Intuit, the makers of Quicken, have just released their 2012 lineup of personal finance software. What’s new this year? We list some of the major points below:

• Improved budgeting tools
• New debt reduction planner
• Faster than ever transaction download
• Improved bill and income reminders
• Equity tracking
• Better customer support
• Multi-currency support

While not offering a host of new features compared to Quicken 2011, if you have an older version or are new to Quicken, we’d recommend this year’s programs to keep your finances in order and help you better plan for the future. Amazon has offers up to 25% off at the moment.

New free money management site Payoff.com, just launched in June, aims to help you fund your dreams, be they to travel the world, remodel your home, start a business or anything else you have your heart set on.

Payoff.com adds a social media component to money management – you can share your financial dreams, accomplishments and advice with other members of the community. Users keep each other motivated as they work to meet their financial objectives.

The site also seeks to introduce a bit of fun into the serious business of debt reduction and savings – you can win badges and cash prizes as you meet goals and save more money. Other users see your progress and offer encouragement and praise.

All your bank and credit card accounts can be linked to your Payoff account so you can easily get an accurate picture of your financial situation. You can also track your spending by brand (e.g. Starbucks) so you can quickly see any areas that need cutting back on.

Payoff.com also offers recommendations for hundreds of debt reduction and money management tools.

Here at Finance Software Store, we think mobile applications are really the way of the future. So we’re delighted with Pageonce – Money & Bills, a personal finance mobile application released a couple of years ago which already has over 4 million users.   Now you can track your money and bills in one handy place, as well as many other services too.

Here are some ways it can help today’s busy consumer:

• Sends bill due date reminders
• Gives important real-time alerts and account notifications
• Monitors credit card & bank transactions
• Shows detailed bill & account statements
• Monitors investment portfolios
• Provides helpful reports
• Tracks cellphone usage, frequent flyer miles & rewards
• View e-mail and social networking accounts

Pageonce also provides 3 extra services: Pageonce Bills (bill management); Pageonce Travel (track flight details, hotel accommodation, weather, rental services); and Cell Minute Tracker (monitor phone activity & expenses).

The company offers bank-level security with 256-bit data encryption, for complete peace of mind.

Pageonce is a free application, but there is also a paid Pro version with no ads for only $6.99. Works on  iPhone, iPod touch,  iPad, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7 and Desktop.

Mint, the very popular & free online money management site, has officially launched in Canada. It’s been available in the US for 3 years and now Canadians can finally have a go at tracking their spending at Mint/Canada.

The Canadian version is mostly the same as the US version but now comes with support for all major Canadian banks and credit unions, and with personalized savings tips for Canadians. The free Mint mobile application is available in the Canadian iPhone and Android app stores.

The Mint development team is still working on some features for Canada, such as:  Goals, Investments, SMS alerts, multi-currency, French support and Advice. Stay tuned.

This marks the beginning of global expansion for Mint.com. Other countries are on the agenda, with support for international banks coming soon.

Online personal finance management website Rudder announced this month it would discontinue its services, after a 2 year run, due to the business becoming “unsustainable”.  Free personal finance management services have struggled to stay afloat recently, in an area dominated by Mint.com; this follows Wesable shutting down in July and Geezeo late last year.  It’s not easy to develop a model that answers users’ needs as well as generates a profit in such a competitive environment. Mint.com is perhaps the most successful, having recently been bought by Intuit for $170 million.

Rudder’s most popular features were the forecasted month-end account balances (after calculating all upcoming bill payments), and the daily emails delivered to a user’s inbox stating current balances and expenses, both of which helped people stay on track with their spending.  Unfortunately with the daily emails feature, Rudder was in the news for all the wrong reasons a few months ago after having inadvertently disclosed personal bank account details to others members. Was this the first step on the way to its demise?

Rudder confirms all personal customer information will have been permanently wiped clean as of 3 November, so that should reassure customers.

Other similar services such as MoneyStrands and YNAB also offer easy money management tools that may appeal to former Rudder users.

Intuit released their new Quicken 2011 personal finance programs earlier this month (Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Premier, Quicken Home and Business and Quicken Rental Property Manager). Some of the highlights in this new release:

• Streamlined interface
• Now compatible with even more financial institutions (over 12,000)
• Improved automatic transaction categorization
• Downloads multiple accounts at the same time
• Improved customizable register columns
• Projected account balances graph shows how much money left over after upcoming bills and income
• New Transfer Detection feature
• Automatically updates stock quotes every 15 minutes (Quicken Premier)
• Uses less memory to run

For 2008 and earlier users we think this is a useful upgrade.  Comes with a 60 day satisfaction guarantee.  Currently the best deals on Quicken are from Amazon, where you can save up to 35%.

Igg Software have released a major update to their popular Mac money management program recently.  iBank 4 allows Mac users to monitor account balances, track investments, set up budgets and generate powerful reports.

