Personal Finance & Budgeting Web App
July 24th, 2006
Time to get a better handle on the family finances. I immediately thought of using Quicken, but then I remembered what bugs me so much about the software. Quicken’s business model is to sell a new version of Quicken, with a marginal set of improvements each year. Quicken 2006 is the current version, with Quicken 2007 just around the corner. I did some research on Quicken 2007 only to find that it won’t be a Universal Binary, meaning it will run slower on my Intel-based MacBook. Given this news, I looked into an online version of their software, perhaps something available under a subscription model. Evidently Quickbooks has an online version, but a web-based version of Quicken is non-existent. This prompted me to wonder why no one has created a web-based Quicken competitor. Is it because they are in fear of being stomped when Intuit jumps into the game? Perhaps it’s because the primary financial file exports from most financial institutions are proprietary? Whatever the case I hope that someone tackles this. I don’t want to be tied to a specific computer every time I need to view my financial standing.
Here is my wishlist for a web-based personal finance software:
- Simple interface - I don’t need a lot of features, just something to show me where I’m at.
- Transaction Register
- Support for multiple types of accounts (Checking, Money Market, Savings, Credit Card, Debit Card, etc).
- Budgeting
- Recurring Transactions (both fixed and variable) for both expense and income transactions
- Integration with my financial institution - I really hate having to download a file, and import it into an app, then do the reconciliation. Why can’t software just connect to my financial institution (password protected of course) and securely download a record of my financial transactions? If I can’t have that, it at least needs to be able to import a .csv file.
- Fairly priced - I am willing to pay a subscription fee for this type of service, but it has to be reasonable. I can get Quicken for $70.
- Bottom line, all of the “essential functions” of Quicken with none of the fluff.
July 25th, 2006 at 5:49 am
I’m still using MS Money on my PC, but it has the same yearly update issue you have with Quicken. I’ve looked into many personal finance solutions for the Mac but none of them really fit the bill. Newer websites like Billmonk (http://www.billmonk.com) and BillQ (http://www.mybillq.com) tease us with tracking bills and things but it seems that the sensitive nature of the actual balance and transaction register is too much responsibility for anyone to take on as a web project.
July 25th, 2006 at 6:03 am
Yes, for the security reasons alone it almost has to done by a big company that can ensure that my data is safe and secure. Come on Intuit…let’s get to it.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:56 am
Check out: http://www.whatbills.com
Its a new service we launched on July 1. Yours comments and suggestions are always welcome. I hear your pain about no complete web based solution just yet.
August 17th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
I have been using Paytrust to receive and pay my bills online for 7 years. Over the years, I have tried various versions of Quicken and found them to be too much trouble.
Intuit purchased Paytrust a couple of years ago. Unbelievably, Paytrust does not produce export files that are compatible with Quicken. I have contacted Paytrust customer service on several occasions and asked them why Intuit doesn’t create an on-line financial management system that would integrate with Paytrust. It would be a natural…
September 10th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
Thanks for discussing this topic on line. I have been looking for a web based family finance manager all afternoon. It appears I can stop because it doesn’t exisit. This may be the last “killer app” idea left. Somebody do it, I am busy!!!
October 23rd, 2006 at 11:02 am
I use a subcription based system called “mvelopes” at mvelopes.com. It has most of the features you request but, alas, its not perfect either. It can be a bit buggy and pricey ($150ish/year). But it is convenient and gives some hope that others will head down this path. I’ve been using it for 9 months and have experienced some hiccups along the way- some of my doing and others due to software problems. It does the automatic downloads and you can categorize, track and do most the things you’d expect. It’s based on the old-fashioned envelope method of budgeting (funding amounts into each budget category based on when the cash comes in), which I like. But I must admit, once Quicken gets in the game (if they do…), I would give them a try as I think the overall quality would be better.