Making the switch from Quicken
Finally pulled the trigger with Simplifi after years as a satisfied Quicken windows user. Have tried all sorts of products in the past to manage my personal finances (Quicken, Quickbooks for Business, Xero, Personal Capital, Tiller) but all have had their shortcomings. I found Quicken for Windows to be the most complete in terms of functionality I required, although I would pay multiples more for the product if they offered a full cloud option. I would be fine sticking with Quicken for the future but now that I’m married, I really value the ability to have our complete financial picture in one place for my wife that she can easily access online.
Some of the missing features in Simplifi that would really appeal to me would be:
-Most robost bank matching/reconciliation capabilities
-Additional Budgeting Tools: ability to budget more than 12 months as the ability to rollover budgets
-Investment Tracking: more detailed cost basis information and the ability to view historical lots in the same way Quicken provides
-Tax Planner/Paycheck simulator
I'm also REALLY not a fan of how Simplifi calculates account balances. It seems to download balances from my financial institutions and use that amount as opposed to calculating the net activity in the account. I’m not sure if this is what is referred to as dual-entry accounting, but I really wish balances were calculated by Simplifi creating opening balances (based on bank history) and calculating the net activity for each account.
That being said, this looks like a great product and I’m really looking forward to using it with my family and seeing the new features that come in the future.
Comments
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@WinstonStruye, welcome to Simplifi! I found some existing topics that you may be interested in checking out. 😀
I didn't find anything for a Paycheck Simulator, so feel free to create an Idea post requesting this feature!
-Coach Natalie
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@WinstonTeracina As a person who made the switch from Quicken Classic (but still subscribes to it) to Simplifi, I understand totally how there are features in Classic that you miss in Simplifi. Simplifi is aimed at more casual users; people who just want to download their transactions, know the balances of their accounts and have an idea of how they spend their money. Quicken Classic is much more full featured than Simplifi, and both are designed to be the way they are.
Since Simplifi works by downloading your balances and subtracting pending transactions, your balance should always be correct. In Classic Quicken, it could be maddening when you were off a few dollars and cents and you were trying to hunt down the cause. In Simplifi, you don't have to worry about that. However, you could of course be missing an old cleared transaction and not know it. That is one reason for the review check in Simplifi.
You CAN still add your beginning balance to Simplifi, and I have done so in all my accounts. I only go back to Jan 1, 2021. You just put in an Opening Balance for the day before (I did Dec. 31, 2000) and call it Balance Adjustment (it's built in). Simplifi will ignore this entry in reports and since it is a cleared transaction, it won't affect your balance.
One good thing about doing this is that you can then select every transaction in your account (be sure that there aren't any collapsed months so they are all checked), and the total of your selection should equal your downloaded balance. If it doesn't, you know you are missing a transaction. I check periodically and haven't found any in a long time.
Note that manual accounts work differently as they are not connected to an institution, so the balance Simplifi uses is actually the total of all the entered transactions.
I will also add that most of us appreciate that the Spending Plan, and that it is not as complicated as that in Quicken Classic.
As far as tax planning and investments as well as the spending plan, continue to peruse the community and read the posts. They will familiarize you with how the app works, and how others use it as well as let you know that you others may share your wishes and gripes. 😀
Happy simplifi-ing!
Steve
Quicken Simplifi Since 2021
MS Money/Quicken Classic Since 19911 -
Coach Natalie/Steve,
Thank you both for providing me additional threads I can follow and some more detailed explainations of the differences between the Simplifi and Quicken Classic products. Happy to see such a great community here!
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