Personal Finance Software.....?
Personal Finance Software.....?
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Discussion

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Monday 6th September 2010
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I've used MicroSoft money for years but it's no longer supported and I wondered whats (if?) better out there?

It's used for personal finaces...credit cards, bank accounts, few shares, etc, etc - I also use it (as a seperate file) for my small business - which has VERY simple financial needs. i.e a few direct debits, a single income source and then pay and divs for two staff.

Any thoughts?

gamefreaks

2,033 posts

203 months

Tuesday 7th September 2010
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There is a new version of MS Money.

http://www.microsoft.com/money/sunset.mspx

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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hmmm...pity it doesnt pull info from online banks

pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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Paddy_N_Murphy said:
I have one or more savings accounts with Egg.

They - with some setting up - have an ability to cross pool all online accounts.

I can view mine, the Joint Account, Company CC, Savings, Isa's, Current accounts etc etc all on the one page.

One total for the amount of personal credit or debt owed.
tis Good.
Have you read the T&Cs - you have to agree to let them look at your other accounts to see how much money you have and what you use it for.

A bit much for me.

jon-

16,533 posts

232 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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fair enough

OP- you could have a look at www.moneydashboard.co.uk- they are quite good- you have to be comfortable with the product they are offering and their level of security. They have only just started so they are bit clunky at the moment- would expect them to improve with time. Think they are basing their offering on www.mint.com which is a gret site, but totaly US-centric.

Would also like to know of anyother options you find as i'm still looking for somethign that would work better for the missus and I- especially in respecte of budgeting and suchlike!

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
quotequote all
I have just started with Money Dashboard (bit weird giving it all your passwords!)

Problem is it is very good at gathering your info but seems to have no option to tell it what your bills are (in any detail) ...sure, you can say you expect to pay £400 this month on car lease, etc....but with "proper" software like MS Money i could tell it exactly how many instalments there would be, what day they would be collected, etc....and then spot shortfalls down the line.

I need MS Money with the "info gathering" of Money Dashboard.

pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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Tiggsy said:
I need MS Money with the "info gathering" of Money Dashboard.
mint.com in the states does exactly that- seems like we don't have that option in the uk though frown

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
quotequote all
no - and it seems they arent keen on covering the UK either (and I doubt mint.co.uk would roll over on branding!) - that said, seems a few ppl use moneystrands (US) for UK banks....I wonder if Mint.com works anyone (at least for major UK banks?)

jon-

16,533 posts

232 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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pugwash4x4 said:
Tiggsy said:
I need MS Money with the "info gathering" of Money Dashboard.
mint.com in the states does exactly that- seems like we don't have that option in the uk though frown
Have you checked out Lovemoney.com? It uses Yodlee, just like mint and their reporting is pretty similar.

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Wednesday 8th September 2010
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It still doesnt seem to allow for the adding of upcoming bills.

For example.....I want to tell it my council tax DD only runs for 10 months of the year and/or that my buy now pay later TV deal means i need to allow for a one of £2k payment in Nov - stuff like that....so I can forcast properly. Should be so simple....sort of thing MS Money or Quicken used to do. Happy to pay for the service.

pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
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jon- said:
pugwash4x4 said:
Tiggsy said:
I need MS Money with the "info gathering" of Money Dashboard.
mint.com in the states does exactly that- seems like we don't have that option in the uk though frown
Have you checked out Lovemoney.com? It uses Yodlee, just like mint and their reporting is pretty similar.
its pretty good- like the way it tags transactions- very efficient.

Hopefully they'll add some more budgeting tools and perhaps a way of forecasting cash over the coming months.

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
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for now i've gone with dashboard over love money because it seems you cant edit tags on love money - so i cant (for example) have fuel for one car and fuel for the second car - you have to use the default. Pity, because otherwise its far clearer than dashboard

CaptainSlow

13,179 posts

228 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
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What do these applications actually do?

pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Thursday 9th September 2010
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Tiggsy said:
for now i've gone with dashboard over love money because it seems you cant edit tags on love money - so i cant (for example) have fuel for one car and fuel for the second car - you have to use the default. Pity, because otherwise its far clearer than dashboard
yeah i had that issue too- but its so hard getting information out of moneydashboard at the moment. Moneydashboard does have better budgeting tools too (well it allows more complex budgets anyway, its still impossible to read the results of anything)

Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Friday 10th September 2010
quotequote all
CaptainSlow said:
What do these applications actually do?
They pull all your online accounts into one place. Thats all they do well - beyond that they have variying success at letting you "tag" each bill so you can see what you spent on, say, food.

What they cant do...and what is far more usefull....is let you record what you are DUE to pay. Its no use being able to see a pretty chart showing you spent £21 on DVD's this month when you only planned to spend £20 - yet you have no way or recording that your mortgage is due in 2 days and it will put you £2k overdrawn!

jon-

16,533 posts

232 months

Friday 10th September 2010
quotequote all
Tiggsy said:
CaptainSlow said:
What do these applications actually do?
They pull all your online accounts into one place. Thats all they do well - beyond that they have variying success at letting you "tag" each bill so you can see what you spent on, say, food.

What they cant do...and what is far more usefull....is let you record what you are DUE to pay. Its no use being able to see a pretty chart showing you spent £21 on DVD's this month when you only planned to spend £20 - yet you have no way or recording that your mortgage is due in 2 days and it will put you £2k overdrawn!
Have you looked at Xero or Kashflow? My guess is you're after an accounting package...

CaptainSlow

13,179 posts

228 months

Friday 10th September 2010
quotequote all
Yeah well they're pretty useless then. I use an excel sheet to do a full month forecast of expected income/spend to derive the projected end of month position.


Tiggsy

Original Poster:

10,261 posts

268 months

Friday 10th September 2010
quotequote all
those are like MS money (which i have) in that they are (as you say) for accounting - they dont pull info from your bank. I want MS Money that talks to banks or Money Dashboard (type stuff) that lets you input pending bills - maybe it doesnt exist!

pugwash4x4

7,620 posts

237 months

Friday 10th September 2010
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CaptainSlow said:
Yeah well they're pretty useless then. I use an excel sheet to do a full month forecast of expected income/spend to derive the projected end of month position.
depends on how complicated your life is though- i know what my bills are every month, and thus konw our disposable income. I also know my budget on a weekly basis for what i spend my disposable income on. Keeping track of anything else isn't that hard!