Top 5 Personal Finance Software packages

What is Personal Finance Software All About?

Personal Finance Software is software designed for home use that allows you to manage personal finances ranging from income, expense tracking to the tracking of investments and assets. It is a tool that assists in the management of day to day financial tasks such as reconciling bank accounts, tracking credit cards, budgeting, retirement planning and income tax management.

There are dozens of companies that offer Personal Finance Software; the quality varies as does the price, ease of use and level of features. To assist in the decision making process when deciding which package is right for you I’ve listed the top five software titles currently available.

However, before you take the plunge and go out and buy some software you should really ask yourself some important questions:

Do I really need personal financial software? The simple answer is no. You can do exactly the same job on paper or on a spreadsheet, and still do a great job of managing your money. However, professional software takes a lot of the grunt work out of it; there is a lot of automation built in and there are many pre-built reports or planning tools that will assist you in your decisions.

What about an accountant? You could pay an accountant to do all your finances, create budgets, plan and reconcile your accounts, and that is an effective way of managing your money - but guess what? your accountant is probably using a personal finance software package - so why pay someone else to do exactly the same job you could at home?

OK, so now you've decided to take the plunge, what do you need to know about Personal Financial Software?

What to Look for in Personal Finance Software

The best personal finance software will provide easy to use features that allows you to manage even the most complex of financial transactions. However, complexity isn’t always key and it’s important that you really take a look at HOW you want to control your finances and not what THEY want you to do to control your finances. You could find that the simplest program is ideal for you as you’ll never use some of the more advanced features of a personal finance software package. Some key things to think about:

Ease of Use/Installation – this is probably the most important factor to take into account. If the program is to complex to even install let alone use, then it’s highly unlikely you’ll benefit from some of the easy features, let alone the more advanced ones.

So make sure the software is easy to use and is intuitive.

Online Banking – if you want the best features then it is essential that the software has online features – the ability to process online payments, download transactions, reconcile accounts and even get stock quotes will really help you get the best out of personal financial software. However, if you are only looking for something that has minimal features that perhaps helps you budget, then this may not be important.

Investing – if you invest then you need a personal finance software package that has advanced features that allow you to maintain your investments, and do some advanced planning. If you don’t invest and have no intention of investing then you probably don’t need these features – however, even if you don’t use the stock market, some packages will assist you in planning your 401k portfolio.

Planning – for me this is a hugely important area. The ability to plan taxes, loans, investments, savings and retirement (plus all the other events you can think of) is very important. Having a personal financial software package that provides easy to use planning capabilities is a must for people who really want to get to the bottom of their finances. But again, if you only want to record your transactions and reconcile your bank account then you may not need this.

Reporting – most software has some reporting capabilities such as giving an overview of your accounts, expenses and income. Some have very advance customizable reports and whether you need these or not depends on how deeply you want to get into the analytical side of personal finance.