what software do you use to organize and evaluate your finances?

[Anonymous]

So finally I decided to stop keeping dozens of paper statements around and to actually sit down and figure out all my assets and liabilities.

What's a good software to use, whether it's something you install onto a PC or MAC or whether it's web based? I am reluctant to use something that can be installed onto my smart phone with the fear that I might lose the phone (and naturally, never back up data on my phone).

I have so many accounts floating everywhere I have lost track and it's not good.

thanks!!!

[Anonymous]

nothing fancy OP. I use a spreadsheet. Works perfectly for what I need, and probably for what most people need.

I use Quicken at work to help organize the small business that I work with. To be honest, the program is WAY more complicated than it needs to be. There are always glitches and I don't find it to be very intuitive. Again, good old school Excel spreadsheet is all you need!

Also, stop getting paper statements for one thing. You can just download them from your institutions website - Vanguard, Fidelity etc.

[Anonymous]

i use my own spreadsheet that i've built over the years to track my assets and liabilities. and to build yearly budgets. i use personal capital to track my transactions.

[Anonymous]

No personal experience yet but somebody told me to use mint.com.

[Anonymous]

quicken

[Anonymous]

Excel - and lots of online accounts

[Anonymous]

Also excel. I update it once a year and forget about ever looking at statements in between updates.

[Anonymous]

I really love Mint. Free, simple, all your accounts in one place. Fantastic to follow your expenses by categories once you spend a first hour categorizing your expenses (very easy and most expenses end up recurring so if you do it once for 2-3 months of expenses you have very little to do afterwards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really love Mint. Free, simple, all your accounts in one place. Fantastic to follow your expenses by categories once you spend a first hour categorizing your expenses (very easy and most expenses end up recurring so if you do it once for 2-3 months of expenses you have very little to do afterwards

I also like the dashboard feature of Mint that allows you to see all of your accounts in one place.

The expenses part frustrates me a little because there are a ton of different categories for what for me are the same thing (fast food, coffee, bars and restaurants, for example). It also miscategorizes things a lot such as my mortgage payment. I also find the budget feature annoying because there are certain expenses I pre-pay for the year such as HOA dues and it throws off that section.

[Anonymous]

Morningstar for investments and mint for spending.

[Anonymous]

I use Excel for myself and a couple of the organizations I support. I have a spreadsheet to track my budget/actual bills and spending, another one to track spending by category (for cost-cutting purposes) and a third that keeps an eye on my investments. (retirement, savings, college funding, pension.) I update that one every couple of months when I think about t.

I use Quickbooks for my school's PTA because I have to be able to print checks.

[Anonymous]

We use Excel for the annual budget and utilities. Monthly, we use GoodBudget to track discretionary spending (groceries, eating out, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Mint. All accounts linked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mint. All accounts linked.

Just use MS Excel.
I wouldn't use mint because account information can be compromised.

[Anonymous]

Good old fashion pen and paper along with Every Dollar.