Question for Flopbot

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Edward Jones not Updating- Urgent FDP-187.

Clark

@Flopbot... I am having so many connection issues over the last year with my accounts.  One the my banks Simplifi refuses to add to my list since asking a year ago, so I have to add transactions manually. 

So my question is this, (I see you are a quicken desktop user?)...are you still using,  if not, why did you switch to Simplifi? I am considering going back to quicken with all the issues I am having, and it does have a mobile app?  

DannyB

Hi @Clark Sorry to hear that you continue to have connection problems and doing all this manually seems to defeat the purpose for an app like Simplifi. 

I'm sure Chris @Flopbot will be here to answer your question at some point but I'm curious if you ever tried using the Quicken mobile app.  It's been a little over a year since I switched from Quicken to Simplifi and my experience of the Quicken mobile app during all the years I used Quicken and the mobile app was available was dismal.  It never functioned for me in any way that was helpful.  I don't know if Quicken mobile app has been revamped or made to work better, but the problem had to do with Quicken being desktop oriented - Quicken runs on your local computer with the data base stored on your local hard drive.  You were supposed to be able to upload that data base to make it accessible to the mobile app but again in my experience it never worked properly.  Maybe it's better now.

Flopbot

@Clark, thanks for the question.  Sorry you're having so many issues with bank connections.

To specifically answer your question, I stopped using Quicken Desktop when I switched to using Simplifi - and have never once regretted that decision.  Sure, Simplifi has things that I wish were different/improved, features I miss, annoying bugs, etc., but my finances are much, much better as a result of the transition.  I did my research and am convinced that there is no better app than Simplifi for my particular situation.  I believe that @SRC54 might still be using both software options and - if so - might have a really interesting/honest take on your question.

I'd absolutely agree with @DannyB's assessment of the Quicken Desktop App.  When I stopped using it, I had seven years of experience and was convinced that it was essentially non-functional, at best.  I would say that 9-10 times, it returned gibberish numbers and I wasted sooooooo much of my time trying to troubleshoot it.  I could never get the thing to sync with what was on my desktop and it was sooooo slow - like press a button and wait 30 seconds slow.  I like Quicken as a company - not Intuit the former owner - and I truly hope that they've improved the Quicken Desktop App since I left, but that was my assessment as of August 2021.  I believe they had a very up-hill climb after Intuit ran the software into the ground.

One suggestion I'd have is this - I know this is a bit of heresy in a forum such as this - consider switching banks to one that works better?  If Bank A syncs well and Bank B doesn't, then consider ditching Bank B.  Which is more important to you, the bank or tracking your transactions with an app?  Recently, I made a number of real-world adjustments to my accounts to better align them with the realities of how Simplifi currently works and it has been a really positive outcome on my sanity.  I get it that this might not be an option for everyone.



Awhile ago, I replied to a user who was asking which was better for them; Simplifi or Quicken (click here for original post).  Here's part of that discussion...


While Quicken Desktop certainly has more features than Simplifi, I am soooooo happy that I made the switch!  I put a decent amount of time and effort into my search for a Quicken replacement and must have tried somewhere in the neighborhood of eight other budgeting software solutions. I am confident saying that Simplifi is one of the best options out there for the way I think

I feel that Quicken Desktop would be a fine solution for someone with lots of accounts/investments, an accounting background, or lots and lots of time on their hands.  It might be a good fit for a retiree who has the time to fiddle around fixing things and tracking down problems - weekly - while setting at a desktop computer/laptop. Quicken has a super steep learning curve and it’s very easy to make a mistake that takes hours to track down and fix. Many times, I would put in four hours simply to find that I had accidentally deleted a transaction somewhere along the lines.  Quicken Desktop might be a good solution if you don’t mind, or even enjoy, database administration.

For me, I’m more than happy to give up some bells and whistle’s in order to save myself time on data entry. Are there things that I miss, sure, but I’m really pleased to be saving hours of my time simply keeping a database happy.   Being cloud-based, I really love the ease with which I can manage Simplifi. I interchangeably go from an iPad to an iPhone to a laptop and everything stays pretty well synced wherever I am. This part of Simplifi is my favorite!

Finally, I’m quite happy with the responsiveness of Simplifi’s support (the coaches are great) and the speed with which they release bug fixes, updates, and new features.  I have no doubt that one day Simplifi will overtake Quicken Desktop to become Quicken’s flagship solution; I look forward to that day!

Feel free to ask any questions you might have about either software.

Good luck!

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And here is an Apple App Store review I did...



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Hope something here helps.