Here are some of the new features and improvements in version 4:

• Improved, simpler interface, with faster transaction entry and editing
• Direct downloads from online accounts
• Custom check printing
• Easily transfers data from Mac and PC versions of Quicken, MS Money, and other finance programs
• Improved investment tracking capabilities
• Enhanced reporting features – now you can “drill down” to individual transactions
• More support for multiple currencies
• Sync data with your iPhone
• 30-day unlimited trial for new users
• New “envelope” budgeting

Shelley Elmblad, financial software guide at About.com, rates iBank4 highly, as do Amazon customers.

iBank 4 retails for $59.99; upgrades for $29.99.  iBank hopes to lead the way in personal finance management for the Mac, and with this new well-received version they may be well on the way to achieving that goal.

Wesabe, the online personal finance site launched in 2005, will be closing down on July 31, 2010. Over the last few years it grew into a well-liked service helping users track their spending and share valuable financial information with others through the Wesabe online community. The company has stated they were experiencing financial constraints, leaving them unable to provide sufficient customer support and security staff. Unlike other online finance sites, Wesabe did not generate revenue through the use of ads, considering the practice not to be in the best interests of its customers.

Users will have until July 31 to download their data, after which time all data will be securely and permanently deleted. Users will be able to view their downloaded csv-format data in spreadsheet programs such as Excel and Google Spreadsheet. Wesabe are also working on an open source package allowing users to operate a version of the service on their own computers.

The popular Wesabe online forums which host discussions on personal finance topics and where users can exchange tips and advice on finances will remain online indefinitely.

Disappointed Wesabe fans may consider other free online personal finance alternatives such as Mint, Buxfer and Geezeo.

HelloWallet, which had its debut in March 2010, offers independent financial advice online to help users take control of their finances and achieve their financial goals.

One impact of the Great Recession is that consumers are now more aware that they need to closely monitor their personal finances to avoid getting into difficulty. That’s where HelloWallet comes in. It’s aimed at the estimated 80% of low to middle income American consumers who do not currently have access to financial advice resources.

HelloWallet  performs budgeting and money management functions such as offered by free online personal finance sites, but more importantly it provides independent and personalized financial advice.   HelloWallet is independent from financial institutions and does not receive any advertising revenue from them and so is in a better position to recommend savings products which may actually best benefits each individual user.

Key benefits include:

• Keeps track of all your finances in one place
• Monitors rates on credit cards, mortgages, loans and other products, and alerts you if they increase
• Searches over 130,000 different financial products (checking accounts, savings accounts, money market funds) and from a broader range of institutions compared to free sites, such as credit unions, community banks and national banks
• Creates personalized savings plans for important milestones such as tuition fees, buying a home, saving for retirement and reducing debt
• Identifies unproductive savings you may have – according to research, American families lose approximately $100 billion each year in preventable financial mistakes
• Helps estimate how much to save to buy a home using local home prices; forecasts your home’s potential worth in the future
• Gathers tuition information for most colleges and universities and helps estimate how much to save in time for enrollment
• Provides recommendations about financial gaps, such as missing emergency savings plans
• Proactively identifies financial health threats and savings opportunities

HelloWallet works with charitable foundations and was endorsed by the Clinton Global Initiative. It donates one free membership to a family in need for every five paying subscriptions, providing a free service to at least 300,000 low-income families over the next five years.

A HelloWallet subscription costs around $4 per month, with a 60 day free trial offered. We’d love to hear from users as to how helpful they find the service.

The long-awaited new version of Quicken Mac – Quicken Essentials for Mac – was released today. I say ‘long-awaited’ as there was first mention of it being released as far back as 2008 under the name of Quicken Financial Life for Mac. A few proposed release dates later and it is finally here.

Quicken Essentials for Mac (QEM) has been completely redesigned and redeveloped specifically for Macs and now has the familiar Mac look and feel. Its streamlined, attractive interface makes it easy to get set up, easy to use and navigate but it does have less features than the previous Quicken Mac 2007 version, which may not be an issue for most people. In general QEM is best suited to Mac users who are new to personal finance software and those users with more straightforward money management needs.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of the new version:

• Great conversion tool quickly transfers your data from all supported Quicken Windows & Quicken Mac programs as well as Microsoft Money
• Connects with more banks and financial institutions than ever before – over 12,000 at the moment with plans to increase to 16,000 in the next few months
• Overview screen shows money coming in and out in a clean and modern, Mint-like interface
• Improved transaction categorization saves time – the software accepts user recommendations during use thereby continually improving categorization accuracy
• Analyzes spending habits to help users develop budgets as well as tracking progress against goals

Those users needing more in-depth investment management tools, a bill pay feature and direct TurboTax integration would be better using the previous Quicken Mac 2007 version or using virtualization software to run Quicken for Windows on their Mac. There are plans for a further release in 2011 which will incorporate some of the features not included this time round such as investment tracking tools and bill pay.

Consumers wishing to take advantage of Intuit’s Quicken credit card offer can obtain $30 cashback when they purchase Quicken Essentials for Mac at the Intuit website. Alternatively, Amazon are currently offering a $10 discount on Quicken Essentials for Mac.