Best budgeting apps

jsyscotia

Hi
Can anyone give a recommendation on the best app to track your spending / budget ? Ideally one that gets the info directly from my bank account

Thanks

colsten

YNAB
AceMoney
MS Money
BankTree

all of the above have been / are being discussed on this forum and you can search for the threads.

MS Money and AceMoney allow you to import OFX and other files from banks and credit card firms. They both support investments, too. YNAB seems to be the most popular with people who are just starting out and those who don't have investments. MS Money, and it's clone AceMoney, are considered the best by a long way by many forumites. BankTree is a UK-developed product (most others are US developed) and has a live import option which costs a monthly fee.

YNAB and BankTree are probably the most expensive. AceMoney costs $39.99 and MS Money is free as it is not longer supported by MS.

amanita

YNAB doesn't get info directly from the bank, but you can import files.

I use the mobile app to add transactions (it uses GPS to remember which shop you recorded while standing there) and remembers the budget last used with that shop too.

To be honest, you have to categorise the transactions anyway, so I don't miss direct import. I just have Money Dashboard open for reconciling.

It's saved us a fortune, if only because we can finally properly track our budget, and be more easily disciplined about overspending (has to come out of another budget then.

mrmajika

Money Dashboard fits with your requirements.
https://www.moneydashboard.com/

I've been using it for about 6 months and enjoy its interface and automated transaction retrieval and tagging.

I've not used any others so can't compare with alternatives.

bobobski

cmjrees wrote: »

YNAB doesn't get info directly from the bank

Yes it does. However, part of the point of budgeting is that your bank account does not show you how much money you have spent, as most transactions do not appear instantly, so I do not use this feature and I do not recommend using it in general.

amanita

bobobski wrote: »

Yes it does. However, part of the point of budgeting is that your bank account does not show you how much money you have spent, as most transactions do not appear instantly, so I do not use this feature and I do not recommend using it in general.

No, in this country it does not. You can however import statement exports, which is not at all the same thing.

I agree that it's better unused anyway.

jonesMUFCforever

What's wrong with a piece of paper and a pencil?

colsten

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

What's wrong with a piece of paper and a pencil?

Wouldn't do the job for me as I have a lot more than one account to monitor. It's also a bit 1990

amanita

I used a spreadsheet for years, but the great thing about these software is that you can dynamically handle tens of tiny "pots" of money, roll over surplus and make far more savings with better awareness.

Oh, and my wife actually uses the app, rather than asking me what she has to put on the spreadsheet! Our expenditure has dropped by literally hundreds per month. I'm sure all of these solutions will achieve that, not just YNAB.

colsten

cmjrees wrote: »

I'm sure all of these solutions will achieve that, not just YNAB.

I would agree, very much so - though YNAB have cleverly got a Unique Selling Point in that they are holding 'free' webinars to help people to get going. It's of course costing people in the monthly usage charge but some do swear by those webinars. Horses for courses, as with everything in life.

Emanef

It's frustrating that UK banks seem to be reluctant to allow agregators (such as Money Dashboard) to access accounts. I've been looking at options and there is very little. Apps where you have to import a file are pretty convolute, ie log in to every account you have to download statements, import them and check they are correctly imported, which must be done fairly regularly as most banks only allow two or three months of statement download, especially when you have a lot of accounts.

Things like OnTree and Money Dashboard seem so much more "2017", but I worry about giving my logins to third parties. They say they can't do anything with it and their software only has read access, but the logins you're giving them are your same full access which does give the power to move, withdraw, etc. Banks seem way to slow to be creating a secure level that does give read only access that would make them much more secure and safe.

Probably because more people would use them and realise when they should be moving money out of accounts.... :undecided