granoff@vaxwrk.enet.dec.com (Mark H. Granoff) (01/10/90)
First, thanks to everyone who responded publicly or privately to my request for information about Quicken and Managing Your Money. I decided to go with MYM; it has all the features I want now, plus many features that I know I'll want to use later (particularly when I get the time to use them :-). Below are a summary of the responses I got for anyone interested (with headers removed for some kind of anonimity and to "protect" the originators). They ranged from "for Quicken" to "for MYM" to "for neither, but have you heard of this..." Basically, it boiled down to getting the package that had the features I wanted, since they all do the same "core" tasks anyway. Thanks again- -Mark ---------------------------------------------------------------- Hi! I just wanted to say that I use Quicken with a lot of success. I am one of those who doesn't balance their checkbook...I usually go by the bank machine balance :-) instead of what I _should_ do. But Quicken really helped me out in keeping track of my checkbook. I keep it at work b/c I know I will be on my computer here all the time (of course I password it :-) so I don't forget to update my info. I have never used MYM so I can't give you any details of that, but I really like Quicken..no complaints :-) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Well... I just got off my PC where I was reviewing a demo version of MYM. It is a crippled version of the full program (what do you want for free), but does answer many of the questions you posed. EG It handles anybodys checks and they also provide a source for ordering them. I sent for the demo via a computer mag ad, I don't recall which one. ... ---------------------------------------------------------------- > Regarding checks: Quicken seems to work with only one size check (which > is OK), but MYM seems to be able to handle "Business" and "Personal" > checks. Are these checks the same size or are they different? Quicken doesn't handle multiple accounts, at least 2.0 didn't. MYM also has an excellant ability to track credit card purchases. You have the ability to design your own format with MYM, although buying custom checks is rather expense. You don't need checks if you opt for the new service that is available with MYM 6.0 and Spectrum. Spectrum will write your checks and mail them for you, as generated from MYM. > I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used either or both of > these packages and your impressions about each. I've have both, as a matter of fact, Intuit gave both my wife and I free copies of Quicken 2.0 at Comdex awhile back. I bought MYM 4.0 shorlty afterwards. I like MYM. $49/yr isn't a bad price to pay for software maintenance. Each year there has been significant improvements to the product. Also, you get a quarterly newsletter from Tobias that usually has a couple interesting financial tidbits not related to MYM. As you can tell, my preference is with MYM. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I have Quicken, and am totally underwhelmed by it. In fact, I was so underwhelmed that I gave it to my brother and bought Dollars and Sense. I suggest you look at D&S. Quicken is nothing but an electronic check register. Oh sure, it gives you the ability to search for text strings, but that's about it. MYM includes a bunch of junk I didn't need/want, like pieces to figure out what kind and how much life insurance I need, etc. D&S is actually a home-accounting system, so it's much more sophisticated than Quicken, yet more focused than MYM. Plus, it will interact with certain banks (B of A is one) and can automatically access your account, retrieve cleared checks and pay bills. I bought computer-checks when I first got Quicken, but found that trying to manage two check-writing systems (check-book in pocket, checks stacked under printer), plus the inconvenience of having to load checks, made it more trouble than it was worth. I suppose if you write the same set of <more than 20) checks every month it might be worthwhile. I only write rent, telephone, gas and electric, and uunet, so it was a waste of time... ---------------------------------------------------------------- I recently bought MYM and am learning to use it. I like it. Although, I must say I like all of Tobias' books and his sense of humor. I dont know anything about Quicken, but I think you are making two fallacies in your financial analysis of the two products. 1. You should not assume that MYM cost an extra $50/year. After all, you don't have to subscribe to the automatic update service. Indeed, I have not yet sent in my warranty card and am having a hard time deciding whether or not the automatic update is desireable. 2. Assuming you plan to use the program for some number of years for financial planning and portfolio tracking, what difference does it make if one program costs $70 more than the other? Over the life of the program you will be managing hundreds of thousands (millions?) of dollars so the $70 differential is not a consideration. Get the program that does the job you want. If I recall correctly from ads, quicken does not have facilities for stock/bond portfolio management whereas MYM's facilities are extensive and easy to use. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Quicken supports personal and business sized checks, according to their supplies catalog (requires version 3, the one in the stores now). I've been using Quicken for about 6 months. I use it to keep track of (too many) credit cards, the checkbook, car loan, school loan, and IRA/401K accounts. Balancing the checkbook has gone from a two-to-four hour nightmare to a 15 minute task. Other than that, it is just a nice cheap database. I'll be ordering checks this week to use the check-printing stuff (been doing handwritten checks until now) and prices are a little steep but not prohibitive. I'd say Q is a good way to organize the info but it leaves it up to you to interpret the data. I haven't used MYM, but I'd be interested in seeing a summary of responses that you get! ---------------------------------------------------------------- I have been a fairly satisfied user of Mym for about 3 years now and can tell you that the program has been worth it to me. Although I've never used Quicken, Mym gives you great flexibility as far as check layouts (you can design your own) and printer support. Theres even builtin support for Checkfree! I do think the program is abit over- priced though. It has alot more features, like portfolio management, insurance policy organizer, loan managment (it really works) card file builtin calulator and notepad (calculated amounts transfer to the program) and on and on. I must be honest and say that most of the features I have never used. Hope this helps. