Personal Budget Program Comparisons
With personal budget software, a consumer may create a budget and track all expenditures, including those made through bank and credit card accounts. Personal budget software also allows users to create goals, track retirement accounts or develop a plan to pay down debt. Software programs available for Windows, Mac and Linux users, and many have mobile versions for smartphones.
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Quicken Deluxe
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Quicken Deluxe 2011 combines all of the user's bank accounts, credit cards, loan information and investment accounts onto one screen and automatically updates online accounts. Users may create a monthly budget and the program will automatically categorize expenditures and subtract them from the budget amounts. Users can see their cash flow on a daily basis through charts and graphs. Quicken Deluxe includes a personalized debt repayment plan and a retirement savings plan that tracks savings. The program also includes bill due date reminders and integrates with the Turbo Tax program. Quicken Deluxe 2011 requires Windows XP or a more recent Windows operating system.
iBank
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iBank, available for Mac computers, allows users to keep tabbed pages for bank accounts, loans, credit cards, mortgages and retirement and private investment accounts. Users may download information from online accounts or execute updates with a single click. Users must categorize expenditures at first, but the program "learns" where each type of expenditure should go and starts to categorize automatically. Users may create budgets manually or use the envelope system. iBank can create charts and graphs for budgets, spending habits and individual accounts. The program is available in a mobile version for the iPhone.
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Mint
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Mint is a free program that allows users to manage a budget, track spending and set goals online. Mint automatically pulls current information from the user's bank accounts, investment accounts and credit cards. The program also automatically categorizes expenditures and deducts them from the appropriate category. Graphs show current and historical spending habits. Users may see a calculation of net worth and measure their own spending habits with those of the region in which they live. Mint also includes a savings section, which shows personalized recommendations for bank accounts and credit cards. Mint is available online and as a mobile application.
You Need a Budget
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You Need a Budget, available for Windows, Mac and Linux, allows users to create a budget and download bank and credit card accounts manually. Users may categorize expenditures using primary and secondary categories, which allows a user to split one transaction into two budget categories. Users may add notes to expenditures and set up automatic expenditure lists for recurring bill payments. You Need a Budget includes charts that track the user's net worth and spending habits. A pie chart shows expenditures in each budget category.
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