Until as late as a decade ago, there were no apps, let alone good apps, for money management and personal finance. Today, the scenario couldn’t be more different—gone are the days when you had to wait for the bank account or a credit card statement to arrive by mail or visit the bank to perform basic fund transfers. Today, people are more in control when it comes to money access. However, that also means that spending has become a little more reckless.
It is never too late to begin correcting one’s financial health and technology plays a great part in it today. Armed with smartphones in our hands, we have the means to manage money in better ways now with today’s great crop of personal finance software and personal finance apps. Listed below are some of the best ones:
Quicken
Quicken is a giant when it comes to personal finance software, apps, and tools—the personal finance software was launched way back in the year 1983. Unlike most other Internet-based apps, Quicken is an offline personal finance software which you install on your PC or laptop. With a price of $74.99 annually, the well-aged tool now has a brand-new 2018 promising edition which features free Quicken bill pay option, 5GB of secure online backup and expanded custom reporting. This software works perfectly well for managing investments, business accounts, and personal finances in one place, neatly linking transactions between all accounts. The software also features various prediction and budgeting tools to help users stay on track of their financial health.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a crowd favorite when it comes to personal finance software and apps. The chief objective of this person finance software is to track the user’s savings, assets, and investments, rather than focusing on the current accounts. It gives users a bigger, better idea of their finances as well as assist them in what they can do to save better, whether they are on the course of a comfortable retirement and even indicate whether their assets are working for them or not. The app, which is geared towards investments such as 401k and IRA, is quite the perfect way to grow one’s wealth. The app features a financial dashboard where users can see all their money in one place, providing statistics and specific advice based on the user’s goals and their current standing. In fact, the dashboard of Personal Capital even has a built-in option for consultation with a financial advisor if the user needs it, but this access is limited to customers who have a minimum amount of $100,000 in their account. Moreover, for this service, it also charges an annual fee (0.49–0.89%) for assets management services.
You Need A Budget
If a change in your budget is what you’re looking for, then the “You Need A Budget” (YNAB) app is the one for you. Not only does it track your expenses, but it also helps users build a budget and actually stick to it, which is the most difficult part. Priced at around $50 annually, YNAB’s chief objective is to help users avoid living from paycheck to paycheck by curbing excessiveness and overspending by having 4 important methodologies—aging your money, rolling with the punches, embracing your true expenses, and giving every dollar a job. Once you stick with it, YNAB will make sure that you are spending the previous month’s money rather than what you’ve just earned as income. YNAB is user-friendly, installs quickly, supports much transaction information, and adjusts itself for small business or personal needs depending on what the user wants.
Buxfer
Buxfer is a great personal finance software when it comes to presenting the user’s finances in a professional, clean, and mess-free manner rather than slathering the dashboard with colors and effects. The app currently boasts of a huge user base with almost 2 trillion dollars of funds to manage.
Buxfer doesn’t stop at that. The app doesn’t need its users to give their exact bank details—in fact, users have the option to go for offline manual syncing with their bank accounts—but you can do so, since not only is it audited regularly but the company also employs a high-level encryption layer to protect user data. However, what one will like the best are Buxfer’s budgeting tools which feature strong visual reporting and flexible categorizing of expenditure. Buxfer features three levels of pricing—the Free version, the Plus version priced at $3.99/month and the Pro version priced at $4.99/month. The free version features 5 bill reminders, accounts, and budgets, while these are unlimited in the Plus version. The Pro version includes all this and adds advanced forecasts, online payments, and much more.
Tiller
Tiller is the only personal finance software service out there which connects with the user’s credit cards and banks and collates into Google Docs the daily transaction data. Users can either have their own template or choose from numerous ones and Tiller automatically updates from more than 100,000 financial institutions. The app neither has ads or pitches and has a monthly subscription.
