Can computer software help you fix your finances?

The important point will be whether they are still using it a year hence.

They can be useful and I have used Quicken and Quickbooks plus one or two others over the last 20 years. The discipline to keep them going – in updating regularly can be a chore.

To be honest we run a future forecast and a budgetting spreadsheets in Excel however Excel is not custom made for the job and for most people one of the freebie home accounts would be adequate.

From my practical experience dealing with people with chaotic accounts I recommend:
– Just setting out an annual budget with paper and pencil and projecting from last years spending is perhaps one of the best exercises for anyone keen to see where the money disappears to.
– Cancelling Sky has solved many a families problems. : )
– Rarely spend on impulse and if so for small pleasures
– Always keep enough in the account to avoid any charges
– Credit cards are dangerous so keep them restricted and use them when you already know how the repaymrnt will be made.

Basic answer : software will not solve your problems. Facing up to problems is actually the solution.

As dieseltaylor intimates, the key to keeping your finances under control is to know where you spend money. I created a simple Excel spreadsheet that shows this in categories – gas, electricity, council tax, food, car service, insurances etc. etc. by month. I keep a small notebook where I record spending and weekly put this into the spreadsheet. So each year I can create a realistic spending budget based on previous years plus inflation, new items etc. So I know pretty accurately what and when I will need to spend and, importantly, how I’m actually doing.

Separately I have another simple spreadsheet that records income and tax each year.

Look at the two to see what problems might arise and you can hopefully get round them.

Then keeping track of cash,current and savings accounts, any investments, ISAs, etc. I’ve used Microsoft Money for many years and it does a great job. It notifies you of regular payments when they are due, low balances in bank accounts, prints reports – but sadly no longer available so when my budget lets me buy a new computer I’ll have to learn something new.

A chore? Sounds it, but not really providing you regularly keep it up to date. Keeping control of finances is important, so the effort has to be worthwhile. More so if, like many, income and outgoings are finely balanced.

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When personal computers were a bit of a novelty I recorded income and outgoings for about a year and then realised that it was not only tedious but making me think more about money and spend more. Nowadays I just keep an eye on money for tax purposes and look out for ISAs etc that need attention.

Software might help some, particularly if they can input expenditure as they go, via a smartphone, but my advice would be try not to think about ways of spending money and you might never get into debt.

I use Geltbox money -automatic download from any website in the world (banks,credit cards).

I like that I can keep my data locally instead of in the cloud.
An excellent home finance planner and tracker.