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Personal Finance - What's your take?
- Thread starter MacOG728893
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Once a year for the last five years I have trialled current versions of a few different products. This year it was iBank, MoneyWiz and another that I can't remember the name of. Unfortunately, every year it's the same story - they are all prettier than MS Money, but none of them is even close feature-wise. So I'm still stuck running a Windows VM just for the final edition of MS Money, waiting for the other products to get to the same level with regard to budgeting, cashflow, portfolio management, reporting, etc. Maybe next year.
I have been using Microsoft Money for over 8 years, made the jump to Mac 3 years back and I have continued using Money on Parallels until I got tired turning my virtual machine on and off whenever I wish to record my expenses.
From there on I tried:
- MoneyWiz. Primitive design, lack of customisable reports. Dropped this after a day.
- iBank. Don't like the data-entry interface. Used for a week.
- iCompta. Feature wise it is comparable with Money but interface is still bad. iOS sync is buggy and doesn't sync most of the time. Developer took ages to come out with updates. Non-customisable reports. Used for 6 months until I got fed up with the lack of development.
At that point of time I really wish to go back to Money (can't find any Mac personal finance close to Microsoft Money). I bought VMware Fusion, installed Money and I realise Money does not support import of backups from other software (not even CSV).
In the end I explored Quicken Deluxe, and boy I love it so much. It is in many ways similar to Money in terms of usability and functionality. I bought my first house last year, and I took the opportunity to upgrade my Quicken Deluxe to Quicken Rental Property Manager.
Personally I think none of the Mac Personal Finance software are solid enough to replace Money.
From there on I tried:
- MoneyWiz. Primitive design, lack of customisable reports. Dropped this after a day.
- iBank. Don't like the data-entry interface. Used for a week.
- iCompta. Feature wise it is comparable with Money but interface is still bad. iOS sync is buggy and doesn't sync most of the time. Developer took ages to come out with updates. Non-customisable reports. Used for 6 months until I got fed up with the lack of development.
At that point of time I really wish to go back to Money (can't find any Mac personal finance close to Microsoft Money). I bought VMware Fusion, installed Money and I realise Money does not support import of backups from other software (not even CSV).
In the end I explored Quicken Deluxe, and boy I love it so much. It is in many ways similar to Money in terms of usability and functionality. I bought my first house last year, and I took the opportunity to upgrade my Quicken Deluxe to Quicken Rental Property Manager.
Personally I think none of the Mac Personal Finance software are solid enough to replace Money.
Just finished testing iBank and I agree with your conclusion about the data entry interface. Just started testing Moneydance and so far I like it. A little more "rustic" than Quicken but seems to satisfy my needs.
One thing to consider with Quicken is that they only support a given version for 2 years. After that, if you use online banking/download quotes, you may lose the ability to connects with your institution. That's what just happened with me and caused me to reluctantly upgrade to Quicken 2013. For Moneydance, you download the transactions QIF from the institution's website and import it into Mondeydance. Thus, software version should not limit your ability to download transactions. The price for that, a couple more manual steps.
Most of the others are more "financial tracking" softwares. They tell you what you have in all your accounts, and certainly help you reconcile with the bank (in the case of Quicken).
But most do a poor job of proactively BUDGETING your money. Planning on where it should go. Helping you make better choices BEFORE you spend, because you know how much allocation you have for that particular category, etc.
YNAB is a true "budgeting" program.
I also love that my wife and I both have the mobile iPhone app. We both enter transactions (receipts) at the point of purchase and it goes in the right budget. So in realtime, we know how much money we have in various budgets. This is especially handy for "discretionary budgets" like "fun money," "entertainment," etc. An example - we give each other "allowance" each month which is basically money that we can spend without consultation from the spouse. She tends to spend it on shoes and purses, and I tend to spend it on guitar stuff and gadgets. But the point being - when the wife's shopping - she can see how much money she has left in her "allowance" so she can know whether she should buy those shoes or wait until next month.
