mini-review - moneydance

posted in life by jon on 2005-06-29

I've been more involved lately in trying to get my financial house in order. I've never been very organized when using an old fashioned checkbook register, and since I already stare at a computer screen 12 hours a day, I went looking for financial software.

I knew I didn't want Quicken: Intuit is the market leader and they know it (and charge for it). Besides, I wanted something I could use on my powerbook, since most of my personal computing is done on it (not to mention how leery I am of storing anything important on a windows box), and I've heard nothing but bad about Quicken for mac.

What I found was Moneydance, a great financial package written in java of all things, meaning I can run it on windows, linux, or mac. It will import from QIF files, or talk directly to your financial institution. It will manage mutiple budgets, handles scheduled and recurring charges, it's scriptable using python, and best of all, it's half the price of Quicken for mac. I'm sure diehard Quicken fans would find something to complain about, but for me, it's perfect.

Also, though I can't vouch for him personally, I've heard that the developer is a great guy who's responsive to his users..

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