Personal Finance software/freeware

[bananamamma]

Just wondering if anyone knows of a decent program and has a link to it for personal accounting/budget/paying debt etc.. thought I saw one on this site about a year or so ago but cannot find it anywhere.

In my mind it would be like an excel sheet where you plug in your personal amounts in the + and - , then eventually it would configure a plan for you, weekly-monthly-yearly.....

Any ideas?

[srg83]

For simply keeping track of your accounts, either www.buxfer.com or www.mint.com would be okay to work with. As far as a debt payment planner, I personally haven't seen one - ended up making my own spreadsheet based on calculations other people posted here. So actual software with better numbers would be appreciated as well.

[djino]

I stand by ACEMONEY!!! http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/

There is a freeware version (LITE). The only restriction on the LITE is that you gotta treat all your bank accounts/credit cards/loans/etc all as 1 account. Meaning. You could have like a bank account, and you are paying all your creditors from that one account. Its ok, but I paid the $35 or whatever for the full version.

Full version allows you to have unlimited accounts. I can't say more, just try the lite then buy the full. I can't go a day without it.

djino
"ACEMONEY"

[circa76]

I stand by ACEMONEY!!! http://www.mechcad.net/products/acemoney/

There is a freeware version (LITE). The only restriction on the LITE is that you gotta treat all your bank accounts/credit cards/loans/etc all as 1 account. Meaning. You could have like a bank account, and you are paying all your creditors from that one account. Its ok, but I paid the $35 or whatever for the full version.

Full version allows you to have unlimited accounts. I can't say more, just try the lite then buy the full. I can't go a day without it.

djino
"ACEMONEY"

Is there anything specifically geared towards the Canadian market?

[sunnyd71]

Is there anything specifically geared towards the Canadian market?

I would like to know this as well.

[randomthoughts]

www.wesabe.com has good support for canadian banks. I've not had any problems and have absolutely loved the 'targets' for budgeting.

Also, you don't have to give them any bank login information, which is good, and they export all transactions easily into the format of your choice, so you're not locked in should you choose to go elsewhere.

My only caveat is that it's not double-entry bookkeeping, but... despite that, works really well. Attached forums and groups are extra, but strangely addictive.

[mcceng]

I too remember some RFD threads regarding this as well but I can't find it. Anyway, one of those threads mentioned this program and I've been using it since late Nov 08 and it's much easier to use than the excel spreadsheet I've been using the past few years. Here's the link http://www.codelathe.com/mmex/

An added feature is that this program can be run from my USB storage device. All I need to do is plug it into any PC and run the program from the USB key. No install required. AFAIK the PC must be running Windows. I tried it with a Linux machine and it doesn't work.

As more information is input, it can project your cash flow in the future based on your income and expenses from the previous months. I'm still learning and there are many other tools/reports I haven't used yet.

Check it out. It may be what you're looking for.

[sklm]

http://spreadsheets.google.com

The best.

[nimrod01]

http://spreadsheets.google.com

The best.

Don't suppose you could share some sample spreadsheets? I started using Google Spreadsheets to track some investments and self employment income. Have just bought Quick 2009 (CDN) but have yet to set it up yet. I'm going to have a feeling that I will miss the flexibility of spreadsheets, but on the other hand I spent *too* much time fiddling with them.

2 years ago I had to hold back real hard from writing my own web based accounting system to track my income and investments.. Database backed. It probably wouldn't have been that hard to do to meet my own needs, but I didn't want to rewrite the wheel. Without the amount of time I spend fiddling with my spread sheets, perhaps I should :)

[sklm]

Don't suppose you could share some sample spreadsheets?Well, my spreadsheet is so personalized that it makes it useless for anyone else... It's basically just a bunch of fields that I fill manually and a smaller bunch of fields that fill in automatically based on that data and my custom formulas.
What I like about this approach in general is, it's free, it's accessible from any place with internet connection, I cannot lose my data (unless Google royally screw up their storage arrays, which is unlikely), I can implement any formulae, I can add/remove/modify everything etc.
Although I tried Microsoft Money, AceMoney and some other software that I don't even remember by name, spreadsheets is the only way for me to go, due to its complete control and flexibility. I used to keep it physically on my laptop, then lost a file with couple years of data so moved it to Google in 2007 and have been happy ever since :-)

[Jacklad]

Don't suppose you could share some sample spreadsheets?

You can use their templates as a starting point, and customize to your needs from there.

http://docs.google.com/templates?category=14&type=spreadsheets&sort=hottest&view=public

[Aske001]

I like the custom spreadsheet approach too, but it takes a bit of work to set it up. I just use Excel on my local PC.

