Which Personal Finance Software to Use

0wen

Hi,

I would like to start tracking what i'm spending, my savings etc.

What software would people recommend using?

Its for Personal use so don't want any business software really

geordie_joe

It depends exactly what you want to do. For simple tracking I would just create my own spreadsheet.

The easier it is to use, the more likely you are to use it.

If you really want ready made software do a google search for free financial software.

jackomdj

I would (I do!) just set up something in excel. Personally I just do top level stuff to manage my offest mortgage and savings, although I know people who track every little bit of expenditure. It really depends upon what you want to get out of your tracking.

For me I want to forward predict how much I will have saved by a future date along with what my o/s mortgage will be (& I reconcile back to my mortgage statement each quarter).

If you are trying to stop yourself spending then recording everything is the way to go.

Good luck
Nicky

0wen

Thanks for your advice, I found what I was looking for this simple software called Money Manager Ex is free and open source.

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

The software allows you to add all your bank accounts, share assets etc and you can add to categories e.g withdrawal 50 for petrol.

The bit that interests me is that you can click on graphs to see breakdowns of where money comes from and goes to etc, this can be done between any period you choose.

nephilim

nice piece of software, works great with ubuntu!

[Deleted User]

Have you tried Microsoft Money? The 2005 version was the last one to be sold in the UK and is still available on Amazon.co.uk I think. I use the 2004 version for downloading bank statements to and works great for my needs.

Davidboy

Deleted_User wrote: »

Have you tried Microsoft Money? The 2005 version was the last one to be sold in the UK and is still available on Amazon.co.uk I think. I use the 2004 version for downloading bank statements to and works great for my needs.

Yes I agree, have been using Microsoft money for about 4 years as long as you keep it up to date with DD and SO, log all your spending etc, and reconcile it against your bank statments (which we do on a regular basis) it's great telling you how little you got!!! Seriously it does "predict" your balance so you can manage your bank balance very well. Wouldn't be without it.


D

Typo

I have to recommend AceMoney. When I tried out AceMoneyLite (the free version that's fully-featured except that it allows for only one account) I was already convinced. But now I've paid for & been using AceMoney full version for the past few months, I'll never look back.

No more excel spreadsheets or hand-written notes. I can't believe how easy it was to start using. I'd been putting off the decision to start using finance software since (get this!) the mid-90's when someone recommend Quicken :rolleyes: I just didn't want the hassle. Now it would be hassle not to use software like this. Not only useful in managing accounts, setting up recurring bills & seeing what I'll have at any future date, it's been a godsend for managing my credit card stoozing too.

It's perfect for home use or small business (I'm self-employed). There is a lot of great feedback about its features, ease of use & support compared to other larger packages out there, and not just the feedback written on their own website. Look around.

And I'm happy to say it's been well worth the $30 (£18.59 inc vat at the time of my purchase). I also found that the key-code method of authorising the software allowed me to install it on another PC as well.

Whatever software you go for, I've got to recommend a good dedicated finance package over cumbersome & way-overly-flexible Spreadsheet software like Excel or OpenOffice. (I use Excel loads in my work, I know it well). Try 2 or 3 trial versions quickly & see what works for you. It's amazing how "in control" it feels.

Typo