Gyroscopic Investing

Posted: **Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:08 am**

Have used Quicken for years. Anyone have something better for the Mac user? Would like it to do everything from tracking investments (including specific shares method) to data analysis to printing of checks. I am paranoid about having all of my finances visible online, so would prefer a software alternative.
Thanks.

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:20 pm**

Second try..

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:28 pm**

maybe "Mint"

But I'm not familiar with the feature list but is often suggested as alternative....

Posted: **Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:41 pm**

I don't know about Mac, but I switched from Quicken (after at least a decade) to Moneydance.

It is crude, but it works.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2012 3:48 am**

BearBones wrote: Have used Quicken for years. Anyone have something better for the Mac user? Would like it to do everything from tracking investments (including specific shares method) to data analysis to printing of checks. I am paranoid about having all of my finances visible online, so would prefer a software alternative.
Thanks.

Not used any but try:
iBank which also has an associated app that tracks investments
Moneywell
Money (not the old Microsoft product)
Accountz
Moneydance

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2012 4:40 am**

Thank you all!

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:18 pm**

t-bear52 wrote: maybe "Mint"

But I'm not familiar with the feature list but is often suggested as alternative....

Mint is amazing, but it's online.

Posted: **Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:54 pm**

I've heard good things about Mint but it isn't any good for me as I am in the UK. I find iBank fantastic for basic bank account tracking. I don't use it for full portfolio tracking.

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:28 pm**

I highly recommend Fresh Finance. I've been using it for years and never looked back (when I switched to Mac). It reminds me of how good Quicken used to be, before it went stale and got bloated. Their website is http://www.fortora.com -- give it a try, I think you will like it.

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:30 pm**

Does anyone know if Mint or Fresh will keep track of specific shares for investments? That's the one thing that keeps me with Quicken.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2012 11:19 pm**

Georgette99 wrote: I highly recommend Fresh Finance. I've been using it for years and never looked back (when I switched to Mac). It reminds me of how good Quicken used to be, before it went stale and got bloated. Their website is http://www.fortora.com -- give it a try, I think you will like it.

Does Fresh Finance have a Portfolio Manager? I didn't see it mentioned on their website.

For most of the 1990's I used a program called Managing Your Money (it was a pretty good, but was originally developed for MS-DOS), then switched to Quicken/Windows in 1999. I have used it ever since (upgrading every other year) to manage our personal finances and a couple of dozen PP and VP portfolios for myself and a number of clients. The current 2012 Quicken Home & Business version works well and I depend on it.

I also don’t want to put financial information in the cloud and would love to move to a Mac, but Quicken/Mac and other Mac financial programs I’ve seen just don't compare to Quicken/Windows for combined overall personal finance and portfolio management functions. I am currently looking at Moneydance (looks promising) and AceMoney, but haven't seen much in the way of testimonials.

I have been looking at running Quicken/Windows on the Mac using VMware/Fusion software. It certainly looks feasible, but I've yet to see many convincing testimonials and the front end costs are fairly high (the Mac and VMware/Fusion, Windows, and Quicken software) for something I’m not sure will work. Also, advertised technical support for running Windows programs through VMware/Fusion seems hard to find. I did some database programming a number of years ago, but I always hated dealing with the operating system software.

Has anyone here had any experience running Windows software with VMware/Fusion on a Mac? Or with Moneydance or AceMoney Mac versions?

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:08 am**

HB Reader wrote: For most of the 1990's I used a program called Managing Your Money (it was a pretty good, but was originally developed for MS-DOS), then switched to Quicken/Windows in 1999. I have used it ever since (upgrading every other year) to manage our personal finances and a couple of dozen PP and VP portfolios for myself and a number of clients. The current 2012 Quicken Home & Business version works well and I depend on it.

I used that during the 90's too and it was great, especially with the built-in Checkfree integration! When they ended support, I switched to Microsoft Money because it had an interface and features closely related to MYM compared to Quicken. Once Microsoft Money went HTML/webified (ught!) and then eventually terminated support, I simply gave up and used Excel because Quicken was more Quickbooks-like at the time.

I have a friend who still uses a Quicken version from the early 2000's because it just so much faster and svelte vs the later releases. There were a lot of complaints about the agonizing slowness and laggyness of Quicken 2012 after its release. I'm still using Quicken 2011 as I don't have the patience to put up with a worse product than it already is. The online banking support is still far from perfect, but way better than Mint, et al..

