Managing money is a vital life skill. Tracking what you spend (and knowing what you owe) helps you make sensible purchasing choices, and keeps you out of stressful debt.

Unfortunately, it's also astonishingly dull. Just the thought of totalling up a pile of bills and cheques is probably enough to make your eyes glaze over. And thinking about tax returns and retirement plans is a sure-fire insomnia cure.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Quicken XG makes it easy to track all your major expenses (credit card and bank account), and if you enter purchases regularly then it only takes a moment.

Even better, a wide range of Internet services means Quicken XG may be able to download transactions and balances directly from your bank and credit card company. (Supported institutions include HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Natwest, and the Royal Bank of Scotland, amongst others). So you may be able to avoid tedious data entry tasks altogether.

Once you've got a proper financial record, then there are plenty of other benefits. The program can track all your tax-related income and expenses, for instance. It can then tell you exactly what information to include on your tax return, right down to the form number and line where the figure belongs.

Still not convinced? That's fine, Quicken XG is great for analysing your cash flow, but that's just one of its many talents. The program has all kinds of ways to help manage your finances.

The Startup Edition of Quicken XG will manage your finances for three months, but to continue using the program after that you'll need to subscribe. Apart from maintaining all the online services, you'll also then qualify for program updates, service packs, new versions or technical support.

To place your order, and to obtain a discount as a PCW reader, head to www.intuitshop.co.uk/quicken/ and enter the promotion code '2046'. You'll be able to take advantage of a yearly subscription or other offers from Intuit.