Quicken, the best-selling personal finance software in the United States, was first released in 1983 by Intuit, a financial software company. Before Quicken, people had to visit multiple websites to get a complete picture of their financial health. After Quicken was introduced, its user-friendly software allowed individuals to see all of their financial information in one place. To make Quicken even better, its software allows users to capture account information from different financial institutions and online billers and import it to their Quicken account in a few easy steps.
Once information is posted to users’ accounts, they get a total picture for how they spend their income. Detailed information about banking, monthly loan payments, credit cards, and other payments, for example, is automatically placed in different categories using a template to record home expenses, taxes, utilities, food and dining, and entertainment.
Categories can also be customized by individual users to meet their special needs.
Reporting tools can also be customized to provide users with a variety of reports that give users an even deeper look at their checking, savings, and investing accounts, net worth, total spending, taxes, rental property, income and expenses for a business, and more. All reports are designed to help users understand their cash flow, identify places to save money, make informed spending decisions, prepare for filing taxes, and see trends in spending. Quicken also has features to help users plan for the future.
There are tools to help individuals create budgets, monitor debt reduction, track saving goals, and more. The budget feature, for example, allows users to see their current spending for different budgeted categories, showing how much is left or when a budget category has been maxed out. The Quicken Mobile App provides a way for users to even manage their finances on the go when they are away from home.
And, Quicken can also help users with tracking the value of their investments and measuring progress toward attaining their investment goals.
Quicken was originally owned by Intuit—the software company known for QuickBooks and TurboTax. Eventually, Intuit sold Quicken to private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, with the condition that Quicken’s general manager Eric Dunn continue to operate the firm for the new owners. Eventually, Quicken became a completely independent company, led by Dunn and additional members from the early Quicken team. Although it is still the best-selling financial management software in the United States, the competitive landscape has become more complex as free-to-use budget apps and cloud-based software solutions have entered the market.
Today, competitors include Personal Capital, Money spire, Mint, Money Patrol, Pocket Smith, Betterment, and many more.
Since Quicken’s initial release, more than 17 million people have used its software. Today, it has an active user base of 2.5 million people. To make sure it remains number one, Quicken has a renewed focus on product development, product quality, and customer care. Quicken’s robust and comprehensive capabilities, long history, and brand recognition are major strengths that will help it expand its market share and help even more people manage their finances.
According to Eric Dunn, who is now Quicken’s CEO, “This is a durable software company that can last forever.”

 Questions
1. Assume you are employed, and your take-home pay is $3,500 a month. Your expenses total $3,100 a month, but you never seem to have any money left over for savings and investing. Do you think a personal finance software product like Quicken could help you manage your finances?
2. Based on what you read in this case, what type of information could help you improve your personal finance management skills?
3. Although Quicken is the best-selling personal finance software in the United States, it now has competitors that offer their own software and tools to help people manage their finances. What information would you need to determine which company could help you manage your finances? Be sure and list the questions you would ask to determine your choice and where you could get answers.