What financial software do you use?

[elainevdw]

Just curious. I've used Quicken and Money a while ago, and it looks like I'm going to get Money again (because I got a hand-me-down Pocket PC that I downloaded a free version of Pocket Money with; the main reason I didn't keep up with balancing my checkbooks is because I'd never enter my purchases on a regular basis).

If you wouldn't mind expounding on what you like about your particular financial system, and what you use it for (balancing the checkbook? making expense reports? invoicing for your business?) I would be most grateful!

[Adam]

I use Money simply for ballancing the checkbook and planning my budget... at least, that's what I'd use it for if I actually updated it regularly. I'm adding this to my list of habits to work on.

[Henry]

Excel Baby!

[Waffle]

Excel for me too!

[Dittert]

For those of you who use Excel, how exactly do you "use" it? I wanted to keep track of my spending for this year, so I recorded every transaction I made in an Excel worksheet (it was the best idea I could come up with at the time). Now I'm getting to the end of the year, and I want to analyze my data. Any suggestions? I'm looking to set up a better system for 2007 where I can a)analyze my data more easily and more often; and b)obtain useful data for planning budgets. Any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

[Waffle]

Dittert, you might want to make full use of Excel's functions...
So that it automatically updates all corresponding values and summarises everything up.
That should make decisionmaking and planning easier.

[WanderingOak]

I started using Quicken on a Mac. For a while, I switched over to Linux and was using GnuCash, which I never could get to function properly. It could be that I just don't understand double-entry bookeeping, but GnuCash was also glaically slow, which is unusual for Linux. Eventually, I upgraded my old Mac to Tiger and went back to Quicken. Apparently the data file formats are not compatible, so I wasn't able to merge my old files from one to the other .

[kthdsn]

I use GNUCash, it did take a while to get used to double entry accounting, but I don't find it slow at all. I prefer it to Quicken which I used before I took the plunge into Ubuntu.

[WanderingOak]

Originally Posted by kthdsn

I use GNUCash, it did take a while to get used to double entry accounting, but I don't find it slow at all. I prefer it to Quicken which I used before I took the plunge into Ubuntu.

I was using it with Debian Sarge, on an old Athalon 450, so the antiquated hardware may have been a problem. Now I am using Quicken 98, so I have to drop into OS 9 in order to get it to work. I'm cheap, so I don't upgrade my computers as often as I should . If I have the time, I may go back to Linux some day. I have heard good things about Ubantu, and it is Debian based, so I won't be completely lost.

[kthdsn]

Ubuntu is very easy to use. Drop me a message if you want some help getting used to the double entry thing

[elainevdw]

Wow, sorry for leaving GnuCash out. I didn't even think of looking up open-source Linux accounting software. I should see how it does on my Xubuntu system -- but if some people say it's slow, then on that old computer, it'll be glacial!

[gberardi]

I also use GnuCash, and the only feature I am waiting for is closing accounts.

Keeping track of my finances is as easy as my Accounting 101 and 102 classes in high school. Unfortunately, because there is no "closing accounts" feature, I can't easily look at yearly data because December always looks like a LOT of money moved around.

[elainevdw]

You had accounting classes in high school? Lucky... I had religion classes.

[Jill]

CheckFree for all bill paying. I couldn't live without it. Clicking to pay my bills instead of licking (envelopes) is THE BEST.

And Quickbooks Online Edition for my business invoicing and all that. It's THE BEST too!

[Nneka]

I use Quicken to get the full picture and Excel for quick and dirty keeping up with transactions.

I greatly simplified my budget recently by putting expenses for clothing, dining out, entertainment, and groceries together. It may not all seem like they fit, but I got tired of tracking every penny on those things. I feel like I'm nickel and diming.

I just want a clear sense of where I am. I don't want to track every penny. At the end of the month I import all my transactions into Quicken.

[gberardi]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

You had accounting classes in high school? Lucky... I had religion classes.

Oh, I had those, too. Some were actually interesting. I don't know if I could say that they were equally as practical, but I don't want to say that the religion classes weren't, either.

[Andrew Michaels]

Are there any free windows programs that can be used to keep track of personal income/expenses? Some open source project?

[Ilya]

As I've just wrote in Personal Effectiveness forum, I use Acemoney. Small shareware program. Trial version has just one limitation - you can have only one account. Graphs, reports and other features present. I've used it for five years and it was enough to find out where the money goes.

Another tip for those who find it difficult to keep tracking their expenses. I had a lot of trouble with this until I actually put a small notebook and a pen into my wallet. Actually I'm using a thin dayplanner cover for a wallet - it has pockets for the cards, for the money, I can attach the notebook there and there is a loop for a pen (use good ballpen - pencils require sharpening and just do not work). With this set-up I can write down the transaction within seconds while waiting for the cashier to give me my change. I write down two out of price-quantity-value trinity, so I can deduce the third one. I enter the info into computer weekly, this way it is not too long and takes just a few minutes.
This process, however simple was very helpful on my route to financial independence.

[eveliendb]

I don't really use any financial software, but I'm still a student

[Phil Newton]

I use Microsoft Money 2004 for my personal finances, but Excel / pen-paper for business related things. The main reason I use Money is that it downloads statements from the bank, which saves a lot of data entry time. The only problem is that my bank doesn't support background transfers, so I still have to download the files manually.

[nafai]

I use ledger to keep track of my finances. No fancy GUI, just a text editor and a really powerful program that I can use to query just about anything. I use it along with gnuplot to create the fancy charts of my financial state.

[mmacauley]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Moneydance. I was getting ready to buy Quicken a few weeks ago, but after reading a lot of negative reviews, I discovered Moneydance. It's not quite as full-featured, but it's very good, boasts a good number of satisfied Quicken converts (e.g., Moneydance Discussion - Why I Switched to Moneydance from Quicken ), has gotten good press, and on top of that it's cross-platform (Java), so runs equally on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

I've been using it on Windows for a couple of weeks now, and so far, I have only a few minor complaints. (Having used no other financial software, besides Excel, I can't say how it compares.) I'll probably buy it ($30) when the trial period expires.

[CStrunk]

I used to use Microsoft Money because it had all those nifty graphs. Then I switched over to a Mac. I don't like Quicken, so I just keep track of everything through the online banking features on the bank websites. Then my investments are through mostly Vanguard, and they have nifty graphs on their website, too.

I should probably use Excel, but I crank out models all day at work and have little desire to crank out more. :P

[AndrewJ]

Anyone tried PiggyBob? PiggyBob Premium software at Softwareloop

Andrew

[RT Wolf]

I got myself an old palm and a program called Adrian Money which sync with Quicken. I played around with Quicken a while ago but found I couldn't keep it updated regularly enough, but I'm going to give it another shot with the palm cause I can just enter all transactions. I guess I'll try MSN money, too, although I figure either one will ahve enough features for me to be quite happy.

Yar!

[finandom]

I use http://www.moneytrackin.com/ and I found it is quite a useful online application. Somemore it is free.

[master01]

I use ClearCheckbook which is free personal finance software that tracks my accounts and spending. ClearCheckbook is online software, requiring an Internet connection and browser.