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iBank vs. Quicken Financial Life
- Thread starter davidg4781
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Kind of, it has an integrated web view so that you can connect to your bank web site and when you click on an OFX or QIF file donwload link, it asks if you want to import it.
I used quicken and money on PC and I liked them. When I made the switch to Mac and got iBank I regretted it every minute. The interface is ugly, no way to customize it. Sorry but I don't like my entries to be 2 inches thick.
I can't wait for quicken to get updated for Mac. I also tried a few others, same deal, didn't like them. If I'm going to use something I want to at least like what I'm looking at.
I've been using Mint which has by far been the best at pulling in all of my accounts (including 401k) into one spot.
Plus
1. Completely Free
2. Very comprehensive in account access
3. can compare your spending to others in your city/state
4. Set budgets and can set text/email alerts
5. Weekly email on your accounts
6. Identifies savings through ads from other banks/credit cards
A few drawbacks
1. Completely web-based
2. No way to enter "manual transactions"
3. No native iphone app
4. No tax summaries
Plus
1. Completely Free
2. Very comprehensive in account access
3. can compare your spending to others in your city/state
4. Set budgets and can set text/email alerts
5. Weekly email on your accounts
6. Identifies savings through ads from other banks/credit cards
A few drawbacks
1. Completely web-based
2. No way to enter "manual transactions"
3. No native iphone app
4. No tax summaries
I'm not so sure if I'm ready to put my financials in "the cloud" just yet. Things like Mint sound all good, but at least if someone hacks your facebook account you aren't financially screwed.
Not sure about Mint
I tried it and have a few concerns:
1. What if Mint goes out of business? What happens to your data and data history? Will you have access to get it somehow?
2. Mint is still missing key functionality including Net Worth. You can't create any type of account that is not downloaded from some source. For example, you can enter your House and it's value. Therefore you can't track your Net Worth if you can't manually add accounts.
I tried it and have a few concerns:
1. What if Mint goes out of business? What happens to your data and data history? Will you have access to get it somehow?
2. Mint is still missing key functionality including Net Worth. You can't create any type of account that is not downloaded from some source. For example, you can enter your House and it's value. Therefore you can't track your Net Worth if you can't manually add accounts.
I don't like the way iBank handles downloads. The statement reconciliation thing is ugly, and once you set it up, you can't delete/turn off the reconciliation feature.
Downloaded transactions that are cleared or matched up with existing transactions still download with repeat updates, at least that's what my experience was.
Perhaps I didn't spend much time with it, but it was a huge disappointment.
Downloaded transactions that are cleared or matched up with existing transactions still download with repeat updates, at least that's what my experience was.
Perhaps I didn't spend much time with it, but it was a huge disappointment.
Try MoneyWell 1.4
I just tried it and its like a very scissored version of MoneyWell ( http://nothirst.com/moneywell/ ).
I was using Quicken for Windows since 6 years ago, then I moved into Mac World, and I started using Quicken Mac 2007, but I was tired of having a single window for each account/report/catalog. Then I tried iBank, but it was very impractical entering transactions using the keyboard.
Then I found MoneyWell, and I think I couldn't use any Quicken software again (I tested today QFL, and it's a bad copy of iBank + iTunes, very slow to scroll transactions like album covers, and it looks very empty with too much wasted screen space).
BTW: There's an iPhone version of MoneyWell in process, so it will be the end of my migration from Quicken for Windows + Pocket Quicken for Palm to MoneyWell Mac + MoneyWell Mobile iPhone.
I just tried it and its like a very scissored version of MoneyWell ( http://nothirst.com/moneywell/ ).
I was using Quicken for Windows since 6 years ago, then I moved into Mac World, and I started using Quicken Mac 2007, but I was tired of having a single window for each account/report/catalog. Then I tried iBank, but it was very impractical entering transactions using the keyboard.
Then I found MoneyWell, and I think I couldn't use any Quicken software again (I tested today QFL, and it's a bad copy of iBank + iTunes, very slow to scroll transactions like album covers, and it looks very empty with too much wasted screen space).
BTW: There's an iPhone version of MoneyWell in process, so it will be the end of my migration from Quicken for Windows + Pocket Quicken for Palm to MoneyWell Mac + MoneyWell Mobile iPhone.
