Personal finance, online banking and budget software

majdnem

Hi
I've been investigating some personal finance, online banking and budgeting software. Never heard of them before this afternoon, so there's been quite a learning curve. The software I'm talking about lets you

• check all your online bank accounts,
• add in information from non-online acounts,
• manage share portfolios,
• trade stocks,
• get current tax info,
• pay bills,
• export your data to other (e.g. tax) software,
• provide reports and graphs illustrating where your money has been, where it is and where it’s going...

Sounds good to me... The two big market leaders are Microsoft Money and Quicken. But there are also several other cheaper or even free software options. I’m interested in these partly coz I have read that these two big ones sometimes *require* upgrades every couple of years and stop providing support for old versions. (Is this true?) Anyway, I have included a list below. I would really appreciate any comment from anyone who uses any of these - any recommendations before i spend time setting one of them up only to find it doesn't do what it sez on the can...

Overview:
http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Quicken
http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/quicken-deluxe-review.html

Microsoft Money
http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/microsoft-money-deluxe-review.html

Moneydance 2006
http://moneydance.com/

AceMoney
http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/

HouseHold Accounting
http://householdaccounting.netfirms.com/

Accounts and Budget
http://www.alauxsoft.com/prodindan.htm

Budget
http://www.snowmintcs.com/

Metalogic Finance Explorer
http://www.metalogicsw.com/financeexplorer/index.html

Money Manager Ex
http://www.thezeal.com/software/index.php?Money_Manager_Ex

Checklite
http://www.checklite.com/download.htm

majdnem

Replying to myself, that's kinda sad...
A revised list:
Overview:
http://personal-finance-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Microsoft Money - Cheapest on Amazon £22
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/money/default.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/homepc/money/order.mspx

Personal accounts - £19 download
http://www.personalaccounts.co.uk/home.html
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000A0ZLY0/o/qid=1148388755/sr=2-3/ref=sr_bt_3/026-8878142-1460440

AceMoney - $30 / £16
http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/

accountz - £19 home edition
http://www.accountz.com/index.html

HouseHold Accounting - $20 / £11
http://householdaccounting.netfirms.com/

Accounts and Budget - €15 / £20
http://www.alauxsoft.com/prodindan.htm

Budget - $30 / £16
http://www.snowmintcs.com/

Checklite - £8.37
http://www.checklite.com/download.htm

Metalogic Finance Explorer – Free!
http://www.metalogicsw.com/financeexplorer/index.html

Money Manager Ex - Free
http://www.thezeal.com/software/index.php?Money_Manager_Ex


NB – you might read about Quicken as the main rival to MS Money, but Quicken has been discontinued in the UK. http://www.quicken.co.uk/

Another main rival to MS Money is Moneydance http://moneydance.com/ - but some reviews I have read suggest that this is American software and doesn’t adapt well to the UK.

sloughflint

I paid £12.49 for MS Money in PC World back in January.

toastydave

sloughflint wrote:

I paid £12.49 for MS Money in PC World back in January.

and you were done!

If you want to spend hours sitting in front of the computer fixing errors and trying to balance money to reflect you accounts then this is the product for you!

Main drawbacks are High web integration, your never really sure if you looking at info from your computer or t'internet Nice when you trying to keep your details secure. Only one bank (Nationwide) supports direct download and only a hand full of banks offer any support at!

Try something else, just look at the reviews on amazon.co.uk (click here)

Lawbag_2

so which one of these lovely programs is the best?
guess Im too lazy to check them all out

toastydave

Lawbag wrote:

so which one of these lovely programs is the best?
guess Im too lazy to check them all out

That’s just the problem; I got MS money to help me keep a track on my finances with no effort.

As the UK market stands at the moment, with only one bank automated with money you have to know all of your balances, debits and credits before using money to make sure its right!

The solution I think I will go for is the Coventry Building society, it has one high rate for savings and current account, thus you can leave all your money in one account get good interest and track all changes easily

anley1

Thanks majd, so what you thinking, what looks a good program?

Wadadli4Sun

Just my small bit...........

I have been using AceMoney 'Lite' for some years now. It is the personal edition and it is FREE:j .

Not the most user friendly, but it does all I need.

Here is the link http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/index_lite.shtml

Regards, Wadadli