Now it’s hard to imagine that world without IGG Software’s iBank 5. IBank 5 is a best of class app that continues to add features and value and which should be your personal finance app of choice.
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Managing your money isn’t easy, so it’s no wonder that only 41% of Americans have a budget,. A budget is the most fundamental financial planning tool out there, and with one, you’ll have a better chance of reaching your short- and long-term financial goals. And if the “b word” makes you bristle, don’t worry: The best personal finance software can make it surprisingly painless. “Online banking is a great tool to pay bills and reduce paper statements,” says Dan Crimmins, New Jersey-based financial coach at.
“However, it cannot establish a budget or categorize your expenses. A financial tracking software gives you the ability to review how you are spending your money.” Several personal finance apps and websites can help you plan and keep track of your spending. No one service is best for everyone, though, so it’s important to compare several options to find the one that works best for you. To help, we’ve put together a list of the top three personal finance software options and how they can help you achieve your goals. Best Personal Finance Software: The Simple Dollar’s Top Picks. Mint: Comprehensive, free, and easy-to-navigate software; great for beginners.
You Need a Budget: Hardcore budgeting for people who want to know where every dollar is going. Albert: Does a lot of the legwork for you and provides you with timely and actionable advice. Mint has more than, and it’s easy to see why. For starters, the software is free to use, and it automatically syncs your financial accounts so you can budget and track your spending all in one place. Budgeting isn’t the only service Mint offers, though.
You can also:. Monitor your Equifax credit score. Stay on top of your bills.
Track your investment accounts. Get alerts when you’re being charged fees or going over budget.
View your home’s value (courtesy of Zillow) and track your overall net worth. For budgeters, Mint’s most valuable feature is its automatic syncing.
Just sign into your bank and credit card accounts through Mint’s platform, and you’ll get updates on each account every time you make a transaction. When transactions come through, Mint will automatically categorize them based on their details. If the assigned category is wrong, you can update it and even split transactions into more than one category online or on the mobile app.
Based on your spending, Mint will also create a budget for you. But as with the transactions, you can customize your budget based on your needs and spending habits. If you want a bird’s eye view of your spending habits, Mint has a Trends feature that shows you how you’ve spent your money by category over a set period. You can also compare two periods to see how your current spending compares with spending in the past. While the service is free to use, Mint makes its money by recommending targeted financial products to its users.
Depending on your tolerance for such ads, it can be frustrating to feel bombarded with the unsolicited advice. “Most free financial softwares make money by providing product recommendations or having advertisements within the software or app,” says Dominique Broadway, CEO and personal finance expert at. Mint is a great option for:. Beginners who are overwhelmed with the idea of budgeting. Hands-off budgeters who want everything in one place. People who don’t mind the ads. You Need a Budget, or YNAB for short, is an intensive budgeting software with the goal of giving every dollar a job.
The software is also designed to help users and live off of the previous month’s income. When you first sign up, YNAB provides you with some general budgeting categories to start with, like Rent/Mortgage, Electric, Groceries, and other essential expenses. You can add or change categories based on your spending habits. As you continue setting up your budget — either online or with the mobile app — you can add individual accounts and clarify whether each is a budget account or just an account you’re tracking, such as an investment account or auto loan. While YNAB allows you to connect your financial accounts for automatic transaction importing, it doesn’t require it, allowing you to choose how hands-on you want to be. As you use YNAB over time, you’ll have access to a few reports to help you make better financial decisions:. Spending report: This gives you a snapshot of how much you’ve spent in each category over a set period.
You can also view how your spending in each category has changed over time. Income and expenses report: With this report, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of every source of income, plus exactly how much you spent in each category by month.
Net worth report: You’ll not only get to see what your current net worth is but also how it’s changed over time. This is valuable because your net worth is a good measure of your overall financial health. If you have a specific financial goal you’re working toward, you can monitor your progress using YNAB’s goal tracking feature. Choose a target balance or a monthly funding goal, and the software will track your progress and give you some tips along the way. In addition to giving you a platform to budget, YNAB also offers free, live workshops to give you advice on budgeting, paying off debt, saving and more.
Read more: The biggest drawback to YNAB is that it’s not free. When you first sign up, you’ll get a 34-day free trial. But after that, you’ll pay $83.99 per year, which comes out to about $6.99 per month.
