Money Management Software

[arunpawar]

Hi
I'm looking for software to keep eye on my expenses.I've signed up for online money management site mint.com for the same.But they need your bank account or credit card to be added to keep eye on this.In reality we do spend in cash so i need software to look after these.I just want to keep eye on my spending and want to comapre for the future savings what can i do?

What i want:
1.Spending calculation
2.Future expenditure
3.Savings calculation
4.Total cost

is there any software that does the same?

[J-Mac]

Hi Arun.

I only know of the two major personal finance packages - Microsoft Money and Intuit's Quicken.  I have used Quicken for about 8 or 9 years, but I'm not certain I feel comfortable recommending it - particularly for the future savings part.  Both of these have grown - or regressed, depending on how you look at them - into what a lot of users are calling "dumbed down" applications.  They are both OK for tracking your checkbooks, comparing income and expenses, and tracking your bank account activity automatically.  But they also both default to putting all your finances online - ostensibly so you can access your stuff from anywhere.  I have no desire to access my finances anywhere!  It's tough enough to sit at your own PC and work on your finances.

I'll post back with links to these programs and their user forums - at least you can read about them and see what their users are saying.  But if I can find a better solution I'd jump in a minute!

Jim

[brett]

Quickbooks for Free

http://quickbooks.intuit.com/product/accounting-software/free-accounting-software.jhtml

I use MYOB myself, so I have no idea if this is bad/good/great.

The link was posted somewhere the other day, i just bookmarked it.

Brett

[Grorgy]

A free alternative, which looks pretty good, tho i havent actually used it yet, (and its portable) http://www.thezeal.com/software/index.php?Money_Manager_Ex ; probably doesnt have all the features of some of the commercial software but its free, doesnt want you to put information on line or anything silly like that.  Worth a look at any rate

[LM7]

Adarian Money (for both Windows and Palm) and AceMoney (also has a lite version for free) - both fine programs.

[iphigenie]

Had MS Money for years and they kept making it heavier and heavier until it simply took too long to enter things and watch where the money goes. So I looked for something simpler, I think it was in 2001 or 2002.

I switched to Ace Money (registered version) years ago and it's done well for our mutil-currency (i.e we have several cash trackers), multi accounts, multi people household. The author reacts very quickly to requests and all.

[vradmilovic]

I was also searching for similar software, but for small business. Generally, I would need to define products, create invoices and quotes, budgeting, etc. Mostly, as iphigenie pointed out, available software doesn't handle different currencies, which is main issue. GnuCash does, but aside user unfriendliness, I've found several areas that makes this software unusable. Well, unless you take a source code and change it. I would expect much more from the SW that's in mature state.

For home finance I also use AceMoney paid version. It's small and functional piece of software that does everything what's needed. It would use little improvement on budgeting features, but generally, thumbs up.

[mahesh2k]

The link at the top for Money manager Ex is good try it.It is the software you need.

[Dude Spell]

AceMoney, for your examination.

[AEngineer]

One thing to think about when choosing financial software is taxes.  In the US it can save you a LOT of time to transfer data from your finance program to a tax program.  I've used Quicken for years and will probably continue to do so even though Intuit is a grasping company with MS goals because the translation from Quicken to Turbotax is so easy.  I cannot speak for others

[Curt]

I have just received an email offer on Personal Financial Organizer - at $30 instead of the normal $40. I have never tried or heard of it.

http://www.templatezone.com/financial-organizer-software.php

The Personal Financial Organizer contains 26 essential worksheets to help you organize your personal financial situation.

Monitor your financial health
Monitor your creation of wealth (net worth)
Present information to your CPA, financial advisor and attorney for income tax and estate tax planning
Prepare financial statements for personal & business loans
Plan and measure personal financial goals
Capture information for all types of insurance, including life, disability, property, auto, and health.
Keep track of stocks and options, mutual funds, personal assets, retirement plans, and more
In one integrated Excel workbook, you can have the structure and the format needed to prepare a personal balance sheet, keep track of all your assets and liabilities, record critical data regarding your pensions and retirement accounts, insurance policies, personal goals, and inventory your most important documents.

