Personal Finance Software

[Angio333]

What personal finance software would you reccomend?

[bankaround]

Quicken Deluxe 2008 is a popular one.

Mint (the online service) is a good free online service.

[FrugalIII]

I've used Quicken Deluxe for 13 years and love it. I'd be lost without it.

[Merch]

I use Mvelopes.com

[Angio333]

Does anyone use Microsoft Money?

[DebtFreeMe2]

Since I'm a math geek I like to build my own spread sheets in excel. That way with any financial decision I have to make, I know not only what the math tells me, but I also know the logic behind how it got to that answer.

DebtFreeMe2

[JanH]

I use Excel, too. Have sheets at hand for all kinds of information. Main budget is based on Mvelopes type of thing with decreasing balances when receipts are plugged in. I love the ease of it and ease of changing it when circumstances require it.

[zetta]

I used Quicken for a number of years, and while it generates nice reports, I found the budget was always backward looking rather than a tool that helped keep me on track. I recently tried using it to analyze my investments, and was very unsatisfied (Morningstar x-ray was much better.)

I highly recommend You Need A Budget -- Personal Budget Software - Excel Budgeting Template, Free Personal Finance Spreadsheets. Its system is similar to envelope-based budgeting, and rolls with unexpected events better than Quicken does.

Mvelopes is good, too, but YNAB is cheaper.

[mrpaseo]

Since I'm a math geek I like to build my own spread sheets in excel. That way with any financial decision I have to make, I know not only what the math tells me, but I also know the logic behind how it got to that answer.

DebtFreeMe2

I too have built my own spreadsheets in excel, I have a few if anyone is interested drop me an e-mail and I will send a copy to you.

Ray

[Coleroo]

Does anyone use Microsoft Money?

I used MS Money for many years (even the palm pilot version). It did exactly what I wanted it to do....BUT, I did feel it was extremely bloated. There were so many features on there that I truly didn't want or need. When many of my banks (credit cards) started charging an "access" fee to sync statements to MS money, I gave it up.

I used the basic Quicken for a time, and found it was nicely streamlined with bare bones features, but I didn't like how it sync'ed accounts.

Now, my husband and I use an old fashioned balance sheet with one sheet per budget category. Meaning = pencil and paper! Never thought I'd love it as much as I do. I guess some electronic programs have a way of making things harder than they should be, and when you return to tried and true methods it feels refreshing.

[red92s]

Mint.com here . . . but compared to many, my finances are fairly simple at the moment and I don't need a more complex tool. Mint does exactly what I need, without bogging me down with too many additional features.

[stressedmama]

Ditto on using MS Excel. You can easily customize your own spreadsheets / graphs.

[b4freedom]

I have MS Money and Basic Quicken. However, I use an OpenOffice spreadsheet the most.

Why? I stay reasonably within a budget. What I find the most helpful is to know what my projected cash flow is. Once every few months, I update my budget numbers, and then plot out the budgeted numbers into the spreadsheet. I then graph it. Weekly I look at it and adjust the numbers as needed. This allows me to see what direction I'm moving over time and when I need to move more money into my checking account or move more money from the checking account into an investment vehicle. If I want to create a "what-if" scenerio, I make a copy and put the "what-if" value into the spreadsheet, this gives me a clear picture of how that "what-if" will affect my future financials.

I've looked and haven't found any quality programs that do this the way I want it done. Basically, I want a program that allows me to enter in a basic budget and then plot the next year for me allowing me to update it as I go.

[Seeker]

I've used MS Money for a good many years myself. I'm using an older version (2004 maybe) and do not use all the features even within that version. I have no need to upgrade just because MS decides to put out a new version every year.

[Coleroo]

I've used MS Money for a good many years myself. I'm using an older version (2004 maybe) and do not use all the features even within that version. I have no need to upgrade just because MS decides to put out a new version every year.

I hated the way they have all sorts of built in advertising once the new version comes out...pop ups, side links, "warnings", etc. I think 2004 was the last version I used too.