Trying to choose financial software
I've used Quicken for Windows since the days of Windows 3.1 so that must be about 17 years. I thought Quicken started out nicely but the program got clunkier and clunkier with each iteration.. a classic example of bloatware, i.e. The Great Moore's Law Compensator.
Having been on Macs for some years now, I've tried Quicken Mac, which blows compared to the Windows version. I've tried Moneydance but found the UI clunky and it was unable to import QIFs accurately.
I'm looking for an elegant solution. I am debating QFL, iBank 3.3, or MoneyWell.
If all else fails, I guess I will install Parallels.
How'd you get your hands on a copy of QFL? That'd help me make my decision.
I've used Quicken for Windows since the days of Windows 3.1 so that must be about 17 years. I thought Quicken started out nicely but the program got clunkier and clunkier with each iteration.. a classic example of bloatware, i.e. The Great Moore's Law Compensator.
Having been on Macs for some years now, I've tried Quicken Mac, which blows compared to the Windows version. I've tried Moneydance but found the UI clunky and it was unable to import QIFs accurately.
I'm looking for an elegant solution. I am debating QFL, iBank 3.3, or MoneyWell.
If all else fails, I guess I will install Parallels.
How'd you get your hands on a copy of QFL? That'd help me make my decision.
Sorry to bring back the dead
Anyone know when QFL is going to come out? If it's any good? I use M$ money in bootcamp and like it better than anything else available (I've tried Quicken and iBank). I hate having to reboot and have just started using quicken online to see if thats any good. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Anyone know when QFL is going to come out? If it's any good? I use M$ money in bootcamp and like it better than anything else available (I've tried Quicken and iBank). I hate having to reboot and have just started using quicken online to see if thats any good. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
So far, I don't think there's an estimated date. I have been doing the beta testing since late December. I will say this, it's still very much a beta, but the interface and screens seem to be totally rebuilt from the ground up. There are still a lot of features that aren't accessible yet, such as budgeting, but I think they're trying to really focus on entering transactions and downloading information from banks. I'm not 100% I'm going to purchase it when it finally releases, it's really going to depend on their price point.
Have you tried using Quicken for Mac 2006 or 2007? I've been using 2006 for the past 3 years and it's really not that bad. I had used Money from 2000 to 2006, and even though it took some getting used to, I'm actually kind of satisfied with Quicken for Mac.
Quicken Financial Life For Mac: Stillborn?
I've just been to the Intuit website. I saw QFL for Mac demos at MW Expo SF in 2008 and 2009. The Intuit personnel there seemed honest about the product. However, I've just TRIED to find anything remaining on Intuit's site that says anything at all about QFL; a site search pulls up some links, which all point right back to the Quicken for Mac 2007 page (even the link on that very page that promises to take the user to QFL information).
Of course that pales in comparison to what a prospective purchaser sees when first visiting the Intuit Home Page. I couldn't find a single iteration of the characters "Mac" until several layers deep in the Quicken portion of the site, and even there it was very difficult to find.
I have 15 years of my life in my Quicken file. This is total BS!
I've just been to the Intuit website. I saw QFL for Mac demos at MW Expo SF in 2008 and 2009. The Intuit personnel there seemed honest about the product. However, I've just TRIED to find anything remaining on Intuit's site that says anything at all about QFL; a site search pulls up some links, which all point right back to the Quicken for Mac 2007 page (even the link on that very page that promises to take the user to QFL information).Of course that pales in comparison to what a prospective purchaser sees when first visiting the Intuit Home Page. I couldn't find a single iteration of the characters "Mac" until several layers deep in the Quicken portion of the site, and even there it was very difficult to find.
I have 15 years of my life in my Quicken file. This is total BS!
I've dumped quicken earlier this year and went to iBank. A bit of a learning curve given my time with Quicken but overall its a solid application. Quicken has a stronger suite of reports/report writer but overall I like how iBank works and how I can set up rules to apply categories to importing transactions. That was a major hassle for me with quicken. No matter how I tried to fix it, all incoming transactions would default to "dining" There was little I could do to alleviate this. With iBank, I set up the rules and it automatically assigns the category consistently and correctly.
