I used a self-made iNumbers spreadsheet to track my finances the last few years. It worked great. I started to add to it every so often and pretty soon it got pretty complex! ♂️ Budgeting came up with a group of friends and they recommended to see if there was any software that did the job better than I did. I looked around and saw You Need a Budget (YNAB) mentioned in a lot of different threads on reddit. I've been giving it a try the last couple of weeks and it works for me. It's helped me budget my money for the longterm and gives me a picture of where I'm headed. It takes some time getting it setup and also working with it. I can start to see the benefits, because I'm now tracking my finances and know how much I have to spend for what. It's definitely more thorough than the spreadsheet I had setup before. They have a great following and support for their users. I contact their support for a question about budgeting for a business and they gave some helpful ideas even though they didn't have a set solution. That's a plus in my book. For the year it costs $84. It works for me and I'm in for the year. I'll see how it works over the next year. It might now work for everyone, but I wanted to mention it here. You Need a Budget (YNAB) * not affiliate link
EVERYBODY needs a budget. Me? I have a CFO, else I'd be living in a cardboard box under an overpass. YNAB seems to be the financial management equivalent of a gym membership. Not quite as fancy as an accountant....but the membership fees might compel some to actually show up and use the facilities. If it works......it works.
I've used Quicken forever and ever. It's PC based and I refuse to put my checkbook\savings\investments all in one database stored in the cloud. (There is no cloud, it's just someone else's computer) I trust my local security more than theirs, plus my backup routine is better. Too many companies skimp on back end security and I won't risk it. I have purposely not upgraded Quicken since version 2014. It still works great but I recognize it will have to change someday. I did research recently and learned there are many similar program options that are free. Some are cloud based and some are not. Some are PC based, others are phone app only. I Googled "quicken replacement" and came up with several sites that have done recent in depth comparisons, YNAB included. Everything is moving to the cloud, but there are a few things like my checkbook that I will resist moving until the end. I understand the advantages of having it on the cloud, but with all the data breaches, I'm not willing yet. My $0.02.
i've had a mental budget since the womb. there's no place for $84. but for those who need one, it sounds like a value play.
In your wallet there is. That's where I'll keep mine too. The wife has several very thorough spreadsheets (one is for a 6 month rolling budget and one is a 6 month rolling investment sheet) which keep us up to sate on status. But for those that don't have that, that's not a bad deal to stay on top of finances.
