So I use a simple spreadsheet I made in Excel to manage finances, but I was wondering if there is something better out there. Any software? Websites? Pre-made excel templates?
I use a spreadsheet as well. I have tried using Money and Quicken but for me, it is too bloated. I want to know how much I have coming in each month and where it is going. I moved my spreadsheet to Google Docs a couple of years ago and that has made much easier for me to access where ever I am. When I want to see balances on all of my accounts, I use My Portfolio on Bank of America's website.
Mint.com is the best free personal financial software out there. It's great for tracking your personal expenses and income, but sucks at investment tracking. Overall, a great product. Two years ago, it was sold to Intuit for $170M. That was a terrible decision. Had they stayed independent, they could be a lot more innovative and responsive to customers.
hunter2 Can you guys see it? But seriously, mint.com is a great tool for budgeting. If only I could get my spending habits under control.
Never heard of mint, but it looks awesome. I've just been using a simple google docs spreadsheet and that works well enough, but it's easy to get behind or lose track.
I live by Quicken. I tried mint.com, but it didn't do enough for me. Quicken is the bomb and I couldn't live without it at this point.
Mint is good, but it has its limitations. It is horrible at planning and manual entry: especially manual entry of transfers among accounts. It is wonderfully easy for looking backwards at what has happened with your money. Intuit has really hurt Mint and simultaneously hurt Quicken. Both have taken giant steps backwards since Intuit bought Mint. If Intuit would add Quicken's tools regarding investments, tax, and planning to Mint, Mint would exceptional.
