Oct 15, 2017 - We look at 5 of the best alternatives in this article. It also happens to be my favorite and the one I use every day. One persistent problem with all personal finance software is issues connecting to financial institutions. Nov 21, 2018 Best Smart Home Devices. The software still resides on the desktop, but the 2018 and 2019 versions offer access to a website that contains Quicken's most.
. Tips. Be sure to investigate the security of a site or program before entering your personal financial data. If you choose to purchase any personal-finance software, search online for any coupon codes or discounts.
Tax programs are ideal if your tax return is relatively simple. Make sure the program you're considering is current with the latest tax code. Related How-Tos. Feedback. » Hop in your car for a long drive and you probably start glancing at your speed, gas, miles and temperature gauges. Yet during that other long drive known as life, most of us turn a blind eye to our financial gauges—either out of fear or because we aren’t sure what to do about what we see.
When installed on your computer, financial software functions like a dashboard for your money, tracking your transactions and giving you early warning when problems arise. Most programs track and display your budget, spending, banking, bills, savings, investments, retirement plans and debt levels—all in one convenient place. The more often you look at these numbers, the richer you’re likely to become. Studies show that people who get into the habit of monitoring their money wind up wealthier than those who don’t. Generally, financial software divides into two broad categories—money-management and tax-preparation programs.
Among the best-known money management programs are Intuit’s,. Web-based money management programs include,. For tax preparation, Intuit’s and are the leading brands. Money-management software offers:. Budgeting — You set spending limits and manage your cash flow. Banking — Pay bills electronically on time, print checks and reconcile account balances. Planning — Monitor and pay down debt, estimate major life expenses, forecast retirement needs, and run calculations.
Investing — Get stock quotes and track your portfolios. Reports — Print out summarizations and charts of your finances for review. Taxes — Export financial data into tax-preparation software. Tax-prep software offers:. Planning — Get tax advice on retirement, estate plans, investing and small business. Importing — Allows financial data to be transferred in from other software programs.
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Forms — Access federal and state forms. Reference — Latest IRS publications inform you of rules and regulations. Deductions — Information on applicable itemized deductions.
Error checks — Reviews returns for miscalculations. Online filing — Confirmation that e-filed tax returns have been received as well as status updates.
Should You Buy It? You could track your finances for free using a pad and pen—or an Excel spreadsheet. But the tedium of doing so could result in mistakes and make you give up.
Money-management software organizes your day-to-day financial life in a way that’s easy to grasp at a glance and automatically updates much of the data. Even if you use a certified financial planner (CFP) or financial adviser, these experts focus on the big picture, not your day-to-day money matters. So money management software is still key for tracking your financial life. If you employ a certified public accountant (CPA) for ongoing tax advice or a tax preparer for your returns, tax-prep software may be unnecessary. However, if you’re unsure whether software would be a less expensive alternative to your tax preparer, you can conduct a free trial of a tax-prep program (usually available on the maker’s Web site) to see how your results compare with professional help before making the switch.
Choosing a Program There are dozens of money-management and tax-prep software programs on the market. Some are downloads or discs that are installed on your computer. Others are web-based and house your data online. Take an online tour or download a free trial version before making a purchase. You want see that a program’s pages are logically designed, that the setup will work smoothly for you and that its features can handle your financial needs. Not all programs offer the same features, and some provide more bells and whistles than you may want or need, such as the ability to find loan rates and link to a account.
To get the best deal on a money-management or tax-prep program, type the program’s name + “coupon” into Google and compare prices. Many sites offer e-coupon codes that are good at online retailers such as. Money-management programs. These financial programs can be purchased online or in stores—or downloaded for a fee and then installed on your computer. They are ideal for anyone who wants to ensure privacy, since the information will be only on your computer. Just remember to back up your computer regularly to an external hard drive to ensure your data is protected should your computer be damaged or crash.
Popular programs include:. Free web-based money-management sites. These sites host your data online. You open a free account and type your financial data onto money-management screens in a secure, privacy-protected space. The sites make money through advertising and other marketing strategies. The good news is that your data is available from any computer by using your password. And if your computer fails, your data will be unaffected.
These sites are ideal for those who can’t afford pricey programs or want to see whether free site-based help will suffice for their financial needs. The potential drawbacks: You get what you pay for, and many people may wonder just how safe their most data is sitting on someone else’s server. Popular sites include:. Tax-preparation programs. These computer-based programs guide you through the preparation of your tax returns and help you file the results electronically with the IRS and state tax departments.
