over eight years. I have been completely satisfied with the features Quicken provides and would like to review and compare the benefits that its product offerings deliver.

Quicken Starter Edition

Formerly known as Quicken Basic, the Quicken Starter Edition is an excellent solution for individuals who will be using personal finance software for the first time. The three main features the Quicken Starter Edition delivers are: (1) balancing of your checkbook electronically, (2) tracking how you spend your money by being able to categorize purchases, and (3) monitoring and updating all your investment and banking accounts in one place. It basically provides a “one-stop shop” for all of your personal finance concerns.

Quicken Deluxe

Although the Quicken Starter Edition is a fantastic product, I believe the average family considering a personal finance software product should start with Quicken Deluxe. The reason is that, in addition to offering all of the features of the Quicken Starter Edition, Quicken Deluxe provides the capability to download banking and investment account transactions automatically. This makes reconciling your checking account, as well as your other accounts, extremely simple. In addition, Quicken Deluxe allows you to create savings goals and track their progress, store statements and records electronically, and plan for a new home, a baby, or retirement. For most families, this is the best place to start.

Quicken Premier

For those families who manage their own investments and require additional tools to monitor and measure their progress, Quicken Premier is the perfect solution. Quicken Premier offers all of the wonderful features from Quicken Deluxe plus several others, including: (1) generating various investment performance reports, (2) analyzing and optimizing your portfolio with special tools, (3) generating Schedule A, B, and D tax reports, and (4) setting investment alerts to notify you when certain conditions are in place. A truly remarkable tool for the do-it-yourself investor!

Quicken Home & Business

The three software solutions above are all excellent choices, but if you own your own business, none of these will be sufficient for the additional monitoring and record keeping required of you. Enter Quicken Home and Business. Though not as powerful a solution as Intuit’s QuickBooks products, it is the perfect choice if you have a small business with no payroll requirements, or especially for a part time business. In addition to providing all of the wonderful features of Quicken Premier, Quicken Home and Business allows: (1) tracking and categorizing of both business and personal expenses, (2) creating customized estimates and invoices, (3) generating profit and loss reports, (4) tracking vehicle mileage and other Schedule C items, and (5) monitoring upcoming bills and unpaid invoices. If you are considering a small part-time business, this solution is perfect to get you started.

In conclusion, Quicken offers a wonderful lineup of products that are designed to meet the varying needs that different families require. This personal finance software review has aimed to provide you with a basic overview of each product to help you decide which solution would be most appropriate for your family. Hopefully this discussion convinces you of the incredible value personal finance software delivers to its users. I can only speak from personal experience.

By: Charles Hebert

About the Author:

Charles Hebert shares his views on personal finances from his website, Smart Money Advocate, which advocates simple strategies for achieving financial success.

Create a video blog

Internet Savings Account

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:01:50 +0000

If you have been looking out for information on an internet account, you have reached the right place. Our extensive resources will help you find the best internet savings account for you. These well-researched resources will also help you get free information from a number of local financial institutions. This information will certainly provide insight into all of the ways that you can benefit from opening up an internet bank account.

Having an internet bank account will also improve your chances of being able to obtain a loan. If you are in need of a personal loan, automobile loan, student loan, or mortgage, you have a higher chance of being approved if you are already own an account best Internet savings. This is because many banks are more likely to do business with their existing customers.

In addition to being approved for a loan with your bank, having an internet bank account can improve your chances of obtaining financing elsewhere. Before financing is granted, the lender in question will examine your ability to pay. If you have an internet bank account or a checking account, the balance of those accounts will be taken into consideration.

What is more, the more money you have in your account, the more likely it is that you will be approved for financing. If you want to make the best use of your money, you must find the account best Internet savings. You can browse this site and the Internet to get the best resource and to get more information on opening an internet bank account.

By: John Gutenburg

Home Finance Software – Taking Control of Your Finances

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:20:14 +0000

Personal finance software is also known as home finance software. This is because it is simply personal finance software that you use in your home. You can use different applications under the category for different purposes.

Some of the applications cater to money management and accounting, whereas others concentrate on expense, income, and investment tracking. You can also use some of the applications for calculating mortgage payments, loan rescheduling, and loan prepayments. This you can do because the applications are equipped with a built-in mortgage calculator.

You can also use home finance software applications for budgeting purposes. They can help you prepare the monthly budget based on calculations involving the family’s income and the expected monthly expenses. The software will churn out a budget report at the click of a mouse. The important advantage of budgeting using home finance software is that you do not need to manually track your monthly budget.

Home finance applications maintain accurate account balances. However, for this you need to enter all purchases, credits, and payments in the application’s database through the checking account built into the application’s user interface. You are spared the hassle of making calculations as the application does this for you.

This is why reconciling of your personal finance accounts becomes easy with the burden of doing the math without making any errors whatsoever is taken over by the software. This keeps your mind relaxed and then you are able to concentrate on other important tasks that require your immediate attention.

Tax tracking becomes easier if you are in the habit of using home finance software. This is because tax categories are part of the software. Even if some of the tax categories are not included, all you have to do is to set them up. Such categorization of tax transactions helps you in saving time when the time comes for filing your annual tax returns. A decision on whether you need to make adjustment of tax with holdings can be done throughout the whole year through such categorization.

Some of the sophisticated home finance software packages allow you the facility of downloading data and transactions from banks. This helps integrate your checking account with those maintained by your bank. This convenient feature also helps you avoid manual data entry to a significant extent and thereby saves time.

Online bill payments become very much possible through most home finance applications. Although you may have to pay a nominal fee to access the service, it is still worth the convenience.

Another advantage of using personal finance applications in homes is that you can track all your investment transactions through online updates. This helps keep your investment account balances always updated.

All in all home finance software is a boon to families. The greatest advantage of using it is the sense of mental relaxation that you get by being fully dependent on it to make your finances become systematic.

By: Dean Forster