Get Your Financial House in Order
Gone are the days when you could tell how much money you had by looking in your wallet or at your checkbook balance. These days, many people only carry debit and credit cards—no cash. You find your checking account balance or check stock prices by reaching for your smartphone.
Best Personal Finance Software – The Top Money Apps for 2018 Personal finance software has been around for several decades. Since the internet was invented, we’ve looked for ways to manage our household and investment accounts in an uncomplicated way. The app is robust enough to manage both your personal and business expenses and even handles property management functions like rental payments from tenants. The software starts at $34.99 and is available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android. Money 5 by Jumsoft is the best personal finance app for macOS and iOS. It’s the most beautiful money management app you will find for macOS and iOS. It’s the easiest to use accounting software.
This personal finance software has all the features competing Macintosh apps have and a few features typically available only on Quicken for Windows. However, you must have the latest edition of iOS in order to use this software.
But how easy is it to discover how much money you've spent on lattes, gas, or work clothes this month? Do you know what the car dealer is going to learn about your credit history when you go in to buy a new vehicle? If you're a self-employed worker, how fast can you find out whether you're on track with your income this month?
There are many websites that handle personal finance exceedingly well. We review five of the best here. Quicken, the granddaddy of all personal financial solutions, is now a hybrid solution. The software still resides on the desktop, but the 2018 and 2019 versions offer access to a website that contains Quicken's most often-used features and synchronizes its data with your own personal file. So, you can check in on your income, expenses, and investments on the go.
Critical Connections
Best Personal Finance App For Mac Uk
Quicken's online companion app is the biggest recent news in the personal finance world. But all of the applications we reviewed have new features, and they share some common characteristics. Most of them support online connections to your financial institutions. That is, you can download cleared transactions and other account data from your banks, bank card providers, brokerages, and other financial institutions, and see all of it neatly displayed in registers in the applications. Typically, you only have to enter the credentials that you use to log into those financial sites, though you occasionally have to provide additional security information.
Best fastest anti virus for mac. Once you've imported a batch of transactions, you can work with them in numerous ways. For example, they need to be categorized correctly as income (salary, freelance payment, and interest, for example) and expenses (food, mortgage, utilities, and so on). The personal finance sites guess at what an appropriate category might be, but you can always change it—and you can split transactions between different classifications. If you're conscientious about this, you'll see charts that tell you where you're spending your money. This information can also be helpful when tax preparation time rolls around.
Depending on which website you're using, you might be able to add tags to transactions. That way, you can search for those that are related in ways other than through their category assignments. You can add notes and attach files, too. If you bought something with cash, your bank wouldn't have a record of it. In those circumstances, you can create a transaction manually. CountAbout goes a step further, providing an additional set of tools that let you make recurring transactions (or flag them).
A Different Kind of Dashboard
Four of the five personal finance websites reviewed here have what's called a dashboard. It's basically each site's home page, or the first screen you see when you log in. Sometimes, the dashboard is the only screen you'll need to see, because it displays the information you most need when you're checking on your financial situation. You'll learn what all of your account balances are and perhaps any bills that are pending.
You'll see charts and graphs that tell you, for example, what your income is versus your spending, and how you're doing on your budget. You may be able to gauge your progress on any goals you've set and view your investment portfolio, with live prices if it's during the market day.
Best websites for mac downloads. Basically, this overview shows you snippets of the detailed data that lies behind the numbers on this opening page. Click on a checking account balance in Mint, for example, and this link takes you to the account's register. Click on your credit score in Credit Karma, and you'll learn what contributes to it and how it's changed recently. So the dashboard on a personal finance website can either provide a quick look at your money situation or it can serve as a springboard to a deeper study of the numbers.
Budgets, Goals, and Bills
If you're a freelancer or sole proprietor, budgets can be challenging. You don't know for sure how much money you'll make in a given month like a W-2 employee does. Being conscientious about your finances includes trying to curb your spending so that it comes in below your income. Note: Freelancers and sole proprietors might find that a small business accounting website is a better fit.
The mechanics of creating a workable budget are much easier than the process of specifying your limits. Mint, for example, treats each category as a budget. You select one, choose a frequency for it (every month, etc.), and enter an amount. The site shows you how well you're adhering to each budget by displaying a series of colored horizontal bars that show where your spending is currently compared with your budgeted amount. Green means you're doing OK, and red means you've gone over your self-imposed limit. You can tweak each budget as you learn more about your spending habits by clicking up and down arrows.
Other applications, like Quicken, consider a budget to be a comprehensive table that contains all categories. The software also lets you view your budgets by a variety of time periods (monthly, annually, and so on).
