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5 Responses to “The 1977 insider’s banking & credit almanac Reviews”

1. 
   Comment by Mike
   August 24th, 2010

   Review by Mike for Quicken Starter Edition 2010
   Rating:
   Before you read my review, understand this: I have been a quicken user since Quicken 4 for DOS. I have probably owned 10 versions of Quicken in my lifetime.

   My last version was quicken 2005 Basic, which was okay, but not as good as the one I had before that. (I was only upgrading bc Intuit crippled it so that I can’t import my bank data anymore.) Over the years, the features available in the “beginning tier” have slowly disappeared. Starter 2010 comes with so few features, it hardly qualifies as money management.

   I started out pleasantly surprised, because it successfully imported my 2005 data, even though the box said it could only import from 2008 and 2009. But it was all downhill after that.

   The only types of accounts it supports are checking, savings, and credit cards. You can’t find out what your balance is in your 401k. Can’t track how much of your last mortgage payment went to principal vs interest. Can’t track your return on stocks. Needless to say, this data won’t be available when you fire up TurboTax.

   For anyone with online banking, Quicken Starter will offer almost no value. In that case, there is really only one useful feature: expense categorization (i.e., what did I spend my money on last year?). My bank gives me a doc at the end of year with my expenses categorized, so I don’t need it, but some people might. I don’t know if buying (and rebating if avail to you), installing, entering all the info on a regular basis, etc is worth the hassle.

   If you don’t have online banking, then you can also use it to balance your checkbook, and remind you to pay bills. That’s it. For these kinds of users, I am giving the product a second star, even though there are surely several less expensive apps that do these same basic functions. It is otherwise a 1-star product.

   The most shocking aspect of the program was how shoddy it had become. I’ve always considered Quicken to be a user-friendly, intuitive program. However, in this version, I found myself clicking on buttons repeatedly, because they didn’t do anything. I went in and out of the menus because I couldn’t find features. In some cases, there would be two buttons, but they overlapped each other, so I’d have to click something else and then the first button would appear again.

   In my 20? years of using Quicken, I have rarely had to check the Help/read the manual, and never had to ask someone how to do something. Try this test. Note the heading on Intuit’s Starter Edition page[...]. “Simple money management and budgeting” it says in bold. So, you’d expect to be able to create a budget, wouldn’t you? I challenge anyone to figure out where to enter a budget. Maybe you’ll figure it out eventually, but I never did.

   Intuit seems to have lost interest in their lowest tier product, perhaps because they rebate them to 0. In several cases, when I went to Help to try to figure out how to do something, the instructions would tell me to click on something that didn’t exist. “To setup a loan, click the Net Worth tab.” Presumably, this tab exists in the Deluxe version. Why don’t they at least save my time and try to upsell me? “Setting up a loan requires the Deluxe version, upgrade here.” At least I would know right away to quit looking. Further evidence that Intuit doesn’t respect the Starter Edition: if you go to Intuit’s site to compare the “Quicken 2010 Desktop Personal Finance Products”, guess what’s not even listed? [...]

   On the Quicken site, one user suggested that Intuit should stop making this product bc it’s an embarrassment. I agree. Someone responded that there’s no harm in providing a free “intro” product, but I disagree: many people will be turned off by such a lousy version and never return. Like me.
2. 
   Comment by Julianne Hall
   August 24th, 2010

   Review by Julianne Hall for Quicken Starter Edition 2010
   Rating:
   I purchased Quicken 2010 Starter Edition last week in an effort to start the new year off right with sound money management skills. My parents used Quicken growing up and always spoke very highly of the products and how they helped them stay on track financially. I had also used the FREE Quicken Online on a limited basis and found it helpful. However, I felt a bit uncomfortable having all my financial information on the internet and decided to purchase the real program for my computer. When I purchased it in the store, I checked the back of the box to see which version to buy, and the additional upgrades such as “tracking investments” and “rental income” do not apply to me so I settled on the Starter Edition.

   However, I was very dismayed to find that when I installed the program on my computer and added all my accounts…that there was no option to include loans. I searched all through the help options, and online to find out how to add loans and finally had to log on to the Quicken site and chat with a service representative to fined out that the Starter Edition doesn’t include loan tracking.

   I am very dissatisfied because nowhere on the box or on the website does it make it clear that in order to have loan tracking functionality, you must have the Deluxe or higher edition. Loans such as student loans or mortgages seem to be VERY basic financial items that most people have and want to keep track of. It seems a little strange that this wouldn’t include this in program. And if they aren’t going to include this in the program, it seems that you would want to make this clear on the packaging so people could truly buy the version that works for them. This seems like a bait-and-switch.

   In addition, the FREE Quicken Online includes loan tracking so why would this not be included in the version I paid $30 for?

   I truly am disappointed with my experience with Quicken. Previously, I thought of Quicken as the gold-standard of financial management and after my experience this week, I’m not so sure anymore.
3. 
   Comment by S. Jarnagin
   August 24th, 2010

   Review by S. Jarnagin for Quicken Starter Edition 2010
   Rating:
   With MS Money gone I had to try a new product for my new PC, so I thought I would give Quicken Starter a try. In general, its fairly simple, but it does not allow you to set up any loan categories (other than Credit Cards). I simply wanted to add my mortgage…NOPE, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! I’m not sure whats more basic then a mortgage tracker, but Quicken doesn’t think its important. You have to upgrade to get the loan features. I wont upgrade to other versions and guess Ill just have to use a spreadsheet to monitor the mortgage. While the price is reasonable, you can get free software to do basic expense tracking…this product turned out to be one step about the free ones.
4. 
   Comment by Keith Jones
   August 24th, 2010

   Review by Keith Jones for Quicken Starter Edition 2010
   Rating:
   Yeah it isn’t fancy and it only does basic checking, savings and credit card accounts but that is all I am looking for. If you want more, spend more. I’ve been using Quicken for years, and yes I too hate the “built in obsolescence” if you use online banking. But $30 or so to upgrade every three years doesn’t upset me that much. Some of the reviews of the 2010 Quicken line have been saying that it won’t connect to Wells Fargo, but I’ve had no problem connecting and reconciling.
5. 
   Comment by aophil
   August 24th, 2010

   Review by aophil for Quicken Starter Edition 2010
   Rating:
   In the past I’ve used Quicken 2002 and Quicken 2007. My experience with Quicken 2010 has been terrible. Overall, I’ve had to do two fresh installs because the auto-update feature has corrupted the software to the point where it was no longer usable. With this version there is no support for investments (like my Roth IRA or Mutual Funds). The budgeting feature is practically useless and requires constant tweaking. I do not recommend this software at all. [...]