I switched from Quicken to See Finance (http://www.scimonocesoftware.com/seefinance/) about three years ago and I'm very happy with it. It does everything for me that Quicken did with regards to tracking transactions and accounts. It's also Mac first and well supported.
I've been using an old DOS program, Managing Your Money (MYM), since 1985, currently running it inside DosBox under ML. I have a sort of love-hate relationship with it, but I've never seen anything else that provides the account and budget support that MYM does. YNAB sounds close, however. Is there any other Old Guy (or Gal) out there who's used MYM and is now using YNAB?
Well, I had years of keeping my personal financial records under my belt before Mr. Jobs and Woz met in that garage, using a pencil, paper and a calculator. Thus, I had a structure set up already, just had to convert things into a spreadsheet or seven. Yeah, I keep track of everything!
Most of the others are more "financial tracking" softwares. They tell you what you have in all your accounts, and certainly help you reconcile with the bank (in the case of Quicken).
But most do a poor job of proactively BUDGETING your money. Planning on where it should go. Helping you make better choices BEFORE you spend, because you know how much allocation you have for that particular category, etc.
YNAB is a true "budgeting" program.
I also love that my wife and I both have the mobile iPhone app. We both enter transactions (receipts) at the point of purchase and it goes in the right budget. So in realtime, we know how much money we have in various budgets. This is especially handy for "discretionary budgets" like "fun money," "entertainment," etc. An example - we give each other "allowance" each month which is basically money that we can spend without consultation from the spouse. She tends to spend it on shoes and purses, and I tend to spend it on guitar stuff and gadgets. But the point being - when the wife's shopping - she can see how much money she has left in her "allowance" so she can know whether she should buy those shoes or wait until next month.
Well put, I couldn't have said it any better. Most of the mentioned finance apps in this thread I have tried, but only failed me in the end due to the very reason you stated.
I believe their system and setup is unrivaled among all the applications I've tried.
Yes, I am. I actually started off using it just like all the old applications and saw no results. I knew immediately I was doing something wrong because of all the good things I heard. Next, I went on the website, read through their info and watched some of their videos and now, I'm finally doing it right.
The best system that has worked for me thus far.
I see. I am only 23 and have been blessed to be surrounded by technology for the greater part of my life. Discussing YNAB's method with my mother, she revealed to me that she used the very same method right after college and only stopped after she married my father
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Thanks everyone for the replies! This could become a great source for people searching out this matter.
I just did a quick try of See Finance. QIF import from Quicken was spotty. Didn't import by category splits, made "split" a category. Also didn't setup my mortgage loan from the import. It labelled it a 'Liability" and when I tried to change it to a "Loan", it basically made me set up the loan from scratch.
Thought having to open up a separate panel to enter a transaction was a bit awkward. I like being able to fill in the cells in the spreadsheet directly. Also, some things (like transaction types) seem to be named weirdly. Like, there is no electronic transfer but there is an "online" and "direct debit".
It looks pretty complete though and it is free (if you don't mind a small opening delay). And it is already Mavericks compatible. So it's a maybe. But right now, Moneydance still seems like the smoothest transition from Quicken.
Thanks to this thread I've now moved all my personal financial management across to YNAB.
Really simple to use and even the girlfriend has taken to it in a few minutes once everything was setup. Agree about the focus on budgets and the sync works really well, especially between laptop and phone
Thanks for the recommendation! If your looking for something to manage your business finances, take a look at freeagent.com. If you want a referral code drop me a pm and we can both save 10%
Really simple to use and even the girlfriend has taken to it in a few minutes once everything was setup. Agree about the focus on budgets and the sync works really well, especially between laptop and phone
Thanks for the recommendation! If your looking for something to manage your business finances, take a look at freeagent.com. If you want a referral code drop me a pm and we can both save 10%
I've used YNAB for 3 years now and I don't see myself changing. It's quite compatible with Dave Ramsey's baby step method too if you follow that.