I have 3 basic sheets:

1. Reminder sheet: one entry for each repeating bill or other action item (including stuff like "renew passport", "make sure airline points don't expire"). Updates automatically when I view the sheet, turns on yellow reminder and red warning flags according to the due date I specified. Automatically increments to the next due date and resets flags when I mark it "Done". Has a link to the online payment site, if applicable. This sheet is essential to detect when some company has failed to send me a bill or reminder!

2. Tracking sheet: one entry for every bill or cheque I receive, showing amount due, due date, payment status, and link (see below). I eventually archive past years, but there's no real need - Excel has plenty of capacity.

3. Account status: one entry for each account, repeating every month (or quarter), showing status/balance as of current statement, percent difference from last period, and link (see below).

One thing I can do with this method, since I receive and store every statement, bill and other document in digital form - I link each one directly to the corresponding spreadsheet entry. Paper bills and statements I just feed through the scanner and then throw the paper in a box. Any bill or statement I need to find or print, even going back years, is just a quick click away. The space taken up is trivial with a modern large HDD.

I like this method because the spreadsheet is very flexible, easy to search, easy to construct custom totals or analysis, and original documents are one click away.

[sklm]

I like the custom spreadsheet approach too, but it takes a bit of work to set it up.Yeah, I'd recommend it to people who have certain computer skills - at least you should be able to think in terms of formulae, not just fixed dates and numbers, and know how to implement them using the spreadsheet's language. Also, this is probably better for those who likes to look at the bare numbers as opposed to pie charts etc (like in The Matrix they were looking directly into that green-on-black code instead of rendered 3D objects) :cool: :cheesygri Although, one could insert dynamically linked diagrams, too, of course.


I eventually archive past yearsWhat I do is, at the beginning of a new year I save past year to a separate sheet (or, is it called Tab in Excel?..) within the same file, and start the new one with no data yet but preserving all formula skeleton, formatting etc. This way the current year sheet remains uncluttered and the historical data is available within one click, too.

[robgaudrault]

I like the custom spreadsheet approach too, but it takes a bit of work to set it up. I just use Excel on my local PC.

I have 3 basic sheets:

1. Reminder sheet: one entry for each repeating bill or other action item (including stuff like "renew passport", "make sure airline points don't expire"). Updates automatically when I view the sheet, turns on yellow reminder and red warning flags according to the due date I specified. Automatically increments to the next due date and resets flags when I mark it "Done". Has a link to the online payment site, if applicable. This sheet is essential to detect when some company has failed to send me a bill or reminder!

2. Tracking sheet: one entry for every bill or cheque I receive, showing amount due, due date, payment status, and link (see below). I eventually archive past years, but there's no real need - Excel has plenty of capacity.

3. Account status: one entry for each account, repeating every month (or quarter), showing status/balance as of current statement, percent difference from last period, and link (see below).

One thing I can do with this method, since I receive and store every statement, bill and other document in digital form - I link each one directly to the corresponding spreadsheet entry. Paper bills and statements I just feed through the scanner and then throw the paper in a box. Any bill or statement I need to find or print, even going back years, is just a quick click away. The space taken up is trivial with a modern large HDD.

I like this method because the spreadsheet is very flexible, easy to search, easy to construct custom totals or analysis, and original documents are one click away.

Where can I go to learn how to do this on my own? I'm good with the basics of excel but I think I'd need to know a bit more about the functions.

[setell]

Where can I go to learn how to do this on my own? I'm good with the basics of excel but I think I'd need to know a bit more about the functions.

+1 My excel sheet is a mess!! Aske001's spreadsheets sounds sooo good and efficient!

[nimrod01]

While not free, how is the Canadian edition of Quicken?

I'm a proponent of open free software myself. However, I have no problem paying for a good product. And finance software is something I'd use more than once a week, so the cost really isn't that high - $99 as I'd want to track my portfolio with it.

[Jacklad]

I've never tried this program, but for today only (20 Jan 09) you can get a free copy of iMoney:

http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/imoney/

Worth a quick look, anyway.

[Justin C]

While not free, how is the Canadian edition of Quicken?

I'm a proponent of open free software myself. However, I have no problem paying for a good product. And finance software is something I'd use more than once a week, so the cost really isn't that high - $99 as I'd want to track my portfolio with it.

I've used quicken for several years, currently on version 2008. I really like it... it does a good job tracking expenses, investment performance, etc.

If you are patient you can get it on sale for $50-$60.

[moneybags]

I've used quicken for several years, currently on version 2008. I really like it... it does a good job tracking expenses, investment performance, etc.

If you are patient you can get it on sale for $50-$60.
I'm actually looking for a personal finance software. In fact, I bought Quicken Home & Business from Best Buy yesterday. Haven't opened it yet, as I'm not sure if I should return it for Cash Manager... is the investment tracking really worth an extra $60?!

Anyways, my real question, how often does this software go on sale? I've never really tracked the price, as I haven't been on the market for it, but now that I am... every two months? Three months? Once a year? I can probably wait...