$ TRATEGY WHERE IS MY MONEY? THERE IS AN APP FOR THAT!

WRITER: JAMES ROACH

Every year I resolve to get our family’s finances in order. However, because I spend more time at work on the road than at home, this means inputting data onto a desktop spreadsheet is never going to be an effective way to keep our money “situation” organized. Evidently, I am not alone. With the growth of technology and the need for portable offices, there are now ways to keep your finance books managed on your phone and PC.

I decided to look into the different “apps” available for budgeting. After a bit of research, this is what I learned:

For a Mac, there are multiple options for software budgeting:

YNAB (You Need A Budget) is recommended because it is easy to use.

Drawback: YNAB does not connect with banking institutions.

Mint and Quicken are both products from Intuit (the maker of Turbo Tax). Quicken stores information on a hard drive, while Mint uses a cloud-type format. Reviews indicate that for Mac users, Quicken (for Mac) is extremely limited, while Quicken for Windows has many more features and is more easy to use.

Mint: One website recommends Mint for all Mac users over Quicken. Mint is free software that can be used to track and manage a budget. Mint provides mobile apps for iPhone, iPad, and Android products and automatically updates spending by syncing to your bank accounts. Mint will alert you if your account balance is low, or if suspicious spending is identified.

Drawback: Mint cannot print checks or pay bills.

Quicken: From what I have read, it seems Quicken would be a good choice for those who are not as comfortable with the cloud data type set up and prefer all their information be secured on a computer at home. Mint is for users comfortable with trusting the Internet data transfer. Quicken also has many more features to manage more complex investments or properties.

Drawback: My research indicates Quicken costs $50-$120 per license and is usually updated every year or two. Also, Quicken does not have any apps to note.

The website www.imore.com/top-5budget-finance-tracking-apps-iphone lists the top five apps for iPhone: iReconcile: $2.99 to purchase, $19.99 a year. to sync with bank accounts, and offers an online backup. Does yearly, monthly, weekly, or even daily budgets via its budget tracker tool. Easy to set up.

Expenditure: $1.99 to purchase, no listed usage fees. Has ability to include a photo or other information when recording a new transaction. Has some additional features that makes it better than just basic budgeting.

Moneybook: $2.99 to purchase. Offers free cloud backup service. Offers ability to export finances and password protect accounts.

Toshl: Free. Uses online syncing to bank accounts and automatically saves to the cloud, although there is an option for manual only sync. Has the ability to upgrade to pro option for $19.95 a year.

Moneywise: Free ($7 for pro version). Manages everything on the phone. Easy access, easy ability to change budgets “on the fly,” has ability to export.

Because almost every website I visited listed Mint as an option and most ranked it highly in design and usability, I decided to try it. The problems I have encountered so far have to do with the limits on how much input I have available. Also, Mint takes a few minutes to set up all the bank accounts... and I still haven’t figured out how to set up a budget.

It seems these apps assume some intuitive tech-style ability.

Here are some website’s you might find helpful: www.lifehacker.com/5873325/the-bestbudget+tracking-app-for-android www.personal-finance-softwarereview.toptenreviews.com