It does have a few flaws though. People who don't get paid monthly sometimes find it harder to budget in YNAB as do people who aren't paid on the first of the month.
YNAB doesn't let you project either. I used an old program called Simply Budgets to work out cash flow projections for my mum for use in YNAB because when you're starting out not everyone has the cash flow to be able to take a yearly thousand dollar bill and simply divide it by the number of months until it's due date - that's one of YNAB's methods and flaws
It does have a few flaws though. People who don't get paid monthly sometimes find it harder to budget in YNAB as do people who aren't paid on the first of the month.
YNAB doesn't let you project either. I used an old program called Simply Budgets to work out cash flow projections for my mum for use in YNAB because when you're starting out not everyone has the cash flow to be able to take a yearly thousand dollar bill and simply divide it by the number of months until it's due date - that's one of YNAB's methods and flaws
I Love YNAB
I just recently started YNAB and have found that it is the absolute best for keeping me on track. The budgeting feature is what sets it apart, in my opinion. It forces you to be very conscious of your money choices. I also like the philosophy of learning to live off of last month's income. I haven't achieved that goal, but I hope to get there soon. It differs in other programs in that it does more than track your money. It makes you make decisions in allocating income prior to spending. Other programs tend to focus on tracking past spending.
I really wanted to make a lifestyle change and this program has been invaluable. I feel more in control of my money, and less living from paycheck to paycheck. I have tried many programs (Mint, iBank, Quicken, and others) but this by far is the best. The best part was I got it on sale for $14.99. I like it so much I'm buying copies for my mother and daughter for Christmas.
I just recently started YNAB and have found that it is the absolute best for keeping me on track. The budgeting feature is what sets it apart, in my opinion. It forces you to be very conscious of your money choices. I also like the philosophy of learning to live off of last month's income. I haven't achieved that goal, but I hope to get there soon. It differs in other programs in that it does more than track your money. It makes you make decisions in allocating income prior to spending. Other programs tend to focus on tracking past spending.
I really wanted to make a lifestyle change and this program has been invaluable. I feel more in control of my money, and less living from paycheck to paycheck. I have tried many programs (Mint, iBank, Quicken, and others) but this by far is the best. The best part was I got it on sale for $14.99. I like it so much I'm buying copies for my mother and daughter for Christmas.
Yeah, I understand it can be difficult to stick to your budget, but I am learning to live within my means. Tracking my money or knowing where it was going really did nothing for me. While it was beneficial in some ways, I never really saw myself spending less.
YNAB's system has been excellent and I'm happy to finally be following it. Thanks for the reply!
Interesting. YNAB has a budget view, which looks like a glorified spreadsheet. It's really cool. I've never used iBank before, but I'll be sure to check it out.
Thanks for the reply!
I used Quicken originally and was severely disappointed with it only after a few short months. After exploring more options, I decided to stick with YNAB for now.
Thanks for the reply!
Do they have a Mac app as well with cloud sync? I'll be sure to check it out regardless though!
Thanks for the reply!
I agree, this is probably one of the best solutions. I have only one problem. The Quicken iOS app is a joke and makes using Quicken (on the go) almost unbearable.
I love the new YNAB app for iOS
Thanks for the reply!
I was about to start using the iOS app-thanks for the heads up!
From my limited experience, I think you need to be using the desktop app to make any real use of the iOS version.
Thanks to this thread I've now moved all my personal financial management across to YNAB.
Really simple to use and even the girlfriend has taken to it in a few minutes once everything was setup. Agree about the focus on budgets and the sync works really well, especially between laptop and phone
Thanks for the recommendation! If your looking for something to manage your business finances, take a look at freeagent.com. If you want a referral code drop me a pm and we can both save 10%
I am so glad that it has been helpful! It really does feel good to know others are benefiting from such a useful thread with the contributions of these forum members. I agree with you in regards to the syncing between devices. The iOS app is an awesome supplement to the desktop app and makes for adding transactions on the go painless. My only gripe is that it uses Dropbox instead of iCloud, but it's not really that big of a deal.
