YNACP vs. Quicken | You Need A Cash Plan

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Platform

Desktop/Laptop (Windows, macOS with Windows emulation software such as Parallels)

Online/Mobile app

License

$49.95 for a lifetime activation code after 60-day free trial

Deluxe - $4.99/mo
Premier - $6.99/mo

Charts/graphs

X

Calculators

X

Calculate net worth

Manual (saved with history)

Calculates current net worth using account balances

Calculate debt-to-income ratio

Manual (saved)

Store contact and access information for bills, credit cards and any other contact

Optional (account numbers and passwords can be saved for quick reference but are not used by YNACP)

Account numbers, user names and passwords

Available world-wide

X

United States and Canada

Cash Plans

Think of a cash plan as a file folder in which you have all of the tools you need to manage the income that flows through one checking account.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

A new cash plan is inactive until bills are paid for the first time

X

Clone a cash plan to facilitate playing "what if?" without affecting the cloned cash plan

X

Create a cash plan that begins on a future date for an event (e.g. getting married, starting a small business)

Advance Plan feature

Unlimited number of cash plans

X

Budgeting

A budget is defined as an estimate of income and expenses for a specified future period. For personal budgeting with You Need A Cash Plan, the concern is how the income flowing into your household will be used for a future period of twelve months. Being able to see your cash flow for the coming year gives you two advantages.

(1) You can see, in advance, if your current spending will result in planned overspending, in any of the future 12 months, in time to make adjustments.

(2) You have the ability to play "What if?" with any part of your cash plan to see how a change you are contemplating will affect your future cash flow.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

All-inclusive cash plan (income, spending, bills, credit cards, sinking funds, savings) for next 12 months

X

Cash plan is automatically organized into twice monthly bill pay dates

X

Net cash flow (income minus expenses) is calculated twice each month on bill pay dates

X

Future cash flow is planned so that net cash flow each month for the next 12 months is positive

X

A negative net cash flow over the next 12 months is an advance warning of planned overspending

X

Share budget

Print, ZIP, export (comma or tab delimited) entire cash plan or share a cash plan backup folder with or without contact information

Export account registers

Traditional monthly budgeting and expense tracking paycheck-by-paycheck

X

Budget by putting limits on spending categories for the next month

X

Checking Account

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

In each cash plan, manage the income flowing through one checking account

X

Automatically maintain transaction register

X

Use transaction file downloaded from bank website

From any bank website with user defined transaction map

QFX file from bank sites that offer this download

Manual or semi-automatic balancing of monthly statements with downloaded transactions

X

On-budget accounts reconciled as needed (weekly recommended). Monthly statements not used.

Import transactions from any number of accounts

X

Income

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Automatic projection of deposits from all expected incomes for next 12 months

X

Projected incomes can have a normal paycheck amount received on any schedule, an hourly work schedule or be unpredictable

X

Manual entry of checking account deposits

X

Ignore paydays except to record deposits

X

Alerts when scheduled deposits are due

Optional Auto Deposit feature

Play "what if?" with any anticipated income over the next 12 months

X

Spending

Failure to control out of pocket spending is the usual reason people get in trouble with their finances. Having a consistent amount of weekly spending money, regardless of when paydays happen, is the key to successful cash planning.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Custom weekly allowance with neither planning nor tracking of how spent

X

Total allowance for each month automatically set aside

X

Play "what if?" with possible changes to weekly allowance over next 12 months

X

Track spending

X

Bills

Any type of bill with scheduled or unpredictable payment schedules can be included in a cash plan.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Show all bills

X

Alerts when bill payments are due

X

Automatic scheduling of payments for any type of bill for next 12 months

X

Option to assign a payment lead time to a bill to automatically schedule payments in advance of the due dates

X

Automatic checklist for paying bills organized by the type of payment

X

Bills are paid and set-asides done on a bill pay date with money that is in the checking account on the bill pay date

X

Bills can be linked to either a sinking fund or short-term saving to automatically use the money in the linked sinking fund or saving to help make payments to the linked bill

