Reckon Personal Plus 2019

Discussion in 'Money Management & Banking' started by Simon Hampel, 30th Oct, 2018.

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  1. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Just received an email from Reckon promoting their new Reckon Accounts Home & Business 2019 product.

    When I clicked through to their website, I found that there is also a Reckon Personal Plus 2019!

    Personal finance management | Reckon Accounts Personal

    I'm running Reckon Accounts Personal Plus 2015 Release R1 ... it's working fine for me, so I haven't gone looking for upgrades, but I still do rely on this software for managing my personal finances, so I'm curious to know what's changed and how well it works.

    Anyone looked at it yet?
     
  2. Islay

    Islay Well-Known Member

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    I am currently using 2018 and upgrade each year because I use their share price feed each day. I have not noticed any enhancements or significant upgrades in years nor do I expect I will see any when I do upgrade to 2019. They do update tax and ATO compliance each year but I do not use these features.
     
  3. Nodrog

    Nodrog Well-Known Member

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    Received the 2019 upgrade email last week as annual subscriber. I haven’t upgraded yet as rarely do any changes add value for me. This was the main changes mentioned:
    Went to the detailed upgrade doc and saw this so not sure if it will impact you Sim:
    After many years of using Personal Plus I will likely be cancelling it next time it’s due for renewal. Now retired and having simplified our investments just basic spreadsheet details of our shares is all that’s needed.

    I will mention though that not having to record everything anymore has been a tremendous relief. I used to dread coming back from vacation for example with the first thought in my mind being the pain in the ar*e of having to record all expenses in Reckon.

    Simple set & forget investments = simple admin = blissful retirement.
     
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  4. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Sounds like it is largely the tax and price quotes which have changed - neither of which I use.

    Probably not worth upgrading for me then!

    2015 version does everything I need right now.
     
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  5. D.T.

    D.T. Specialist Property Manager Business Member

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    That's what i Reckon too.
     
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  6. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    :rolleyes:
     
  7. HomePage

    HomePage Well-Known Member

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    The screen shots look similar to what I use now, namely Quicken 2004 free edition. Free beats $170 per year, even if I have to update share prices manually.
     
  8. Islay

    Islay Well-Known Member

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    Agreed, it is a product that needs a lot of work to make it user friendly. However for share price updates it holds value for me. The subscription gets you 2 years of share price updates for what will now be $170. That is $65/yr or $1.25/week. I have 4 accounts set up within Reckon with more shares than I care to admit to so for me $1.25/week is well worth while. It is even tax deductable.
     
  9. TwoDogs

    TwoDogs Well-Known Member

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    Reckon know there is no alternative to Personal Plus hence no need to provide any real updates. I have been on this product or predecessors for over 20 years, and in all that time I think it has not improved at all. Sure, share price downloads would be nice, but then again so would a less stream driven interface, cloud access to data, bank account downloads, mobile support etc. All this is available with other products but regrettably, none have all the features combined, and especially the investment accounts, that Quicken does.

    Worse of all is their arrogant and belligerent attitude to customers. I had a fully licensed version of 2004 running for years, no licence expiry, no renewal required. Had to restore from backups after disk failure. Quicken wouldn't boot as said hardware had changed, need to contact Reckon at $per min to get new licence key. Research suggested I wouldn't get one anyhow after paying to call and would have to upgrade anyhow, to a subscription version. Got a product I paid for and can't use. I found a work around other than paying for what I had.

    Also note how they quietly dropped the QIF file export feature... hard to move if you can't export.

    I have written a basic HTML driven version for reporting when not at home, but still use Quicken as main database. So, unfortunately stuck with them, love a suitable alternative!
     
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  10. Islay

    Islay Well-Known Member

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    100% agree they are extremely frustrating to deal with. My experience is much the same as yours
     
  11. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    I do wonder now if we complicate the management of our financial matters because we can. Apps for this, apps for that, look at the whizzbang interface of our software, take control of your money, blah, blah. Big sales pitch.

    If running a business yes accounting programs are necessary but I'm not fully convinced household finances are as intricate as it's made out to be for the majority of people. However if people wish to drill down the last cent it's up to them.

    Similarly to you @Nodrog I only need to know how much I have in the bank in order to pay for my costs. Pretty simple exercise for me.
     
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  12. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    I think it depends on what stage of life you are at.

    Obviously once you are in retirement, things get a lot simpler.

    When still in the accumulation phase and looking to maximise your borrowing power and savings, it can be helpful to know where your money is going.

    Similarly, if you are trying to get yourself out of a mess of debt or if your finances are out of control, then getting an exactly breakdown on where you are spending money can be important.

    I use the software for all sorts of stuff - all of which I could also do in a spreadsheet, but it makes it easier to have it all in one spot and with the bonus that I get to do detailed reports.

    Given I run multiple businesses and trusts, it is also very useful for tracking / reconciling director loans, expense reimbursements, and most importantly - home office expenses (for which I am reimbursed by my company!).

    I also use it to track pocket money owed to the kids! I hadn't actually paid them for 25 weeks, so they both got $50 of spending money recently, which my 7yo thought was pretty amazing. They were less impressed about the $62.50 worth of savings money which went straight into their bank account.
     
  13. SatayKing

    SatayKing Well-Known Member

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    :)

    Was the $50 net of providing them transport to activities or are you still to bill them for it?
     
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  14. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Nah - we just add that to the loan account - they will pay us back (with interest!) once they are rich and famous :D

    Most parents would be happy for their superstar kids to buy them a house when they get rich. We've made it clear we would like a portfolio of investment-quality houses thankyou very much!
     
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  15. HomePage

    HomePage Well-Known Member

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    I still track finances in retirement. I may possibly be retired for more than half of my life so I want to make sure I am staying on course, especially during the initial 'sequence of returns' risk decade. Also, it's hard to break a 30 year tracking habit and become a 'normal' person :D
     
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  16. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    Anyone found any replacements for Reckon Personal Plus yet?

    I'm moving to a new PC - just went to try and install my old RPP 2015 but got the dreaded "you must contact support to activate this software" error.

    I'm going to try and convert my old HDD to a virtual machine that I can boot from the new machine just so I can keep running RPP 2015 - but it would be nice to have an alternative to move to.

    Even just some basic cashbook software without all the additional investment tracking features would be nice.

    Given how simple my needs are - I suspect a spreadsheet may actually be the best solution moving forwards :(
     
  17. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    It seems that Reckon Personal Plus 2020 is now $180 per year?

    That's a lot of money for a product that doesn't seem to be getting much development!?
     
  18. balwoges

    balwoges Well-Known Member

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    I use the app Money Manager EX [free] for keeping track of my much simpler needs since I retired.
    I used Reckon for years for my business and found their upgrades pricey and not worth the money, consequently I used an earlier version for many years.
     
  19. big_ben02

    big_ben02 Well-Known Member

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    I'm on a 2016 version of Reckon personal plus which I've had since I bought our latest laptop which is about to die.

    I've been thinking of getting a basic subscription to xero just for the bank feeds (although not all banks support downloads for non business accounts) and cloud access.

    Otherwise I'll just have to cop the $180 a year subscription.
     
  20. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    What's the basic subscription cost?