YNAB is a great option for:. Experienced budgeters who want a more hands-on approach. People who like to analyze their spending using reports. People who don’t mind paying for budgeting software.
Albert If you prefer mobile over using your computer, both Mint and YNAB have mobile apps. But with, all you get is a mobile app.
Like the other software we’ve listed, Albert allows you to connect your financial accounts when you first get started. From there, though, it does most of the work for you. For starters, the app will automatically create a budget for you based on your spending, bills, and income.
You’ll also get a personalized financial plan, which can help you spot ways to save more and meet other financial goals. If it spots something out of the ordinary, you’ll get an alert. If you opt in, Albert will automatically set aside a portion of your money into a savings account each week based on what it thinks you won’t miss. Albert even helps you negotiate your bills, which can save you money on ongoing monthly expenses like your phone, cable, security, or other bills. If you want more personalized service, you can sign up for Albert Genius, which allows you to text the app’s human financial experts and get advice.
There’s a fee for this service, but Albert allows you to choose how much to pay., most customers pay $6 per month or more for the Genius service, while the minimum cost to operate it is $4 per month. Albert is a great option for:. People who want to make better financial decisions but don’t have the time or desire to do it all alone.
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Budgeters who want to automate every aspect of their financial lives. People who like the idea of getting personalized advice whenever they need it. How to Pick the Best Personal Finance Software For You The best personal finance software is easy to use and helps you improve your money management. But with so many options out there, no single app or website is best for everyone.
As a result, it’s important for you to research these and other options and pick one that best serves your needs. Specifically, ask yourself how hands-on you want to be with the process and what kinds of tools and resources you’d need to make better decisions and stick with the program.
If you’re new to budgeting and feel overwhelmed by the process, it may be better to pick software that does a lot of the work for you. On the flip side, if you’re an experienced budgeter and enjoy getting into the weeds, choose an option that gives you more control. Whatever you choose, expect to put in a bit of time at the outset to get yourself up and running. “Investing time in the initial setup is crucial to having the system work for you,” says Crimmins. After you get started, you may think your work is done. But the real challenge becomes checking in with your budget software regularly, even if the app does most of the work for you. “Once you’re all set up, make sure you actually look at the software,” Broadway explains.
“Many people will take the time to set it up and never look at it again.” Most importantly, it’s crucial to understand that while the best personal finance software can help you make better decisions, it won’t, by itself, change your habits. As you take advantage of the different tools and resources available to you, use them to help you develop better spending and savings habits — so that eventually, and sticking to a budget becomes second nature. It can take some time, but it’s time well spent. Related Articles:. Advertising Disclosure: TheSimpleDollar.com has an advertising relationship with some of the offers included on this page. However, the rankings and listings of our reviews, tools and all other content are based on objective analysis. The Simple Dollar does not include all card/financial services companies or all card/financial services offers available in the marketplace.
For more information and a complete list of our advertising partners, please check out our full. TheSimpleDollar.com strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information in our reviews could be different from what you find when visiting a financial institution, service provider or a specific product's website. All products are presented without warranty.
How We Chose the Best Personal Finance Software Security If we’re handing over bank accounts, credit card numbers, and the rest of our financial information to a company, we need to be sure it’s taking strict security measures to keep that intel protected. So we scrutinized privacy policies and compared security claims. First, we cut any finance app without an “https” domain name. That’s the secure version of http — it uses encryption to prevent any third-party interception while you’re accessing the web. This is especially important for (and even more so when you’re logging into your bank). Then, we dug into the fine print. All of our top picks use 128- or 256-bit encryption and TLS 1.2 for transmissions — the most up-to-date protections on the web.
These ensure that your data can’t be hacked or stolen while it’s in transit. Account Xpress, AceMoney, Budget Express, Home Bookkeeping, Monefy, Moneydance, Moneyline, Pocket Expense, RichOrPoor, Spending Tracker, SplashMoney Multi-factor authentication We also gave preference to personal finance apps that use multi-factor authentication. That includes any step beyond just entering a username and password, like receiving a secret code through text or email. Confirming your identity through another device or channel ensures that you’re really you, and not some hacker who got ahold of the account info. Our top picks all require text- or call-based verification both when you set up your account and start using it on a new device. Access on mobile and desktop We made sure that all of our top picks offer mobile apps for both iPhone and Android, so you can check in and manage your finances on the fly — say goodbye to anxious mental math before picking up that next round of drinks.
