QMac: Savings Goals (111 Legacy + Merged Votes)

NGF

it would be great to have the saving goals added to the Mac version. It was for this feature that I bought my first Quicken in the 90’s

mmorowitz

Relatively new customer her who would REALLY love this tool. I have multiple uses for it!

quickenman45

This should be at the top of the list for added features

alewitt2

Savings goals/budget rollover is a major deal in many budgeting frameworks (including the one i prefer).

Please implement this feature! I've been a quicken user for 15+ years and am finally considering switching to another software because its just getting too hard to budget with my spouse without the Savings goals/budget rollover features.

marquisk2

I'm so confused why this isn't a feature yet on the Mac side

jacobs

I'm so confused why this isn't a feature yet on the Mac side

Short answer: the developers have more than 600 feature requests from users, and only implement a few every month or two. For whatever reason — they have not prioritized this above some of the other things they have added in prior years. And no one other than the developers can answer why this hasn't been prioritized higher.

(If you read back through this thread, you'll get more detail on the long, slow development path for the re-created and re-imagined Quicken Mac over the past decade.)

Sdali

Please add Savings Goals

Oceanfront

it left me frustrated for years why quicken would not add savings goals, until I installed the windows application and learned now the windows quicken manages savings goals. Once you watch and learn how the system does it, you actually do not need the savings goals layered functionality, rather instead use the register to handle it all, just like the savings goals layer. . I am using the Mac version and have 15 savings goals listed under my savings account. Every month they are digitally funded based on target need, just like savings goals, and withdraw on demand funding expenses as they occur. Some of SGs are annual payouts, home insurance, life insuranc, hoa, property tax, auto purchase, etc. and some are random, mini vacations, but they all work perfectly both ways. Let me know if you have questions, but don’t let the missing functionality of automated savings goals hold you back.

Tony-C

As a former Windows user, I relied upon this feature. Disappointed it is not in the Mac application. Tech support told me to post here as mgmt and developers pay attention. From what I am seeing, they may not….SIGH

HQ

Great to see the feedback on savings goals for Qicken for Mac. Unfortunately, it’s a many years now request unanswered from Qicken for Mac.

jacobs

Keep adding votes if this would be a meaningful feature for you. (Go to the first page of this thread and if the arrow under the vote counter in the yellow box is dark gray, you haven't yet voted for this feature; click the arrow to do so.)

This idea currently has 327 votes (on the counter and "merged" from the prior system), making it one of the top voted feature requests on this site; more votes can drive the point to the developers that many users are looking for this functionality.

sailvic1

I have been waiting for years for the Savings Goal feature to be included in the Mac version. The windows version of Savings Goals let me easily put aside funds for annual property tax payments, vacations, car repairs, unexpected expenses etc.

I now use asset accounts as a workaround but that is a messy way to do this compared to the savings goal feature I had used for so many years. Please vote for this feature to be included in a new release.

pfschnick

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/20376505#Comment_20376505

@Oceanfront Could you share more information on how to use the Mac version to create a savings goal? It would be greatly appreciated.

sailvic1

Thank you for feedback, but I dont understand the process that you suggest. I had to create new asset accounts instead of hiding the funds under just one account as in the Windows version. I transfer the money each month back and forth between the actaul account and the created accounts. This is far more cumbersome than the Windows model. Could you give more detail on what you do. When funds are only" hidden" a toggle of a button gives you the actual amount in your account. Now I have to add up all the asset accounts to balance with the online amount.

Thank You.

Chris_QPW

I too (as a Windows only user) would be interested on how @Oceanfront 's system works.

There isn't any real magic in the way the transfers/accounts work for savings goals in Quicken. The magic is the fact that at times you want to see the money in the "parent" account and sometimes not. For instance, using them with their original intent (hiding the money from yourself by showing the money in another account) a transfer out of the "parent" account to another account does that, but then when you go to reconcile you can't because of the transfers put in Quicken don't exist in the real world.

There are other things like how they should be treated in the budget, reports, and the fact that you can delete a savings goal and all the money magically goes back to the "parent" account (or accounts) instead of say breaking the linked transfer.

NormanV

Hoping savings goals will be added sometime in the not-too-distant future! I was a Quicken for PC user for many years and used this feature quite a bit before I became a Mac guy with all my home computers.

sailvic1

Keep adding votes if this would be a meaningful feature for you. (Go to the first page of this thread and if the arrow under the vote counter in the yellow box is dark gray, you haven't yet voted for this feature; click the arrow to do so.)

MB_

I have used Quicken since 1993 (DOS version if I recall correctly). I have always been a Windows user until now. I recently got a Macbook and am transitioning my Quicken to the Mac version. I am appalled that the Mac version does not support Savings Goals. How can such a basic budgeting habit, like the old school Christmas Savings Club, not be a basic feature that isn't included at all. I see that this is talked about by many folks and it needs to be added. The development for this feature cannot be that heavy of a lift to include.

[Merged Post]

Quicken Kristina

Hello @MB_ ,

Thank you for sharing your Idea! Since the request already exists and is under consideration by our Product and Development teams, I merged your request with the existing request.

Thank you!