X

Play "what if?" with any anticipated bill over the next 12 months

X

Debt

There are four options in a cash plan for creating a comfortable path out of debt.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Integrate a consolidation loan payment schedule into the cash plan to automate repayment

X

Create custom pay-off plan for one debt

X

Create custom snowball pay-off plan for multiple debts

X

Create automatic amortization plan for a high balance credit card that is automatically integrated into the cash plan

X

Play "what if?" with any possible pay-off plan to see the effect of the plan on net cash flow for the next 12 months

X

Play "what if?" with the payments of a loan you are thinking of taking out to see the effect of the payments on net cash flow for the next 12 months

X

Track debt balances

X

Credit Cards

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Optional 4-step method for managing charging activity to avoid paying interest or fees, identify fraudulent activity and clearly see the affect of charging on net cash flow

X

Use transaction file downloaded from credit card website

From any credit card website with user defined transaction map

QFX file from credit card sites that offer this download

Manual entry or semi-automatic import and entry of downloaded credit card transactions

X

Manual reconciliation or semi-automatic reconciling of monthly credit card statements with downloaded transactions

X

Credit cards can be linked to either a sinking fund or short-term saving to automatically use the money in the linked sinking fund or saving to help make payments to the linked credit card

X

Collect transactions

X

Sinking Funds

You use a sinking fund to save up money to buy something in the future. The idea behind a sinking fund is to spread the cost of what you will be buying in the future over the income received during the months between now and when the purchase will happen. Sinking funds can be short- or long-term.

> Short-term sinking funds are used to buy relatively inexpensive items within a short time frame. Earning interest on the money set aside for a short-term sinking fund is not a concern. The money stays in your checking account.

> Long-term sinking funds are for large purchases well into the future (e.g. down payment on a house). Earning interest or dividends on the money in a long-term sinking fund can significantly contribute to the growth of the fund. The money in a long-term sinking fund is set aside by adding a pseudo bill for transferring the money, via scheduled or unscheduled payments, from your checking account to an external saving or investment account.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Automatic calculation and scheduling of short-term sinking fund set-asides

X

The money automatically set aside for short-term sinking funds remains in the checking account

X

Automatic scheduling of calculated long-term sinking fund set aside pseudo bill payments to external accounts

X

Play "what if?" with any possible sinking fund to see the effect of the set-asides on net cash flow for the next 12 months

X

Manual sinking funds

X

Savings

Saving is the process of setting aside part of your current income for future use. The reason for saving your money can be anything. The lifespan of a saving plan can be:

> Short-term - the money stays in your checking account for immediate availability;

> Long-term - the money is transferred, via scheduled or unscheduled pseudo bill payments, from your checking account to an external saving or investment account.

You Need A Cash Plan

Quicken

Automatic scheduling of selected short-term saving set-asides (e.g. emergency fund, periodic savings, ongoing savings)

X

Scheduled short-term savings can be a percent of an income or a fixed monthly amount

X

The money automatically set-aside for short-term savings remains in the checking account

X

Automatic scheduling of calculated long-term saving set aside payments via pseudo bill to external accounts (e.g. investments, retirement)

X

Play "what if?" with any possible saving to see the effect of the set-asides on net cash flow for the next 12 months

X

Manual savings

X

Comparison Tables

Index

Cash Plans

Bills

Budgeting

Debt

Checking Account

Credit Cards

Income

Sinking Funds

Spending

Savings

Our main products

Cash Plans

Think of a cash plan as a file folder in which you have all of the tools you need to manage the income that flows through one checking account.

Our main products

Budgeting

Our main products

Checking Account

Our main products

Income

Our main products

Spending

Failure to control out of pocket spending is the usual reason people get in trouble with their finances. Having a consistent amount of weekly spending money, regardless of when paydays happen, is the key to successful cash planning.

Our main products

Bills

Any type of bill with scheduled or unpredictable payment schedules can be included in a cash plan.

Our main products

Debt

There are four options in a cash plan for creating a comfortable path out of debt.

Our main products

Credit Cards

Our main products

Sinking Funds

Our main products

Savings