Best software to help record your personal finances

What is Quicken? Well, Quicken is a personal finance management tool developed by a company called Quicken Inc. (formerly part of Intuit, Inc.) [Wikipedia]. On March 3, 2016, Intuit announced plans to sell Quicken to H.I.G. Capital. Quicken helps you with the following tasks:

• Personal financial management
• Track bank accounts
• Bill reminders
• Set up budget
• Set up saving goals

As the version goes higher... more features introduced. We will discuss more on its version later. I first stumbled upon Quickbooks and used this software for my personal finance, however Quickbooks is designed really for small businesses. So, I'm having a hard time tweaking the system to work as a personal finance tool.

Quickbooks brought me to Quicken, which is exactly the software I need for managing my salary and expenses. In this blog, I'm sharing my journey as an OFW. Part of my plan is to go back home in our country financially free -- to retire rich actually. So part of this journey I shared is how to manage our income. Of course, as OFW, our main income is our monthly salary. So, I made sure that I managed my salary correctly.

This could be done through proper recording and analyze your recordings so that you can make sound decisions to achieve your financial goals. Well, it doesn't really matter what kind of software you use, or even writing your personal finances manually on paper. It doesn't really matter. The important thing is you keep a record. Of course, I tried keeping my recording, at first, by just simply writing it on a piece of paper, and after I learned how to use a computer back in 2008, I started using excel.

Everything is, of course, fine, but when my recording has accumulated over the years, is not so expert on excel, I was not able to produce multiple reports to analyze my recordings. I wanted a tool wherein I will worry only about the entries and the reporting should be just a few clicks away. I did research on financial tools and software. That's why I stumbled upon Quickbooks and eventually Quicken. Quicken has the capability to generate the types of reporting I need and the simplicity and practicality in making entries.

Quicken versions

When I found Quicken, I ask myself if what will be the right version for me---considering my budget too. Since I have to monitor my income (basically my salary); expenses (how I spend my salary); small lending business; stock market and UITF investments; and another start-up businesses. I wanted to make sure also that I can generate separate reports between my personal and business transactions. With the above in mind, I choose Quicken Home and Business version.

Below are the Quicken 2017 versions: (affiliates links below let me earn a little commission when you buy at Amazon.)

Quicken Starter Edition - Lets you track bank accounts, credit card accounts, download transactions, and credit monitoring.

Quicken Deluxe Edition - Apart from the above features in the starter version, you will be able also to set up a savings goal, debt-reduction planning, track loans, and retirement accounts.

Quicken Premiere Edition - Apart from the above features in the starter and deluxe versions, you will be able to manage investments, compare performance with market averages, track deductions for tax returns,

Quicken Home & Business Edition - Apart from above features in the first three versions, you will be able to track business expenses and income, create schedule C for a tax return, create estimates and invoices.

Quicken Rental & Property Manager Edition - Apart from above-mentioned features, you will be able also to have tools for managing rental properties, create Schedule E for a tax return, maximize rental property tax deductions.

Quicken for Mac Edition - Best version for mac yet and has the capabilities of deluxe windows version.

Working with Quicken

My Quicken version lets me create bank accounts; credit card accounts; monitor my bank loans and payments; monitor each loan I funded on FundKo [Retire Rich] (a very nice crowdsourcing lending and borrowing platform). I also am able to see where I am on my spending and how much is left money intended for spending at any day of the month.

What I like most about Quicken is that I can set up a monthly budget. At the beginning of the month, I would set up a budget for the whole month and monitor if I'm in or out of my budget. I can also compare my previous and current monthly budget and adjust accordingly. I'm really happy and satisfied that I bought this software, which cost me only KWD 18 at the time I bought it on Amazon. If you are really serious about knowing where your money went and serious about keeping an eye on your spending, Quicken is the answer to raising it to the next level.