Best money/ wealth management app

Daliah

Malkytheheed said:

Im reading that MS Money was disconntinued in 2008! And doesn't work with Windows 10 

I am well aware it was discontinued. This doesn't mean it doesn't have superb functionality, and yes, it works with Windows 10. If you search the forum, it's been discussed many times, and many forumites are still using it and wouldn't swap it for one of the newfangled apps because they can't touch it.

Tonys101

There is no app in the world that can connect all your accounts.

Unless you want to  go into each account individually, lumio is quite new it uses money hub to connect some apps. 

As far as I am aware yeah it is regulated. 

Lumio is registered as a Payment Services Directive Agent of Moneyhub Financial Technology Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. 

Plus if you have too many accounts how the hell do you even manage them. I have around five and the app loads quick for me I also get good good responses from the help team with questions

Daliah

Lumio may be registered and all that (I know it is), but I have had my account deleted as it is frighteningly intrusive. When I tried it out, I just added a couple of accounts. Next thing I knew was it showed me a "last paid" transaction from an account I had not added, but for which I had the app on my phone. So it obviously snoops round your phone for other banking apps and goodness knows what else.

I also got a text from HL, which I had added to Lumio, out of the blue, with a 2FA access code to my HL account. I did not even use Lumio at the time - in fact, the app had already been removed from my phone by the time this happened. Now I know that I have given Lumio/Moneyhub permission to access my HL account for 90 days - - - but I did this on the understanding that they would use this permission exclusively when I was actually actively using the Lumio app. My understanding was clearly wrong, and it appears they can roam round your accounts whenever they please. This is not a price I am willing to pay for a personal finance app.

Add to this that Lumio doesn't cover over half of my accounts, so it's not exactly giving me a complete view of my financial status. I also found that it, like all the other apps, doesn't display my accounts in any simple way, and that it won't allow me to sort or group accounts. 

Anyway, I have wasted enough of my time with Lumio and it's not for me. It might be perfect for others who have different requirements, and who don't mind if a third party roams round their accounts at all sorts of times.

Emmia

I was using Yolt, but as they're closing I've switched to Emma - trialling the paid for version as it means I can manually add the balances of accounts that they don't currently automatically sync with e.g. chip. Quite like it so far - shows cash held, debt and savings as groups, plus net "wealth"

If I stick with Emma, I am going to have to manually update the balances that dont auto sync, but it's easy enough to record the money that is deposited into those accounts on a weekly/monthly basis. So I'll probably pay when the trial ends.

Tonys101

Well  that app works for me  not spending to much time on a app when I need to focus on making money lol 

jimjames

Deleted_User said:

Daliah said:

In my opinion, the old work horses like MS Money and AceMoney are still way ahead of the pack. They aren't perfect, either, but their account coverage is massively more comprehensive as you can add whatever account you like, and name it whatever you like to name it. Also their budgeting capability is second to none, and they can provide a true picture of all your accounts at any point in time. They do require manual effort but at least you don't have to keep separate records for accounts which they don't/can't cover.

I totally agree and continue to use MS Money for all my finances. The only problem is that when they discontinued development some years back they remove the ability to update share prices automatically within the application. So now, unless someone can point me to an automated add-on, I have to update all share prices manually.

There is a tool that a former MS Money developer built that gets prices automatically. I've had it for a few years and he's been quite responsive when any issues arise.

https://gaiersoftware.com/Money

numbersrule

Every individual's finances tend to be unique.
I believe the best option is Excel so you can create your own spread-sheet.
Excel is quite capable of adding up a few numbers.
It is possible to create a spread-sheet with a monthly budget, income, outgoings and current account end of month bottom line, below which all cash savings and investments are listed on a month end by month end basis with a grand total at the foot of each column calculated just before pay day each month.
I have no intention of using an app that was designed by someone else.
I guarantee that if I did I would find it really irritating and there would be things in it that wouldn't quite fit my individual circumstances.

Emmia

numbersrule said:

Every individual's finances tend to be unique.
I believe the best option is Excel so you can create your own spread-sheet.
Excel is quite capable of adding up a few numbers.
It is possible to create a spread-sheet with a monthly budget, income, outgoings and current account end of month bottom line, below which all cash savings and investments are listed on a month end by month end basis with a grand total at the foot of each column calculated just before pay day each month.
I have no intention of using an app that was designed by someone else.
I guarantee that if I did I would find it really irritating and there would be things in it that wouldn't quite fit my individual circumstances.

The apps auto import many of the accounts though, so you spend less time faffing about going into each account and updating the spreadsheet. I used to use a spreadsheet, but the apps make it simpler, and offer instant analytics. 

But if you're happier with a spreadsheet then that's great too.

Emma is a step up from Yolt in terms of functionality.

numbersrule

Emmia said:

numbersrule said:

Every individual's finances tend to be unique.
I believe the best option is Excel so you can create your own spread-sheet.
Excel is quite capable of adding up a few numbers.
It is possible to create a spread-sheet with a monthly budget, income, outgoings and current account end of month bottom line, below which all cash savings and investments are listed on a month end by month end basis with a grand total at the foot of each column calculated just before pay day each month.
I have no intention of using an app that was designed by someone else.
I guarantee that if I did I would find it really irritating and there would be things in it that wouldn't quite fit my individual circumstances.

The apps auto import many of the accounts though, so you spend less time faffing about going into each account and updating the spreadsheet. I used to use a spreadsheet, but the apps make it simpler, and offer instant analytics. 

But if you're happier with a spreadsheet then that's great too.

Emma is a step up from Yolt in terms of functionality.

But my understanding is that not all accounts are accessible by the apps?
That makes a nonsense of it surely?

Daliah

numbersrule said:

Emmia said:

numbersrule said:

Every individual's finances tend to be unique.
I believe the best option is Excel so you can create your own spread-sheet.
Excel is quite capable of adding up a few numbers.
It is possible to create a spread-sheet with a monthly budget, income, outgoings and current account end of month bottom line, below which all cash savings and investments are listed on a month end by month end basis with a grand total at the foot of each column calculated just before pay day each month.
I have no intention of using an app that was designed by someone else.
I guarantee that if I did I would find it really irritating and there would be things in it that wouldn't quite fit my individual circumstances.

The apps auto import many of the accounts though, so you spend less time faffing about going into each account and updating the spreadsheet. I used to use a spreadsheet, but the apps make it simpler, and offer instant analytics. 

But if you're happier with a spreadsheet then that's great too.

Emma is a step up from Yolt in terms of functionality.

But my understanding is that not all accounts are accessible by the apps?
That makes a nonsense of it surely?

Some people are perfectly happy with the apps as they don't want, or need, to use accounts that the apps don't support. I hasten to add, I am not one of them as none of the apps in the market covers all my accounts. And I am bored with asking the app providers to add them because none of them can add them all, for technical, practical and regulatory reasons. In addition, all the apps become totally unusable when you want to track several dozen accounts. But if you have just a handful of accounts, and if these are all supported by your chosen app, that app is probably perfect for your needs.

I also don't want to create my own spreadsheet even though I have the skills to do it. Which is why I am using a legacy personal finance manager, which is, in effect, a sophisticated spreadsheet which allows me to track any account I want to track, in a way I want to track them.