FollowSoftware Programs Helpful in Managing Household Finances
• Quicken
• Mint
• YNAB
• Mvelopes
• Personal Capital
Creating and sticking to a budget for household finances can be very difficult for most of us. Once we started using computers, spreadsheets offered some help in working out a budget. However, spreadsheets are only as good as the information they’re provided with. Today we have software programs that can help create budgets, provide reminders and notifications. These household finance software programs do everything but actually pay the bills for us. Here are 5 software programs to help manage household finances.
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1. Quicken
Quicken has been around for many years and is one of the most well-known personal finance software programs today. People can use Quicken to manage various areas of their finance, including creating budgets, tracking debts, setting saving goals and offering financial coaching. Quicken can export the user’s data into Excel where the user can view it and add in additional calculations. The program can track asset values, handle property management functions like tenant rentals, monitor the value of assets and even allows users to set up payments for all monthly bills if it’s set up to do so.
2. Mint
Mint is one of the most popular software programs around for managing household finances. Once users set up their account information, the program practically does everything else for them. It imports all the user’s bank and credit card information. Once it has the information, the program analyzes the user’s spending habits and suggests areas in which the user can decrease spending. Users can set up alerts so they’re notified when bills are due or checking accounts are low on funds. Users who set up specific budget categories will receive real-time info on how much they have available to spend in those areas like gas, food or entertainment.
3. YNAB
YNAB (You need a budget) is a software program that helps users create and manage their monthly budgets. Users enter all the important information, including income, expenses and accounts. YNAB automatically links to the user’s bank account and imports spending information so it can be analyzed and tracked. U.S. News & World Report states that being able to track spending is one of the most important features for those trying to budget. If users have trouble staying within a budget, YNAB offers some helpful tutorials filled with advice and ways to change bad spending habits. The software lets the user know what areas need less spending and how to eliminate overspending.
4. Mvelopes
Mvelopes kind of takes users back to the old days when people cashed their paychecks and put money into separate envelopes for each of their bills. Users set up a budget based on their income and expenses, and Mvelopes helps them set up a budget. For instance, if users have $75 to spend on gas for the week, they put the money into an “envelope”. Once the money is used up, the user is notified they have no more gas money. As money is used up in all the envelopes, the software updates the account balances. The program monitors what is being spent in real life and sets up a budget on how much is needed and how much is left to spend.
5. Personal Capital
Personal Capital is a very helpful software program whether a person has one or several accounts. It allows users to include all their accounts, including bank accounts, credit accounts, loans and mortgages, and manage them all in one easy platform. Investment accounts can also be added to Personal Capital. What makes Personal Capital so great is that it allows users to see all their accounts at once without scrolling from screen to screen. Users who have portfolios worth more than $100,000 can even get personalized financial advice for a small fee. Users set their goals, and the software will tell them if they’re on track to meet their goals.
With the busy lives we all lead today, few of us have much time to work on our budgets even if they do seem to need some work. Software programs are extremely popular and helpful for managing household finances because they require minimum work but do everything else for you. What better way to start off a new year than with a balanced budget?
