Add Lifetime/Retirement Planner to Quicken Mac (70 Legacy Votes)

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

There isn't a roadmap because:

Most likely, Quicken Mac programmers don't even know when this and some other features will be added.

From what's been mentioned on other posts here regarding Quicken Mac, it's still very much a work in progress.

Additions to the Mac version are prioritized (by whom? ... I don't think that's revealed to the general user population).

The highest priority is bug fixes, then adding features that seem to be upvoted from comments made here. Of course, that also takes into consideration the complexity of adding that feature, which may "bump down" an idea until a later time when more resources can be available.

Although the Mac product has been developed and added features in leaps and bounds from the Mac 2014 version, there is an extremely long way to go to get to parity with the Windows version.

Stupidly, perhaps, I'm running BOTH Windows and Mac versions in parallel (and using Parallels, LOL!) hoping that some day I can jump the Windows ship and only use the Mac version.

I'm also hoping I live long enough to see that day!

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

The Lifetime Planner enabled me to retire with confidence. Nowhere else have I seen a tool like it. Please add it to Quicken Mac version. I continue to use Quicken, Windows, in a virtual machine on my mac for this feature alone.

I don't believe many people have a clue at the power of this feature. I suggest that you do a video showing the concept of the feature but leave out the intense detail. Let people know that it will take time to develop your retirement plan, so don't expect to do it in one session.

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

I am in a similar situation. Please post the status of your plan to re-include this very important capability in the MAC version. Thank you. 'Upcoming Features' or something like that?

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

@jjabraha, just so you know, they almost never announce or discuss future features. While it would be helpful to us users, it would be potentially helpful to their competitors as well, and also potentially puts them in a bind if development takes longer than expected and users complain that they promised a feature they still haven't delivered. Every now and then, the product manager mentions something they're working on for the next release, but even that is pretty rare.

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

jjabrahs: Status of my "Lifetime Plan." I have used the planner for probably more than 15 years. By putting ALL financial data and links to accounts into Quicken H&B I was able to plan things like: living alternatives - knowing we were living in a condo and with no pension, I could determine when we need to sell and use appreciation for living expenses. I made buy/rent alternatives. Then looked a moving to a retirement community. The planning made me study the pros and cons of buying long term care insurance or self insuring based on the what saving we had and the probability that one of us would need that care. We comfortably made a decision to sell our condo and move to a rental earlier in order to be near and watch our granddaughter grow up. Great experience. Currently looking studying the idea of a new car.

Using the tool made me study investing to get comfortable with the concepts of asset mix and index funds, and the fees that are charged on funds. I learned to get comfortable with a 5% return in relatively safe investments. It led to a decision to consolidate all investments in Vanguard funds and primarily index funds. I taught my kids about this and they now pay attention to their savings and use Vanguard. We also looked at banking and choses and each uses USAA Federal Savings for checking accounts and all insurance needs. This will make it easy for the kids to pick up the ball if we need help. BTY, am 76.

smayer97

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

All good reasons to have this tool BUT note that Lifetime Planner was NEVER part of Quicken for Mac. Maybe some day it will get added in BUT there are still hundreds of features to be added back in. This one, and a very big one at that, will need to be prioritized based on demand, available resources, in line with other business priorities, etc...

Snoopy FC

I agree with what everyone has said on this. I am a Mac user and have been using QW via VM for several years. I just decided to move the the Mac version recently. In general I like it, but I hate that the retirement planner is not there. Why isn't there a roadmap where QM users could see when this feature and other features will be added. sigh

I hope they add it on sooner rather than later. Why spend so much time looking in the rear view mirror financially, when most all important financial decisions are based on recent information to handle future situations? Financial planning is more important than financial review. How am I supposed to get where I need to go? This is a simple concept that needs implementation support. Hopefully QM gets there.

Regina@

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled When will the lifetime planner be added to QM?.

smayer97

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled When will the lifetime planner be added to QM?.

Quicken rarely pre-announces features, so it is anyone's guess.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

Regina@

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

I’m using Remote Desktop to access QW. Have you tried comparing remote desktop to Parallels? I’m curious which one is better. Remote Desktop is free. I think Parallels is pretty expensive

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

Regina, Remote Desktop allows you to access a different computer running Windows. Parallels is a way to run Windows, and thus native Windows apps, directly on a Mac, for people who no longer have a separate Windows computer. Both are viable solutions; it just depends what you're trying to accomplish.

