Product Overview of Quicken
Quicken is a comprehensive personal finance management software designed to help individuals and small business owners track, manage, and plan their financial activities with ease. Here’s a detailed look at what Quicken does and its key features.
What Quicken Does
Quicken is a versatile financial management tool that allows users to record banking transactions, plan budgets, track investments, and measure progress against financial goals. It integrates various financial activities into a single platform, providing a centralized overview of your financial accounts, including bank accounts, investments, bills, and credit cards.
Key Features and Functionality
Subscription Plans
- Simplifi: Designed for individuals with simple financial situations, this plan focuses on automating tasks and includes mobile notifications and basic financial tracking.
- Classic Plans: These include Deluxe, Premier, and Business and Personal tiers. The Classic plans offer more advanced features such as advanced reporting, investment tracking, and small business tools.
Financial Tracking and Budgeting
- Transaction Categorization: Quicken automatically categorizes transactions downloaded from your bank, helping you see where your money is being spent. It assigns categories like “Food & Dining: Groceries” and allows for manual adjustments if needed.
- Budgeting: Users can create flexible budgets that align with their financial goals, including retirement planning. The software helps identify opportunities to save money and invest more for the future.
Investment Management
- Investment Tracking: Quicken allows you to view and manage your investment accounts, including retirement investments, across desktop, web, and mobile platforms. It provides up-to-the-minute portfolio values and performance tracking.
- Customizable Reports: Users can generate detailed reports on their investments and other financial areas, helping in making informed buy/sell decisions.
Bill Paying and Reminders
- In-House Bill Paying: Quicken enables users to pay bills directly from the dashboard, supporting over 11,000 online billers. This feature includes bill PDF downloads and reminders to keep your financial obligations on track.
- Reminders and Calendar View: The software includes a Bills Calendar View and improved reminders, all accessible from a single Bills dashboard.
Small Business Tools
- Business and Personal Plan: This plan is designed for small business owners, offering features like custom invoicing, separation of personal and business revenue, property value tracking via Zillow, and prepopulated business-related tax schedules.
Lifetime Financial Planning
- Lifetime Planner: Quicken’s planning tools analyze your progress toward long-term goals such as retirement, buying a home, or having a child. It also allows you to explore various ‘what-if’ scenarios to forecast financial outcomes in different situations.
Security and Data Access
- Data Security: Quicken protects your financial information using robust 256-bit encryption, ensuring your data is secure and unreadable as it is imported from your bank.
- Data Access Guarantee: Users retain full access to and ownership of their data, whether they renew their membership or not.
Web and Mobile Access
- Quicken on the Web: This feature allows users to access key features of Quicken from any computer via the web, including viewing balances, budgets, accounts, and transactions, as well as monitoring investment performance and tracking spending trends.
Educational Resources and Support
- Novice-Friendly Interface: Quicken is designed to be user-friendly, with extensive educational resources, guides, tutorials, and online forums. It also offers free, one-on-one live onboarding support to help users get started.
In summary, Quicken is a powerful and versatile financial management tool that caters to both individuals and small business owners, offering a range of features to track, manage, and plan financial activities comprehensively. Its robust reporting, investment tracking, bill paying, and small business tools make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to gain a centralized and detailed overview of their financial situation.