Finance Mgmt Software (suggestions?)

Hi,

I never did get a reply to this post, but I see that 160+ people viewed it. So I figure they were probably looking for some guidance as well.

Well, I did purchase the Quicken 2007 for Mac software and it more than works for me. You are able to assign tax forms to your categories, so every dollar and cent is accounted for. They actually give you the entire listing of IRS tax forms each with a beautiful easy to understand description of what expenses should go under that specific form. I've created accounts on the software for each of my credit cards, Starbucks card (don't laugh), both my checking and saving accounts, and even a "Cash" account so that I can keep track of what's in my wallet. Every night, (or every other night or so) I log my purchases for the day and file my receipts (I even now ask for a receipt for everything - as a traveler they will come in handy for reimbursement for expenses while on assignment). When I pay a bill from my checking account, it automatically credits that credit card account... same with withdrawals from my checking or savings accounts, it credits the Cash account. Reconciling these accounts on line at the end of the month live or via statement downloads is a breeze cause it finds the amount and matches it on your Quicken registers and plays a little CONGRATULATIONS animation when the account is balanced. (This always makes me a little giddy with joy because I actually feel like Suze Orman is sitting on my shoulder saying "YOU GO GIRL!" - My goodness I was so bad at managing my finances. )

By the click of a tab, I can create a graph or chart or just list my expenditures by category or ask the system to tell me where I'm spending the most money and it will give me a beautiful report, chart or graph with that information. Best of all I can run a Tax Report summary and it will pull all of my expenditures for a certain time frame (year-to-date, month-to-month, etc) - that I've assigned to a tax form- and I can see just how much I've spent for that tax category. This printout in addition to my receipts will be all the detail that I'll need to do my taxes on Turbo Tax next year or take with me to an accountant at the end of the year (if I decide to use one next year). My 2008 Taxes will be a BREEZE!!

I would definitely recommend Quicken 2007 for Mac to anyone out there who has a MACBOOK or other Mac and is seeking financial management software!!! I imagine the equivalent or regular Quicken can do the same and probably better since the software has been around for PCs longer than it has for Mac. But for now, I am DEFINITELY a satisfied customer! I have even managed to pay off my credit card debts, since using this software. Not because I made any more money, but because I was actually able to BUDGET using the amount of the last paycheck and the bills scheduled for that period. The system actually goes and looks for recurring expenses that you pay every month and asks you "IS THIS A BILL TO BE SCHEDULED?" It then reminds you that you have bills to pay. LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT All of this it places on your checking account register. Now I can SEE my assumed paycheck and SEE the bills that are due and know ahead of time whether or not I have enough to cover them. Because it uses an assumed paycheck, I see ahead of time whether or not I need to do some OT or creative shuffling of funds to make ends meet at month end Best of all, because it is an assumed paycheck (using my actual previous paycheck), if I actually get paid more on the real check, that's extra money for me to play with!


Hope this helps anyone else out there who needed some guidance!

-Carrie