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

Before I moved to Quicken for Mac this year I ran the Quicken windows version on my Mac using VMware Fusion. It worked great, but it is just a pain to have to launch windows every time I wanted to use Quicken. The good thing about VMware is that I could leave Windows running as an app window just like other Mac applications.

Regina@

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

Thank you. That is very helpful! I am finding that having to open a remote desktop window which doesn’t operate well side-by-side with Mac windows is a pain

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

I run the QH&B in VMware's Fusion running Windows 10 on my Mac mini. It is the only reason I have the virtual machine. So how many of us are there that want the lifetime planner in QM? Can't run Fusion in split screen.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

Joyce, those of us who are longtime Quicken Mac users have never had the Lifetime Planner to use; it was never in the old Mac product. Back in the 90's and 00's, the Mac didn't have the market share it does now, and so it didn't get as much development resources from former owner Intuit as its Windows cousin. So it's not mind-boggling that we haven't used it!

As for why this, as well as more advanced reporting, doesn't exist in the current Quicken Mac, it's a long story of mistakes and missed opportunities under Intuit after they decided in 2006 that the legacy Mac product could not be supported and advanced under the modern Mac operating system. There was a failed first attempt at a next-generation product which was never released, then a weak subset of Quicken that debuted to awful reviews, and then a short abandonment of the Mac development team before new management decided to pick up the pieces and try to forge ahead to create a full-fledged modern Quicken for Mac. Still under Intuit at the time, the project had a minuscule budget and staff, so progress was slow. Over the past two years, since Quicken became independent, the size of the Mac development team has grown and progress is coming along faster -- but there are still lots of features of Quicken Windows (and the legacy Quicken Mac) which haven't been implemented in the new Mac product. Reports is something they've been doing a lot of work on in the past year -- customized selection of data and formatting have come a long way on the "new reports" -- and hopefully in the next year we'll see the tools they've developed rounded out for the wide variety of reports Quicken users have been asking for.

As for the Lifetime Planner, I haven't seen any hints from the developers about if/when this will be developed for the Mac product. But we do know that the CEO and the product manager have stated that they are working towards relative parity with Quicken Windows, so it would be reasonable to think they do intend to add this functionality at some point. Interestingly, this was not an area users were clamouring for in the first couple years of the new Quicken Mac -- because most early adopters were longtime Mac users who had never had this feature and therefore didn't miss it. Over the last year or two, as more and more Quicken Windows users switch to Mac, there has been increased interest in seeing this added to the Mac product.

"I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference."

It's simply a function of the complexity of the program and the resources of staff available to add functionality. Quicken is not a giant company with unlimited resources like Microsoft or Apple, and there aren't enough purchasers to support a significantly larger development staff. This can be viewed as a glass half empty or half full situation. On the one hand, we're now entering the 5th year of the modern Quicken Mac program, and there are still a significant number of features users are waiting for, so some users (like you) are understandably frustrated. On the other hand, there has actually been significant progress in adding features and fixing bugs (compare the current Quicken Mac functionality to 2 or 3 or 4 years ago), and there is a publicly-stated commitment to enhance the Mac product to be on par with -- albeit not necessarily matching every detail and feature, but significantly similar to -- Quicken Windows, so some users (like me) are remaining cautiously optimistic that they will get there over the next few years.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

I have not found another program like the Lifetime Planner, and it is critical to my financial life in retirement. As long as it is not available on the Mac, I won't be buying the Mac version. So it is a catch 22, they need more sales to justify the development, but I (maybe we) are not buying until it is there.

People using Quicken are more savvy about money than most, so I think if they can be shown the capabilities of this feature in a video then asked if they would buy it, Quicken could check the demand. I think it will be there.

Snoopy FC

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

Please add. This tool should be available to all. Why are we settling for looking in the rearview mirror of our finances as Mac users? Feature parity is needed. Sooner rather than later.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

Amen.

smayer97

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

I agree that this would be a very useful feature for many. That said, keep in mind that though there is good interest in this feature, it is all about prioritizing requests based on available resources, among many other things. And there are far more fundamental features that users are still requiring, which the QMac team is working on, e.g. report features, so it may be a while before we see this type of feature bubble up the list high enough to be considered and tackled.

Just my 5¢ to help set expectations given what I see.

(If you find this reply helpful, please be sure to click "Like", so others will know, thanks.)

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

I have heard this said, however, it’s not a “new” concept. It exists. For that reason I thought it would be not to difficult to implement on a Mac.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

Joyce, that's exactly the issue: just because the concept (and in fact, the full implementation on Windows) exists doesn't necessarily mean it is easy to build from scratch to add to the Mac program. The databases are significantly different and organized differently, so other than aiming to mimic on the surface what the Windows version does, it would all need to be coded from scratch for the Mac.