Once completed, this organizer gives you a valuable and easy to update reference upon which you can base important financial decisions and plans. The Personal Financial Organizer was developed by a financial planner after more than 15 years of experience helping people gather and analyze personal financial data. Each worksheet has been designed with real people's needs in mind. They are practical, straightforward and easy to use.

Through this email exclusive offer, you can get the Personal Financial Organizer for only $29.95.

Personal Financial Organizer
Only $29.95
regularly $39.95 —
get $10 off through this special offer

System Requirements:
Operating system compatibility: Windows Vista, Windows XP with SP2, Windows 2000
Microsoft Office compatibility: Office 2007, Office 2003, Office XP, Office 2000

[attachthumb=#]
http://www.templatezone.com/financial-organizer-software.php

[wiiiindy]

There is a lot about Quicken I don't care for but it is quick, reliable, and easy to use once you get your data loaded and into the rhythm.  Of course everyone has a different level of detail they want to track and way of doing things so it is a personal choice.

BTW - Quicken does NOT require you to store your data online as was implied above.  I don't remember if it is the default mode or not but it is quite simple to set the program so your data does not leave your desktop.

The worst part about the program is the yearly updates at full cost.  The "improvements" are minimal and people who just pay for the upgrades without question are throwing money away.

Last but not least, when I transferred data from Quicken to TurboTax (one of the advantages cited above) I found the process to be buggy and the resulting taxes to be flawed - usually resulting in too much tax.   Several years ago I used TurboTax AND let an accountant do my taxes for a couple of year and the accountant saved me more than the cost of his fee and the TurboTax cost combined both years.  I have not used PC tax software since.   (Disclaimer - everyone's tax complexity and knowledge is different).

[joe.t]

I have used mint,quicken for managing my funds in the past but did not find quite user friendly.Then a friend of mine(financial analyst) suggested me manageME.I am using it from the last 5 months and is happy by their performance.moreover it is user friendly as my grand mother can also use it without any assistance.
also its coming with more enhanced features and there is also a free membership for one month.you may avail or check its upcoming services at www.manageme7.com/blog

[Clive]

Here's another one to have a look at :
http://www.turbocashuk.com/

TURBO CASH .7 FEATURES & SCREENSHOTS

Easy setup
-Easy setup wizards
-Country-specific accounts
-Design your own invoices
-Multi-lingual
-Create your own accounts chart
-Multi-company

Powerful Accounting Software
-256 batches
-10 bank accounts
-999 sets of books
-12000 accounts & 24000 sub-accounts
-40000 debtors & creditors
-64000 stock items

Accounts
-Debtors/Creditors
-General Ledger
-VAT/GST accounting
-Full stock control

Transactions
-Batch entry system
-Invoices/Quotations
-Orders/Purchases
-Credit notes/Stock returns
-Bank reconciliation
-Point of Sale

Comprehensive Reporting
-Trial Balance, Cash Flows
-Income Statement, Balance Sheet
-Debtors/Creditors Analysis
-Stock Items Analysis
-Sales and Purchase Analysis
-Customised User Reports
-VAT/Tax Reports

Other
-Multiple users
-Year end procedures
-T-account viewer
-XML Import/Export
-Plugins
-Backup/Restore
-Context-sensitive help

[Clive]

Picked up the Bearwear site Financial Fate does future planning & is free - might suit you.

http://www.financialfate.com/

[wiiiindy]

I went to the Financial Fate site but it is not really day-to-day money management.  Nevertheless it couls be better than the spreadsheet I wrote to do the same thing so I sent them the following questions:

1.  What is your business model?  Since it is a privately owned company you must plan on making money.  How?

2.  What communication does your program maintain with your servers over the internet and for what purposes?

3.  I didn’t see any privacy policy on your website.  Do you have one?  Why not put it on the website?

4.  Is there any third-party software downloaded, installed, or executed as part of the download package or the program itself?

5.  Is the existence of any third-party software or any code executed that does not bear directly on the financial functions of the program disclosed clearly to the customer at time of install or when executed?

I'll try to remember to share the answers.