Tools for tracking your money are great, just so long as they don’t loose you in their cool charts and fancy graphics. You don’t want to let all those pretty pictures distract you from the main goal, which is keeping track of your personal finances. That’s not to say that tracking tools aren’t helpful, but sometimes all you need is a good template or spreadsheet. Of course the type of tracking tools you find necessary will certainly depend upon your level of money managing experience and the depth of your personal finances. With that being said, here are some tracking tools that might help you to better manage your money.
BudgetPulse.com
A free online budgeting tool, BudgetPulse offers a variety of money tracking options as well as help with how to save for large purchases, and access to their blog sites and forum. The part I like best about the site is that it doesn’t force you to put account numbers or financial information that you want to keep private out there and at risk of being seen by others. You can watch the brief video on their homepage to get a better feel for exactly how the site works and what it offers.
MoneyTrackin.com
A free online tracking site, at MoneyTrackin.com you can visit their blog, use the site’s saving map to find ways to save money that hit close to home, or discuss budgeting matters and discover tips within MoneyTrackin’s online community. They even offer tools for small business accounting. Take their tour to discover more about the site’s features and capabilities.
Geezo.com
Create money goals, utilize money alerts, or chat about ways to save. Geezeo offers a variety of tools when it comes to tracking your money. Get recent news at the Press Center, meet and discuss budgeting topics with like-minded members of the Geezeo community, or just crunch some numbers and look for ways to save when it comes to your personal finances. The site is free and offers a short introduction by way of a brief (1 minute and 37 second) video tour.
Microsoft Excel
I personally find that simple Excel spreadsheets are one of the most effective methods of tracking and managing one’s personal finances. You can build the managing devices that best suit your needs, get as in-depth or keep it as simple as you’d like, add graphs and charts if needed, and keep your personal financial information away from any prying eyes that might be lying in wait upon the internet.
Microsoft Money
As you might already have this software (at least in some version) installed upon your computer, it could be a useful and available tool for managing your money. While Microsoft is no longer making this software available for sale, it doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t be a valuable tool for your money managing needs. Frankly, I sometimes find that older versions of particular software are actually easier to navigate before all the added bells and whistles start to gum up the works.
BudgetTracker.com
BudgetTracker.com is a free online tracking tool that allows you to manage your financial life. Among its tools, the site offers the ability to track bills, build a budget, utilize charts and graphs, create a custom calendar of reminders, forecast incomes, or manage your business.
Bill Organizer
If you’re looking for simple and basic, Bill Organizer might be the money tracking tool for you. Bill Organizer is a downloadable spreadsheet devoid of many of the extravagant features found on so many other sites. Bill Organizer allows you to keep track of where your money is going, when it goes there, and in what amounts.
PearBudget.com
PearBudget offers a 30-day free trial, after which the service runs $3 a month. While I find it difficult to pay any amount of money for money tracking tools, PearBudget.com’s wizard function makes getting started quick, easy, and relatively painless.
Debtsteps.com
Debtsteps offers plenty of advice regarding financial matters and a number of tools including, budget worksheets, a discussion group, interactive debt help where you can read a money horror story or tell one of your own, and budget calculators. The budget calculators can be used to determine things like mortgage payments, credit card payoffs, minimum payments, or build a household budget.
Mymoney.gov
Yes, even the government is getting into the act when it comes to helping you with your money. While they don’t offer the same type services as many others on this list, they do provide several tools to help you with your money management. A slew of calculators ranging from college planning and credit card repayment to home buying and investing are there to assist you with your money matters.
Tom writes about managing money at MoneyCompare.com.au where consumers can compare online savings accounts in order to get the highest interest rate and lowest fees for their money.
Thanks for including BudgetPulse. I would be glad to speak more about it for anyone who may have questions.
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Estate Planning, Wills and Trusts: For Business Owners and Entrepreneurs (Entrepreneur Legal Guides) (By W. Rod Stern) By W. Rod Stern Estate plans are created for a variety of reasons, but they aren’t just about distributing your assets. First and foremost, you want the security of knowing that you have provided for your loved ones and minimized the legal issues and financial ….
My concern is with so many people that don’t make adequate provision for retirement.
If you don’t learn to budget and track your spending early in life, chances are that you won’t be able to save enough for retirement.
Thanks for your research and excellent reference list.