Personal Finance Management software helps you get a clear view of all your accounts and funds. Quicken is one such personal finance software that has been there from the start of personal computer. However, there are other options available in the market today to help you manage your money better.
Whether you use Quicken to manage your personal finances, or if you’ve been thinking about downloading a free personal finance app and trying it out you should definitely read this review before making a decision.
For Personal and Business Budgeting: Quicken Home & Business
Small-business owners can face additional challenges when looking for a tool that can help them manage their personal and business finances. There are plenty of business accounting and personal accounting software options, but entrepreneurs need something that makes it easy to keep their finances separate while allowing them to track everything in one place.
Quicken’s top-tier home and business plan adds business-focused features to the personal budget software, such as the ability to store contracts, keep copies of receipts, and send invoices.
Teresa Mears, co-owner of the frugal-living site Living on the Cheap, says she’s used Quicken for more than 15 years. “I just use it for tracking spending, so I can see how my businesses are doing and provide info to the accountant,” Mears says.
“I track Florida on the Cheap (a related business to Living on the Cheap) and my personal finances, including freelance writing and consulting,” she says. “I have also tracked rental property.”
Cost: $103.99 per year for Quicken Home & Business
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 and is available for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Android.
Quicken Alternatives
Personal Capital
Fees: Free; investment services start at 0.89% based on account balance
Minimum Balance: None; $100,000 to invest
Promotions: Get a FREE portfolio review valued at $799. Try Personal Capital for free and find out how to qualify for a free portfolio review.
Features: Financial budgeting dashboard, investment fee checkup, cash flow analyzer, 401(k) analyzer, net worth tracker, and retirement planner
Personal Capital may have the best all-around money tools available, and they are completely free! Like Quicken, Personal Capital users can link all of their accounts and track them all in one place. This even includes tracking your investment accounts and your net worth. Also like Quicken, Personal Capital tracks all of your spending and categorizes it for you — allowing you to get a clear picture of where your money is going each month.
Personal Capital also features a retirement planning tool and a retirement savings fee analyzer. It can be used either on a desktop or through a mobile device. One thing Quicken users might miss is the ability to track and pay your bills from within the software itself. Even lacking this feature, Personal Capital is certainly one app that you should try.
You Need a Budget (YNAB)
Fees: $11.99 per month or $84 annually; free 34 day trial
Minimum Balance: None
Promotions: None
Features: Budgeting, investment monitoring, bill management, add in manual entries
If you’re looking for a great budgeting software, YNAB is it. YNAB takes the guesswork out of budgeting by providing you with a flexible “living budget” that will save you money and help you stay positive. However, if you’re looking for complete automation, YNAB is not it. The program connects directly with your bank account(s), but you have to tell it when to download transactions. You are also able to schedule known transactions ahead of time or download transactions that you can then load to YNAB.
More good news is that YNAB works everywhere — even without an internet connection. In addition to the desktop software, YNAB has an app available for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. The software does cost $50/year, but the license is good for all YNAB updates. Plus, you can try the program for free before committing!
Pocketsmith
Fees: Free; $9.95 or $19.95 a month, $89 or $169 annually
Minimum Balance: None
Promotions: Try the Premium monthly subscription at a special price. Get 50% the first two months when you sign up here.
Features: Creating budgets, alerts, reminders for bills, projecting scenarios in the future
PocketSmith is a personal finance software app that allows you to connect your bank accounts, investment accounts, loans and credit cards to see a big picture view of your finances and find out your net worth. A great feature you’ll find here is the ability to forecast your money and run “what-if” scenarios to project future balances. Other features include creating budgets, setting up alerts if your money is running low and reminders to pay bills, though an actual bill paying function isn’t available.
There is a free version but it’s very basic and you’ll have to input your bank info manually. The Premium version is $9.95 a month or $89 a year and gives you access to connect 10 accounts, automatically imports your bank feeds and comes with 10 year budget projections. The Super package is $19.95 per month or $169 annually and gives you 30 year budget projections and the ability to connect an unlimited number of accounts.
Betterment
Fees: Starting at a 0.25% management fee for investments
Minimum Balance: None
Promotions: Up to one year of no fees with a qualifying deposit
Features: Investment and 401k tracking
Technically you can’t use Betterment as a budgeting app for your daily spending and expenses, but you can use it to manage your investments. If you choose a budgeting app that doesn’t have this feature, then consider this one.
Betterment allows you to track all your investments — even ones outside of Betterment — and see whether you’re on the right track for retirement. To invest with this app, it’ll cost you 0.25% of your investment amount with a basic account and 0.40% for their premium service.
Mint
Fees: Free
Minimum Balance: None
Promotions: None
Features: Customizable budgets, download transaction easily, track investments, use via desktop or mobile app
For long-time Quicken users, Mint is probably the app which is the most similar. Like Quicken, the Mint app allows you to view all of your accounts in one place. Simply link your accounts, and the Mint software tracks your entire financial life. Through their desktop or mobile app, you can use Mint’s budgeting software, track your investments, and view your categorized expenses.
They also offer users alerts and advice, as well as the ability to get a free credit score. In addition to Mint, Quicken users should check out Mint Bills. This is a fun feature that helps you monitor your bills and pay them directly through the app. Best of all, both Mint and Mint Bills are free.
Conclusion:
If you’re like me, you’ve used personal finance software like Quicken to manage your money for years. Not only is it convenient to automatically categorize purchases and get automatic reports, but it’s also helpful to get the peace of mind knowing how much money you have in each account. Whether you use Quicken or Mint.com (or some other software), personal finance software has changed the way we manage our money forever!