Review by C. A. Freeman

I have been using Quicken, in its various iterations, for several years now. I am by no means a power user. I basically use Quicken as an over glorified checkbook, and it has been an excellent program for my purposes. I started using Quicken when I had a free basic version on my first computer, a Packard Bell. Generally, as a rule I upgrade to the next version every two or three years, however, when I was offered an upgrade to 2013 on the Amazon Vine program my interest was piqued. The main reason I went with the upgrade was for Quicken mobile. The main program pretty much operates the way all my other Quicken programs have in the past, virtually the same interface, same functions, same tools. The main difference that I have found is in the search feature is a little different but not too daunting. Now on to the main reason I upgraded to 2013….. The Quicken mobile. I now have it installed on my iPhone and Kindle fire. I have yet to delve into all its intricacies and is trying to figure out how it works. There is a learning curve, but in all honesty, if I cannot figure out the Quicken mobile part of it. I am no further behind than when I started, it’s the same great Quicken program. As I stated before, I mainly use it as an over glorified checkbook and that excels in that regards. The other part of Quicken that I rely heavily on is the bill pay service. This works so much better than the old-fashioned way….. Getting a bill in the mail, opening the envelope, writing a check, attaching a stamp, and going to the post office to mail it. Now I get all my bills online (except for a couple of Luddites), and do all my bill paying via Quicken 2013. When I am on the road for a couple of weeks at a time I take my laptop computer with my Quicken program. That way if I need to pay any bills it is not a problem. As I have stated previously, I am not a power user of the Quicken program. I do not use budgeting, account management (except for my bank accounts), investment tracking, etc. For those that want a more robust financial program with all the bells and whistles, this is it. I am by no means a computer or financial wizard, just a truck driver looking for a better way to manage his finances, and Quicken 2013 fills the bill in that department. As far as the upgrade from 2012, as I have mentioned, the main reason I went with 2013 was for the Quicken mobile, and I am sure once I get a chance to play with that feature I will make better use of the new version.