Software for Creating a Monthly Budget
Managing our financial lives can be complicated. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be, thanks to a broad selection of budgeting and personal finance software. Popular solutions, traditionally based on the desktop, have begun to appear as partially or fully online products, making budget creation easier and more accessible than ever before. A well-planned and easy-to-track budget is also a budget we're more likely to stick too, and who wouldn't like that?
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What to Look For in Budgeting Software
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Software used to create a monthly budget should be capable of being customized according to personal planning and tracking needs. Security is another top concern. If you choose an online or web-capable version, particularly one that interacts with personal accounts in any way, it is important to select a vendor and product that you feel comfortable with protecting your financial and personal information.
Mint
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Mint provides a set of free financial management tools that have proved both powerful and easy to use. The ability to interface with literally thousands of banks and its pretty, uncomplicated planners have made it a popular choice for setting up and tracking a personal budget. So popular, in fact, that the company reported average gains of up to 7,000 new users per day after receiving a skeptical letter from at-the-time competitor, Intuit. Intuit bought Mint shortly thereafter, closing the deal in September 2009.
Mint does have its downsides, however. For example, you can't enter transactions manually or create forecasts. Why not? Mint founder Aaron Patzer believes that budget forecasts are inaccurate and complicated to create, telling Kiplinger that the process "will frustrate the hell" out of users.
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BudgetPulse
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If you don't feel comfortable with budget software connecting to personal accounts, BudgetPulse may be the answer. However, the added shelter found with BudgetPulse does mean you'll have to manually enter or import financial data, such as income and expense transactions, and users with very active financial lives may find it a tedious solution. Despite this, features such as the ability to create public savings goals, which individuals can then pay into using PayPal, make it a good choice for fund-raisers or those creating budgets for an extended group or family.
Buddi
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Like Mint and BudgetPulse, Buddi is a free software solution. However, it has a distinct advantage available to more capable users: Buddi is open source. This means that the software's source code is publicly available and can be heavily customized. Written with Java and Java Swing, Buddi runs on virtually any desktop computer, including Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It is also quite powerful without any programming alterations, and third-party plug-ins may be used to extend capabilities even further.
HelloWallet
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If you're looking for budget planning software with a bit more oomph on the tracking side of things, HelloWallet is a promising option. In addition to budget planning and tracking, HelloWallet also provides advice and monitoring services that may actually improve your financial situation in the process.
For example, its rate monitoring service can alert you when interest rates on your credit cards go up or down. The software will also shop around to locate better money market accounts, auto loans or other bank products, tipping you off with opportunities to save money on the way to meeting budget goals. HelloWallet may be accessed for a monthly fee of $4 or $5.
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