Setting goals, like trying to establish an emergency fund, isn't rocket science. You specify the amount you're trying to save and your target date for achieving it, and the application tells you how much you have to save every month to achieve it. NerdWallet, for example, lets you link your goals to the appropriate spending account so your progress is automatically tracked. Quicken Deluxe includes additional planning tools that help you accelerate debt reduction, plan for taxes, and establish a comprehensive lifetime financial plan.
None of the sites we reviewed offer bill-paying tools, but some let you at least record bills and bill payments, because those can figure into your personal finance picture so significantly. Mint is especially good at this. You can set up a connection to online billers or enter offline bills automatically. The site alerts you when they're due to be paid and lets you record payments manually if they don't get downloaded as cleared transactions from your bank.
An Important Number
An excellent credit score is gold. Beyond helping you get approved for a credit card, mortgage, car loan, etc., it often helps minimize the interest rate you'll pay. So it's important to know not only what it is at any given time, but also to understand how it gets calculated and what you can do to improve it.
Credit Karma and NerdWallet, both free websites, can meet all of these critical needs. Credit Karma is especially comprehensive and efficient here. It pulls your score regularly from two of the three major bureaus, and gives you access to your credit reports.
One of the ways you can improve your credit score is to use financial products—credit cards, mortgages—that have attractive interest rates and other benefits, making it easier for you to pay off debt as quickly as possible. The three free websites we reviewed (Mint, Credit Karma, and NerdWallet) help pay for the services they provide by displaying ads for products that might appeal to you based on your credit profile. You can also browse marketplaces for additional candidates.
Of course, frequently cancelling credit cards to get new, different ones can affect your credit score. Still, it's good to learn about these suggested products so that when the time comes, you'll know what the best options are.
Other Considerations
You may only want to use a personal finance site for day-to-day income- and expense-management, budgeting, and goal setting. But financial sites like Quicken and Mint let you track all of your assets, including homes, vehicles, and investment holdings. If you keep your financial data updated, the applications keep a running tally that, when combined with your debt, give you your total net worth.
You probably don't need advanced tools when you're away from your computer or laptop. But when you're out spending money, it's good to know how much you have. All of the solutions we reviewed offer both Android apps and iOS apps. They don't have all of the features found on the browser-based or software versions, but you can at least check your account balances, view and add transactions, and see graphs illustrating numbers related to things like spending and cash flow. You may also be able to get your credit score and check the status of pending bills.
Are all of the applications reviewed easy to use? The short answer is yes. Credit Karma and Mint are the most user-friendly, incorporating state-of-the-art interfaces with can't-miss navigation tools. NerdWallet tries to blend editorial content on personal finance with credit score and limited income/expense-tracking tools; these dual purposes make the site somewhat confusing until you understand how the two co-exist. CountAbout is certainly easy enough to use, but its user interface looks outdated. And because Quicken has been around for so long and offers so much, its user experience is a little uneven. This blending of old and new content can be a little jarring when compared with a solution built from the ground up to live online.
Each of these personal finance solutions offers something the others don't. But their skill at delivering the tools consumers need, and the cost at which they offer them, varies widely. Mint has won our Editors' Choice before, and it does so again this time for free personal finance services. Quicken, on the other hand, wins the Editors' Choice for paid personal finance services. We'd absolutely send people first to Mint if they're considering online personal finance because of its usability, its thorough selection of tools, and the feedback it provides users who keep up their end of the bargain by visiting it regularly. And, of course, it's free.
If you're looking to keep your life further organized, you can also check out our roundup of the best to-do list apps.
