Finance personal software was never something that I thought was needed in my life. But as time went on it seemed that I could not keep up with bill payments and debt started creeping at my door. This was a situation I never thought would happen to me. I mean this happens to other, unorganized people, you know, those with no self control, but not to me. But believe me, it did happen and it wasn’t pretty. That’s when a friend told me about using finance personal software.

# 1 – How to budget

Learning how to budget wasn’t the real problem, it was just keeping track of all the information that seemed to be the issue. She assured me that if I learned the software and stayed true to my budget, all the money stress would go out of my life. Well, with this kind of a guarantee, I definitely wanted to give it a try.

# 2 – Mvelopes software

The software I chose was Mvelopes by a company called Finicity. I chose this finance personal software program because it is web based, which means I didn’t need to think about getting special PC or Mac personal finance software. One of the best features is that it connects to my Internet banking accounts and my credit card online account, pulling all the transactions from those accounts. This means I don’t have to sit at the computer and enter receipts because the receipts are automatically pulled into the software every time I log in. Yup, it’s awesome!

# 3 – First step  – Spending categories

The first step to setting up this finance personal software program was to list all my spending categories. There are some categories that are pre-made for you, but you can rename them or make your own. I wrote down all my categories on a piece of paper first then made up my budget categories or envelopes in the software. When you set up the envelopes you will have to put in the amount you need for each envelope. You may be in a position where you don’t really know how much you are spending in certain categories.

Do not let that discourage you. Start with the categories that you are sure of, for example your house payment or rent. For the amounts you don’t know or are not sure of simply keep track of your spending for a week, then for two weeks, then for three weeks, etc. At the end of one month, you should know what your monthly spending is for things like gas, groceries, entertainment, etc. At that time you can set up the rest of the categories based on what you spent for one month.

# 4 – Unexpected expense

Of course there are going to be things that you may need to guess at for awhile. For example, car repair, house maintenance, gifts, Christmas, etc. The way I handled these expenses was to guess at the amounts just to set up the budget and then continued to keep track of these expenses. After one year of using my finance personal software, I totaled the amounts and divided by 12, this is the amount that needed to be budgeted for on a monthly basis. Now when a car repair comes along, I have the money set aside for it and am not stressed about how the repair bill is going to be paid.

Understanding the importance of personal finance, getting on a budget and using finance personal software has totally changed my life. I no longer have the stress of worrying about money. I am even learning how to invest because I have the extra money where as before, that would not have been an option for me.

photo courtesy of Mabel Vargas, Flickr

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Finance personal software is an excellent way to create a budget and stay on that budget. There are many financial software programs available for the PC and the Mac. This blog post discusses three Mac personal finance software programs: Fortora Fresh Finance, Moneydance and Mvelopes.

Choosing the right personal finance software is very important because if you don’t feel comfortable using the software, you will probably tend to let things go and not implement the software. Implementing personal finance software is the only way to keep your budget on track. It is so convenient to use software for budgeting and keeping track of your checking and savings accounts.

Personally, it is the only way I can know where money is being spent and the only way I can stay on budget. Ok, now on to the reviews.

Fortora Fresh Finance

This software program can be used with one or more people on one or several computers. It is available for the PC and Mac. With Fortora Fresh Finance you can:

1. Track your accounts including bank, credit and loans.
2. Track your budget
3. Create reminders for bill payment
4. Allocate transactions to different budget categories
5. Download transactions from different financial institutions

This Mac personal finance software is very easy to use and has a clean look and feel to it which is very important to me. I like things to be clean and neat, especially when I’m dealing with finances! One thing that I really noticed about Fortora Fresh Finance is their customer service. Emails are answered promptly during business hours and it is obvious they make customer service a priority. I like that.

Moneydance

This Mac personal finance software is open source and runs on Mac, Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS/2, and Unix operating systems. Sometimes the open source option can bother people because they feel that if it is running on so many operating systems, there could be a lot of glitches.

I really have not found that to be a problem. Moneydance, as a finance personal software, does not include all the features some other programs, but it does offer features most people find necessary. I also found that Moneydance is updated often and the support is solid. For these reasons, I believe it is an inexpensive and viable option for personal finance software.

