Choosing Personal Finance Software: Page 2

The software should be able to give you reports on your financial situation.  These reports could be in the form of tables or graphs but they are vital.  Reports will help you track where your money is coming from and where your money is going.  Knowing where your money is going will make it infinitely easier to find unnecessary expenditures and eliminate them.  Paying attention to these reports will save you money so make sure the package you choose can create them for you.

Online Capabilities

This is more of a convenience than a necessity.  Newer personal finance software packages have the ability to link to various financial institutions to help you track your finances.  Being able to connect to these institutions will allow the software to track the value of your investments, the current amount in your bank account, and a multitude of other conveniences.  It also makes it easy to organize the bills you can pay online.

Personal Finance Software: Final Thoughts

While it is not difficult to choose a software package, it is important that you purchase one that will work for you.  This software will become a part of your life and the last thing you want to do is purchase one that will be tedious to use.  I personally use Quicken 2005.  It has all of the features I need plus some I have not yet experimented with.  It has helped me reduce the amount of time it takes to track my finances as well as allowed me to find leaks in my budget.  Quicken 2005 is highly recommended for anyone serious about gaining control of their financial situation.