Does anyone use personal finance software? (loans, payment, financial, savings)

[Sam82]

I'm looking to keep track of all my spending. I was wondering if I should buy Microsoft money or Quicken. I want something that is easy to use. I have a PC BTW. TIA.

[BORGUSX]

Lol,I have MS Money because I got a MS bundle package,but I never got around to use it!

[HappyTexan]

I tried both and ended up with MS Money. I got the one that also tracks investments.
It's very good for budgeting and financial planning..you can do "what if" with your money and investments to see what would happen 10-20 years out.

[Huckleberry3911948]

quicken deluxe.

[harry chickpea]

I've used Quicken for ages. Before that I used double entry accounting on a spreadsheet, and before that ledger books. Keeping track has saved me thousands of dollars over the years. Do what you want.

[tortoise]

Originally Posted by Sam82

I'm looking to keep track of all my spending . . have a PC

Might try some of the software at download.com.

[iGlenn]

Originally Posted by Sam82

I'm looking to keep track of all my spending. I was wondering if I should buy Microsoft money or Quicken. I want something that is easy to use. I have a PC BTW. TIA.

I used MS Money a few years back. Then I started investing in equities and I found that MS Money or Quicken doesn't do everything I need it to do. So I wrote my own Excel spreadsheet.

[suzie02]

I've been using Quicken since 95. Keeping track is a lot easier now that you can download transactions from banks and cc. With all the updates I can say that I still use pretty much the same things.
Register to enter cc and bank accounts, loans and investment accounts. I never really use the budget, charts or reports.

What features are you looking for?

[Sam82]

Originally Posted by suzie02

I've been using Quicken since 95. Keeping track is a lot easier now that you can download transactions from banks and cc. With all the updates I can say that I still use pretty much the same things.
Register to enter cc and bank accounts, loans and investment accounts. I never really use the budget, charts or reports.

What features are you looking for?

I'm looking to see exactly where all of my money is going and increase my savings by about $100 a month. I'm trying to save up a down payment for a home.

[bibit612]

My husband is an accountant and has created a P&L in Quickbooks for the family. He regularly comes up with a monthly P&L which shows how our money was spent by logging in each expense on it. We have created categories such as Fixed and Variable, and under each sub-categories as to which are mandatory and discretionary. We also track one-time events (holidays, vacations, large auto expenses, etc.), as well as make comparisons to same time in the prior year. Here is how we know how our utilities compare for the same month in the previous year, and compare whether the current situation (hotter, colder, etc.) affected the change or it was our usage.