Quicken 2009 Deluxe vs. Premier

Why are you unsure? According to Intuit's website,

It is pretty clear on what you give up on the Website, but I wouldn't necessary consider generating Tax Schedules "monitoring" as taxes are after the fact.

Even with that said, you are giving up mostly planning features. You probably have access to most of this information elsewhere - such as your broker. If you are planning to update, you might consider trying the Deluxe version and see if serves your needs. If you miss some of the items that were available in the Premier version, you can unlock those features "Add more Investing and Tax tools" from the Help Menu for an additional fee (should just be the difference between Deluxe and Premium).

I have brokerage accounts, IRA's, 401(k)'s within my version. I never used the planning tools and did not think they were worth the additional $30 so I downgraded to Deluxe when upgrade from 2008 to 2009. Been running it for 2 1/2 months now and do not miss anything.

Oilcan

-----Orig> Could someone please explain the difference between these two

versions?

Why are you unsure? According to Intuit's website,

I fully support Oilcan's proposal to try Deluxe and then see if you think you need to upgrade.

My impression is that the difference between Deluxe and Premier is in the addition of socalled "analyses" tools. Deluxe fully meets my definition of "monitoring" my investment accounts.

As to tax reports, all of the available tax info is presented in the Tax Schedule and Capital Gains Reports. The various schedules are nothing more than a customized rearrangement of this same info.

IMHO, the comparison charts provided by Intuit/Quicken are largely marketing hype - written by the sales department with intent of enticing the user/buyer to buy the "higher" versions where the margins are likely higher.

I would still be using the Basic version if they hadn't discontinued.it - I "monitored" my investments just fine without all of the "bells & whistles" that I did not find useful for my purposes. When needed, I take my data to Excel to massage in my own fashion.

I almost always avoid these discussions. Maybe I'll wish I avoided this one too.

So do I.

I agree.

See below.

I have one disagreement with your overall evaluation: relating to the "marketing hype" as it pertains to ALL the Quicken "levels", and to the old Basic version, compared to all the Quicken "levels".

In my observation, the only (relatively) meaningless difference between Quicken "levels" is that between Deluxe and Premier (and I am even now hoping I haven't forgotten ALL the differences between those two Quicken "levels"). I grant that is the difference being discussed here; and I do not intend my remarks to affect the advice to the op.

But the difference between Quicken Basic and Quicken Deluxe ( when Quicken Basic existed) was not nearly as insignificant as the difference between Quicken Deluxe and Quicken Premier. While it doesn't matter now what those differences were (401k handling was one, but not the only one); I'm convinced they were meaningful.

And the difference between Quicken Premier (or Quicken Deluxe) and Quicken Home and Business is definitely not insignificant if you want Quicken to prepare, and track, invoices ... plus a few other "business" characteristics.

And for Q2009, the difference between Quicken H&B and Quicken Rental Property Manager is not insignificant if you want Quicken to help you manage your property rentals (though I don't claim every property manager needs Quicken RPM, I think Quicken RPM does, or will, provide some advantages over Quicken Deluxe for some users).

John, I do agree with what you added. If I still had rental property, I would be looking at rental property manager. When I had a rental property it did use Quicken - but it was awkward at best. As I am salaried, thus no need for me for H&B - however I had a business would likely keep my personal books separate from the Business and use Quickbooks as the tool to accomplish this (I use Quickbooks for a non-profit that I am Treasurer for). I suspect I could accomplish most of the same things with two Quicken H&B sets of files - but I have no knowledge in that area.

Working for an Oil Company (big shock), we offer three grades of gasoline. Do most people need something other the Regular Unleaded? Probably not. You betcha we are happy when you purchase our Midgrade or Premium as it does not really cost us that much more to manufacturer. But some cars do need that additional octane and some people are willing to pay for their belief of better performance offered by the other grades. Intuit is no different in marketing Quicken the Q2009P over Q2009D.

Oilcan

-----Orig I almost always avoid these discussions. Maybe I'll wish I avoided this one too.

So do I.

I agree.

See below.

I have one disagreement with your overall evaluation: relating to the "marketing hype" as it pertains to ALL the Quicken "levels", and to the old Basic version, compared to all the Quicken "levels".

In my observation, the only (relatively) meaningless difference between Quicken "levels" is that between Deluxe and Premier (and I am even now hoping I haven't forgotten ALL the differences between those two Quicken "levels"). I grant that is the difference being discussed here; and I do not intend my remarks to affect the advice to the op.

But the difference between Quicken Basic and Quicken Deluxe ( when Quicken Basic existed) was not nearly as insignificant as the difference between Quicken Deluxe and Quicken Premier. While it doesn't matter now what those differences were (401k handling was one, but not the only one); I'm convinced they were meaningful.

And the difference between Quicken Premier (or Quicken Deluxe) and Quicken Home and Business is definitely not insignificant if you want Quicken to prepare, and track, invoices ... plus a few other "business" characteristics.

And for Q2009, the difference between Quicken H&B and Quicken Rental Property Manager is not insignificant if you want Quicken to help you manage your property rentals (though I don't claim every property manager needs Quicken RPM, I think Quicken RPM does, or will, provide some advantages over Quicken Deluxe for some users).

I did get a bit carried away here - should have qualified my comments to exclude H&B and RPM versions with their special features. I just get a bit aggravated when someone like the OP asks the question and I then go see what the latest comparison chart has to say - and see some of the misleading inferences :

The absence of the 401k account was the most glaring functional difference (to me) - and perhaps enough of a difference to convince me to upgrade were I still on the contributing side of a 401k.

Oh well, I am getting used to Deluxe now - just learned ignore the added "clutter" of the assorted planners. Suppose I'll get ratcheted up to Premier one of these days - when Deluxe gets laid to rest along side Basic.

Aside - I tracked a couple of rental properties for a number of years and handled it just fine with Basic. It gave me all the Sched E info needed - except for depreciation. Had customized reports for each property. Rhetorically, have wondered what more the new RPM offers - considering the price tag $$$.

txorig had written this in response to

I'm new to this list and am seeking some advice about moving from Quicken

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No.

If Q2009 has any problems converting, they won't be because you are going from Premier to Deluxe. [You could even go from Q2006 Home & Business to Q2009 Deluxe.]

For a bit of extra conversion insurance (not related to the different Quicken levels), create a Quicken Copy of your Q2006 file and Validate it with Q2006 before you install Q2009. If Q2009 has any problems converting your regular Q2006 file, you can retry the conversion, pointing Q2009 to the Validated Q2006 file.

Also remember that Quicken comes with a 60 day money back guarantee.

I made this change with no problem except my having to learn a new interface. I suppose I wasn't using all the features of Premier. But it has the same old bugs.

txorig had written this in response to

------------------------------------- No > txorig wrote:

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