Plan Ahead with Quicken

Ken Sheldon

Over the past two years, sales of personal finance software has been growing at an estimated rate of 50 percent, according to the Software Publishers Association, and Intuit's Quicken has about 80 percent of that market. With a program that popular, Intuit's developers faced a challenge: how to add features that improve the program without drowning users in a sea of bells and whistles. To do this, they had to make Quicken even easier to use while leveraging CD-ROM to deliver historical data on mutual funds and stocks, as well as interactive personal finance advice on video.

Intuit (Menlo Park, CA, (415) 322-0573) announced new versions of Quicken for all the major platforms: Quicken 4 and Quicken Deluxe 4 for Windows, Quicken 8 for DOS, and Quicken 5 for the Mac. Each version has features that ma ke learning Quicken easier for first-time users and features for more experienced users.

Only the Quicken Deluxe 4 for Windows CD-ROM has the Quicken Financial Suite, which lets you ``stroll'' through a virtual conference room, home office, and library to access information such as which mutual funds to select given your financial profile. This CD-ROM also features an interactive visual interface that offers access to all Quicken's features, as well as advice from financial experts Jane Bryant Quinn, author and Newsweek columnist, and Marshall Loeb, former managing editor of Fortune and Money.

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Illustration: The CD-ROM version of Quicken Deluxe 4 for Windows includes a financial suite in which experts Jane Bryant Quinn and Marshall Loeb answer your questions regarding investment options and other topics pertaining to personal finance.