Quicken is one of the oldest. Quicken's origins go all the way back into the 1980s, when Scott Cook and Tom Proulx founded Intuit in Palo Alto, CA. As Intuit's history tells it, they realized that personal computers would change the way people did personal accounting.

Intuit’s Quicken has become a popular financial program, especially for non-tax professionals wanting to access the sometimes tricky tools of tax professionals.

Quicken was programmed in Microsoft BASIC for the IBM PC and UCSD Pascal for the Apple II. There were several firsts in the origins of Quicken. For example, Intuit offered a $15 rebate on the purchase, the first time software offered a rebate. Download apps for windows on a mac.

In 1991, Microsoft created Microsoft Money to compete with them (Microsoft Money was discontinued in 2009). In 2016, Intuit sold Quicken to H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm in Miami.

So how does Quicken 2018 compare with predecessors and should you continue using it? Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • The Many Versions of Quicken Quicken has several versions: • Quicken Starter: At $34.99/yr, this version is the simplest version of Quicken with access to the budgeting tools only. • Quicken Deluxe: At $49.99/yr, this version is an expansion of Starter with access to the budgeting and some basic investment tools. • Quicken Premier: At $74.99/yr, this mid-tier version offers all that Deluxe covers plus Quicken Bill Pay, Priority access to customer support (a $49.99/yr value if purchased separately), plus advanced investment portfolio analysis. • Quicken Home & Business: At $99.99/yr, this type gives you all that Premier offers plus business management tools like invoicing and rental tools. It's organized such that Quicken Deluxe is for most users who are focused solely on budgeting with an eye towards investments. The investment tools are very basic, meant to keep an eye on things but not necessarily plan for the future.

In Quicken Premier is where all the good investment planning and preparing tools exist. You get portfolio analysis, comparisons of your returns vs.

Market, track cost basis and create Schedule D tax report, plus budgeting focused tools like bill pay. Quicken Home & Business is exactly what it sounds like – if you have a business, including a rental property, then this tier covers you. I'd argue that you may look at other options for business management tools but this is a good option if you want to keep everything under one Quicken roof. Personally, I like keeping home finances and business finances separate from a management perspective. I think of business needs differently from personal needs so being in a different package helps cement that difference. There is no legal reason to keep the software separate though, you just need to keep the actual finances separate.