We also cut finance apps that only operate on mobile, without the option to use a desktop or web app. Mobile accounting is super convenient, sure, but a computer affords the space to see all your information laid out on one screen. This makes it easier to multitask — like keeping an eye on your debts and spending trends while you allocate funds to a budget. Dollarbird, Goodbudget, GnuCash, Handwallet, Fortora Fresh Finance, Money Lover Customer support It’s likely that at some point down the road you’ll have questions: Why won’t my retirement account sync to my software? How do I set a long-term savings goal? Something looks funny; what’s going on with these numbers?
Many of these can be answered through tutorials and FAQs, but finances are complex and really personal; sometimes there’s no substitute for an actual human helping you out. So we called, messaged, and emailed customer support to find the most reliably helpful software companies out there. The best software should offer personalized feedback in case you’re struggling with an issue that’s not covered. Mobilis Personal Finances, Wallet (BudgetBakers) Ease of use The only thing left to do was to get up close and personal with our own finances. We set up accounts with our five front-runners, downloaded every app, and then got to work hooking up our bank accounts, tinkering with settings, tracking our finances, and building budgets. We logged in every day for a month, checking to make sure transactions were imported properly, monitoring our spending trends, and seeing whether they helped us stick to our budgets with prompts and warnings.
Overall, we were pleased with our top contenders. We found that all of them — except one — were intuitive, well-laid out, and easy to learn. Why we chose it Account setup If you’re totally new to money management, Mint is the way to go. The simplicity starts with account setup. Mint links all your accounts with the same bank in one fell swoop, so it only takes a minute to get rolling. Then it pulls two months’ worth of transaction history and begins categorizing. Transaction sorting This is where we were really impressed: Intuit’s products (the other being Quicken) nail down transactions better than any other software we looked at.
They even break down subcategories (think: “Fast Food” instead of “Restaurants”). Mint (left) labels every transaction clearly while Personal Capital (right) uses general categories. Visualizes spending Understanding categories helps Mint make sense of your budget trends — which means that you can, too.
It uses a unique pie chart system to show you how income and expenses break down: You can adjust these charts to show spending for specific categories, accounts, or time periods. This is a level of financial visibility we didn’t see anywhere else.
It gives you deep insight into your own habits so you can check in and make adjustments if need be. Mint automatically visualizes your spending habits, so you can see where your money’s going at a glance. Budgets feature Mint allows you to create budgets for a number of categories.
Start with the preset budgets, like ”Restaurants” and “Transportation,” or create as many custom categories as you like. The software will automatically fill them in, but we noticed that it’s not as smart about labeling budgets as it is with transactions. (It slotted a bus pass into “Education,” for example). You may have to do a little tinkering initially to set it straight.
Why we chose it Ad-free Quicken is made by Intuit, the same parent company as Mint. It feels similar, with an equally user-friendly interface and tools, only minus the distracting credit card and loan ads. Desktop app Along with being ad-free, Quicken is a bit more robust than Mint.
It uses a downloadable desktop app rather than a browser-based one, which has some perks. For instance you can build out a calendar to track budgets, bills, and savings over time. To stay up-to-date with this calendar, the app lets you create customizable pop-up alerts for your desktop.
It also has extra Report and Summary options — like “Net Worth Over Time,” “Spending Over Time,” and “Tax Summary” — that might be helpful for people with more accounts and assets. Quicken tracks your budgets, bills, and expenses in a customizable desktop calendar. Good for managing large portfolios We recommend this home budget software for people who are familiar with managing their finances and won’t need any hand-holding (like Mint’s suggestion boxes). Quicken is also a good choice if you have multiple accounts or larger assets to keep track of: Its desktop app is well suited to managing a more built-out financial portfolio. Points to consider Customer support All of Quicken’s communication channels had lengthy wait times (30+ minutes) with no indication of where we were in the queue. Of course, they assured us that we could get shorter wait times by upgrading to ‘Premium Support’ for an extra $50.
Quicken does have a really comprehensive Support section on its site to help you troubleshoot. And if you have any experience with money management, the software is intuitive enough that you may not have many questions. But we were still disappointed by its weak live support. Price Quicken will cost you between $35 and $90 annually, depending on your operating system.