Best Personal Finance Services Featured in This Roundup:
Mint.com Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free, fast, and easy. Highly automated. Simple budgeting tools. Alerts. Checks credit score. Good mobile support, including Apple Watch.Cons: Only supports US and Canadian accounts. Discontinued bill pay. Weak investing tools. No account reconciliation.Bottom Line: Mint is a free personal finance service that's in a class by itself. No rival provides such a comprehensive collection of tools if you want to track your spending and budgeting or want a comprehensive overview of your net worth.Read ReviewQuicken Deluxe Review
MSRP: $49.99Pros: Robust set of personal finance, planning, and investment tools. New companion site. Flexible transaction tracking. Useful reports and graphs. Excellent support options.Cons: Expensive. Inconsistent user experience. Electronic bill pay not available in all plans.Bottom Line: Quicken Deluxe contains more personal finance management tools than any competitor, but it's relatively expensive and many features aren't available in the mobile apps.Read ReviewCredit Karma Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Free. Excellent user experience. Explains rationale for credit scores and reports. Suggests solutions for problem areas. Pulls data from third-party services.Cons: Intrusive financial product recommendations. Only displays two credit scores. Can't change auto-logout setting.Bottom Line: Credit Karma offers credit scores and reports, along with recommendations for financial products. It does a good job of helping you understand your credit, though some may find the ads distracting.Read ReviewNerdWallet Review
MSRP: $0.00Pros: Tracks income and expenses. Thorough handling of credit score issues. Includes useful editorial content. Strong financial product browsing and educational tools.Cons: Only five transaction categories. Confusing navigation. Only displays one credit score.Bottom Line: NerdWallet helps you understand and improve your credit score via numerous useful tools. Still, the service would be more effective if it offered a better organized user experience.Read ReviewCountAbout Review
MSRP: $9.99Pros: Imports Mint and Quicken data. Thorough budget. Good transaction tracking. Customizable categories and tags. Exceptional recurring transaction options.Cons: Dated user interface. No dashboard. Unwieldy category list. Limited mobile apps.Bottom Line: If you need a reasonably priced personal finance service that doesn't have tons of adds, CountAbout is a decent alternative to Mint and Quicken. It has a dated interface and limited mobile apps, however.Read Review
Whether you've got an investment portfolio the size of Texas or you're just trying to keep a balanced checkbook, nothing's more useful than a well made personal finance application. The hard part is finding the right tool to fit your needs. On Tuesday we asked you to share your favorite personal finance tools, and today we're back with the five most popular answers. Hit the jump for a look at the five best personal finance applications, then cast your vote for your favorite app of the bunch.
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Mint (Web-based)
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Mint is a web-based personal finance software that's made a splash over the last year because of its simple setup and easy to use budgeting tools. The service, which is completely free to use, automatically retrieves your latest financial data from your online financial institutions, then analyzes and integrates it with their service. Mint's many budgeting tools, alerts, and charts help you manage your spending with ease, and it's also just added investments. It can't do the most complex of budgeting, but Mint's a favorite for people who can't wrap their head around more feature-rich personal finance tools. (Read more)
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Excel (Windows/Mac)
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It may not be made exclusively for managing your budget, but Microsoft Excel is a DIY budgeter and spreadsheet-lover's dream come true. The biggest plus to Excel: If you're willing to put in the effort, it can slice and dice your finances in practically any way you dream up. The downside to that is that you have to have the Excel chops to get the most out of it, though you can also check out one of our previously mentioned Excel budgetspreadsheets. Excel can't automatically import your financial statements, but some users see this as a plus because it helps them keep a better mental picture of the money they've spent if they have to manually record it. Excel will set you back $230, Windows and Mac only.
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Quicken (Windows/Mac)
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First released in 1983, Quicken has long been a leader in personal finance software for the desktop, and earlier this year they launched Quicken Online to compete with some of their web-based counterparts. Quicken can handle both simple and complex budgets without batting an eye, and—as opposed to some of its web-based counterparts—it provides tools to reconcile your spending rather than just trusting your bank and credit card statements outright. Desktop versions of Quicken range in price from $30 to $100, while Quicken Online costs $2.99 per month. Quicken is available on both Windows and Mac.
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![What Is The Best Personal Finance App For Mac What Is The Best Personal Finance App For Mac](/uploads/1/3/3/9/133946637/330161049.jpg)
Yodlee (Web-based)
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While Mint gets most of the hype among web-based personal finance apps, web application Yodlee is actually the back-end that runs most of Mint (i.e., when you're using Mint, it's much like you're using Yodlee in newer clothes). That means it automatically connects to and updates information from your financial institutions for you, and provides similar features for alerts and reminders that you don't get from desktop software (except when it's running). Yodlee is free to use.
Microsoft Money (Windows)
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https://kwgpyc.weebly.com/blog/whats-the-best-audio-recorder-for-mac. Launched in 1991, Microsoft Money was Redmond's answer to Quicken (ignoring Excel, that is). Though MS Money is currently falling behind in the web arena, that doesn't seem to be a problem for die-hard Money users, many of whom prefer their financial information stays firmly rooted on their desktop. While some Microsoft Money lovers admit that the software can be obtuse, they also promise that—once you learn the ins and outs of Money—you won't be disappointed. Microsoft Money comes in many versions ranging from $20 to $60, Windows only.
Now that you've seen the best as voted on by your peers, it's time to pick your favorite:
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Which Is the Best Personal Finance Tool?
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Which Is the Best Personal Finance Tool?
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This week's honorable mentions go out to web-based tool Mvelopes and the free, cross-platform desktop application GnuCash. Whether your favorite made the Hive Five or not, let's hear more about why you love it in the comments.
Personal Finance Apps For Mac
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