Tomi

This is a nice feature if done well/right. I used it for years in Quicken Windows and like many others I was disappointed to find it nonexistent in the Mac version. However, as with many things there is more than one way to skin a cat. I admit workarounds and creative solutions don't meet everyone's needs but there are ways (some of which suggested here) to do this within the current framework. For example, in one instance I have a split transaction in one of my accounts that I manage each month that has a separate line for each savings goal (which are the various annual bills or unpredictable amount expenses). Each month I increase the amount of each one by the amount I have planned to deposit to the subaccount ("goal") and deduct from it if I have to make a payment from a line. This ensures these amounts are essentially deducted from my balance and tucked away for when I need the funds. At the end of the month I simply roll the transaction to the end of the next month. This may not work for everyone, but it's a simple interim solution for some basic savings goal functionality. We have another one similar to this where we set aside monthly the amount we budget for Christmas spending.

Daniel Borowicz

please add savings goals to the Mac

I have to maintain a windows pc just for quicken and savings goals

mybank2002

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/comment/17927935#Comment_17927935

I too finally made the switch a few years ago after deciding it was less evil to boot into Windows on my Mac everyday just to use Quicken which I had been doing for over a decade. There are a lot of things on the Mac version that are a lot better and easier but I agree they are very much different software. I woul dlov eto see a zero based budget happen in Quicken for the Mac and that they overhaul the whole budgeting with more cusimization and flexiblity after looking at what many other softwares do well in this area. I will rejoice the day that this happens. As it stands the budgeting in Quicken for Mac is so frustrating.

enielsen

In all honesty, it would be nice if Quicken would simply create a unified version of Quicken that can be used across platforms. I web-based version with a client app for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android would be great. That way changes made on one version would carry over to the other versions, if you use more than one device. I pay $100 a year for Parallels so I can run Quicken for Windows on my Mac simply because the Mac version is horrifically inferior. I use savings goals extensively, as I use it as a form of envelope budgeting. If I could do the same on an iPad, in all honesty, I wouldn't even need a Mac or Parallels.

jacobs

In all honesty, it would be nice if Quicken would simply create a unified version of Quicken that can be used across platforms. I web-based version with a client app for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android would be great. That way changes made on one version would carry over to the other versions, if you use more than one device. I pay $100 a year for Parallels so I can run Quicken for Windows on my Mac simply because the Mac version is horrifically inferior. I use savings goals extensively, as I use it as a form of envelope budgeting. If I could do the same on an iPad, in all honesty, I wouldn't even need a Mac or Parallels.

@enielsen There are a few different issues to unpack in what you wrote.

First, I think it's a significant overstatement to say that Quicken Mac is "horrifically inferior" to Quicken Windows. For many people, both work fine for their needs, even though there are differences. So how about if you just say:"Quicken Mac is missing features I depend on in Quicken Windows, and for that reason, Quicken Mac doesn't meet my needs." 😀

Second, you're asking for a unified version which can be used across platforms, but you mean more than Mac and Windows; you want a version that can run on an iPad (and presumably an Android tablet as well). That would require building versions of Quicken for the mobile operating systems, or making Quicken stop its data in the cloud and operate asa browser-based application. The former seems extremely unlikely to happen; we're 10+ years into them building a new, second-generation version of Quicken Mac, and the possibility that they can then create additional programming teams to build versions which run on iPads and Android tablets seems far-fetched. the company is too small, and the revenue is too limited to build out new platforms to run their legacy software, and effort which would mostly benefit existing users with relatively little new revenue. The second possibility — a cloud-based, browser-only version of Quicken — is basically what they have create with Quicken Simplifi. But Simplifi is aimed at a different (read: younger) audience which is comfortable with having their data in the cloud and doesn't demand as extensive reporting capabilities as the legacy desktop Quicken Classic versions. So far, there's no way to migrate data from Quicken Classic to Quicken Simplifi, and it's not clear whether building a more robust "Simplifi Pro" version more like the desktop products is on their future roadmap. (Many longtime Quicken Classic users say they would never allow their data to be stored in Quicken's cloud.)

Third, what about building a data file with is transportable between Macs and Windows PCs with no conversion and a basically identical feature set? That would appeal to users, but it's also unlikely to happen. Quicken Mac and Quicken Window are highly, inexorably coded around features in their respective operating systems, so moving to a common database and common code would basically require rewriting much of Quicken Mac and Quicken Windows. As we've seen with the Quicken Mac re-write process, that's a long, long road to travel because Quicken is surprisingly complex software. Memory architecture, screen interfaces, printing architecture, etc. — it's all different between platforms. It just seems incredibly unlikely for them to pursue a massive project like that which, if it went perfectly, wouldn't deliver and new users or revenue just because it creates platform parity.

So, going back to the topic of this thread, and your complaint: the positive news I can point to is that the Quicken Mac development team has said they have plans to implement the Debt Reduction Planner, the Lifetime/Retirement Planner, and Envelope Budgeting in Quicken Mac. These are all complex features, but since they were marked planned last fall, I'd expect we might see them appear sometime over the next 12 months. Maybe that will make Quicken Mac less "horrifically inferior"! 😂

sailvic1

You really put a lot of thought into your reply. Thank you for that, but the last paragraph was hopeful. I would be thrilled if Envelope Budgeting happens soon. The workarounds are a real pain for those of us who depend on setting aside funds for future goals and expenses.