SOFTWARE Quicken Gets a Run for Its Money by Jeff Bertloucci
Intuit's Quicken has long been the 800-pound accountant of personal-finance software -- the overwhelming favorite of family bean counters for managing investments, paying bills, monitoring cash flow and performing a host of other useful functions. In fact, Intuit owns nearly three-fourths of the market largely because Quicken's easy setup guides and powerful money-management tools have kept it a big step (or two) ahead of the nearest competitor, Microsoft Money.
But that's changed, thanks to a major overhaul for Microsoft's latest version, Money 2005. A simplified screen design eliminates much of Money 2004's headache-inducing array of charts, reports and ads. Among the useful new features is an automated setup for online banking that saves you the drudgery of manually entering information regarding checking, savings and investment accounts.
Which program is better? The nod still goes to Quicken, which also recently released its 2005 versions. For starters, Quicken always seems to be a year ahead of Money. Quicken 2004, for instance, already had an automated online-banking feature. Now, with both programs, you can enter the name of your bank and log on to the bank's Web site via a pop-up browser window. But some bank sites aren't easy to navigate, so Quicken posts a setup guide to steer you through the process. Money does not.
Although both programs are jampacked with investment and financial-planning advice, Quicken's navigational tools are slightly more intuitive. Thinking of buying a house? Quicken's Home Purchase Planner offers a step-by-step guide that allows you to input income, down-payment and interest-rate data to determine how much house you can afford. Navigating is easy: Just click the "Planning" menu and scroll down. Money's "Planning" page, on the other hand, has plenty of insurance-related information but no quick link to a home-buying planner.
Money has made giant strides, especially by finally discovering that less is more. Its "Essential" mode check register, for instance, offers a Joe Friday, "just the facts, ma'am" view with only the date, payee/category and amount. Micromanagers can switch to "Advanced" mode, which displays more data.
Quicken's check register is clean, too, and has learned a few new tricks this year. When a bill has been paid, a check mark appears beside it. And the register's new Web column simplifies online bill payment. When you click the "Go" link next to, say, your telephone bill, the browser loads and goes directly to the phone company's bill-payment site, where you can pay electronically.
As for price, Money has a slight edge after rebates are taken into account. Pre-rebate, Quicken 2005 ranges from $30 for its Basic version -- a no-frills package for balancing budgets and paying bills online -- to $90 for its Premier Home and Business version. Money ranges from $30 for the Standard version to $90 for its Small Business package. The deluxe versions add functions such as cash-flow managers and, in Money's case, one year's worth of Experian credit monitoring. Serious investors will prefer Quicken Premier ($80) and Money Premium ($80), which add more sophisticated portfolio and money-management tools.
If you're new to this type of software, spend a few extra bucks and buy a version of Quicken 2005. If you already own Quicken, think twice before springing for the latest version, which is only incrementally better than the previous one. But if you're already using Money, upgrade to 2005. It's a major improvement over 2004, and there's no sense in taking the time to switch to Quicken when Money is nipping at its heels.
MAGAZINE
