Will quicken support managing finances of an older adult?

LynMRK

Hi Quicken Community! I'm about to be in a position to help an older adult manage their finances. He is having a harder time managing all of his accounts, spending, etc. due to memory issues and some heavy duty medication. We are discussing doing a power of attorney or something like that. I'm looking for a finance software solution that will help me get an idea of all of his financial accounts to help build a budget and help with future decisions for his living arrangements, etc. Does the Quicken solution allow more than one person to access an account for this type of arrangement?

LynMRK

Just for clarity - the reason I'm asking about more than one person accessing is both he and I would like to be able to access the same information. I expect I would be doing the heavy lifting in terms of account setup and entering/managing data, but he would need the ability to at least view the information - even if editing was not possible.

Rocket J Squirrel

I was going to say "sure, Quicken will work for that" right up until you mentioned multi-user. Quicken is a single-user program and sharing data is likely to be not so easy for your older adult. A better solution might be for you do do all the Quickening and mail him printed (or password-protected PDF) reports periodically. Plain text email is insecure. If he's up to it, you could copy your Quicken data file to any of the publicly available storage services and he could copy it from there.

I would indeed recommend you acquire financial power of attorney if you're going to do this, especially if you're going to have to touch his money rather than simply report on it.

LynMRK

> @"Rocket J Squirrel" said:
> I was going to say "sure, Quicken will work for that" right up until you mentioned multi-user. Quicken is a single-user program and sharing data is likely to be not so easy for your older adult.

Thank you Rocket - so does that mean Quicken data is not stored in the cloud but locally on your device? I saw there was a Quicken app so I was assuming it was cloud-based storage.

Chris_QPW

The data file is stored locally, and part of the data is synced to the cloud for limited use remotely.

If one wants dual access their Simplfi product (which is cloud based) might be a better choice, but it is quite limited especially in the area of investments.

Boatnmaniac

@LynMRK - Another option you might want to consider would be to set up Quicken on your computer and then set him up for remote access to it for Quicken only.  But that would mean that you would need to keep your computer on for any hours that he might want to access it.  Or buy an inexpensive computer (maybe even used) that could be dedicated to this so your personal computer is not tied up by it.

Regarding the POA: If he is starting to have declining memory and cognitive issues, I suggest getting that POA executed sooner rather than later.  He will need to authorize and sign off on it and if the attorney and/or notary public perceive that he is no longer competent/of sound mind he might not be permitted to do that.  If you and he wait too long and he is not permitted to authorize and sign a POA you might then need to seek to get a court order for guardianship and that can be a costly and timing consuming process.

Also, make sure the POA is durable.  With a non-durable POA, your authority as his agent ends as soon as he becomes incapacitated (incapable of making competent decisions for himself for any reason).  If it is a durable POA, your authority as his agent continues even after he becomes incapacitated for as long as he is living.