If you’re on the fence about taking that leap, Quicken offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can take the software for a spin and see if Intuit’s tools work for you. Mobile app Quicken’s mobile app leaves a lot to be desired. It has a dismal 1.7 rating on 1,424 reviews in the App Store, and 2.8 on 2,475 reviews in Google Play. Most users complain about the app being painfully slow — a real problem if you’re at the store trying to figure out if something is within your budget. Why we chose it Budgeting feature If you have trouble making a budget and sticking to it, then you need You Need A Budget (it’s redundant, but true).
This software takes a unique approach to budgeting. Instead of making a hypothetical plan for future money, YNAB works with the cash you have on-hand.
It asks you to allocate all of your income: First, cover your immediate expenses; then, once those are taken care of, money goes towards next month’s expenses and savings goals. There’s no discretionary cash left sitting around — which means you won’t be tempted to spend it frivolously. Instead, every dollar is put toward a specific purpose, which is what YNAB means by its first rule: “Give every dollar a job.”. Thoughtful account setup YNAB had us import each account separately, as opposed to pulling everything at once like Mint did. This took a little longer, but it made us think critically about how we wanted to prioritize our finances.
For example, when we imported a credit card, YNAB asked us how we’d like to pay it off and then helped us work that goal into our budget. This setup process lays the foundation for thoughtful money management from day one. Helpful tutorials YNAB also walks you through budget planning with plainly-worded, helpful tutorials.
To really succeed though, you need to take the before anything else. Trust us on this. We tried crafting a budget without it and were a little lost: What was Age of Money? What were Immediate Obligations and True Expenses and how were they different? Why was YNAB saying we’d overspent when we still had cash?
Then we took the webinar, and everything clicked. Beyond the Get Started intro, YNAB also offers live courses on Breaking the Paycheck to Paycheck Cycle, Budgeting when Money’s Tight, Paying for Big Expenses without Borrowing, and more. These awesome resources take YNAB from a budgeting platform to a one-stop-shop for becoming financially responsible. Flexible goals One thing we really appreciate is YNAB’s flexibility. The company’s “roll with the punches” philosophy reflects the way we handle money in real life.
Maybe you get a pricey Uber and overspend on your Transportation budget. No problem — you can log in, redirect some of your dining out budget to cover it, and you’re home cooking (affordable) dinners in the black. Our other top picks didn’t make it as easy to reset our goals and stay on track. YNAB has tons of budget categories. You can choose which ones to use based on your individual financial needs. Points to consider More prescriptive than other apps We’ll admit that YNAB isn’t 100% flexible across the board. It only asks you to budget for non-immediate expenses like “dining out” after you’ve fulfilled all your “immediate obligations.” This is a sterner approach, and may feel more prescriptive than our other top picks.
But YNAB’s honesty about priorities is part of what makes the software so successful. Fewer analytical tools Compared to our other top picks, YNAB is a bit of a one-trick pony. Everything relates back to your budget: Income, expenses, and goals are all presented in terms of dollars allocated and dollars to be allocated.
This is great for keeping you on track, but it also means that YNAB lacks the trend graphics and other analytical lenses we loved from Mint, Quicken, and Personal Capital. Successful money management will hinge on whether YNAB’s specific lens works for you. Why we chose it Great for people with irregular cash flow Personal Capital lets you monitor your finances without getting too entrenched in day-to-day balance changes. If you have unpredictable paychecks, for instance, it might not make sense to stick to a set monthly budget like YNAB’s. Or maybe you have unusual spending habits, like frequent business travel. In that case, using a transaction-focused software like Mint may not be particularly useful.
Personal Capital offers a little more flexibility. It won’t send alarmist notifications if your accounts see a substantial change from one day to the next — as long as your net worth doesn’t suddenly bottom out. Bird’s-eye view of finances This big-picture outlook is represented beautifully on Personal Capital’s interface. The first thing you see after logging in is your net worth, represented in a calming blue graph. Your overall cash value is clear at a glance, and you’ll know right away whether your worth is trending upwards or down.
You also have immediate access to income and spending trends: You can see, on a monthly basis, what categories the majority of your transactions fall into. This gives you a good idea of where your money is going, and if you need to make any high-level adjustments to your spending patterns. Cash Flow (otherwise known as ‘cash on hand’) is shown just above so you know how much money is available to you at any given time. Investment tracking We loved how Personal Capital’s homepage tells you — both in real dollars and percentages — exactly how much your 401(k) or other investment holdings have gone up or down. It also lets you know whether the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and other major indices have earned or lost value, so you can keep track of the markets as you monitor your own investments. Automatically imports transaction history Personal Capital made getting started incredibly easy by importing four months’ worth of transactions right off the bat — twice as many as Mint. That means we had immediate access to a substantial history of spending and savings trends.