And this is the mistake everyone seems to make when switching product. Take a step back and think. Do you really need all this historic data during daily accounts? Why can't you migrate to a new product, start a new file and use that for daily use? If you want to still access your historic data keep your windows Quicken around in a Virtualbox machine. I'm sure if thought about it, you'll find you don't really need this old data at all. You're just attached to it.
It's not necessarily the data for me. I don't mind keeping quicken and the data stored away just in case. It's the learning curve. I have to run reports almost daily and deal with a lot of numbers with several different businesses. Trying out new software requires that I do double entry. I do wish I had the time. I'm hoping that iBank may work for me, if I can ever find the time to work with it.
not happy with iBank
I was a Quicken PC user for over 10 years. I have been using iBank since the second release (about 2 years). While I don't think Quicken was a particularly great product on the PC it worked. I tried Quicken on the Mac as was very disappointed.
My experience with iBank is mixed to poor. It is very slow to start (minutes) with a large database. I have had reconciled statements disappear. I have had reconciled statements become unreconciled. You cannot share the iBank database across a network. The single entry field for values (as opposed to separate debit/credit fields) is baffling at times; often it will not accept a + or - while other times it will. I know that the database is corrupt but the export/import function (which igg says will fix this) loses all information other than transactions so that is not an option. I find the reporting functions to be weak, if they work at all; in many cases generating a report crashes iBank. igg has offered to help if I send them my iBank database; I am very reluctant to do so but perhaps that will be the only recourse to resolve these issues.
I want a very basic product which will track debits and credits into multiple accounts and let me reconcile those accounts. Everything else is nice, but this basic function is a requirement. iBank does not meet this requirement and I could not recommend it.
One poster suggested that when switching to a product you should just start over with new accounts and lose your history. Since I use the history for tracking expenditures and trends I do not find this suggestion worthwhile.
Remember, ymmv.
I was a Quicken PC user for over 10 years. I have been using iBank since the second release (about 2 years). While I don't think Quicken was a particularly great product on the PC it worked. I tried Quicken on the Mac as was very disappointed.
My experience with iBank is mixed to poor. It is very slow to start (minutes) with a large database. I have had reconciled statements disappear. I have had reconciled statements become unreconciled. You cannot share the iBank database across a network. The single entry field for values (as opposed to separate debit/credit fields) is baffling at times; often it will not accept a + or - while other times it will. I know that the database is corrupt but the export/import function (which igg says will fix this) loses all information other than transactions so that is not an option. I find the reporting functions to be weak, if they work at all; in many cases generating a report crashes iBank. igg has offered to help if I send them my iBank database; I am very reluctant to do so but perhaps that will be the only recourse to resolve these issues.
I want a very basic product which will track debits and credits into multiple accounts and let me reconcile those accounts. Everything else is nice, but this basic function is a requirement. iBank does not meet this requirement and I could not recommend it.
One poster suggested that when switching to a product you should just start over with new accounts and lose your history. Since I use the history for tracking expenditures and trends I do not find this suggestion worthwhile.
Remember, ymmv.
QFL -- Arriving fall 2009 .. maybe..
After reading for awhile i decided to just google QFL and i found this on quicken's site. It's not specific about a date, but does mention it should be here in the fall of 2009..
http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance/mac-personal-finance.jsp
After reading for awhile i decided to just google QFL and i found this on quicken's site. It's not specific about a date, but does mention it should be here in the fall of 2009..
http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance/mac-personal-finance.jsp
Money+ 07
I'm currently using VMFusion and Money+2007. I like it well enough, but have two recent concerns.
1-if you haven't heard MS is discontinuing Money and will deactivate all online downloading functions as of 2011 or sooner. I have until my copy expires [April-2010] to switch to something else if i want to continue using software with auto-downloading features.
2-Money+ 07 uses Yodlee to download some account information automatically. INGDirect.com recently updated their site's security and Yodlee can no longer download the details. I have 8 separate ING accounts and hate manually updating interest and transfer details.
I'm planning to wait until fall 2009 for QFL/Mac and read about its functions and automatic download compatibility with my FI's. I only use BofA, Citibank CCards, ING, WellsFargo and American express. I've read iBank doesn't work with BofA and Citi. I only require free AUTOMATIC transaction downloads and I'd like running balances and 'smart categorization' like Money+ provides.
