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Personal Finance App

I

ifjake

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 19, 2004
563
2
I'm looking for a nice app to keep track of my personal finances. One I've found that comes close is Cha-ching by MidnightApps
http://www.midnightapps.com/ . It looks amazing and has a lot of great things about it, but is unfortunately very buggy. 40 bucks for what basically amounts to an alpha build, or a user interface concept.

So I'm curious what macrumors.com folks personally use. (How are the new Numbers templates?)

Thanks.
 
I use MoneyDance. Its user interface is not nearly as nice as Cha-ching, but it is reliable and does far more.
 
I just tried MoneyWell, and it's great. Operates off of a true "bucket" or "envelope" budgeting method (any Dave Ramsey listeners here?).

It's $39 now (introductory), $49 regularly. I have never heard of it and think it was just released...if so, it is pretty darn polished for a brand new piece of software.

Still deciding if it's worth it.

http://nothirst.com/
 
I use iBank and am very pleased with it. For the same money as the others you get a much more powerful app. I really want to like Cha-Ching, just for the fun of it, but as already mentioned it is just way too buggy at the moment, iBank on the other hand is a mature app with good ongoing support. I also use their iBiz to run my business invoicing etc..
 
Yeah, I use iBank as well and I have to say that its pretty good. I looked into Cha-ching because its interface seemed pretty cool but iBank just seemed more stable and did everything I needed at the point. However, everyone has their own way they like to manage their finances and different apps tailor to that fact so you're best bet is to download trials if they're available and see which you like more.
 
I am quicken user...

just downloaded iBank and would like to give a chance

Chaching is a great concept, I think MoneyWell lacked the features I want

I can't remember if I tried money dance yet or not...

****what keeps me in quicken is the fact that I can pay bills "online" right from the quicken application, so those transactions are now in the ledger, where as they won't show up for a week on the banks online page unless I just remember that 2k I did the other day*** (if iBank will do this, on there!)

I have had major problems reconciling Quicken though with both the bank and Quicken Bill Pay.

Quicken for Mac does not support the "Banks" bill pay like the windows version does....hmm ... bitch,,,gripe... so you have to use Ituit's Bill Pay.... But for the life of me, and cannot get it to reconcile with both, so every month I have to adjust the register and fiddle with it and it pisses me off.

Lots of dislikes about Quicken. What really gets me is that the CEO sits on Apple's board, but allows his company to make extremely sub-par versions (when compared to the windows verision) and it doesn't even have a good Mac designed UI. Its like, oh, we'll sell plenty of them cause everybody knows who we are, so piss on great development (If any of you use Quickbooks for Mac, you know what I mean!!!)

Then they charge your ass an arm and leg for f'n support...........

Sorry for the rant, but I think I speak for a lot folks. Quicken should be king and kicking ass, but they just don't care about Mac developement
 
PaulBaker,

I am completely in sync with you regarding Quicken-Mac. I have used Quicken for Windows for years until recently switching over to a new iMac.

Quicken/Mac SUCKS. No other way to put it. It costs more than the Windows version and has fewer features.

My biggest gripe is the following:
I have a new 24" iMac and run the screen at native resolution (1920x1200). This means that the text in the QuickenMac register is almost too small to read even though I have great 20/15 vision. AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE FONT SIZE OR TYPE. :mad: Font change has been a feature of QuickenWindows for years. What gives?

I have written Intuit with my complaints, but (of course) no one answers.

I am stuck with Quicken because I have years of Quicken back-data on our Church accounts where I am Treasurer.

I suspect that, like some other companies, Intuit has become arrogant because there is no viable alternative for users. :mad:
 
lugesm said:
PaulBaker,

I am completely in sync with you regarding Quicken-Mac. I have used Quicken for Windows for years until recently switching over to a new iMac.

Quicken/Mac SUCKS. No other way to put it. It costs more than the Windows version and has fewer features.

My biggest gripe is the following:
I have a new 24" iMac and run the screen at native resolution (1920x1200). This means that the text in the QuickenMac register is almost too small to read even though I have great 20/15 vision. AND YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE FONT SIZE OR TYPE. :mad: Font change has been a feature of QuickenWindows for years. What gives?

I have written Intuit with my complaints, but (of course) no one answers.

I am stuck with Quicken because I have years of Quicken back-data on our Church accounts where I am Treasurer.

