Personal Finance Websites

Software Tools For Finance

A number of software tools have become available to the average person for managing personal finances, from simple budgeting to complicated investment management.

Best known among these might be Intuit or Quicken for individuals, and Microsoft Dynamics for small businesses. But more recently there has been a proliferation of online-only personal finance websites which are supplanting some of the functions of desktop applications. The ability to access them from anywhere means the many functions of a personal finance planner is at your fingertips. Some distinctions include the fee only personal finance planner and the chartered personal finance planner.

Internet Tools Are Taking Over

Part of the appeal of using personal finance websites is that money is a very – personal – aspect of life. People would like not only to work on their finances at home, but also have the ability to check in during the work day or while waiting during the morning commute. There are a number of different types of personal finance websites. The most traditional are the ones which allow money management between credit cards, bank accounts, and brokerage accounts. For those who are in debt, there are also debt management functions built into the sites. There does seem to be some fairy technical functions so a course of personal finance training may help.

Personal Finance Websites

Such sites allow each member to build up a personal budget and track expenses by categorizing each expense appropriately. For example, renovations on the home kitchen would go under home repair; going out to a fancy restaurant on the eve of your anniversary might be filed under food or entertainment.

The Top Three Websites

Three of the most popular and arguable the best websites are Mint.com, Buxfer.com, and Wesabe.com. Mint.com was in fact owned by Intuit and then Quicken, publishers of tax and financial software. Its pedigree attracted a devoted user base who take advantage of its relations with many financial companies. These relations have enabled Mint.com to give its users a user interface that connects them to their financial accounts. Buxfer.com is a similar website that allows the user to connect to various accounts and aggregate the information. Wesabe.com provides similar connective capabilities but only to bank or credit card accounts. It is among the first to offer social networking features that help users tap the expertise of their acquaintances and friends.

Long-term Finance

Day-to-day expenses are the most immediate and easily managed concern. There are also long-term financial concerns which are not handled by such websites. For example, saving for a home is a long process that requires balancing a down payment with the ability to pay monthly mortgages. Another example is saving for a child’s education, whether it is for boarding school (unusual) or college (typical). Long-term financial goals are served by another set of websites. One good website is Simplifi.net.

Investment Finances

Using and saving money are major financial topics of concern to most people, but investments are an entirely different topic that deserve own category of personal finance websites. This soft is usually first found at your brokerage is able to track the money you have put in, the purchase and sale of securities, and the daily gain or loss in each position. For example Vanguard offers its own software for producing charts and graphs of a client’s money over time.