Switched from Quicken to Moneydance
I started using the Windows version of Quicken in 1995 but had
been looking for a MAC equivalent for about a year. The reviews I
read about the Quicken MAC version were never very positive. I
switched to Moneydance on the MAC this month. So far I have not
found anything I could do in Quicken that I can't do in
Moneydance.
In Quicken I had multiple savings accounts, a checking account, a credit card account, investment accounts, and many savings goals. I used the online banking functionality and bill pay functionality in Quicken.
I attempted to import my checking account into Moneydance but I didn't really like the results of the import so I deleted all the transactions. I did like the fact that the import into MD brought over all of my categories and accounts from Quicken. I decided to just start over in MD because I rarely refer back to my historical transactions in Quicken.
In MD I have setup online banking so that I can download transactions from Wells Fargo. If you contact Wells Fargo, they will tell you they don't support MD, so don't tell them you use MD, just tell them you are a Quicken user and they will provide you with the appropriate information to get your online backing setup in MD. I am not going to use bill pay through MD because I don't see the point, Wells Fargo charges you $7 a month for this service but you can use it for free on their website. I have most of my bills setup for auto bill pay, using my credit card as the account that pays my bills so I rarely use online bill pay.
I have not decided if I am going to try to setup online access for my investment accounts, I think I am just going to manually enter transactions for my investment accounts. I have installed 3 extensions that allow me update my investments with their current stock prices each time I log into MD.
I am still using the "Savings Goal" functionality in MD, during the import into MD the savings goals came over as "Asset" accounts. An example is that I have an "Insurance" asset account. I transfer money (enter a transaction with a category of Insurance) from my checking account to my Insurance account. The money still resides in my checking account, I just don't see the money in checking, the balance I transferred, shows up in my "Insurance" asset account. When I pay my car insurance, I transfer the money back into checking (enter a transaction in the Insurance account using a category of checking). The reviews I read about the MAC version of Quicken lead me to believe that this type of functionality did not exist on the MAC.
I do agree that the Tag functionality in MD is confusing, I am still not sure how, or if, I will ever using Tags in MD.
I am very happy with MD, very happy to be done with Quicken.
Let me know if you have questions about moving from Quicken to MD and I will try to help.
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1 Posted by Ben Spencer on 04 Dec, 2009 09:18 PM
Thank you for taking the time to share your experience of transitioning to Moneydance.
Please let me know if you need any assistance with the software.
Sincerely
Ben Spencer
2 Posted by unclejace54 on 30 Jan, 2010 12:07 AM
I just started using MD. I decided to do a clean start and enter my data rather than importing from Quicken (new year/new data). I did try importing a QIF file but the data was corrupted. Not sure if the issue was the Quicken export or the MD import.
In any event, I am up and running in MD and very much pleased with it. That's good for MD, bad for Intuit. I have used Quicken since 1994 on both PC and Mac. Intuit has dropped the ball and they deserve to lose it. Congrats to the MD folks. Nice product. Good support so far.
3 Posted by jimmplsmn on 30 Jan, 2010 02:24 PM
As a former MSMoney user, I can say that I have no regrets in saying goodbye to them either. What killed it for both of them, in my opinion, was the constant ads and program bloat, and also when they started requiring upgrades. Oh, and one more - that support like you have here was almost non-existent.
4 Posted by Jon Hoover on 30 Jan, 2010 03:08 PM
Hi all,
Thanks for the ideas and positive feedback! Feel free to let us know if there is any problems you all are having.
Jon Hoover, Moneydance Support
5 Posted by rwilliams42 on 16 Mar, 2010 03:37 PM
I had used Quicken almost from the start of their product. I have information that I manually inserted from as far back as 1969, so my data is pretty extensive. I use both a Mac and Windows PC. Mac for Quicken was always a step child. I recently retired and attempting to wean myself of Windows, so I was very interested in Quicken Essentials. I purchased it before learning that it does not support Intuit's own product, TurboTax. Immediately after ordering Quicken Essentials, I tried to cancel my order. Cannot be done. I was told that despite it not being scheduled to ship to me for over a week, I could not cancel. I had to receive the CD and then I could ship it back, eventually getting a refund. This caused me to be more adamant about migrating away from Intuit and Quicken.
I discovered iBank; bought it, but was never able to get a reasonable import of the Quicken QIF file. I then ran across Moneydance and downloaded the evaluation copy. I was able to get a reasonable import of the Quicken QIF file, although there was some difficulty and I had to do some manual manipulation. I am convinced that most of the problems originated from how Quicken had handled accounts over the many years of use. A little bit tedious, but most things seem to work.
The only known problem that I now have is that my E*TRADE Investments (in two accounts), download updates to the wrong accounts. Hopefully, I will find a solution.
Two things still bother me. I have to enter the password for multiple E*TRADE updates. I never had to do this with Quicken. Secondly, the Users Guide is seriously lacking.
Otherwise, this product is really good in meeting my requirements. Keep up the good work.
6 Posted by Ben Spencer on 16 Mar, 2010 05:22 PM
If you encrypt your data file you can set an option to store your passwords in the file. You will then only have to enter one password each time you start the software. To encrypt your file select File->Encryption.
Ben
7 Posted by rwilliams42 on 17 Mar, 2010 02:34 PM
Ben,
Thanks for the tip. It adequately solves my problem. I have also found solutions in the forums for a couple of other things bothering me. I think that I now have a fully functional MD that meets my requirements for replacing Quicken. I have puchased the permanent license.
Ben Spencer closed this discussion on 17 Mar, 2010 03:01 PM.