Quicken 2008 is a small upgrade of Intuit’s popular personal finance program. This well-built money manager is easy enough for novices yet powerful enough for veteran number crunchers, although it feels like a warmed-over version of last year’s model with a few helpful enhancements. That said, the 2008 version is a bit better at managing savings and investments, categorizing expenses, and tracking 529 college savings contributions.
The new Quicken Bill Minder Gadget, which works only with Windows Vista, is an info box that appears in the Windows Sidebar along the right edge of the desktop. The widget pulls in critical information from the program, such as the number of overdue bills and upcoming transactions, and displays it where you can’t miss it. There are two views to choose from: List or the tiny and therefore less-helpful Calendar.
Quicken 2008 can track a college savings account, known as a 529 plan. However, if you download your 529 plan information from a brokerage site, you’ll most likely have to manually mark the account as tax-deferred, which is a minor annoyance.
Conclusion
Quicken 2008 is a fine choice if you’re dissatisfied with the wimpy money-management tools found at most bank Web sites. Indeed, Quicken Premier offers far more features than most of us will ever use. However, if you’re already using Quicken 2007, there’s not enough new stuff here to warrant an upgrade. And if you’re currently using Microsoft Money, another great personal finance application, there’s no compelling reason to switch to Quicken 2008.