Sadly, there is no real effective competitor to Quicken for portfolio and investment tracking other than specialized, vertical programs like Gainskeeper. You just have to suck it up.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2012 8:43 am**

MachineGhost wrote:Sadly, there is no real effective competitor to Quicken for portfolio and investment tracking other than specialized, vertical programs like Gainskeeper. You just have to suck it up.

I'll plug MoneyDance one more time. It is Java-based and cross platform, so it should be suitable for the OP's original question.

It downloads account information pretty well, tracks investments, has OK reports and graphs.

If you do Java you can add extensions to the program (several are available) to enhance function. If you do Python programming there is an extension that allows you to add function via Python.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:21 pm**

WildAboutHarry wrote:
MachineGhost wrote:Sadly, there is no real effective competitor to Quicken for portfolio and investment tracking other than specialized, vertical programs like Gainskeeper. You just have to suck it up.
I'll plug MoneyDance one more time. It is Java-based and cross platform, so it should be suitable for the OP's original question.

It downloads account information pretty well, tracks investments, has OK reports and graphs.

If you do Java you can add extensions to the program (several are available) to enhance function. If you do Python programming there is an extension that allows you to add function via Python.

WildAboutHarry & MachineGhost (& everyone else) --

Thanks for your comments. Quicken 2012 can be a bit slow, but I've really gotten used to the program over the years, especially the bill paying, net worth, portfolio tracking and reports functions. I'll probably keep using it for at least the remainder of the year, but do plan to download and take a much closer look at MoneyDance. I am "all ears" for any additional comments relating to those functions.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2012 4:33 pm**

HB Reader wrote:
Georgette99 wrote: I highly recommend Fresh Finance. I've been using it for years and never looked back (when I switched to Mac). It reminds me of how good Quicken used to be, before it went stale and got bloated. Their website is http://www.fortora.com -- give it a try, I think you will like it.
Does Fresh Finance have a Portfolio Manager? I didn't see it mentioned on their website.

For most of the 1990's I used a program called Managing Your Money (it was a pretty good, but was originally developed for MS-DOS), then switched to Quicken/Windows in 1999. I have used it ever since (upgrading every other year) to manage our personal finances and a couple of dozen PP and VP portfolios for myself and a number of clients. The current 2012 Quicken Home & Business version works well and I depend on it.

I also don’t want to put financial information in the cloud and would love to move to a Mac, but Quicken/Mac and other Mac financial programs I’ve seen just don't compare to Quicken/Windows for combined overall personal finance and portfolio management functions. I am currently looking at Moneydance (looks promising) and AceMoney, but haven't seen much in the way of testimonials.

I have been looking at running Quicken/Windows on the Mac using VMware/Fusion software. It certainly looks feasible, but I've yet to see many convincing testimonials and the front end costs are fairly high (the Mac and VMware/Fusion, Windows, and Quicken software) for something I’m not sure will work. Also, advertised technical support for running Windows programs through VMware/Fusion seems hard to find. I did some database programming a number of years ago, but I always hated dealing with the operating system software.

Has anyone here had any experience running Windows software with VMware/Fusion on a Mac? Or with Moneydance or AceMoney Mac versions?

I will be setting up an iMac within the next 2 weeks and plan to (try to) run Windows Quicken using Parallels.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Posted: **Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:10 am**

possum wrote:
I will be setting up an iMac within the next 2 weeks and plan to (try to) run Windows Quicken using Parallels.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Possum - Many thanks. I appreciate it.

Posted: **Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:26 pm**

So far, it seems to be between Quicken for PC (via emulation) or Moneydance for more sophisticated investing. Will be curious as to the experience of Quicken via Parallels. Here is a similar discussion on Moneydance vs Quicken from Bogleheads.
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =2&t=85758

And another comparison among Mac software, for whatever it is worth:
http://personal-finance-software-review ... -software/

Posted: **Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:20 pm**

HB Reader wrote:
possum wrote:
I will be setting up an iMac within the next 2 weeks and plan to (try to) run Windows Quicken using Parallels.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Possum - Many thanks. I appreciate it.

Ok, got my new iMac and installed Parallels 7, Windows 7, and Quicken 2010.

So far, so good - everything I've tried has worked just as on native Windows.

I'll let you know if I run into anything that looks like a showstopper.

Posted: **Wed Jul 18, 2012 8:35 pm**

Thanks! I have never seen quicken for PC. In what ways is it better than the old quicken for Mac?

Gyroscopic Investing

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