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I used MYM for about 3 years (1985-1987), then put it on the shelf. I just got tired of entering all the data, and the yearly updates were expensive. MYM lets you track just about everything, including possessions. If you want to do that, get MYM, but be prepared to use it daily (or at least once a week). The reminder pad was a nice touch... MYM will print out a mortgage amortization schedule for you, do sample loan calculations, recommend insurance policies and investments, and track porfolios. You can create address books, print mailing labels as well as checks. If you want a feature they don't have, write to them -- it may well show up in the next yearly update. Quicken has a less cumbersome interface, and I manage to keep my accounts updated. I don't have it printing checks for me; I would if I had the right kind of printer... I think Quicken will be just as useful at tax time because my financial picture is not complicated. Your mileage may vary :-) The best thing to do is to pick up both packages at your local computer/software store and make sure you can return the software. Micro Center in Columbus has a 30-day return policy on all their merchandise. I believe you can order by phone (614-481-8041). Quicken is $39 and MYM is $139 thru 12/30. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I've used both but now use Quicken. MYM has many more functions, but was cumbersome enough to work with that I avoided using it. MYM (v3) also works with a rather limited model of the real world. For example, it was unable to handle splitting my paycheck up between multiple accounts (checking, 401K, and profit sharing). I also didn't feel that it understood what cash was. If I wanted to keep track of both how much cash I take out of the ol' ATM *and* also keep track of some of the things I spent that cash on, all the cash flow stuff went out the door (eg. if I take $50 out of the ATM and spend $25 of it on dinner, cash flow shows me spending $75.) MYM may have improved greatly in the interim, but I've grown to like Quicken (hell, it only cost $35). ---------------------------------------------------------------- >I have pretty much decided to manage my checkbook, budget, investment >tracking, etc on my PC. The question is which software package to buy. >I've narrowed it down to Quicken V3 and [Andrew Tobias'] Managing Your >Money V6 (MYM), but I'm still in a quandry. > >Is MYM worth the extra 70-or-so dollars up front and ~$50/year, over >Quicken? I know MYM has *many* more features than Quicken, but... What >do you get for the extra $50/year? Automatic updates (with new tax >stuff)? Is *that* worth it if I have an accountant do my taxes anyway? > >Regarding checks: Quicken seems to work with only one size check (which >is OK), but MYM seems to be able to handle "Business" and "Personal" >checks. Are these checks the same size or are they different? > >I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used either or both of >these packages and your impressions about each. I have used MYM Versions 4.0 and 5.0, and am getting the upgrade to V6 as a present. I wasn't going to upgrade this year. Actually, I think MECA has recognized that it has a cash cow in MYM and is milking it for all its worth. In my opinion, the cost of the upgrade is way out of line for the service provided. You get: * The new version of MYM (upgraded tax tables, yearly varying material) * 2 moderately useful newsletters / year * Access to their technical support group (I asked them 2 questions last year - one financial, i.e., directly related to using MYM and one technical, e.g. - how can I get MYM to recognize my LQP03 and use the XON-XOF protocol. They were unable to answer either (and it is NOT a toll free call). * NOTE: The manual is $10.00 EXTRA and not included in an upgrade Like yourself, I have my taxes done by a CPA. MYM is not that much help in that department, anyway. I tried to use the Tax Estimation chapter in the last 2 weeks to figure out what last minute contributions I should make. It wasn't a whole lot of help. There are 2 companion programs for MYM - Managing The Market (MTM) and TaxCut. Obviously, MECA wants you to buy both, so MYM will not receive any enhancements in those areas. Actually, if you are like me, the CPA is worth the hassle. Another place where MYM falls short is the manual. For your extra $10.00 (w/ the upgrade), you get a reference document with *some* good examples of usage. It also covers troubleshooting fairly well. However, you really need a companion book to get the most out of using the program. I've looked at a couple and am not really sure which to buy yet. I do know that the manual is inadequate on that score. Regarding varying check sizes: MYM will let you play with the Check layout. The manual talks about "typical" problems with printing checks. And MYM does handle business checks. You can order personalized, preprinted, fanfold checks from Deluxe Computer Forms (800/328-0304 MYM style C07658). Of course, you have to realize that MYM (and its competitors) is a time sink. Expect to take some time learning to use all its functionality. In 1989, I've only had time to use the checkbook, money accounts, net worth, financial calculator and some aspects of the budgeting. I'm working on expanding my use of the budget and portfolio management aspects for 1990. All the above carping aside, I use MYM and feel that it is a good program. I am much more organized than without it. It has a good menu-driven interface, and it lets you make mistakes and recover from them. MYM also emphasizes backing up of data. Regarding Quicken: My brother-in-law evaluated it and MYM and