money

Intuit discounts Quicken as MS Money fades

With Redmond discontinuing Microsoft Money, Intuit is offering a series of discounts aimed to lure more folks to use its Quicken personal finance product.

In a blog posting, Intuit said it is offering the discounts on Quicken products through the end of July to all users, not just the Money users left in the lurch.

Specifically, Intuit said that it is offering $20 off on Quicken Deluxe (now $39.99) and $30 off Quicken Premier (now $59.99). It is also chopping $30 off its Home & Business product and $50 off its Rental Property Manager product. The company is … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 995: Go to a bloody coffee shop

Should you do a prepaid broadband card? What if it costs you more for the convenience? What if your payments expire after 10 days if you don't use them? You know what, we think the coffee shop is probably a better bet at that point. We also discuss why Microsoft has stopped making Money and what effect Craigslist has really had on the newspaper industry.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) Episode 995

KCBS celebrates 100 years http://www.rbr.com/radio/15066.html

DTV transition is nearly here. … Read more

The 404 361: Where we ask who does number two work for?

It's back to the regular news stories on today's show, and we start off strong with talk about how the iPhone 3.0 may give sex toys a run for their money. See what happens when you give developers control over the vibration functionality?

Microsoft has announced it won't be making Money anymore--the software that is--but who actually used that program anyway?

Next, we discuss how the Internet is successfully turning the English language into nothing more than a bunch of incoherent misspellings of words with numbers in them. "n00b" is now a real word? We're starting to regret this whole Internet thing.

A Stretch Armstrong movie? Really? This isn't going to end well.

There won't be an episode tomorrow, but fear not, we're going to feed you with a classic 404 from the past that's sure to tickle you. See you Monday!

EPISODE 361 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more

How Intuit managed to hold off Microsoft

The defeat of Microsoft Money at the hands of Intuit's Quicken marks a rare chapter in the annals of software history.

Intuit is one of the few companies to take Microsoft head-on on its home turf--packaged software--and come out on top. Even more notably, Intuit has managed to do it several times, with Quicken of course, but also with QuickBooks and TurboTax.

Of course, it was more than just Intuit's success that led to Money's demise, which CNET News first reported on Wednesday. The product was ultimately doomed by several factors, including a shift away from packaged … Read more

Microsoft to discontinue MS Money

Microsoft plans to stop selling Microsoft Money, its venerable, but not market-leading personal finance program, CNET News has learned.

The software maker has been notifying financial institutions and plans to announce the move to customers over the next 24 hours via a posting on its Web site and a notification in the software. Although Microsoft will stop selling the product at the end of June, it plans to support it through January 2011.

After that point, people can continue to use the product, but they will no longer be able to get automated data feeds from their banks, credit card … Read more

Rivals well-known finance programs

With AceMoney Lite, one can easily organize and track spending, build budgets, track investment performance, set up payment reminders and recurring bill payments, create reports and pie charts, and so much more, for free.

The program has an eye-friendly interface that is also fairly intuitive to use. To begin, just open the application, click on the account button for your one account, and provide all of the particulars as prompted. Once your account is set, you can manage your budget and set up categories from a very long list of possibilities, which is helpful for reporting how you are saving … Read more

Complex investment tool

The stock market is a tricky way to earn money. However, many invest hoping to generate more revenue in their lives. Amateur Invest offers a program aimed at helping newcomers to the stock market, but might prove to be too much for those it aims to assist.

The program has a complex interface that is made slightly easier thanks to the start-up wizard that appears when you start the program. Here, you can set your currency, stocks to purchase, and even watch a helpful tutorial. A tutorial is a great idea, since this program is intimidating with its clustered layout. … Read more

Clear financial picture

This easy-to-use financial management program minimizes data entry by connecting directly with your online accounts. Moneydance can give you a better understanding of your overall financial picture.

This download has a fairly simple look that will become familiar in a short time. Users instantly see their balance in the heart of the rectangular screen, a calendar to the right, and reminders above that. In the brown and green header users can cycle through options to manage their funds, such as transfers, accounts, extensions, and more. All the options are easy to access and fairly intuitive to understand.

Where Moneydance steps … Read more

Works with Excel

If you are planning to purchase or refinance a home, the Vertex42 Mortgage Payment Calculator is a competent tool for you to see how much that home will cost over time.

The Vertex42 Mortgage Payment Calculator takes the work out of setting up one's own Excel spreadsheet, as it is, essentially, an Excel spreadsheet (it works with your Excel program). With the Vertex42 Mortgage Payment Calculator, you can compare up to five possible mortgages. And just like in Excel, if you have even more variables to consider, you may insert more columns. Easy to manipulate and manage, this simple … Read more

The 404 351: Where we decode our paychecks with the Jill of all trades

It's no surprise that Jeff, Wilson, and Justin don't know jack about the economic financial crisis, so we invite CBS MoneyWatch.com's Editor-at-Large Jill Schlesinger on the show to break it all down. She preps us with tips on what young people can do to secure a stable future and she gives us three very important ways to keep the money we earn.

First of all, be sure to have six months of living expenses in the bank. If you don't have a steady, stable job like a tenured teaching position, a three-month rainy day fund in the bank will do you some good, if, God-forbid, something happened. Second, pay off your debt. Sounds obvious, but most Americans haven't saved a dime since the '90s.

Last thing she says is to take advantage of your company's 401k. Yes, your parents retirement and pension funds might be gone, but if you're like us, in our 20s and barely employed, you should throw money into your 401k. If you want, Wilson will manage your 404k--if you want a negative return on your investment.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to show off all of your submissions for our logo contest, but let's face it: some things are more important than logos. But rest assured that we're going to go over ALL of them on tomorrow's show, not to mention a huge "Calls from the Public" to make up for today. Keep sending in your submissions to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com--they've all been amazing. We've gotten so many that we're EXTENDING the contest to next week! Don't forget: all submissions should include a JPG/PNG as well as a high-res file. Thanks all!

EPISODE 351 Download today's podcast Subscribe in iTunes audio | Suscribe to iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS VideoRead more