Personal Finance 98: Money Versus Quicken
|
|
New versions of Microsoft%squots Money and Intuit%squots Quicken can help you keep your financial house in order. Both make paying bills and tracking investments easy, and they link to Web-based buying guides and financial articles. Which package is better? For most people, the choice will boil down to interface style and a few features. I looked at preproduction versions of Money 98 Financial Suite and Quicken Deluxe 98. Money%squots new versions feature excellent Web integration and lots of educational content, but the interface is rather austere and to get insurance and mortgage quotes, and other content, you must go to the Money home page, or access the CD-ROM. Quicken has a friendly interface and an embedded browser that lets you download insurance and mortgage quotes. Money 98%squots new opening screen is no-nonsense–just text in basic blue and black. It gets straight down to business with a quick summary of your account balances and pcoming bills, plus a chart of the day. The basic version ($29.95) gives you a daily tip, and you can get articles and tips from the Money home page by clicking on a button when you%squotre online. The opening screen for Money 98 Financial Suite ($54.95) augments the Money home page content with headlines for two Microsoft financial Web sites–Insider, a new service devoted to noninvestment financial topics, and Investor–and several other Web news sources. Financial Suite also offers Advisor FYI, which dispenses suggestions based on your financial data. Quicken 98 sticks to the handsome interface of recent versions but features an embedded browser that links to Intuit%squots site. There you can download mortgage and insurance quotes–but only from Intuit partners. Other improvements include support for longer category names and a paycheck setup feature that helps you keep track of all those pesky deductions. Quicken 98 comes in four flavors. Quicken Basic 98 ($39.95) handles simple checking, online banking, budgeting, and investment tracking. For $59.95, Quicken Deluxe 98 includes a new emergency-record organizer and 401(k) module, plus an expanded financial reminder and extra Web content. Quicken Home & Business 98 ($89.95) adds invoicing and expense tracking. Quicken Financial Suite 98, also $89.95, bundles Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Financial Planner 3.0, and the Quicken Family Lawyer Deluxe. Source : pcworld.com |