I wish I can say the same about my girlfriend, but I can't get her on board yet, but hopefully soon!
Ah, this is a very good point. I get paid on the 2nd of every month, so that's probably why it works so flawlessly for me. I could see it being slightly more difficult for others who get paid bi-weekly or work off commission.
I don't see the projection being an issue for me, but still another valid point nonetheless.
The highlighted part in your quote pretty much sums up the problem with most finance apps and why none of them really worked well for me.
Side note, how'd you get it for 14.99? That's an awesome deal!
I can confirm this. While you can technically use the mobile app solo, it will virtually be useless, let alone featureless. I highly suggest against using YNAB with the iOS app alone. If money is an issue for the paid desktop app, one could always use Mint.com and it's mobile app until finances permit the purchase of YNAB for Mac.
I recently started using YNAB and absolutely love it. Where was this app when I was looking for a personal finance app in the past? YNAB is the finance app that I've been searching for for years. Exactly what I've always been looking for. I have know idea how I missed it until now!
It's just about perfect. I understand that the lack of automatic bank importing is by design, but damn, I do kinda need that. Sometimes transactions just fall through the cracks and it takes forever to get things sorted out. I suppose the goal is to stop those transactions from slipping through, but eh, sometimes life happens. It's kinda like trying to combat the proliferation of STD's with abstinence education. It works, in theory.
Still, the lack of automatic import is only a minor gripe considering everything else this app does. I guess I'd also prefer a native OS X app rather than this Java port, but even that doesn't bug me with YNAB (and normally this would be a dealbreaker). The app -- and "system" in general -- are both that good.
It's just about perfect. I understand that the lack of automatic bank importing is by design, but damn, I do kinda need that. Sometimes transactions just fall through the cracks and it takes forever to get things sorted out. I suppose the goal is to stop those transactions from slipping through, but eh, sometimes life happens. It's kinda like trying to combat the proliferation of STD's with abstinence education. It works, in theory.
Still, the lack of automatic import is only a minor gripe considering everything else this app does. I guess I'd also prefer a native OS X app rather than this Java port, but even that doesn't bug me with YNAB (and normally this would be a dealbreaker). The app -- and "system" in general -- are both that good.
I started using Excel spreadsheets for home finances before MS Money even existed. But when MS Money appeared, I found I could do everything much more efficiently in Money, and I've used every version of Money since. Along the way many features got added which I use and would miss with current OS X products. I'm still hoping the feature gap will get closer eventually. From time to time I consider developing a clone myself, but don't have enough time to devote to it.
Daily Expenses is the easiest to use
An accounting/ expense tracking app is only good if you keep on using it daily.
These accounting software packages can end up being like gym memberships.
Use them for a few days and you get tired of continuing.
Daily Expenses probably does the best job when it comes to making the filling in the details process the easiest out of all the choices available. Apple featured the app immediately when it was released. Definitely worth a look if you want to keep on tracking your daily expenses.
https://itunes.apple.com/mx/app/daily-expenses/id592670666?l=en&mt=12
An accounting/ expense tracking app is only good if you keep on using it daily.
These accounting software packages can end up being like gym memberships.
Use them for a few days and you get tired of continuing.
Daily Expenses probably does the best job when it comes to making the filling in the details process the easiest out of all the choices available. Apple featured the app immediately when it was released. Definitely worth a look if you want to keep on tracking your daily expenses.
https://itunes.apple.com/mx/app/daily-expenses/id592670666?l=en&mt=12
wow...this thread is too "YNAB" pro...
I use YNAB but I do not think it is worth the money they charge for it...
Too expensive IMO
I use YNAB but I do not think it is worth the money they charge for it...
Too expensive IMO