Some good deals on our favorite personal financial software products: check out these promotions for Quicken, QuickBooks, and an offer from TurboTax, among other things.
If you’re shopping for financial software to help you manage your money and work on your financial planning, then you may want to look into these few promotions and discounts from well-known names in the field of money management.
Personal Financial Software On Discount, Free Tax Advice
There are a few ongoing sales on some of the popular money management tools, along with a few freebies:
1. Quicken Personal Finance CDs (and downloads) are selling for $20 off. Quicken Deluxe (along with Quicken Premier, Quicken Home and Business, and Quicken Rental Property Manager) are $20 off. There’s also the free online version, which targets people who are “newer” to personal finance. Thus, it’s lighter fare than the Quicken desktop applications, which are loaded with more features.
2. Intuit Online Payroll, a payroll management software application for small businesses, is being offered at 66% off its regular price of $29.95 a month. If you own a small business and need payroll support, then this could work for you. New customers can try it out for free for 6 months, then lock in the discounted rate of $9.95 a month for its use.
3. QuickBooks Pro Edition 2009 for small business owners is available for 20% off, along with a variety of QuickBooks software applications you can check here. Also, some of their software bundles are going for 40% off with free shipping.
4. Get tax help and support. Unfortunately, TurboTax’s free tax advice promotion has been discontinued, but you can still avail of Turbo Tax’s excellent support for tax-filers via their online site. If you’re wanting to get a headstart on your tax preparation, you can check out Turbo Tax’s online programs, TurboTax for your desktop, or read our detailed TurboTax review.
In the past, TurboTax has offered free live advice from their tax experts early in the new year. Normally, you don’t have to be a TurboTax customer to avail of the free service. You’re given the opportunity to discuss a personal, federal tax-related question with an expert (a $30 value) at FreeTaxQuestion.com, and it’s usually easy to arrange — just submit a question online and you’ll get a return call at the time you specify. But this promotion is over for this year. It will likely be available again next year.
Other Financial Announcements: Web 2.0 Finance Sites Unite To Uncrunch America!
Lending Club, Geezeo, CreditKarma, OnDeck Capital and ChangeWave have united to propose an interesting solution to the credit crisis via their project initiative called “Uncrunch America”. They have formally submitted their idea for promoting social lending as one way to contribute to the resolution of the credit crunch, to Change.org’s Ideas for Change in America competition. Here’s a snippet from their proposal:
Our initial goal is to get 1 million people to participate (a small fraction of those watching the inauguration speech!) and our hope is that the US Government will help by matching funds lent by individuals through Uncrunch America. We believe this is a more efficient way to use the bailout funds because this directly encourages lending, and will help restart the credit markets — from the bottom up.
Would you endorse peer-to-peer lending as a lending option and credit solution for the public?
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
All of the above are great for personal financial planning. Don’t forget online sites like mint.com and wesabe.com
@Mark,
Thanks for the reminder! Yes, I’ve previously put together a couple of casual reviews of both Mint and Wesabe, which are two highly recommended online sites for those who are comfortable using web-based budgeting tools.
Typically, browser-based applications aren’t as feature-rich as their counterparts for the desktop, given the intricacies of rendering software on the web. Also, it’s normally the case that the audience for online tools is different from those who use desktop software. And there’s the little question of “security” that many users are concerned about when they think of keeping their financial information outside of their personal environment. It’s a common concern. That said, I’ve no doubt that online personal finance tools will keep on improving over time.
Great collection of tools. Gives me more and more ideas for saving. Thanks.
I personally use QuickBooks. It’s a great small business accounting package at a reasonable price.
This Uncrunch American idea is fantastic! I just voted, and hope it can make it to the top 10.
I just noticed that we are so brain washed by banks and credit card companies, that we *the people* have not realized the collective power we have to take finances on our own hands and manage our own credit and finances, lend to each other directly, and bypass the brainwashing institutions. Very interesting, I need to read more.
Awesome links to what seem to be great products. Thanks for the suggestions! I will be trying out the free online version for noobs 😉
@LaraGal,
It’s really great that you voted (for Uncrunch America)! This may be the first time I’ve seen a united front towards the promotion of self education, learning and personal action in the realm of personal finance. Of course, just like the move towards scrapping retirement pensions for self-directed 401k’s this kind of thing may have its critics, though I am happy that options like this are being made more available to consumers overall.
ZimpleMoney just released it Free Loan Tracker online software. You all ought to take a look.
http://www.zimplemoney.com
I have been using and really like Quickbooks. I use the vanilla version because the Pro seems like overkill for me. My favorite thing about QB is that my bank and credit cards let me download my statements and activity in QB format. Data entry is voila! I’ve looked into the online versions, but something about me says I prefer to have my data on a removable flash drive. I just don’t have enough confidence in my networking skills to think I can make a hacker proof network at my house so all my personal data stays offline.
Joe
I’ve been thinking of picking up Quicken at some point. It may be a good time to get it on discount!
I’m also going to say Mint.com is great for personal money management. It was recently purchased by Intuit, and when you go through the process of using TurboTax, they recommend you try out Mint.com near the end of the filing process. Mint.com can send you text messages and email alerts when you’ve spent over your allotted monthly budget, so that you will be conscious for the rest of the month about your spending in that particular category. Another great free tool to use is SaveEveryWay, which sends you saving quotes, tips, and reminders directly to your cell phone or email.