Quicken lets you transfer money between accounts at different institutions, provides specialized investment reports, and helps you create a tailored plan to pay down your debt. Longtime Quicken users are familiar with the software’s top-notch budgeting, planning, and spending-analysis tools that have long complemented their robust account-management features.
And you get more exporting and customization options than Mint, which makes Quicken one of the best personal finance software options. The feature set is as robust as any personal finance software out there.
Price: $41.99/year, with 30-day free trialįor the oldest player on the field, Quicken’s still got it. This feature gives you the “why” behind the numbers, breaking down on-time payments, credit usage, and average age of your credit and showing how your behaviors in these areas aid - or hurt - your overall rating.
One feature our testers particularly appreciated was Mint’s free credit-score tracking and education. Mintsights are personalized for each user. And personalized Mintsights offer guidance and suggestions to tweak the habits and behaviors that Mint “sees” in your financial activities, in order to help you pay down debt and save more. Mint will even tell you if those subscriptions change price. Other powerful additions for 2021 include subscription monitoring, which helps you keep track of the subscriptions that seem to proliferate with every free trial. New in 2021, you can bulk-edit to make category adjustments.
Mint makes setting up a budget a simple and straightforward process: Once you’ve set up your accounts, Mint takes a crack at categorizing your expenses for you.
Life is complicated enough already, and you can start your new era of fiscal responsibility right now by saving yourself the $42 annual price tag for Quicken Deluxe.
While Mint and Quicken have long been the top contenders for full-featured financial management for everyday finances, Mint wins as the best personal finance software by being both free and slightly simpler than Quicken. Many users love its simple, clean UI - the 2021 design refresh is getting raves - and at-a-glance financial dashboard, with net worth right there at the top. Mint is a web-based tool (with mobile apps, of course) that will help you track spending, design a budget, manage debt, set goals and combine all your accounts (including the weird ones like balloon mortgages) in a single place. If you're trying to maintain a realistic budget, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recommends creating a budget spreadsheet or worksheet to track your income and expenses.If you’re looking for a one-stop shop in your personal finance software and want a full-featured tool that still keeps things simple, Mint is the choice for you. That way, you can budget your money appropriately for your needs. Spreadsheets help you to see how much income you have, as well as how your money is spent. Much like a business, a person benefits from using a spreadsheet for their finances because it places all the information they need in one easy-to-read place. All of these entities use spreadsheets for creating budgets, tracking spending, and creating reports for their financial matters. Since then, the technology has been adopted by businesses, banks, and governments. Learn about all of your options, here.ĭan Bricklin and Bob Frankston created the first financial spreadsheet program in 1979. Managing your personal finances can seem like a daunting task, but it doesn't have to be: There are many budgeting and personal finance spreadsheets readily available online.
Budgets help you plan for your monthly expenses, activities, needs, and even your financial future. One of the best methods for managing personal finances is to create a budget.Ĭreating a budget can help you keep your finances organized and also control the amount of debt you might require to live the way you want. Basic living expenses need to be maintained for a reasonable quality of life, which can be attained by most people if they manage their finances correctly.