Any other suggestions? i'm open to running a program through VMWare, but i'd like to move to a Mac program...
I'm currently using VMFusion and Money+2007. I like it well enough, but have two recent concerns.
1-if you haven't heard MS is discontinuing Money and will deactivate all online downloading functions as of 2011 or sooner. I have until my copy expires [April-2010] to switch to something else if i want to continue using software with auto-downloading features.
2-Money+ 07 uses Yodlee to download some account information automatically. INGDirect.com recently updated their site's security and Yodlee can no longer download the details. I have 8 separate ING accounts and hate manually updating interest and transfer details.
I'm planning to wait until fall 2009 for QFL/Mac and read about its functions and automatic download compatibility with my FI's. I only use BofA, Citibank CCards, ING, WellsFargo and American express. I've read iBank doesn't work with BofA and Citi. I only require free AUTOMATIC transaction downloads and I'd like running balances and 'smart categorization' like Money+ provides.
Any other suggestions?
i'm open to running a program through VMWare, but i'd like to move to a Mac program...Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry Curve: BlackBerry8330/4.5.0.131 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)
I think I tried all of the mac software that's out right now a few weeks ago and non of them would do online banking. One might have, but I think something else turned me off.
While I mainly have just credit cards that I don't use (on my way to being debt free!!), it would be nice not to have to enter transactions manually like I did 15 years ago.
I think I'm going to wait until QFL launches and hopefully try a demo of it before dropping money into something.
If someone would be willing to do the programming, I'd be glad to give them a layout of what to program. We could be millionaires!
I think I tried all of the mac software that's out right now a few weeks ago and non of them would do online banking. One might have, but I think something else turned me off.
While I mainly have just credit cards that I don't use (on my way to being debt free!!), it would be nice not to have to enter transactions manually like I did 15 years ago.
I think I'm going to wait until QFL launches and hopefully try a demo of it before dropping money into something.
If someone would be willing to do the programming, I'd be glad to give them a layout of what to program. We could be millionaires!
Something different
I've searched and tried everything for mac (and I mean at least six products). And finally found something that I like. Mint.com is online based but it is free, does a budget, auto downloads from more institutions than quicken (namely gmac mortgage and sallie mea), and is very, very easy to use. I was opposed to the online based idea at first, but now I love it. Try it out. They even have a free iphone/ipod touch app.
I've searched and tried everything for mac (and I mean at least six products). And finally found something that I like. Mint.com is online based but it is free, does a budget, auto downloads from more institutions than quicken (namely gmac mortgage and sallie mea), and is very, very easy to use. I was opposed to the online based idea at first, but now I love it. Try it out. They even have a free iphone/ipod touch app.
Yes, I do. I need my 401k investment history over the past 7 years. I need to transfer the mortgage and escrow history so that's current. I various expense categories from the past few years to estimate future budgets.
I have two car loans, a mortgage and escrow account, four bank accounts, three mutual funds, two IRAs, and a 401k. I do not want to redo all of that.
This is the mistake others make: thinking that financial planning and history is a trivial thing to be tossed out or ignored.
That is very true. I have had to go back as far as four years to find financial information about our company.
I'm not against having an archive that I only go to on rare occasions, though. I only really need to convert 2 years of data, but that is a hurdle that I haven't managed to overcome yet.
iBank and automatic downloads
This may come as a shock, but don't believe everything you read on the Internets.
iBank is perfectly compatible with Citi accounts online; it also works with Bank of America, but part of their "service" is a requirement to set it up with a phone call to the bank - as well as a fee. This is a BofA thing, whether you use iBank or other personal finance software.
You can always download a trial of iBank (www.iggsoftware.com) or check with iBank tech support if you have questions - even before you purchase.
As an aside re: QFL... I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. It has apparently disappeared from Intuit's site.
This may come as a shock, but don't believe everything you read on the Internets.
iBank is perfectly compatible with Citi accounts online; it also works with Bank of America, but part of their "service" is a requirement to set it up with a phone call to the bank - as well as a fee. This is a BofA thing, whether you use iBank or other personal finance software.
You can always download a trial of iBank (www.iggsoftware.com) or check with iBank tech support if you have questions - even before you purchase.
As an aside re: QFL... I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. It has apparently disappeared from Intuit's site.