Financial management software?

Question

What is the best (inexpensive) Financial management software out there? Right now I use Microsoft Money 2005 standard. I've never tried anything else, but I don't really like it. Granted, it IS faster than hand writing everything into my check register, and it does help me see where my money is going, but first of all, it automatically categorizes my transactions a lot, but it gets it wrong a lot of the time. But more importatntly, I'm disappointed with the budget part of it. Maybe it's just because I have the standard edition, but it just doesn't seem to helpful for creating a budget. I'm looking for something very user friendly, with plenty of advice, and understanding about how humans spend and waste money...if you get my drift. It's just for my family's personal finances.

Is there anything free out there?

Answer 1

Check out some of the great free Open Source software:

GNU Cash: http://www.gnucash.org/
Budget Master: http://wall.brad.googlepages.com/budgetm...
GFP: http://gfd.sourceforge.net/
Money Manager: http://www.thezeal.com/software/index.ph...

Answer 2

I have been using a Personal Finance Software package by Australian business Parcus Group - Personal Finance Associate.
The product is very good & simple to use - you do not have to be an accountant to use it. For $29 it costs, you get budgeting, financial planning templates as well as some advanced features that typically cost loads more as separate software packages such as investment real estate calculations (mainly based on rental cash-flow analysis) and value based shares valuations (based on Warren Buffet's stock valuation methodology)
Their website is http://www.parcusgroup.com
For anyone interested in their own money managment this product is definitely worth looking at.

Answer 3

I've never used MS Money so I can't compare them, but I've used Quicken (the basic version) for several years and it does a good job for me.

I enter all my transactions and every month-end I report my monthly income & expenses and my month-end net worth. The real trick is setting up the categories in a meaning full way. They can be subdivided indefinitely. For example I have a category for utilities. Under that I have things like gas, electric, phone, etc. Then under phone I have local, long-distance, and cell. That way when I review income and expenses I can review high-level categories (like utilities) and easily drill down to detail (like long-distance calls) if I want to.

Answer 4

I personally like Quicken. It's not free though. For something free, you may look and see if there are some financial templates which you could modify for your needs on the Microsoft office site.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

http://www.freewarehome.com/ so many free financial management softwares on here download the freeones and see whichones work best for your needs and for your system.