About Financial Planner Software

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By Nacie Carson
eHow Contributing Writer

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Financial-planning software occupies a general computer-program category that includes any software that is geared toward managing, investing, saving or tracking personal or business finances. This software performs many basic accounting tasks, such as calculating net worth, analyzing profit and loss margins, and assisting with online banking needs. Financial-planning software packages are often used by self-employed and home-based businesspeople who cannot afford a full-time account manager.

Basic Features

The goal of any financial-planning software package is to replace the user's dependence on paper ledgers, credit-card statements and paper billing methods. The various packages allow users to create separate accounts to monitor personal and professional
business through the same system, and can assist users in separating business expenses from personal expenses when they are paid for with a personal account or credit card. Financial-planning software packages also offer bill trackers that alert the user to approaching bills and paid bills, and tell if there are sufficient funds in the account to pay for them. The financial-planning system MasterPlan also allows users to enter profiles of their clients, which makes this database easily searchable and configurable to provide statistical information.

Savings and Investment

In addition to these money-management services, many financial-planning software systems also allow the user to manage her savings accounts and investment portfolios. Quicken, one of the most popular brands of financial planning software, allows clients to enter a weekly or monthly budget; their actual spending is ultimately compared to their projected spending via the "My Savings Plan" feature. This is meant to highlight areas in which the user can afford to save or spend more, depending on her budget.

Tax Preparation

One of the most useful features for home-business owners and self-employed individuals is the tax assistance that is built into most financial-planning software packages. Most systems lead the user to identify all of his possible tax deductions and writeoffs, and present necessary tax data in an easily accessible form. Quicken also offers users the ability to transfer all of the information in their system to the online tax program TurboTax to make tax preparation easy.

Internet Integration

In the past 10 years, financial-planning software packages have expanded their services to seamlessly integrate with users' online banking needs. Most systems can hook into personal and business checking, savings and credit-card accounts, as well as 401(k)s, investment portfolios and PayPal, and offer users access to their accounts with one password. Some systems, like Quicken's Home and Business financial software, offer users cash back at certain websites as a perk for using their online tools.

Quicken

While there are several financial-planning software systems on the market, the most popular system for small and home businesses is Quicken. Quicken was one of the first major companies to create a computer-based accounting system, and has been building financial-planning software packages since the early1990s. Their suite of programs, ranging from real-estate to personal-finance to small-business management, is known for being user-friendly, accurate and affordable.