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Full name: Barron Ernst

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Fresh, Clean and Redesigned: Quicken Online Trends

May 27th, 2009 5:33 pm, posted by barronernst

See High-Level Spending Trends

A few weeks ago we asked Inner Circle members to beta test a newly designed Quicken Online Trends feature. Aside from a redesigned look and feel and more dynamic interface, the Quicken Online team redesigned Trends to help you quickly learn more about your money at a glance.

The Trends feature received more than a makeover. In usability testing and through Inner Circle feedback, the Quicken Online team learned what would help you make better money choices.

With the newly redesigned Trends you can:

See income versus expenses (view both side-by-side in a bar chart)
Know right away whether you’re spending more than you make
Drill-down on income, savings or spending in colorful, interactive pie charts
Quickly access your average spending for any given category
See how you’re spending month-to-month in a given that category

Along with a redesigned look and feel, the Trends now features savings suggestions. We’ve started making suggestions about how much you’ll save if you cut back on spending in a given category. So if you’re looking at how much you’ve spent on groceries for example, Quicken Online Trends will show you what you spent for the month last month on groceries, what percentage of your total spending went to groceries for the month, and how much you’d save if you cut back. Example: You spent about 3% of your money last month on groceries. If you cut 10% on grocery spending in the future per month, you could save $59 per year.

Get Automatic Savings Suggestions

Let us know what you think of the newly redesigned Trends. If you’re not already an Inner Circle member, join us today so we can get your feedback on how we should improve Quicken Online in the future. Sign in to Quicken Online and check out the newly designed Trends feature. Take a look at some more images on our Flickr page. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Cash Tracking and Other Updates to Quicken Online Now Live

February 20th, 2009 9:02 am, posted by barronernst

Hi everyone,

We deployed some exciting new functionality last night. Since last fall, consumers have been using more cash and the trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Today we’ve included the ability to add manual cash transactions to the product. Instead of taking $40 from the ATM only to forget where it went later, simply add your cash transactions to Quicken Online. Cash spending will show up as part of your overall money trends. Here’s a look at the page.

Based on your feedback, we’ve also changed the account bar, so upon login, you’ll have your financial picture in one place. We’ve grouped accounts by type and added in net worth. Here’s the new design.

A few last tidbits: We’ve made some tweaks in order to improve the overall performance of the Quicken Online (www.quickenonline.com). Many of you reported that custom categories were not showing in the pie chart–now you’ll see those categories. Additionally, we’ve made it a priority to get Quicken Online loading faster.

Here’s an early take on the new Quicken Online cash tracking features. If you have feedback or questions, please post them in the comments section. What you say helps us improve Quicken Online on an ongoing basis.

Thanks!
Barron Ernst
Quicken Online Product Manager

Podcast: Retirement and Investment Tips

February 9th, 2009 2:02 pm, posted by barronernst

A new Quicken podcast is available. We’re continuing our discussion with Michael Rubin. Michael is a registered CPA and CFP. He’s also the author of Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck and runs the personal finance site Total Candor. Finally, he’s the guide to retirement planning at About.com. In this podcast, we discuss investment advice, including retirement. You can find it here. You can also search for us on iTunes (search for “quicken”) or visit our podcast page here.