Budget Software – Track Your Spending
Budget Software – Do I Really Need It?
You can do a search on the internet for budget software and you’ll get millions of results. So many, in fact, you’ll be more confused than when you began. You can also type in the search term “reviews of budget software”, and guess what? Yeah, you guessed it, millions of results again from the many affiliates of different software vendors.
Even in those results, you’ll find some that are helpful, some that like to use the word FREE, but the bottom line is, will those programs solve your problem and give you exactly what you need? If the budget software program doesn’t give you what you need, then it isn’t right for you, even if it’s free.
What our firm has found out after reviewing and using many
software packages, is that user experience, trust, and excellent support are crucial.
Have you ever heard of a budgeting program that comes with FREE training if you need or want it, plus quick resolutions to any questions? No, we didn’t either, until we came across a program called You Need A Budget.
The concept of good budget software is to be able to track your income and expenses and to actually see where your money is going. Another important feature is to help you to reduce and eliminate debt, especially those nasty credit cards that never seem to go down. There is a package that will help you to do all of those things.
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The benefits of budget software
Practically anyone familiar with Excel can set up a spreadsheet to do the basics of listing income and various expenses, but it would be lacking in every other area. Reminders for payment dates, recommendations for debt retirement, and other custom reports would not be available.
As an example, using some basic spreadsheet, you couldn’t tell exactly the amount of money that you spent on dining out, say for the past six months. You also wouldn’t be able to create a report showing the donations that you made to your church or some other organization.
The program that we recommend to our clients, You Need A Budget, really stands out from among the other packages. As a matter of fact, it has been highly acclaimed by some national and international firms and services.
This highly intuitive program was developed by an experienced CPA who understands the concepts of budgeting, and the requirements. Because of his foresight, he took this budget software program one step further.
Any of you who are somewhat familiar with budgeting know that you normally estimate the amount of income to be received for the month and then list the expenses. This program uses a methodology called zero sum budgeting, which means that every single dollar is given a job. In addition, instead of guessing the monthly income, it uses the actual amount of income received in the previous month to pay the bills for the current month.
It’s a rather unique concept; however, it works very well. Every dollar is allocated for a specific purpose, even savings and debt retirement. This type of detailed analysis makes this budget software a major contender in the market. In addition to the above concept, the program provides you a method to put funds away for a rainy day. Various types of emergencies pop up in everyone’s life, such as medical, auto repairs, and other major bills, and you are helped to prepare for them.
The You Need A Budget (YNAB) program has different categories that you can commit funds to prepare for that rainy day that is sure to come. There are no really hard and fast rules, but many financial experts recommend that everyone keep a buffer of cash to cover expenses for three to six months.
The budget software program is very easy to use, it’s intuitive, plus it will actually help you to create a workable budget. You can read review after review, but the fact of the matter is, until you take it for a trial run, you really can’t be sure.
We encourage you to try the program Free of charge and see what it can do for you. Take this excellent budget software program for a test drive and “kick a few tires”. We believe that you’ll agree it’s very hard to beat.
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8 responses to “Budget Software – Track Your Spending”
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Gust Lenglet – Platinum Author
This post makes budget software sound great, but I think I’ll stick to my trusty Excel spreadsheets for now. As you said, they aren’t all-inclusive, but they work just fine for my family and I. Thanks for the recommendation, though!
Seeing the word ‘FREE’ is definitely my soft spot when it comes to software. I’ll have to remember to slow down and look at the other aspects of a program, such as customer support and trustworthiness. Great tips!
Besides YNAB, are there any other programs that you recommend? A Google search is just too vast to narrow down all the possibilities!
I’m thrilled to see that the You Need A Budget program allocates money for emergencies. I feel like that’s often overlooked when people create budgets for their families (especially newlyweds)! Because of that feature, YNAB is something I will seriously consider for my new hubby and I. 🙂
I agree with Kelly that free is always nice. However, in some cases you truly get what you pay for!
this is awesome and I will definatly check this out! I need to reign in on the spending for sure!
I’m using the Toshl Finance app. Love using it. Keeps me track of my expenses. It’s a must have plus there’s a free version
Glad to hear your program works for you. There are a lot of finance/budgeting programs out there & there is no “one size fits all”. Each of us has different needs and should use the one that is best for our situation.