I suspect that, like some other companies, Intuit has become arrogant because there is no viable alternative for users. :mad:
Click to expand...

Sorry for the language... I have been frustrated with Quicken for a long time....

I downloaded and bought iBank this morning...

I have to say that I am very impressed. It does not have a built in bill pay like Q, but overall it is very nice, simple, great UI. I have been trying everything out there to replace Q. I don't recall liking iBank early this year, but this new versions seems quite nice. And the company may not be big, but is seems like they have good products and put emphasis on development.

It did a great job of importing my exported Quicken account too. I suggest giving it a try.
 
ifjake said:
I'm looking for a nice app to keep track of my personal finances. One I've found that comes close is Cha-ching by MidnightApps
http://www.midnightapps.com/ . It looks amazing and has a lot of great things about it, but is unfortunately very buggy. 40 bucks for what basically amounts to an alpha build, or a user interface concept.

So I'm curious what macrumors.com folks personally use. (How are the new Numbers templates?)

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Per this discussion, I bought iBank this morning and have already imported my Quicken file to it. I find it to be quite nice and easy to use. As a long time quicken user and hater, I suggest giving this a try.

Cha Ching is a great concept, similar to iBank. They should get together and share ideas and together conquer Quicken!
 
Also, I have beed readin where Intuit will discontinue Mac dev. after this next '08 release (but not before then). So, its time to put money into the hand of people who care about Mac dev.

$0.02
 
Hello Paul,

Can you tell me where you found the article about Intuit's dropping Quicken/mac ? ? ? I would like to read that.

Regards,
 
I can't find it now... but basically they are going to a web based - platform agnostic version...


I have been playing with iBank all day and I am liking it.
 
Paul -

With iBank . . . are you able to download credit card transactions to that card's account as one can on Quicken?

L
 
I tried Cha-Ching and I loved it, but its waaaaay to many bugs for me there now. Wspecialy when you import downloaded files from your accounts. But GUI is great. It also lack some important features...Will wait for 2.0 and than will buy. For now I use ibank and its really good program. It just doesn't feel as OSX application to me. But I've read that they won award for the best Leopard design...will see. lets hope it will be great upgrade in a few months
 
Does anyone use the windows version of Quicken with bootcamp?
Using superior versions of software only available in windows is the prime reason I can see for bootcamp to even exist. I can see this being reasonable for any software, if windows truly works as well as the reports have claimed.
 
lugesm said:
Paul -

With iBank . . . are you able to download credit card transactions to that card's account as one can on Quicken?

L
Click to expand...

Sorry, for the late response. I don't use credit cards...


I will say that so far, I am very happen with it, and Quicken can jump in the proverbial lake.
 
I use MS Money via Parallels.

From the nearly universal panning of Quicken Mac, I've avoided it. But all these other finance apps seem too lightweight to deal with my 5+ years of financial info. And I'm concerned they lack the market presence or staying power to support me for another 5 years of personal finance.

So I hope dearly that Intuit releases a much improved version of Quicken for Leopard, so I can completely cease using Windows / Parallels.
 
dirtleg said:
Does anyone use the windows version of Quicken with bootcamp?
Using superior versions of software only available in windows is the prime reason I can see for bootcamp to even exist. I can see this being reasonable for any software, if windows truly works as well as the reports have claimed.
Click to expand...
I do. That's the primary reason I installed boot camp. Works fine.
 
paulbaker said:
I downloaded and bought iBank this morning...

I have to say that I am very impressed. It does not have a built in bill pay like Q, but overall it is very nice, simple, great UI. I have been trying everything out there to replace Q. I don't recall liking iBank early this year, but this new versions seems quite nice. And the company may not be big, but is seems like they have good products and put emphasis on development.

It did a great job of importing my exported Quicken account too. I suggest giving it a try.
Click to expand...
Did you try importing from Quicken any investment files? I understand that it is a big problem to import investment files from the Windows version of Quicken over to the Mac version, and that this is why many long-time Quicken users on Windows run Quicken in Boot Camp, etc. I have a lot of investment files going back more than a decade, and if iBank could handle the import of those files, I would be interested in looking at it.
 
Moneydance

I use Moneydance and really like it. One of the main features that swung me in it's favor was the ability to download bank and credit card transactions directly into Moneydance (if your bank supports it). Overall great product.
 
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