information regarding personal financing software

[nipun]

Hi,
I was thinking of using personal financing software for managing bank accountts, credit card, monthly expenses and investments.

Thses are my main criteria

- Ease of Use (I am very bad with accounting , it's terms etc.)
- Secure
- Compatibility (can read bank/credit card statements downloaded from website)
- has method of import/export so that in future can use other softwares if required

I was thinking of using Microsoft Money 2004 or Quicken 2004. Any suggestions would be helpful. If you think there is a freeware which would do similar job (above criteria) it is fine by me.

Thanks in advance

[Govtcheez]

My boss uses Money 2005 and loves it. I've got 2003 and it's great as well. I picked up 2003 for only $5, and I think it fits all your criteria (not sure about the import/export thing, though).

edit: I know pretty much nothing at all about accounting, but it's really simple to use.

[ober]

I use Money 2004 Deluxe. You can really dig in deep as there is a lot of different things you can get into, or you can make it really simple. It is up to you.

I recommend it.

[andyhunter]

I use Money 2005 Delux or Platinum or whatever that one is. Love it, very easy to use. Get as complex as you want, and has a broad range of financial institutions it automatically links with.

[Perspective]

GnuCash!!!!

[Govtcheez]

Has anyone used multiple versions of Money? Is there any real advantage in upgrading to 2005, or is it pretty much the standard "patch and new colors" upgrade MS seems to do?

[ober]

My dad uses 2002 I think... and I couldn't really notice a huge change between that and 2004, other than the obvious color changes. Oh, and I think they slowed down the process of entering transactions. That's my only complaint about the program, it can be dreadfully slow even on a very fast PC if you have any sort of spending thermometer or even the calendar turned on.