There's an entire cottage industry of apps and services designed to make it easier for you to manage your money. Some of them connect directly with your bank to make tracking spending easy, others focus on giving you a budget to follow and leaving you alone. Here's a look at the top five.
Earlier in the week we asked you which tools and services you used to manage your finances. You responded, and now we're back to take a look at the top five based on your nominations. Photo by Zack McCarthy.
Mint
Mint has taken the personal finance world by storm. Even though the company is only five years old and only available in the United States, it still supports most American banks and credit unions, financial institutions, and credit card issuers. The service is completely free, and makes money by suggesting financial products to you that may save you money based on the ones you already have. Roll in your checking, savings, credit, and other financial accounts, and Mint can help you track your spending, build a budget, save for the future, or get out of debt.
Spreadsheets
A number of you said that you didn't need a special tool or service to help you manage you finances. Instead, you turn to a trusty spreadsheet to help build a budget, organize your spending, and track your finances to make sure you're not spending too much.
Microsoft Money
Microsoft Money, even though it's been officially discontinued by Microsoft and no longer includes the online service support that it once used to, is still a great utility to get started managing your finances and learning how to make and balance a budget. On the bright side, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset?the last version of Microsoft Money to be released-is entirely free.
Quicken
Quicken is desktop utility with online components that connects with your bank and other financial institutions to download transactions and track your spending. The tool also allows you to create and manage a budget, track your financial progress, stay on top of your bills and other obligations, and more. Quicken will set you back between $29.99 and $149.99 depending on the version you want, from Starter Edition to Property Manager, but Mac users beware: updating to Mac OS X Lion will render your version of Quicken Essentials for Mac useless.
You Need A Budget (YNAB)
You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a new and different money management application. YNAB can connect to your bank and download transactions, and display those transactions and your budget in a simple, easy-to-understand interface that helps you determine quickly how well you're doing sticking to your budget and saving for your financial goals. YNAB is noted by a number of its biggest fans for not obfuscating your finances and its own tools like other tools: it's not difficult to just jump in and start tracking your money. You can try the app for 7 days free, but after that it'll set you back $59.95.
Now that you've seen the top five, it's time to vote for an all-out winner.
Did we miss your favorite? Have something to say about one of the contenders? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
You can reach Alan Henry, the author of this post, at alan@lifehacker.com, or better yet, follow him on Twitter.
Source: http://lifehacker.com/5828438/five-best-desktop-personal-finance-tools
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