SEE Finance for Mac

1.0 stars

"To be avoided!"

January 20, 2013  |   By OldGrowth

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.14.5

Pros

Cost -- $30

Cons

Useless, and VERY frustrating software. The user manual, such as it is, describes what the program can do, but, amazingly, not not how to do it. You're left to figure out these matters by yourself.

Summary

After fooling with this thing for hours and hours, I've now given up. I'll try iBank--at least it has a user manual.

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3.0 stars

"Does not fully account for all transactions-BEWARE!"

January 9, 2013  |   By nomadsurf

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.14.5

Pros

Inexpensive, multi-currency tracking, good import of Quicken accounts and transactions, decent direct connect download of banking and credit card transactions

Cons

Does not account for all transactions - transfers between any asset accounts - bank-credit card-personal assets - must be entered in both accounts or manually select option to enter in corresponding account (however even if the option is selected to enter in corresponding account, once entered, if the details are changed, the changes are not reflected in the corresponding account). Reporting options limited (no options for traditional financial report format like balance sheet/profit & loss)

Summary

Having become increasingly dissatisfied with Quicken after 15+ years of use, I decided to try SEE Finance based on many positive reviews. I was very excited initially when all of my Quicken transactions were successfully imported and I was able to set up accounts in another currency. However, when I downloaded banking transactions and entered corresponding account information, the transactions did not show up in the corresponding account register!! This software is not based on double entry accounting and while it may be useful for users with no accounting or finance experience, I would say this is dangerous for such users to use since there is no way to ensure that all transactions are accounted for (ie - if you transfer $500 from one bank account to another and the money does not transfer successfully, there is no way to tell with this software by reconciling the corresponding account that the transfer didn't come in unless you are looking for the particular transaction.) If you have asset accounts like an account to track your home costs or credit card accounts, transactions to/from banking accounts won't show up in these accounts. From an accounting standpoint or even basic personal finance standpoint, this software is absolutely useless in providing any measure of thorough accounting. I read on one review website that the developers have said the software does not automatically enter corresponding entries because of differences in dates transferred in/out. What??? Obviously they don't have any accounting background because a few days' date discrepancy between a transfer out and in is insignificant compared to making sure that all your money transactions are properly recorded and accounted for. I don't normally write reviews but having just wasted a morning by downloading transactions and updating accounts only to find this out, I hope I can save someone else's time. If you send reports to an accountant for preparation of taxes, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not use this software. Your accountant will spend a lot of time trying to piece together useful numbers and charge you for it or the numbers they use may simply be wrong.

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5.0 stars

"Best Mac Personal Finance Manager I've Tried"

August 3, 2012  |   By 45leopard

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.14.4

Pros

Tracks all types of finances including assets, loans, credit cards, bank accounts and investment accounts
Consolidates investment portfolio
Simple and intuitive to use

Cons

Very minor
No iPad or iPhone interface

Summary

Head and shoulders above any other Mac Financial Management program including iBank, Moneydance, YNAB, and other so called top rated programs

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5.0 stars

"A GREAT application"

July 29, 2012  |   By danhep

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.14.4

Pros

This package replaced Quicken for Mac on my machine and 've never looked back. Any transition is difficult but my old data was imported quite cleanly and I've easily learned the equivalent operations to manage my 20+ accounts. A great find!

Cons

Nothing major that I can think of.

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5.0 stars

"Very simple, intuitive and Mac like."

July 12, 2012  |   By lynnwood77

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.14.1

Pros

After being a slave to Quicken and Quickbooks, SEE is a breath of fresh air. Quickbooks for Mac has a chorus of bad review. Uh, I think the software isn't so good. I tried another Mac based program and wasn't impressed. With this program I was up and running in minutes. In 2 hours, I had completely converted all the files I was needing to manage. So far, so very good...I understand this product is fairly new and in process but I'm pretty impressed. I don't understand some of the other reviews. I guess some people just want to be negative but this product I really like. Also, the price was real nice, $29.95. I started by downloading for the heck of it and within an hour I was buying and registering. It looks good, works good and is well priced.

Cons

To this point, I don't have any.

Summary

Good software in my opinion.

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4.0 stars

"Great option for converting from Quicken Windows to Mac"

May 25, 2012  |   By markpicc

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.13.8

Pros

I had Quicken data going back to 1995 when I bought my iMac. I read reviews of Quicken for Mac, especially running Lion OS, and decided against it. Instead I bought iBank and almost instantly regretted it. After searching around, I found SEE Finance and bought that product. I only use it for keeping my checking account so maybe it is not so great for tracking investments. I like being able to split transactions, for credit card payments, and it's very easy to download transactions from my bank, with only minimal editing needed to assign a category sometimes.

The support is outstanding! I get replies to my emails within a day or so, with detailed explanations. That team is really doing their best to provide great customer support.

Mark

Cons

Haven't encounter any real problems or feature limitations, yet.

Summary

Highly recommended.

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2.0 stars

"Disappointed"

May 21, 2012  |   By littlepye

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.13.8

Pros

1)The company is very responsive to e-mail questions. 2)Someone is trying valiantly to compete with Quicken. 3)Inexpensive

Cons

Many more steps than I'm used to with Quicken, such as for splits, transfers of funds between accounts as with payments, multiple fields for transactions etc. Some institutions don't download directly. Downloaded transactions don't necessarily go into categories I use and funds don't end up placed in easily found categories.

Summary

I really wanted to like and use this new program as I moved from PC to Mac. For weeks I have been trying to use the program after copying all of my Quicken data. However, I have been having to use more and more adjustments to accounts to equal known balances that don't match what is shown with SEE. Quicken has become easy for me to use over many years, and I simply have not been able to make the transition.
Perhaps, I will simply start again by starting each account from zero rather than continuing from my Quicken balances, but just not ready yet for multiple more hours of trying to learn this new program with its idiosyncrasies.

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3.0 stars

"Mixed Review Not Sure I Will Keep It"

May 19, 2012  |   By shippy62

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.13.8

Pros

I like the look and feel of the program, but some things are not user friendly.
I like the basic logic of the program

Cons

1. Split Transactions are a pain
2. Empty transactions are created as you enter transactions and you have to go back and delete them
3. Very few of my accounts worked with the online. I typically use community banks and credit unions and mine are not supported.
4. I cannot figure out how to enter interest only loans or revolving lines of credit. It appears that you have to use a general liability option which doesn't categorize them the way I want

Summary

I'm in the free trial period and trying to set this up. I presently use Quicken on a PC and am converting to Mac + I don't like Intuit so I am looking for an alternative. There are things about this I like better, but I don't think it is going to give me the complete picture I want so I probably will end up not buying it unless I am just overlooking things and I find it in the next couple of days.

As a basic program where people are not tracking for ease in preparing taxes creating an accurate paper trail this just may be the right program.

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3.0 stars

"Beautiful, but not useful in the Netherlands?"

February 23, 2012  |   By jaolie

Version: SEE Finance 0.9.12.9

Pros

Works fast. Beautiful.

Cons

I cannot make an account for my Dutch bank: ING, so downloading is off. Csv-files can be imported, but the amounts are only stored as debit because of format in ING's file. Useless for me.

Summary

Cannot use until debit-credit problem is fixend by localisation.

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