Quicken Deluxe Personal Finance – Manage your money and save – 1-Year Subscription (Windows/Mac)

I have been a Quicken user since the very first edition with the 9lbs of books. For several years I have used the Home & Business/rental Edition. (no comments re problems over the years.) I decided not to re-subscribe, to save some money and no longer needing the extra features. I studied-up about down-grading, expecting major problems. After receiving the Deluxe version from Amazon, at better than 1/2 the cost, I studied about a half hour before attempting. HINT: MAKE AT LEAST ONE BACK-UP OF YOUR FILES!!!!!! close all other APPS & PROGRAMS!Boot up your current version and file. Update any required by Quicken. Look for their expired lock-up banner at top of page & click on "ACTIVATE". Follow prompts. (You may have to sign=in using your most resent Quicken account registered info.) Enter the key provided with your purchase from Amazon.WORKED GREAT! It took less than 15mins after preparation. I tested one-step update and it worked flawlessly.

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: There’s no better way to manage all the financial aspects of your home or business lifeI’ve been using Quicken for my finances since the early 90’s and this version does not disappoint. At first I was annoyed that the program switched to a subscription model, but got over it when I saw the fixes and updates get taken care of “mid-season” rather than waiting for the next version.I used to get a new version of Quicken every other year to take advantage of new features and fixes, so the annual subscription price meant a 50% increase in price. Buying on sale Amazon, though, makes it so that I ultimately pay the same price I used to, only with a program that is not ignored by the software developer.This new model allows you to download whichever Quicken version you prefer - Windows or Mac. For the Mac users (like me) out there, this is definitely the best version yet. Having said that, though, there are still a lot of features that a Windows user rely on that haven’t made the transition to Mac. And some usability features that simply don’t live up to the standards that an experienced Quicken for Windows user expects.In effect, the Quicken Mac version is hobbled by the constraints of the MacOS environment that often frustrate users transitioning from Windows. As such, we still keep a spare Windows computer just for the sake of running Quicken. If we didn’t have so much historical investment data in the Windows files, the Mac version might have been fine to get started in. One other warning if you’re considering a move from Windows to Mac: be prepared to redo your budgets, categories, reports, and some banking connections thanks to the mismatches introduced in the export / import process (note that I did NOT say “file transfer” process, because you export the Windows file to the web, and them import it to Quicken).So final summary if you’ve read this far:- New version is the best one ever- Quicken for Windows is awesome for all aspects of financial management- Quicken for Mac is better than ever, but not as powerful as Windows- Quicken for Mac is awesome if you’re just tracking bank accounts and bills, or if you’re just getting started with more advanced Quicken features- Beware if planning to switch from Windows to Mac - it takes some effort!

I gave this 5 stars - not because I agree with their 'subscription based model' - I don't - but wanted others to know - my current deluxe subscription ends in 3 weeks on 8/4/21 - I purchased this copy (disc and activation code) on Amazon - was cheaper than the price for a year subscription offered on quicken website. I received the disc, but did not re-install. From quicken on my computer - went to help tab and then 'extend subscription' - from there was prompted to login to my quicken.com account and taken to a screen to enter the 16 digit activation key found inside the disc holder of my amazon purchase. I entered it and my subscription was extended until 8/4/2022 - so it 'added' on 12 months to my current subscription. ( I still had 3 weeks until that point with current subscription) ... just wanted others to know it is possible to do this and it works - was straihgtforward following these directions.

I've used Quicken for 30 years. If you're looking to buy quicken for the first time, I would advise against it. There are online tools you can leverage that may meet your needs. If you've used it for a long time for managing multiple investment, bank, retirement, and credit card accounts and to pay bills it's hard to break away - but not impossible.On the positive side, it's easy to use, automated account updates work well, and it provides good reporting and investment tracking capabilities.On the negative side after years of customer complaints they still have not been able to fix all issues with high resolution monitors (yes I've tried published remedies with partial success, but shouldn't have to), performance issues make executing simple transactions painful, bugs that deletes historic equity prices throwing off all historic reporting. The cost has increased significantly, 3 years updates have turned into annual updates - I can appreciate charging for synchronization services but the cost increase is excessive. Finally, they state you have access to your data after a subscription expires and you do, but they take away about 25-30% of the screen real estate with advertising until you re-subscribe. That's unacceptable as I have purchased this product nearly 15 times in the last 30 years. That was the straw that prompted me to write this review. I planned to re-subscribe because I am locked in and don't have the time to transition to alternative. But again, I would recommend that new users find alternatives and not get sucked in.