One of the benefits of being a personal finance blogger is having the ability to “test drive” things to write reviews about them. I was given a copy of Quicken Home and Business 2012 to try out and review.
I was very very excited to try Quicken because I have heard so many great things about it and it almost seems that any Personal Finance Blogger isn’t really a personal finance blogger if they don’t use some sort of snazzy personal finance software like Quicken to track their spending, their budgets, and their investments all in one place.
Now, I think my review might be skewed because I have never tried Quicken before, I have used Mint.com before Quicken, and I am an extremely low-tech person (which is absolutely shocking to hear from someone who identifies themselves as Generation Y, I know).
I gave it an honest effort, I spent about 4 hours trying to figure out it, clicking on tabs, clicking on graphs, and trying to input data. Then I became extremely frustrated because I wasn’t doing it correctly and was worried that I would have to be manually inputting data on a regular basis (like correcting my mortgage remaining amount, updating my bank accounts). I manually inputted all my investments because they do not have Questrade in their database (just like Mint.com).
That would just drive me up the wall.
I tried to set up accounts but then was asked to download some sort of spreadsheet from my bank’s website (which I couldn’t find) so that Quicken could update my Quicken account. I then resorted to manually inputting my information. I gave up after four hours and left it again for a week. With fresh eyes, I tried it again and no luck, really.
Here are some of the PROS and CONS of Quicken that I have gathered in my short time trying it out:


Max out RRSP allowed contributions- I set out $200 a month automatically to an RRSP TD e-series and top up the rest before the year ends. Next year will be the first year where I have to start repaying my Home Buyers Plan withdrawal. I believe I will be paying back into my RRSP at a rate of $150 a month. The remaining $50 contributed per month can be used towards offsetting taxes.







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