Pity the makers of Quicken, the best personal finance package on the planet. When your product is already that good, it’s hard to think up nifty new features each year. Such is the case with Quicken Premier 2006, an excellent program that, aside from a few nips and tucks, isn’t a big step up from its predecessor. We like Quicken’s new minireports, which make it easier to quickly study your spending mishaps in specific categories, such as dining out. The overhauled Reports Center is much easier to navigate, and version 2006′s ability to attach check and receipt images to Quicken transactions is great for tracking tax records and eliminating paper clutter. Overall though, there isn’t enough new stuff here for us to recommend an upgrade from Quicken 2005. However, Quicken 2004 and earlier stalwarts should consider upgrading, but check first to see if your financial institution will charge you for using the new OFX file format for online banking.
The Quicken Guided Setup is an easy-to-follow wizard for beginners. Once you’ve entered your data, the well-structured Home screen displays myriad charts and graphs that summarize your financial health. Menu and icon bars along the top of the screen, plus left-side column links to the Investing and Property & Debt sections, make it easy to access just about every tool you’ll need. The best interface upgrade is the new Reports Center, a dramatic makeover of what was a drab, hard-to-browse section. In Quicken 2006, a single screen displays both standard and custom reports, and standard reports are organized by category (for example, spending or tax).