How to Manage Your Finances with Technology

Tired of using paper checks and pulling out the old calculator to do your budget? Are you afraid of using making an accounting error if you use your computer instead of the old tried and true methods? I'm going to show you how to do your monthly finances in less than 5 minutes each month (10 if you still have dial-up).

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• All relevant financial information, including account numbers, physical addresses, etc.
• All monthly bills (mortgage, cable bill, utilities, etc) with account numbers, physical address, etc.
• PC/Laptop
• Free accounting program called Quickbooks.

1. Gather all relevant financial information (bank accounts, brokerage accounts, etc) and monthly bills (mortgage, cable bill, utilities, etc.).
2. Download a free copy of your favorite accounting software. My personal favorite is Quickbooks. Note, this is basic accounting software that is free to use, and never expires. Install the software. All you really have to do is push "YES" or "I ACCEPT" most of the time.
3. Take the Quickbooks tutorial offered with the program. It will show you the basics of the program.
4. Enter your personal bank/brokerage account information. This will allow your computer to download all of your banking information automatically when you open the program. There is never a need to add expenses by hand any longer since the software does it for you automatically. This is how you save time. You also have a near real time financial statement of your bank account, and in particular, your brokerage account.
5. Enter your monthly bills. Another great tool of Quickbooks is that you can pay your bills automatically. By entering your account information, Quickbooks can pay your bills on a date you specify, or it can remind you to pay a bill and you just make a few clicks to send your payment. An alternative would be setting up an automatic payment plan with each individual creditor/provider whose services you use if you want to give them complete control over paying your monthly bill.
6. Gain more experience with Quicksbooks by using it frequently. You will get out of Quickbooks what you put into it. So make sure your computer skills and data entry skills are accurate.

Tips & Warnings

• You can print out paper checks and maintain a ledger if you choose.
• As added security, call each of your creditors/service providers or by using an existing online account to verify that payment has been received
• If you import bad (incorrect) data, you will export bad data. So double check any financial information you add by hand.