Quicken Home and Business vs. 200p Premier

Posted by PatJennings on April 18, 2009, 2:58 pm

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I recently upgraded to Quicken 2009 Premier - I have been using the Premier
versions for many years.

When doing my taxes with TurboTax this year, I was asked if I wanted to
migrate to the - whatever the name for the home business TurboTax is. I did
and it made my tax filing easier (and hopefully more correct) than in prior
years.

Now I'm wondering if I should migrate to Quicken Home and Business. Under
Quicken Help, there is the opportunity of trying it free for 60 days, or
outright purchasing it.

If I opt for the trial and do not like it, is the process to revert to
Premier simple or overly complex? Is the buy-in pricing the same as
upgrding directly?

Then again, what will I gain by migrating to Home and Business at all?

Thanks.
Pat

Posted by danbrown on April 19, 2009, 1:53 pm

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Pat,

Quicken H&B is intended for Sole Proprietors. That is, those persons
for whom the business and the person are a single financial entity.
And since it doesn't handle inventory issues poorly, the types of
business best suited for H&B either have no inventory (e.g., a
consulting business) OR they buy and immediately re-sell (once again,
carrying no inventory).

H&B has everything that Premiere has, plus the invoicing capability
and a few business-related reports.

FOR THE SAME PRODUCT YEAR (i.e., Premiere 2009 & H&B 2009) the file
structures are identical. Should you try H&B and decide to go back,
your "Invoicing" account in H&B would appear in Premiere as just
another asset account.

Some have tried using H&B as a low-cost alternative to Quickbooks.
The results have been mixed, at best. They end up with a lot of
"personal" features that they never use, and they still lack business
features such as an "Owners Equity" account, the ability to take an
"owner's draw", the ability to have multiple owners (e.g., a
partnership) and a functional inventory system.

db

Posted by PatJennings on April 20, 2009, 8:16 am

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Thanks for the info. My business is home based and I do not have inventory
or invoicing requirements> It is a sales environment and the thing I liked
about the TurboTax upgrade I did what that it seemed to handle the home
office expense reporting very well. My thoughts are that perhaps Quicken
H&B would give me a better link to that.

> Pat,

> Quicken H&B is intended for Sole Proprietors. That is, those persons

> for whom the business and the person are a single financial entity.

> And since it doesn't handle inventory issues poorly, the types of

> business best suited for H&B either have no inventory (e.g., a

> consulting business) OR they buy and immediately re-sell (once again,

> carrying no inventory).

> H&B has everything that Premiere has, plus the invoicing capability

> and a few business-related reports.

> FOR THE SAME PRODUCT YEAR (i.e., Premiere 2009 & H&B 2009) the file

> structures are identical. Should you try H&B and decide to go back,

> your "Invoicing" account in H&B would appear in Premiere as just

> another asset account.

> Some have tried using H&B as a low-cost alternative to Quickbooks.

> The results have been mixed, at best. They end up with a lot of

> "personal" features that they never use, and they still lack business

> features such as an "Owners Equity" account, the ability to take an

> "owner's draw", the ability to have multiple owners (e.g., a

> partnership) and a functional inventory system.

> db

Posted by danbrown on April 20, 2009, 11:08 am

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If you don't have a need for invoicing, that would imply that all of
your customers pay in full at the time of the sale.

Which would suggest that H&B will, actually, provide little benefit to
you, since invoicing is the primary "additional feature" in H&B over
Premiere. Now there's a few things that arise from the invoicing
function, such as tracking your accounts receivable ... but if
everyone pays at time of sale, then there's no A/R either.

BTW, in my prior message, I meant to say that H&B "handles inventory
issues poorly". I decided to change my wording part way thru the
sentence and didn't change it enough. Obviously though, you figured
out my meaning.

db

Posted by PatJennings on April 22, 2009, 8:10 am

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Thanks db, it appears that Premier is the correct product for me.

> If you don't have a need for invoicing, that would imply that all of

> your customers pay in full at the time of the sale.

> Which would suggest that H&B will, actually, provide little benefit to

> you, since invoicing is the primary "additional feature" in H&B over

> Premiere. Now there's a few things that arise from the invoicing

> function, such as tracking your accounts receivable ... but if

> everyone pays at time of sale, then there's no A/R either.

> BTW, in my prior message, I meant to say that H&B "handles inventory

> issues poorly". I decided to change my wording part way thru the

> sentence and didn't change it enough. Obviously though, you figured

> out my meaning.

> db