Keeping track of my money electronically

Murmansk

googler said:

The executor won't need to know the balance, just the bank concerned and account number.  They contact bank, as executor, provide death certificate, and banks will freeze account(s) until executor arranges to distribute estate to beneficiaries or sets up executry account to transfer money into.

Unless you REALLY don't trust your banks.....

Indeed - this thing has two purposes, one to help me keep track of what I'm worth and the other to allow my executors to know where my money is!

400ixl

Murmansk said:

I'm not all that familiar with Open Banking but from what little I know I want nothing to do with it!

Why? Open banking is a highly secure read only view of your banking activities that you have to authorise any access to.

Murmansk

400ixl said:

Murmansk said:

I'm not all that familiar with Open Banking but from what little I know I want nothing to do with it!

Why? Open banking is a highly secure read only view of your banking activities that you have to authorise any access to.

Mostly gut feeling and blind prejudice but it also doesn't really cover the need to give my executors details of my accounts

400ixl

Understand the last part, however your gut feeling is very wrong. For the right use case it is very powerful and secure, so don't discount it in the future if it fits the purpose.

Murmansk

400ixl said:

Understand the last part, however your gut feeling is very wrong. For the right use case it is very powerful and secure, so don't discount it in the future if it fits the purpose.

Right, well I'll look into it then!

moneysaver1978

If all you want is a "snapshot" of your accounts showing balances, sort code, bank account, types of accounts, etc. you could just use MS Excel.

In the past I had used MSMoney but found it to be overly complex for my needs. The way I set up my Excel spreadsheet (password protected) is working really well for me. Granted, it's not automated but at least that gives me a chance to do due diligence.

getmore4less

MSMoney did it all there was nothing to add so no more money to be made it got dropped.

Very simple if you want to just track.

Or more complex with attributes to assist analysis.

It could do with a resurrection keeping the features but with additional interfaces for more mobile platforms.

For most people it can still be semi-automatic with regular transactions with some manual adjustment to consolidate. 

datostar

Le_Kirk said:

datostar said:

I was a long-term MS Money user too, but changed over to KMyMoney 6 months ago. I ran MSMoney in parallel up to the end of 2021 then stopped, keeping it on the system for archive purposes. Very happy with kMyMoney and it handles investments, too, albeit a bit complex on that score. Completely free, regular updates and available for Linux, Windows and MacOS.

I too have been using M$Money for years and have worried every time that Micro$oft introduced a change, 98 to XP to 7 to 10 and every time I have been surprised that it continues to run.  I shall look at KMyMoney.  What OS are you running it on?

Currently on MacOS Monterey, and I've tested it on Windows 11and Linux Mint in a Virtual Machine. It's appearance and use is identical and it uses the same data file. By default the data is backed-up every time you exit the program and the previous 9 versions are retained. I keep the data files in the iCloud folder so there's an automatic Cloud backup every time they change. Better than MSMoney still expecting a floppy disk by default.

Chickereeeee

getmore4less said:

MSMoney did it all there was nothing to add so no more money to be made it got dropped.

Very simple if you want to just track.

Or more complex with attributes to assist analysis.

It could do with a resurrection keeping the features but with additional interfaces for more mobile platforms.

For most people it can still be semi-automatic with regular transactions with some manual adjustment to consolidate. 

Well, I use MSMoney still, but pay every year for software that incorporates the latest tax changes for self-assessment returns. MS COULD have kept the base software going, and charged for a similar yearly update. It would have to have been country-specific, of course, but I bet they could have made money out of it.

Emmia

I use Emma which is a budgeting app, that lets me have all my account balances (current accounts, credit cards, savings, investments etc.) in one place. Works well for me.

If you use a password protected excel sheet, then you'll need the password with your will so the executor can unlock it.