We didn’t have to use it for months to get a clear picture of our finances. Points to consider Vague transaction categories Unfortunately, Personal Capital doesn’t categorize those transactions as well as Intuit or YNAB. Expenses are slotted into general categories (e.g. “Transfers” instead of “Rent & Mortgage”), and the way they’re listed doesn’t show the transaction location at a glance. This makes sense with Personal Capital’s macro-view outlook; just note that if you want to keep a close eye on transactions, this software will be frustrating.
Minimal guidance Personal Capital’s interface feels like it’s saying, “Hey, here’s what you have. Do with it what you will.” By comparison, the first things you see with Intuit software and YNAB are account balances, upcoming bills, and budgets.
They feel a little more rigid — like an advisor counseling you about what you should be doing with your finances. Because it’s less focused on individual transactions and budgeting, we recommend Personal Capital for people who are already pretty financially savvy. This software will keep you in the loop about your finances without being overly prescriptive. 'What makes a personal finance software successful isn't just the app's features; it's how dedicated you are to using the app in order to reach your financial goals.' Duren Personal Finance Specialist HighYa.com It comes down to checking in often, paying attention to trends, sticking to your budgets, and making adjustments when things don’t go quite right. You’ll only be motivated to put in the work if you actually like using your software, so picking the right one is an important first step. Set goals Before starting with a personal finance software, have an honest conversation with yourself about why you need it.
Maybe you’re starting your first salaried job, and you want to learn to use your paychecks wisely. Maybe you have a hard time staying within your grocery budget. Maybe you want to save for a car or a house, but don’t know where to start.
“The most important thing is to know where you are weak and strong in your finances and then look for an app that strengthens those weaknesses and augments those strengths,” Duren told us. Test free trials If you’re not sure what features you need out of a personal finance app, then we recommend trying a couple out before committing to one. All of our top picks are either free or offer a free trial, so you can take them for a test drive and see which tools work for you. Schedule a “money date” Don’t have time to check in on your finances daily?
“Make a Money Date with yourself every week or every month,” suggests Meka West, founder and CEO of. Make sure your transactions are categorized appropriately; check your spending against your budget; and see if you want to change any of your spending or saving habits before the next Money Date. Whether daily or monthly, the most important thing is that you stick with it. Focus on developing good habits Remember: You don’t have to use every single feature.
For example, Mint will prompt you to set long-term savings goals — but if that doesn’t inspire you, you can always just use its tracking charts to make sure you’re staying on track with your day-to-day financial needs. “With any new software, you have to dip your feet in and slowly immerse yourself in the features,” says West. “It kind of starts to come together after a month.” That may sound slow-going, but think of it like working out or healthy eating: You have to put in the effort and stick to your plan, but eventually you’ll see big results. Personal Finance Software FAQ What is the 50/30/20 budget? The 50/30/20 budget is a way to break down your expenses: 50% should go towards needs like groceries, housing, and car payments, 30% on wants like eating out, shopping, or events, and 20% should be saved. How much of your income should you save? Most experts recommend devoting around 20% of your income to savings.
That includes retirement accounts like 401ks and Roth IRAs, which are taken directly out of each paycheck. While this varies from person to person — an 18-year-old working their first job probably won’t have the same saving habits as someone near retirement — it’s still a good benchmark to aim for. How much of your income should you spend on housing? You should aim to spend about 25% of your pre-tax income on rent or your mortgage.
While that might not sound like much, keep in mind that you’ll likely still have to factor in additional expenses like utilities, TV and internet service, and possibly renters or homeowners insurance. What is personal finance software? Personal finance software gives you a (cheap or free) personal accountant wherever you go. It can help you set and stick to a budget, track what you’re spending your money on, and give you advice on how you can reach your financial goals. Advertisement Disclosure has an advertising relationship with some of the offers included on this page. However, the rankings and listings of our reviews, tools and all other content are based on objective analysis. For more information, please check out our full.
Strives to keep its information accurate and up to date. The information in our reviews could be different from what you find when visiting a financial institution, service provider or a specific product’s website. All products are presented without warranty.