chose Quicken. It may make more sense for you. ---------------------------------------------------------------- >Regarding checks: Quicken seems to work with only one size check (which >is OK), but MYM seems to be able to handle "Business" and "Personal" >checks. Are these checks the same size or are they different? I understand that the new version of Quicken (3.0) accepts both sizes of checks, and yes, they are different. Business checks are quite large and Personal ones are the size you write at the grocery store (the whole earth has this size of check). >I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used either or both of >these packages and your impressions about each. I have been stewing over the same problem as of late. I have used Quicken version 2.0 in the past and it worked quite well. The one thing Quicken has going for it is its ease of use -- it looks just like the good ol' check register. Its reporting is very flexible too. I agree that MYM is very expensive and I haven't been able to decide if its worth the chunk of cash. Then just recently I received a curious thing in the mail from a company named Parsons Technology. They have a program called "MoneyCounts" which supposedly does everything that MYM does and more. What's the catch? I don't know but it only costs $35!! In their mailer they quote John Dvorak saying "I was impressed. It wins the cost effective award." I do remember reading an article about a cheap financial program that Dvorak raved about. I may just try and dig up the article. I'm giving serious thought to buying it. Even if I don't like it they claim to have an "iron-clad" money back guarantee. Here's a list of other things they claim: Export to 1-2-3 and Quattro Presentation Graphics (bar, pie, etc.) Financial Calculator Pop-up Calculator *and* Notepad Prints any Pin-Feed Check Canadian Features (dating, terminology) Password Protection Personal Tax Estimator Links with their own tax software "Personal Tax Preparer" Like I said it does all these and anything that MYM does, so they claim. Looks like a good deal, but I'm afraid it may be real buggy. Smaller outfits don't tend to do a lot of testing. That wouldn't be a big deal, but I don't want anything messing around with numbers that relate to my finances. Anyway I thought you would be interested in a third alternative. I'm going to give them a call and look up that article in PC Magazine. Let me know if you find out anything new about MYM. Here's the address and phone of the company: Parsons Technology 375 Collins Road NE Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52402 Phone: 1-800-223-6925 ---------------------------------------------------------------- >> I have pretty much decided to manage my checkbook, budget, investment >> tracking, etc on my PC. The question is which software package to buy. >> I've narrowed it down to Quicken V3 and [Andrew Tobias'] Managing Your >> Money V6 (MYM), but I'm still in a quandry. > I've been using mym for almost 3 years now and have found it worth every cent I paid for it (including 2 $50 upgrades). I know very little about quicken so I can't compare the two. I know that mym has done everything I need of it and it can do much more then I'll ever need. The $50 fee buys you a software upgrade (which will typically include new tax info, new features, and bug fixes), a newsletter (quarterly), and, last year, a patch diskette (to fix some bugs). The biggest problem I've had involved my pay check because it's really complicated. It took me a while to figure out how best to deal with it, but I've done it. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I haven't used MYM, but I've been using Quicken for about 4 months now and absolutely love it. I think that part of it's power is in it's simplicity. You can quickly organize your finances, breaking things down into accounts and categories at whatever level of detail you wish. I also beleive that Quicken does support several check sizes, but I only use hand-written ones. ---------------------------------------------------------------- > I have pretty much decided to manage my checkbook, budget, investment > tracking, etc on my PC. The question is which software package to buy. > I've narrowed it down to Quicken V3 and [Andrew Tobias'] Managing Your > Money V6 (MYM), but I'm still in a quandry. > [..text deleted] > I'm interested in hearing from anyone who has used either or both of > these packages and your impressions about each. I have been running various version(currently 5.0) of MYM and found it to be a very valuable tool. I use all of the chapters that come with it. I have purchased the upgrade contract ($60/yr) only once to get the most current version. The contract includes the one yearly upgrade and 4 quarterly newsletters. The program is well laid out and documented very nicely. The on line help screen almost make the manuals unnecessary. The portfolio manager is excellent in tracking all type of investments. It even has a historical net worth graph that you can use to see if you are gaining against the world or not. IMHO it is worth the money ---------------------------------------------------------------- <<< I have pretty much decided to manage my checkbook, budget, investment <<< tracking, etc on my PC. The question is which software package to buy. <<< I've narrowed it down to Quicken V3 and [Andrew Tobias'] Managing Your <<< Money V6 (MYM), but I'm still in a quandry. I used MYM for 1 1/2 years and found it to be an excellent program for giving histories, budget info, etc. However, I eventually stopped using it because I found it more time consuming and trouble to enter all my checks into the program than to just get out the calculator and balance the checkbook on paper. I must admit that it was rather interesting to see all those fancy reports on how I spent my money but in the final analysis it didn't effect my spending patterns at all. So from that point of view it wasn't doing me any good to go to all the effort to enter in hundreds of checks just to get some nice looking report back on where my money was going. In my family if the kids need shoes, they need shoes and it doesn't matter if the Kids Shoes budget is empty - the money just comes from somewhere else.