Budget software/app

[Friedpet]

Anyone know of a good bugdet software or app I can use?
I've been using Google Spreadsheet and doing everything manually but I recently started using Financial Helper (not so sure about the name now, will make sure tomorrow), a Windows 8 app.

 

[Aquadyne]

Quicken... If you can get your hands on a copy... Hands down the best

 

[lucifir]

I like acemoney ... which is free for 2 accounts ...
really nice and simple ... easy reporting and budgeting

 

[Hamster]

I was gonna say Excel (which is like the swiss army knife of software) but I suppose you already considered that.

 

[VG008]

I use MS Excel for my goals etc. and use MS Money for my banking transactions & budgets

MS Money is a bit old school, but it does the basics really well. I can import my bank statements, categorise transactions (eating/bills), and split transactions.
I found MS Money to be the only software that allows me to transfer money from one account to another, without the transfer showing as an expense on the reports; this is especially handy when moving money from a cheque account to savings account.

MS Money is free, since MS is no longer supporting it. Click to download

If you are keen on trying out online software, the following sites can be used:

MoneySmart: www.moneysmart.co.za (free)
Nedbank: https://myfinanciallife.nedsecure.co.za (free) You don't need to be a Nedbank client
22Seven: https://www.22seven.com (R70 pm with a 30day trial)

All the above sites can import data from your internet banking or via CSV files.

 

[AlmightyBender]

I use MS Excel for my goals etc. and use MS Money for my banking transactions & budgets

MS Money is a bit old school, but it does the basics really well. I can import my bank statements, categorise transactions (eating/bills), and split transactions.
I found MS Money to be the only software that allows me to transfer money from one account to another, without the transfer showing as an expense on the reports; this is especially handy when moving money from a cheque account to savings account.

MS Money is free, since MS is no longer supporting it. Click to download

If you are keen on trying out online software, the following sites can be used:

MoneySmart: www.moneysmart.co.za (free)
Nedbank: https://myfinanciallife.nedsecure.co.za (free) You don't need to be a Nedbank client
22Seven: https://www.22seven.com (R70 pm with a 30day trial)

All the above sites can import data from your internet banking or via CSV files.

I found MoneySmart to be very bug-riddled. Using the Nedbank one now and it is actually very good. Very flexible and customizable and pretty good graphing and trending as well. 22Seven is very pretty, but that subscription...

 

[Chevron]

Steam has an awesomeness me program called 'You need a budget'. Check out the videos to see if it's what you want.

 

[Speedster]

I've tried a bunch of various options and have found my home made Google spreadsheet works the best of the lot thus far.

 

[Cius]

Quicken I hear is great. I currently use MS Money but am thinking of migrating away from it as it is not supported anymore. Oh, I have a budget excel spreadsheet that I use to total up all my grocery slips before capturing them to MS Money so I guess I use a hybrid system. I am hoping to find time in the next couple of months to migrate out of MS Money to Nedbanks my financial life product as it seems to integrate better with your bank accounts and is online which is a nice feature. My MS Money file sits on a home PC and hence we tend to not update it as often as we would if we could just capture a slip quickly online from wherever we are.

 

[Friedpet]

.....Nedbank's my financial life product...

For someone coming from Google Spreadsheet this is way too complicated:erm:

Will play around for a few more weeks to see if I can understand it...

Thank you for all the other options, Quicken and 'You need a budget' is way too expensive for me at this moment.

Only problem with Nedbank's product is that it's very slow...

 

[czc]

Steam has an awesomeness me program called 'You need a budget'. Check out the videos to see if it's what you want.

Wait for a steam sale.

 

[Ejeckt]

I've tried a bunch of various options and have found my home made Google spreadsheet works the best of the lot thus far.

This. The best system is your own system, provided you actually put in the effort and develop it so that it satisfies your need.

If you're looking for an off the shelf product, I'd say YNAB (You need a budget). I'm only starting to use it, but I really like it's pro-active approach to budgeting. Retrospective budgets never really worked for me. But if just analyzing your past spending is important to you, then I'd also say Quicken.

 

[Freaksta]

http://liberta.co.za/blog/budget-planner-excel-spreadsheet/

I didnt create it, nor do i have anything to do with the website...

Its pretty cool, has good instructions and once you have setup the beginning stuff its pretty simple to update. I keep a seperate file in my dropbox that i update with cash transacations so i can do it on my phone(shortcut on home screen) and then trasfer that and and card swipes to the spread sheet.

Monthly fixed expenses i enter once and drag down and change the date
Investment that come off monthly i do the same
Income i do the same

So only really have to keep track of my variable spending and income. I also edited it a bit to create a seperate tab for each month on the budget side(just copy and edit the date field for the corresponding month)..

Works great so far!

 

[veggie_mane]

I just use expense manager on my android phone, so that I dont have to go sit at a PC to update my incomes and expenditures. It all depends on the level of detail and complexity you are looking for though.

 

[JacquesR]

Might not be what the OP is after, but I've found Moneydance to be pretty darn good. There's also a Android app called Handybank that syncs with it, using Dropbox. So I can enter transactions on my phone or tablet & sync with laptop or vice-versa. Quite handy for obsessive sorts...

 

[VG008]

If anyone is still interested, Pastel launched a Personal Finance tool : https://www.pastelmymoney.co.za

Free to use.

 

[mass09]

YouNeedaBudget is a great budgeting tool, and only a budgeting tool, with a lovely interface. They have a 34 day full featured trial on their site.

That's why I prefer Quicken, it has a basic budgeting tool and a great expense tracker and report writer. Quicken is just more of a full all in one package.

If anyone is still interested, Pastel launched a Personal Finance tool : https://www.pastelmymoney.co.za

Free to use.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

[wijn420]

Try ExpenZA... App that obtains transaction information from the SMS messages that your bank sends you. www.expenza.co.za.