All of us want to be in control of our finances. It’s a great feeling when you look up your bank balance and see healthy numbers. But when you don’t pay attention – it can also be a very bad feeling. It takes time to create a stable financial situation and achieving your goals requires you to use the right personal budgeting software.
Top Personal Budgeting Software to Help Manage Expenses and Increase Savings Personal budget software is fast becoming an essential tool for single people, young couples and families. It helps track expense and manage your cash. Most importantly, it helps you plan your budget and manage your savings on a monthly basis. A good budget program would make it easy for you to track your expenses and set financial goals. If looking for personal budget software you could use, the free software mentioned in this article should help you keep a close eye on your money spending.
As a student making my way through school, I began to realize just how expensive life got. Sure, I could have moved back home with my parents and had them pay for everything. But I was naturally selfish and didn’t want to be thought of as a mooch my entire life. This meant that I had to pinch pennies in every aspect of my life — including my finances. That’s why I was so interested in personal budget software.
There are many options when it comes to personal budgeting software. You may have already heard of some of these budgeting tools. Others might be new to you. I’d guess that most people in the world struggle with their finances from time to time and so the popularity of these tools is for a good reason. This article will give you an overview of the best free personal budgeting software currently available so that you can pick the one that’s right for you.
Software and the Budgeting Process
For most people and businesses, budgeting is a continuous process and something that should be revisited as regularly as possible.
For companies, the process typically includes an annual kickoff meeting where the Budget Head is appointed, tasks are delegated, and the annual planning calendar is developed.
Throughout the year, actual results will be compared to the budget, and they will be evaluated using variance analysis.
A software program may be an integral part of this entire process, aiding with the collection of data, analysis of results, and presentation of financial reporting.
Quicken
Quicken is the most popular and trusted personal budgeting software on the market.
It’s available across multiple platforms, including a web app, desktop software, and mobile apps for Android and iOS.
The Quicken desktop version is easy to use and very affordable at $29.99/year or $74.99/2 years.
Quicken offers several additional features which make it a great choice if you’re just getting started with personal budgeting:
Mint
Mint is a free personal-finance software that helps you keep track of all your finances in one place. It offers tools to help you set up a budget and pay bills, track expenses, get an overview of your financial situation, and manage bank accounts.
In addition to offering these basic services for free, Mint also has premium features for those who want even more control over their finances. Premium users can receive customized alerts when they’re about to spend too much or when an account balance drops below a certain amount (or rises above it). They also have access to a credit score tracker that can help them gauge their risk level for getting approved for loans or credit cards. Plus there are insights about how much money is flowing into different accounts based on income source so users can see where their money goes most often—and why!
YNAB
YNAB stands for You Need a Budget. This popular budgeting software has helped users save over $1 billion dollars since its inception in 2004. YNAB is available as both an online and desktop version, offering you versatility and accessibility no matter where you are or what device you’re using. The software is used by individuals, small businesses and even large corporations across the globe.
YNAB’s goal is simple: to teach people how to get out of debt and stay out of debt through their unique four-step process: Capture, Allocate, Rollover and Monitor (C-A-R-M). They believe that if you track every single dollar that comes into your life then it’s easier to save more money than spend less of it—even if this means taking your family on a camping trip instead of buying fancy dinners or going on expensive vacations every weekend!
EveryDollar
EveryDollar
EveryDollar is a free, web-based budgeting tool that’s easy to use and can be accessed from anywhere. It’s also one of the most popular personal finance apps: over 1 million people use it to manage their finances. The best part about EveryDollar is that it doesn’t require any complicated integration with your bank account—you just sign up for an account online and connect your credit cards or bank accounts with ease. After doing this, you’ll be able to see how much money you have left over each day in real time so there’s no guessing about whether or not you’ll have enough cash on hand. Plus, if you’re worried about forgetting what bill needs paying when, EveryDollar lets users set goals so they know exactly how much they need in order to pay off debt or save up for something special such as college tuition down the road (which shouldn’t come as much surprise given how often Americans are burdened by student loan debt). Lastly—and most importantly—this software program makes budgeting easy thanks to its intuitive design; all users have do do is select which categories they want included in their spending plan (e.g., groceries) then enter the amount spent into each category regularly until reaching their goal amount per paycheck cycle (or month).
Mvelopes
Mvelopes is a personal finance app that helps you track your spending, create a budget and save money. Mvelopes was created by David Ramsey, the author of The Total Money Makeover.