And we really don't know how difficult that would be. It's possible it's not a massive project -- but would nonetheless require the skills and time of programmers who have been assigned tasks they consider to be higher priority needs.

Some users, like @qnkid and @Snoopy FC above, might rank this their highest priority feature request in Quicken Mac right now. Others, like @smayer97, who come from the legacy Mac program which never even had this feature, consider robust reports a much higher-priority need. No one is right or wrong; we all use different parts of Quicken, use the program differently, and for different purposes. The challenge for the management of the development team is to weigh all the things users are asking for and figure out which to tackle and which to put off, because they can't tackle them all at once or in a short timeframe. So they look at factors such as the number of votes different features get on this website, and reports from their Support team about what areas of the program people are having problems with or complaining most about. They also then have to factor in which programmers have the skills needed to work on different features -- there are database experts, user interface experts, etc. and projects that may require a few days of tweaking versus those that require weeks or months of revamping and creating code. I'm sure that somewhere in the Quicken office, there's a roadmap containing many of these requests, attempting to balance all those factors into a short-term, mid-term and long-term game plan, but that's something they can't openly share with the user community for many practical reasons, so we're left to speculate and guess (and whine and complain!).

I'll add my 2 cents. A windows user for years I switched to Mac. I installed windows under Parallels and kept my windows version of Quicken for the Lifetime Planner and the professional looking Net Worth Statement as opposed to the Mac's childish looking one. Quicken is the only reason I have Parallels on my Mac. I'm glad to see so many others asking that the Lifetime Planner be put on the Mac version. It runs quicker than using the virtual windows application. Much much quicker.

Lifetime planning is the primary reason I purchased Quicken... I was a PC user for many years. I bought a Mac and am appalled that it is not available. I will be unsubscribing Quicken if this feature is not available in the near future.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. Even better would be an announcement tha....

Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. What I would appreciate even more is an announcement that Quicken Mac is finally going to get the Lifetime Planner.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

There are code generators that allow development targeting multiple platforms. Seems archaic to not have merged or rewritten these into a core code base by now. In my experience that’s often a political, don’t touch my development team vs. practical issue.

I gave up and returned to the windows product, but have a very bad taste left in my mouth for having to buy the product a third time. My online reviews of Quicken will continue to reflect the same.

I don’t know how many people have not even tried the Lifetime Planner. Mind boggling. It’s what got me through most large life and financial hurtles. I “knew” I could do it thanks to Quicken.

Reporting is many times easier in the windows versions also. Mac “hard codes” most. Not flexible.

I don’t understand why recent updates haven’t fixed this difference.

I’ve never used Regina. But I am familiar with remote viewing and usage. I find them slow. But then so is windows under Parallels. I give up.

John, those types of code generators can work for logic and some screen operations, but theQuicken products are so vastly different that they can't be developed simultaneously. Quicken Windows uses an old database with 30 years of code that is tied to the Windows .Net framework, while the newer Mac product uses a modern SQL database and many of the macOS core services/frameworks for things like drawing to the screen, reports etc. The only way to get to a common platform would be to restart both. If you've seen how much of a slog it's been to re-develop the Mac product, you can get a sense of what a large undertaking this would be. They may have plans on a long-term roadmap, but it's not as easy to implement as you might think.

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. Even better would be an announcement tha....

Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. What I would appreciate even more is an announcement that Quicken Mac is finally going to get the Lifetime Planner.

Is Lifetime Planner in the plan at all? Do we have any hope whatsoever?

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. Even better would be an announcement tha....

Thanks for your New Year message, Eric. What I would appreciate even more is an announcement that Quicken Mac is finally going to get the Lifetime Planner.

Craig, Quicken almost never discusses what new features are coming or when. This is a two-year old thread, so I wouldn't expect anyone from Quicken management to pop in here with a reply to that question.

About all we have to go on is a pledge from Quicken CEO Eric Dunn two years ago that their goal was to get the Mac product up to the level of the Windows product. Now, that almost certainly doesn't mean every single detail, widget or menu option; the assumption has been that it means some approximate form of near-parity. Whether the Lifetime Planner is part of the plan for the Mac, and if so, when, is unknown, and to my knowledge there have been no clues yea or nay about it. (If you want to stretch looking for a clue, this 2-year old idea thread hasn't been marked "Not Planned", so they haven't taken it off the table!)