Mvelopes

This is really my favorite. One of the best features of Mvelopes is that it is web-based. This is very important to me because both I and my husband need to have immediate access to all our accounts. Having immediate access is one of the ways we have been able to make budgeting successful and has helped me to fully understand the importance of personal finance software.

For example, if we are out running errands and get hungry, instead of just heading to a restaurant, we use our cell phone to check our “eating out” category in the Mvelopes account to see if there is money in the “eating out” budget category. If there is no money left in that category, we suck it up and wait until we get home to eat.

Mvelopes is more expensive than other personal finance software programs because you pay a monthly fee for access to the database. But I know it is worth the money because we would be constantly going over budget if not for being able to check our accounts at the touch of a button.

In addition to reporting, Mvelopes allows you to set up automatic payments for your bills as well as automatically keeps track of transactions. This means that you no longer have to worry about forgetting to put a transaction into your checking account, it’s all done automatically.

The beginning of a new year is always a great time to think about improving your money management. Maybe finances are totally overwhelming to you. In these situations I always recommend finding a good personal finance software program.

When I make this recommendation, people always ask me, “What is the best personal finance software?”  There are three features I look for in a good personal finance software:

1. Ability to set up budgeting categories;
2. Able to set up automatic payments through the software;
3. Excellent reporting capabilities.

Do you know what you spend?

Knowing what you spend is an absolute necessity if you are going to get your finances in order. Good personal finance software will help you set up budget categories for every area of your life. For example you would have a category for Home with sub categories of water/sewer/telephone/garbage/cable, etc.

Then you plug in the numbers of what everything is costing you. Once you set up all your budget categories with the monthly costs associated with it, you will be able to keep track of what you have left in each category. Many times spontaneous purchases are what keep pushing us over our budget. For this reason, finding what is the best personal finance software and using it consistently can literally save you thousands of dollars a year because it will alert you when you are about to go over budget. Of course this feature only works if you use the software consistently.

Automatic payments

Setting up automatic payments through your personal finance software will keep you from paying late fees. Using the automatic payment options in your software will ensure that all the payments are also automatically deducted from the proper account so you will never again forget to deduct an automatic payment from your checking account. The benefit of having an automatic payment option in your personal finance software is two fold, you can avoid late fees and at the same time always have an accurate record in your check book of the automatic payment.

When looking for what is the best personal finance software you want to investigate the reporting capabilities. Reporting is very important because reports give you all the information about your finances that you need. For example, what did you spend on entertainment for the first quarter of the year? How much is going into car maintenance? How are your investments doing? All of this and more should readily be available through the software using the reporting feature. We use the reporting feature to see what tax deduction we have for the year. Another important report we run at the end of every year is what we spent in each budget category. This helps us set up a new budget for the coming year.

So what is the best personal finance software?

There are two programs I would recommend. The first is Quicken. This is a very popular program and with good reason. Quicken is constantly listening to their customers for ideas on how to improve the software.  A note of caution, you must buy Quicken Deluxe to access the personal finance portion of the software.

The second personal finance software and my favorite is Mvelopes by www.crown.org. Mvelopes is an online program. This is important for our family because we can access our account via our cell phone. This way all receipts can be entered immediately. Also budget category balances are available at the touch of a finger. This is very helpful in keeping us from overspending.

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The Budget Kit: The Common Cents Money Management Workbook (Paperback)

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It seems as if people are paying attention to their money more closely today than they have in a very long time. Economic uncertainties around the globe contribute to the concern people have for how they spend their money.

A budget is the perfect start to realizing the importance of personal finance and living within that budget is the only way to keep track of what you are spending and how you can cut back to make your money go further. Once you have developed a budget, an effective way to implement the budget and stay consistent is to use finance personal software.

Why Develop a Budget?

Would you ever drive to a new destination without taking a map? No, of course you would not. You need the map to confirm what direction you should take. A budget gives you a map of your financial situation. I will guarantee you that if you do not have a budget, you are spending more money than you are bringing in. A budget will show you what you must spend, i.e. monthly bills and expenditures. Consistently using the budget will allow you to see you are over spending. It will also show you if your budget is realistic. For example, if you are budgeting $50 a month for gas, but consistently spend $100 a month for gas, then you need to adjust your budget to allow for $100 a month in gas.