Mvelopes helps you create a budget and then track your spending against it. It has some great features, including:
- A savings section where you can save for different things like Christmas or your next vacation
- An optional service where they will pay down debt on credit cards (at an additional cost)
Quicken is the best budgeting software for personal use, but you can find something that works for you.
Quicken is the best-known personal finance software, and it’s the one most people use. But you should figure out your own needs before deciding on a budgeting software.
- Privacy concerns: You may be concerned about how much data will be collected by companies and whether they’ll share that information with third parties or sell it to advertisers. The best way to address these concerns is to read reviews of any company or product you’re considering, check their privacy policy and terms of service carefully, ask questions if necessary and make sure you understand them before signing up for anything, monitor your accounts for unusual activity after signing up for new services (even if it’s just a bank account), set up alerts in case something does happen that raises red flags (like someone trying to log into your account from another country), etcetera!
- Make sure everything links together: If you want all your finances managed from one place (which is probably why we’re talking about budgeting software here), then make sure whatever budgeting software you choose can link all your accounts together so that everything gets added automatically when money goes into one place (like PayPal) but comes out automatically as well when money goes elsewhere (like Google Wallet).
Mint
Mint is another popular option for free budgeting software. It can track your spending and investments, as well as create a budget and set goals for you to hit. Like YNAB, it’s web-based, has an app for iOS and Android, and is owned by Intuit—which means there are some integration options with Quicken.
You Need a Budget
If you’re looking for a budgeting app that doesn’t cost anything, look no further. You Need A Budget is the best free personal budget software on the market. It gives users a simple way to track their spending and create budgets, plus it allows them to set goals and see how they’re doing within their budgets. The app syncs data with bank accounts, so users can always stay updated about their finances.
The only thing wrong with this program is that it’s not available for Apple products—so if you have an iPhone or Macbook Pro (or any other Apple device), then downloading this software might not be an option for you. Otherwise though, I highly recommend checking out YNAB when it comes time for your next budget update!
PocketGuard
- It’s free.
- It links to your bank accounts.
- It helps identify money leaks and saves you money by helping you budget better.
- It’s easy to use, as well as secure and private.
If you’re looking for a personal budget software that’s going to keep track of your spending, help reach your financial goals, and make sure everything is organized so it doesn’t get out of hand then PocketGuard is the solution for you!
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a budgeting app that combines the envelope method with digital tools. You can sync your account across devices, which is nice because it means you won’t have to redo your budget every time you get a new phone or computer. There are free and paid options available—the free version includes all of the features we’ll discuss here, but it limits you to three financial categories and five spending categories per month.
The Goodbudget interface looks a bit dated, but it’s easy to use once you’ve got everything set up. And while it doesn’t let users create their own custom budgets (like Mint does), there are plenty of pre-made ones available for those who want them. If this sounds like something that could help keep your finances in check but aren’t sure where to start, give Goodbudget a try!
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a free app that lets you track your spending, bank accounts and investments. It also has a ton of other features including a retirement planner, net worth calculator, investment checkup and more. The best part? Personal Capital has no hidden fees or marketing costs.
The program helps users create personal financial plans to achieve their goals based on their risk tolerance level. Its sophisticated algorithms then determine which asset allocation would make sense for each investor based on the answers they provided in the questionnaire-style setup process. This can help them build more diversified portfolios that are lower risk than what they might have previously chosen without its help.
Personal Capital’s mobile app works with both Android devices (it’s available in Google Play) as well as iPhones/iPads (it’s available in iTunes).
Your money is important, so use the best tools available to keep track of it.
If you’re planning on saving money and investing, it’s important to keep track of your finances. The best way to do this is with a free personal budget software that allows you to easily enter transactions and see how much money you have at any given time. You’ll also be able to see where your money is going, so that if there are expenses that are not necessary or healthy for your life (like eating out too often), then they can be changed. If a certain category has too little money in it or too much debt accumulating in it, then this can be adjusted as well.
Conclusion
It’s easy to see why personal budgeting software has become so popular in recent years. Taking control of your finances is a great way to improve your life. And what better way to take control than with the help of an easy-to-use program?
Budgeting is important for everyone, but for young people it’s a skill that needs to be taught. As the credit crunch looms on the horizon, some people may find themselves struggling to make ends meet. The most recent surveys from MoneySuperMarket Finances (2010) shows that 18-24 year olds have the least amount of money put away for a rainy day at just £3,350. Without proper budgeting skills, many people are likely to get into debt which can spiral out of control. The good news is by using free personal budget software you can get a handle on your finances without having to break the bank.