Quicken Online

Posted by: Meredith K. | Jan 12,2008


OK, this is a press release, which is hardly the most impartial take on a topic, but I have to agree that this is a pretty good system for organizing finances.  Earlier this week, I wrote about how you should never rely on online banking to balance your checkbook.  Here’s what Quicken Online promises: "Quicken Online gives people access to information across all of their accounts, including checking, savings, and credit cards - regardless of their financial institution.”  

This is a much different approach than checking in with only one bank account.  Quicken online checks everything: every credit card, checking and savings account, investment account, even utility bills.  If you have been cutting it very close month to month with bill payments, this is like having an account managing all of your finances at once.  

Yep, it sounds like I’m shilling for Quicken Online, but I assure you I get nothing out of this.  I’m just reporting on something that I think would be a very good idea for recent grads or other people who are very daunted by the prospect of getting their finances in order.  

There are some things to consider, however.  How secure is Quicken Online?  As your opening up the program to all of your accounts, this raising the prospect of identity theft.  As Quicken is a pretty recognizable brand, it will have a good security system in place, but firewalls could be broken.  A credit monitoring service might also be a good addition.  

The other issue is similar to what I brought up about online banking.  How quickly is information updated?  If you send out a check, that’s not going to be processed for several days.  To make the most out of the program, you need to update the information manually.  Still, this is a lot better than scribbling information in the back of a checkbook and adding it up yourself, where mistakes are possible.  Overall, this is a very good way to see how you’re spending and saving every month and potentially can help you save more.  

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