These programs are ideal if you have relatively simple returns and want to save on the annual cost of using a tax-preparation service. However, you may want to hold off purchasing a program until after any changes in the tax code are enacted in 2009 and programs are updated. Popular programs:.
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Whether you have a lot or a little, everyone needs to manage their money. Like so many areas of life, you can do things entirely by hand, or you can turn to software to make your life easier.
There's a wealth – if you'll pardon the pun – of personal finance tools out there, but many of them involve having to put your hand into your pocket, dig deep and part with some hard-earned cash. You could, of course, pay an accountant to take care of your money for you, but this involves and outlay that you might well prefer to avoid. Take a look through the selection of free tools we've collected together, and you should find something that suits your personal finance needs, making it easier to keep track of your money. This free personal finance software could hopefully save you some money too or, at the very least, see where you're currently spending it. Cross-platform is simple enough to be used for home finances, but flexible enough to be put to use by small businesses as well. While the software is easy to use, the fact that it's suitable for small business accounting is thanks to the inclusion of a number of extra features that you would not necessarily expect to find – support for payroll management and double-entry accounting, for instance. Although relatively easy to use, this free personal finance software does really require some familiarity with accounting software, and it's simple to migrate from another program because you can import data in QIF and dOFX formats.
Support for expense tracking makes this ideal software for preparing for tax season, and there are a huge number of reporting options to help you to make sense of your cashflow. The software is available for macOS, Windows and Linux, as well as Android, and it's highly recommended that you try out this great tool before you consider any of the paid-for alternatives. Requires Java Proving that free personal finance software doesn’t have to be complicated, Buddi keeps things about as simple as they can be. In a matter of minutes, you can set up all of the accounts you need and start keeping track of your incomings and outgoings. Money can be easily pulled from and moved between different accounts, and Buddi can generate all sort of reports about your spending and earnings broken down in a variety of ways. If you're looking to save money, the program can help you to stick to a budget and for anyone who is completely new to the concept of accounting, the Buddi website has a number of helpful guides to help get you started. On the downside, Buddi requires you to have Java installed which is not going to be to everyone's liking, and the software itself has not been updated for a little while.
Neither of these two factors are enough to stop us from recommending that you take a look at the program – it could well be just what you've been looking for. Doesn't link to online accounts Billing itself as an alternative to Quicken sets a high bar for, but it's a target it manages to reach, even in its free, cut-down iteration. There's only support for two accounts in AceMoney Lite, but this should be enough for many people – and the full edition of the program is only $40 (around £30, AU$50) anyway. You can even use the program to keep track of your PayPal account. Managing accounts in different currencies is no problem, but you'll have to enter data into this free personal finance software rather than having your transactions pulled in from your bank account. That said, if you download statements from your online bank account, these can then be imported to saved time with manual entry.
AceMoney Lite also makes it easy to track your spending and investments, making it a great financial tool for anyone looking to take control of their finances. Supports unlimited accounts HomeBank will appeal if you work on multiple platforms, or don't use Windows by default. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux (there's also an Android app in development) HomeBank can be installed normally or as a portable app, and it makes the topic of personal finance easily accessible. If you've been using another program – such as Quicken or Microsoft Money – to manage your finances, you can import data to save having to start from scratch. You can add an unlimited number of accounts to the program, and they can be linked to each other to allow for easy money transfers – it is all entirely dependent on manual editing, though.
With enough data entered, it's possible to generate all manner of reports, including helpful predictive reports for car ownership and the like. Very much designed with the average person in mind, this is a personal finance app for people who hate personal finance apps. Imports data from other apps Buxfer is an online tool that makes it easy to manage all of your accounts in one place – although there is also an Android app available. There's support for over 15,000 online bank accounts from all over the world, so you should find that yours is there, and then you can pull in all of your transactions without the need for manual entry. Buxfer can also pull in data in from the likes of Quicken and Mint, help you manage budgets and forecast costs and earnings, and track investments with ease. You will have to spend time categorizing transactions manually if you upload them from your statements, but this isn't too much of a chore.
You can set up alerts, track bills, and predict spending patterns; it's a highly versatile tool. There is a free version of service available, but there are also three paid-for tiers ranging in price from $1.99 to $4.99 per month. It's worth taking the free version for a spin to see if it could do the job for you – this will let you work with up to five accounts, which is likely to be enough for most people. Save even more money with our pick of the best.