Developing and following a budget is the only way that you will be able to reach your financial goals, no matter what they are. Many people think that having a budget will be too constricting, however, I’ve found the opposite to be true. People have a deep desire to control their spending; but they often do not know how to do that. Once they start to work with a budget, they feel they are back in control of their money, which can be a very freeing experience for them.

Why use Finance Personal Software?

Finance personal software is like having a GPS instead of just a map. GPS systems are wonderful because they provide details a map would not give you, i.e. traffic conditions and estimated time of arrival. The GPS system will keep you on track.

Using finance personal software is like having a GPS system. The map, or your budget, is great; the GPS, or your finance personal software, is better. Financial software has developed so much in recent years; you will be amazed at how it can help you stay on track with your finances.  For example, Mvelopes is a web-based finance personal software. There are several good reasons for using a web-based program:

1. Easier for those who travel frequently.
2. You can look up your budget from your cell phone if you have a data plan.
3. Can be used on any platform, which means you don’t have to look for PC based software or mac personal finance software.

Finance personal software will automatically keep track of your balances and most personal software programs have an automatic bill payment feature. This means that you can set up the bills you would like to be paid from your checking or savings account automatically and the payment will be deducted automatically from your account.

Reporting is also a great feature in finance personal software. Reporting will show you exactly what your expenditures are for each category you set up. You can also use reporting for tax purposes.

Conclusion

Creating a budget and sticking to it is the only way you can manage your finances to reach your short term or long term money goals. Once you create a budget you just have to stick to it as you would a map or GPS system to reach your financial destination.

Whenever I think of the stock market and basically any investment, the picture that comes to my mind is a house of cards. I know you probably think I am being very negative. But the simple fact remains, we can plan all we want using stock markets and other financial investments, but we will still be at the mercy of powers beyond our control. This is why managing my own personal money has become so important to me.

My personal finances are something that I can control and understanding the importance of personal finance management has helped me plan for the future. Even though I still think the stock market, etc. is a house of cards, getting a grip on my personal finances has helped me to diversify my investments so if some of my investments don’t do well, I have a good chance of making up that loss in other areas of my portfolio. Prior to learning how to manage my personal finances, I would not have been able to plan for my future with any success at all. This is why understanding the importance of personal finance is so crucial; it helps you see the bigger picture.

How to Plan

If you are struggling to get from paycheck to paycheck, you probably are not living within your means. If you are spending more than you are bringing in, you will never be able to get ahead and plan for retirement, vacations, college education, etc. But I have good news for you! If you are in the position of living paycheck to paycheck, there is nowhere to go from there but up.

Learning how to manage your finances will help you get out of constant crisis mode and into planning mode. For example, imagine putting aside money every single month for car maintenance. This way when you have a car repair, the money is already in the car maintenance fund. Can you imagine the freedom and power you will feel when you do not have to scramble to come up with money for an unexpected car repair bill?

I have budget categories for every single thing that we spend money on including, hair cuts, house maintenance, vitamins, music lessons, school supplies, clothing, etc. If you do not know what you spend your money on simply start a list. For one week keep track of all your spending.

This will give you a good starting point for compiling your budget categories. Once you have your budget categories, you need to keep track of your expenses in each category. This will be an ongoing task for one month. After the month is over you will be able to see what you are spending for each budget category. At this time you can sit down and write out your budget using your expense tracking sheet. This will probably be a real eye opener for you. It is usually at this time when you realize you are overspending in certain categories; entertainment being the main budget buster for most people. At this time you will really start to understand the importance of personal finance management.

Sticking to the Plan

The best way I know to stick to your budget plan is to use finance personal software. This is available for PCs and there is also Mac personal finance software as well. We knew the importance of personal finance management; however, until we started using software, we were unable to stick to our budget plan. The software will help you easily see where you are spending money and how much money you have left in a budget category.

Creating a budget plan is a great first step in gaining control over your personal finances. Sticking to the budget is trickier, but over time, as you sense the freedom a budget truly gives you and it will become a way of life.