You want to keep track of your bank and credit card accounts — but something tells you it’s too easy. Probably because you’ve tried before, and it feels like a chore. Instantly Revolutionary Personal Finance Software For PC First software for personal or small business finances. Stay on top of your finances with Intuit’s free tool to view payroll, expenses, budgets, investments, retirement, loans and much more. It is easy to install and use because you don’t need disk space since this software maintains itself.
Here are a list of very good home based softwares that will help you budget wisely.
Quicken
Having been around for several decades, Quicken is one of the most established personal finance software on the market. You can use the software to manage various aspects of your financial life from budget creation to debt tracking, savings goals, and even investment coaching. The software features Excel exporting, which allows you to manipulate and perform additional calculations on your data. One of the more advanced features includes bill paying, which allows you to set up payments for your bills right from the software. You can even use it to track the value of your assets to have an accurate calculation of your total net worth. The app is robust enough to manage both your personal and business expenses and even handles property management functions like rental payments from tenants. The software starts at $35.99 per year and is available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
BEST FOR BUDGETING Mint
Mint is one of the most popular budgeting and expense tracking tools. You can have the software pull in your bank and credit card information to analyze your spending and pinpoint areas where you can cut back to improve your finances. For more accountability, Mint allows you to set up alerts for things like due dates and low balances to keep you on track. These features help you avoid expensive fees on late payments and overdrafts from your bank account. If you’ve set up budget categories, Mint will give you real-time information about the amount you can spend on things like food and gas. Mint is free to download and use on iOS and Android devices, as well as desktop.
BEST FOR HABIT BUILDING YNAB
You Need a Budget, or YNAB, is a personal finance software that’s aimed to help you improve your financial literacy as you manage your monthly budget. As you create your budget and manage your daily finances, the software provides you with tutorials that will help you tackle some of the tougher financial topics. If you’ve been struggling with bad financial habits, YNAB can help you break those through a few basic financial management rules.
The software automatically links to your bank account, integrating your spending information for analysis and budgeting tracking. You can keep tabs on how you’re tracking toward your monthly budget and take action if you’re overspending. It doesn’t include any investment tracking capabilities. YNAB offers a 34-day free trial that allows you to use the software while you decide whether it’s right for your personal finance goals. The full software is $11.99 per month or $84 a year.
BEST FOR ZERO-BASED BUDGETING Mvelopes
The traditional envelope budgeting system helps you stick to a budget by using envelopes to manage your money. Once you’ve broken down your budget, you put that amount of cash into different envelopes. So, if you budget $100 for gas for the week, you place that amount in a “gas” envelope. Once you’ve spent that $100, that’s it. Mvelopes takes this same approach to budgeting, except that it’s done digitally on your phone and computer rather than with physical cash.
Choose the financial goals that are most important to you, then add your bank accounts and set your income. Mvelopes will help you create a budget and set up your “envelopes.” The software tracks your spending and shows you what you’ve spent from each envelope to keep you on budget throughout the month.
The basic version starts at $5.97 per month, or $69 a year, with the higher-priced options providing additional features and coaching options. You can try Mvelopes free for 30 days, too, before deciding which plan is right for you.
BEST FOR TAXES TurboTax
You may not necessarily need TurboTax to manage your finances throughout the entire year, but when it’s tax time, the software can come in handy. While it’s one of the pricier tax preparation tools, it’s also consumer-friendly, walking you through your tax preparation to help you accurately file your tax return. Entering your tax information is fairly simple—you can import your W-2 information from your employer or take a picture of it and the software will transfer the information into the form.
If you’ve used TurboTax in previous years, the software will remember much about your personal information and ask whether there have been any major changes. The most basic version lets you file your federal and state return for free if all you use is form 1040 with no attached schedules.
On the higher end, TurboTax Live connects you with a CPA or Enrolled Agent to give you personalized advice and answer questions about your tax return. Paid versions of TurboTax include a feature to help you uncover deductions you may not have known were available to you. While you can use TurboTax on the web, you can also download the software to your device for added security.
