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Posted by John Pollard on April 14, 2007, 1:52 pm
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claudiaa@mindspring.com wrote:
> I am a longtime Quicken user, since DOS days (and through
> a Mac phase). I currently use Quicken Deluxe '99 on a
> Vista machine. Also, I used to post to this group years
> ago (although I cannot remember what my user name was
> then LOL) when it was on the usenet and happy to see John
> Pollard is still active here.
>
> I do not, and have no interest in downloading financial
> transactions, etc, so the online features are of no
> interest to me. I appreciate Q'99 for it's small
> footprint and speed. However, there are a few things I
> would like to improve upon. I am looking for the most
> trouble free version of Quicken to which to upgrade that
> would add the following functionality, without
> introducing new problems:
>
> 1. Would like stock splits, spin offs and renames to
> calculate the proper original basis. This was a big
> topic of discussion several years ago, and there was
> agreement that Q did not do this. Has this been fixed
> and if so, in which version?
>
> 2. Would like to be able to track reconciliations by
> group. I use the accounts to track weekly reimbursement
> from my employer for business expenses, and would like to
> be able to go back and match up with which reimbursement
> check I reconciled a particular expense. This is
> probably my primary reason for upgrading. Q '99 does not
> keep historical data on reconciliation sessions.
>
> 3. If possible (I know this is a long shot), I would like
> multiple Quicken Accounts to work together. Currently, I
> maintain one quicken file for my personal finances, and
> another quicken file for a joint business. When I put
> money into or take money out of the business, I end up
> having to enter those transactions twice - once in my
> file for my personal finances, and once in the file for
> the business. Using classes won't help as the business
> uses classes and subclasses, and I don't really want the
> files together. However, I sure would like to not have
> to double enter all those transactions. I'm not sure if
> the Home & Business version would support this.
>
> Any recommendation on which version and year of Quicken I
> should upgrade to?
I'm sorry you haven't gotten an answer to this. But I have to
say that I find the idea of recommending a product too difficult
to try. There can be many differences from year-to-year, and
it's hard to remember them all ... and sometimes I don't even
notice some of them until long after I've had the product. And
people's desires are all over the map: a couple of people got
irate! over the Q2007 color scheme. I can't imagine becoming
angry over a color scheme; I would never have thought to *warn*
someone that the color teal was used extensively in some version
of Quicken.
I think that the newer versions of Quicken (starting with at
least Q2005) have improved the handling of corporate spinoffs,
and I think they work reasonably well for most. But I think
there may still be a bug in the process somewhere having to do
with spinoffs from companies that have had stock splits, though
I don't know whether it is clear that the bug is in the spinoff
or in the way Quicken handles splits. If that bug hits, you can
still enter the spinoff transactions manually.
In addition to the aforementioned bug, when Quicken does a
spinoff, it uses Buy transactions to "acquire" the lots of the
new company ... and the buy transactions are dated on the date
the shares of the company doing the spinoff were purchased ...
making it seem as if you have owned the spinoff as long as
you've owed the company doing the spinoff. You can correct that
"problem" manually, but it does take some extra effort.
I never knew there were any problems with "renaming" a security,
so I can't tell you if they are fixed.
I think there is still at least one problem with splits, but the
problem I am thinking of is, I think, either a user error or an
fi error. If you enter a split transaction with a transaction
date different than the real-world split date, and you download
prices, the result can produce an incorrect number of shares ...
like having two splits in your account. This problem is
corrected by making sure any split transactions are dated on the
same date they occurred in the real-world (or the same date that
the suppliers of Quicken quotes and historical quotes have the
split occurring).
I know of no way to track historical reconciliations, other than
to print your reconciliation reports, as you do them, to a tab
delimited file for import to Excel.
I don't think you need H&B to run a business, unless you need to
do invoicing.
I don't understand your reason for not wanting to put your
business and personal data in the same Quicken file. It's not
that I recommend it, but that is just about the only way you can
avoid the double-entry. H&B doesn't offer any advantages in
this area.
One possible alternative to putting all the accounts in one
file: When you are transferring this money from business to
personal accounts (or vice versa), if you are moving money from
one real-world bank account to another to accomplish this, and
if all the bank accounts involved offer Quicken downloads, I'm
guessing the downloaded transactions would achieve the end you
seek. You may also be able to use Scheduled or Memorized
transactions - stand alone, or in conjunction with downloading -
to minimize the work.
I have used Q2002 and Q2005 fairly extensively, and I like(d)
both. Q2006 (and Q2007) have the best reporting of any versions
I've used, by far (with the exception of a bug relating to split
investment account transactions and certain reports). The
ability to expand or collapse each and every category
independently - down to the transaction level - was a feature I
had long wanted. And I find the saved-reports area much
improved.
Q2006 and Q2007 (Deluxe and above) also offer the ability to
attach images to transactions and accounts.
Starting with at least Q2004, Deluxe, and above, versions of
Quicken offer a specific account type for 401k's.
But there are just way too many differences to begin to cover
them all; and I would personally hesitate to recommend any
product. Luckily there is not a large cost involved in the
trial-and-error method to discover for yourself. Older Quicken
versions are available on eBay very inexpensively, and Quicken
comes with a 60 day unconditional money back guarantee from date
of initial purchase, so you could try Q2007 for 60 days.
--
John Pollard
First initial underscore Last name at mchsi dot com
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