personal finance software.

Band7

If you have just a handful of accounts, and if they are mainstrean current accounts, something like Money Dashboard is probably what you want. If you have more accounts, they can’t hack it and you need something like AceMoney, MS Money or your own spreadsheet.

I use AceMoney myself and couldn’t be without it.

It does not link to UK accounts but there is nothing in the market that links to all accounts, anyway. Some providers have closed architectures which make getting at their data difficult/impossible. Linking to many accounts also takes ages to refresh, and you have to renew authorisation for the finance software to access your accounts on a regular basis. Even with nearly 100 active accounts (with varying activity), I find manual reconciliation a lot more efficient.

AceMoney does, however, allow you to record all your current, savings, investment and other accounts, even any gift cards you might have. You have complete freedom to record your transactions with categories of your choice, and data is presented in a simple, tabular form. Many of the more fancy products have limits to the number of accounts and categories you are allowed, and they waste screen estate with lots of graphics and huge type face.

Like MS Money, it is an elaborate spreadsheet which you populate with the data you need.  It auto-populates your accounts with the SOs and DDs you have told it about, it imports prices for your investments, and it’s got some pre-built reporting. You can export data for further analysis, though I don’t usually bother with that.

You are limited to PC though - no app available or in sight.
 

older_and_no_wiser

I use MoneyHub. Very impressed with it. It finally got me away from MS Money! You can categorise all transactions (which are automatically imported via direct open banking links) and use split transactions where an expense spreads across multiple categories. I like to use the spending analysis to see where my money goes each month. There is good open banking links to investment/pension accounts too - such as HL, Interactive Investor, Nutmeg. 

There are a few missing open banking/investing links which I'd like to see - like InvestEngine, Tandem and FreeTrade. However, all my current accounts and credit cards are there (First Direct, Amex, Chase, Barclaycard).

You get a free 6 month(?) trial and then it's only around £10 a year.

tigerspill

I use an excel spreadsheet.  Simple and not dependent on the whims of app suppliers.  Total flexibility.

I have looked at several alternatives and have still stuck with Excel. 

I used to use MS Money which was brilliant, but moved to a Mac.

trickydicky14

After reading folks suggestions (thank you), I downloaded MS money 2005 to have a play with. Now, I’m not that tech savvy but why can’t I add a bank account? I go through the process of:

Add account – choose account type – banking, credit card, investment– system says loading – then I just get, ‘this list is temporarily unavailable try later’

Any ideas what I’m doing wrong please.

Flugelhorn

I just use excel and once a month check the account balances and add them in to the sheet, automatically set up to show how much excess there is at the end of the month

Snot

trickydicky14 said:

Any ideas what I’m doing wrong please.

The online features no longer work in MS Money, you should see "My financial institution isn't listed" just click that and you can manually add the accounts.

Malchester

I used MS Money for years and found it fine for my needs. Last year I started looking for an alternative and went for JIOSoft, a British designed piece of software. It has a one off cost of around £37 which includes all future upgrades. I have found it as easy to use as MSMoney. 

wmb194

trickydicky14 said:

After reading folks suggestions (thank you), I downloaded MS money 2005 to have a play with. Now, I’m not that tech savvy but why can’t I add a bank account? I go through the process of:

Add account – choose account type – banking, credit card, investment– system says loading – then I just get, ‘this list is temporarily unavailable try later’

Any ideas what I’m doing wrong please.

At the bottom of that dialogue box click on, 'institution not listed' or some such and it'll move to the next step.

dunstonh

I used microsoft money for decades but finally moved to Money Manager EX earlier in the year. It is open source and free to use.   It doesn't have online integration that the cost options have but with those I trialled that did have that, I found myself having to edit the imported transactions to change the names/types.   It does import QIF and CSVs though.

cloud_dog

dunstonh said:

I used microsoft money for decades but finally moved to Money Manager EX earlier in the year. It is open source and free to use.   It doesn't have online integration that the cost options have but with those I trialled that did have that, I found myself having to edit the imported transactions to change the names/types.   It does import QIF and CSVs though.

@dunstonh what made you jump ship after all this time, simple support considerations?

Did you migrate your old data, and if so how did you find the process / any foibles?