SRC54

@Clarke @DannyB @Flopbot

Well, since Chris mentioned me, I'll throw in my 2 cents.  I am retired and I am using both right now.  It was not my intention to stay with Quicken, but after a year, I wasn't ready to throw away 20+years of data.  I really should have it back to 1992, which is when I started with Microsoft Money.  In 2009, Money went defunct and Quicken did an import of Money files so I have been with Quicken ever since except for two years, I was with Buxfer.  It was a neat program and it's still around.  In 2018 I went back to Quicken and imported the Buxfer files.

OK, what I like about Simplifi.  I like that it is totally cloud based, that it is more forgiving of errors since like Buxfer it keeps the balance with the bank and subtracts the pending charges.  I like the interface and the Dashboard.  Quicken Mac is just down adding a Dashboard and still has a long way to go.  After some initial struggles, I've learned to like the simplified budgeting in Simplifi.  I take some exception to the nomenclature, but once you get used to it and use it right, it is very useful. It's way too complicated in Quicken and most don't really use it.  I like the way Simplifi does recurring.  Quicken just adds enters it into the ledger but Simplifi downloads it and matches it, correcting the amount as necessary. 

What I like about Quicken is that I have many years of data, that I can archive data.  I don't yet know how Simplifi will handle years of data.  It is a real accounting program so you have to reconcile and as Chris said, if there is something wrong, you have to go find it.  (I do that in Simplifi too but your bank accounts will show the right balance.  Of course, in manual accounts, you must keep it straight.) Quicken has more ways of connecting to your bank.  With Simplifi, it's just Quicken Connect.  However, it appears that Direct Connections are probably going to disappear slowly.  It seems the Big Banks are heading that way and the smaller banks will follow.  Bank sync is about even in the two programs. Right now, investments are done right in Quicken.  Simplifi will probably catch up somewhat this year although again they will go with the bottom line and just allow you to keep transactions for reference. Quicken wins hands down with reports including tax reports. Simplifi needs nicer reports especially if you want to print them out.  OTOH, tax reports are less important now that the US TAX Code is being changed with a very large standard deduction. State taxes are slowly adopting the same approach.

So what do I want to go solo with Simplifi.  

Number 1 is for me to be able to import my data from Quicken.  It's funny because the web app for Quicken is almost identical to Simplifi.  Sync is almost like importing the transactions into the Cloud and they are displayed in very similar fashion.  Similarly, the phone apps are identical.  It's very hard to tell whether you are in Quicken or Simplifi when you open the apps.  I'm not a programmer but it appears to me that it would be simple for Quicken to add a link in their web app to save your file to a Simplifi file.  And voilà, you'd be in Simplifi.  There is probably somethings that wouldn't go, but even the way they list accounts in Quicken on the Web is the same as Simplifi.  Credit Cards come after Cash Accounts and before Savings.  I've been waiting for QFX and OFX files to be supported in Simplifi, but I am beginning to doubt that will happen.  I also am not sure that Quicken wants to make it easy for Quicken users to migrate.  They're after new customers.

Number 2:  I love the way recurring is done in Simplifi.  Since we have so many manual accounts, I would like to be able to just click on the reminder and enter it into the transactions without having to create a new transaction and link it.  It's a small thing but Quicken does this still.

Number 3: I would like recurring to allow for splits.  The splits are saved with the transaction, but not in recurring.  So this is needed in order to make recurring work the way I want it to.

Number 4:  It would be nice if you could back up your Simplifi file. It's kind of scary that you cannot.  I assume Quicken has backups out the gazoo in case something happens.  I don't know.

Using the two programs works for me right now as I can doublecheck one with the other. Make sure that my categories add up. Obviously I keep the categories exactly the same.  I even stopped using the Quicken sub sub categories since you cannot do that in Simplifi.  Do we need to add that feature to Simplifi?  I don't know.  After all, we want to keep it simple.

Clark

@SRC54 @Flopbot @DannyB

Thank you for your points of view. (alot more than 2 cents worth..maybe 50 cents lol).  I am also retired and have been a quicken user for many years.  I used to do my own stock trading and (et al) oil property investments. The investment reports in quicken were excellent. I liked it for the archiving options to close out the year and good data to go back to for stock performance, tax etc, and it was on my hard drive and not in the cloud.

After I retired several years ago, I turned all my Investments over to a financial advisor, as I had done well over the years, and didn't want to spend the time working quicken and the stock market. That's when I went to a free competitor program.  It is a good basic program, but I needed more,  so I went to Simplifi.  I still have both at this moment.   

The budget part of Simplifi is ok, but I don't really need a budget, but I use it....if I want something, I buy it. I dont care what my budget says. (Lol) I  mainly like Simplifi for the transaction management for banks and my investments....which alot is in the beta phase, but it has promise.

I have had alot of connection issues with Simplifi,  but it has always been worked out.  The support has been really good as they listen and try to get the problem resolved. There are other things that annoying me, but I've learned to work around them. 

Clark