BEST FOR INVESTING FutureAdvisor
If you’re a DIY investor looking for low-cost access to a financial advisor, FutureAdvisor is a great option. The investment software provides personalized recommendations to help you diversify your portfolio, which you can follow or not follow as you see fit. You’re eligible to sign up for the software if you have at least $5,000 in investable assets. FutureAdvisor manages the assets you transfer into the account for a flat annual fee of 0.5% of the managed assets, billed quarterly at 0.125%. When you transfer your assets into the account, FutureAdvisor works to consolidate them into accounts with its partners, Fidelity or TD Ameritrade.
HomeBank
Powerful finance software with handy reports to keep you on track
TODAY’S BEST DEALSVISIT SITE
REASONS TO BUY
+Cross-platform+Imports data from other apps+Supports unlimited accounts
HomeBank will appeal if you work on multiple platforms, or don’t use Windows by default. Available for Windows, macOS and Linux (there’s also an Android app in development) HomeBank can be installed normally or as a portable app, and it makes the topic of personal finance easily accessible. If you’ve been using another program – such as Quicken or Microsoft Money – to manage your finances, you can import data to save having to start from scratch.
You can add an unlimited number of accounts to the program, and they can be linked to each other to allow for easy money transfers – it is all entirely dependent on manual editing, though. With enough data entered, it’s possible to generate all manner of reports, including helpful predictive reports for car ownership and the like. Very much designed with the average person in mind, this is a personal finance app for people who hate personal finance apps.
Goodbudget, for shared envelope-budgeting
Goodbudget is based on the envelope system, in which you portion out your monthly income toward specific spending categories. The app allows multiple devices to access the same account, so partners and family members can share a budget. Unlike most other apps, Goodbudget doesn’t have you sync bank accounts. You manually add account balances (that you can pull from your bank’s website), as well as cash amounts and debts. With accounts and income entered, you assign money toward spending categories, known as envelopes. The free version allows one account, two devices and limited envelopes. The Plus version, which is $7 per month or $60 annually, offers unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices and other perks. Back to top
Honeydue, for budgeting with your partner
Honeydue, which is new to the 2021 list, allows you and your partner to see both financial pictures in one spot, including bank accounts, credit cards, loans and investments. (However, you can choose how much you share with your significant other.) The free budget app automatically categorizes expenses, but you’re also able to set up custom categories. Together, you can set up monthly limits on each of these categories, and Honeydue will alert you when you or your partner is nearing them. Honeydue also sends reminders for upcoming bills and lets you chat and send emojis. Learn more about budget apps for couples. Back to top
Personal Capital, for tracking wealth and spending
Personal Capital is primarily an investment tool, but its free app includes features helpful for budgeters looking to track their spending. You can connect and monitor checking, savings and credit card accounts, as well as IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans. The app provides a spending snapshot by listing recent transactions by category. You can customize those categories and see the percentage of total monthly spending that category represents. Personal Capital also serves up a net worth tracker and portfolio breakdown. Back to top
Other solid budget apps
These budget apps either didn’t have enough reviews or otherwise didn’t quite make the cut this year. But they looked promising and may work for you.
- Copilot (iOS only) and Simplifi, both launched in 2020, connect to your bank accounts, categorize your expenses, track upcoming bills and more.
- Clarity Money, a free budget app, tracks your spending and suggests subscriptions to cancel.
- Honeyfi and Zeta help you and your partner budget together.
- Mvelopes offers an envelope-budgeting alternative to Goodbudget. And unlike the other app, Mvelope syncs with your bank accounts.
- Don’t want to connect your accounts? Daily Budget Original (iOS only) and Fudget are simple trackers in which you manually enter incoming and outgoing money.
Conclusion
It can be hard finding tools that are good enough for what you need at home, so I took the time to find some of the best software intended for people who are looking to get organized or want to better manage their finances. I used my experience across multiple categories, including but not limited to personal finance, budgeting, retirement planning and taxes, and database management in order to test and review everything.