Personal Finance Software For Seniors

To help handle personal finances in the best way during a tough recession like this, many people turn to Personal Finance software. As a result, there is a plethora of personal finance software programs to consider. The right choice is always a very personal matter given particular needs. However everyone wants a good user experience. In other words it should be a pleasure to use and it should do the job.

If you have this software choice dilemma, you may find the reviews at Personal Finance Software a good place to start your exploration.

Of course everyone and particularly seniors is looking for something that is easy to use and install. So we list below the Top Ten choices in descending order of attractiveness. In each case, the comments on Ease of Use and Installation from the review site are displayed. By clicking on the link, you can see the full review, which clearly you should do before homing in on the choice that works for you.

Personal Finance Software – Top Ten Reviews

with Ease of Use/Install Comments

Quicken Starter Edition – Gold Award
Quicken Starter Edition was easy to install, and easy to use. It’s not packed with a bunch of clutter, so finding what you need and figuring out how to use features is a snap.
Microsoft Money Essentials – Silver Award
Microsoft Money was easy to install, and very easy to use. We found it had a little more of a polished interface compared to Quicken Starter Edition and Moneydance. The update process was simple, and Money’s home page provides a great at-a-glance summary of your finances.
Moneydance – Bronze Award
The main page of Moneydance is visually simple, which is one of its strengths. The navigation bar and buttons can get you to any section, and the main content area neatly summarizes your accounts, even displaying bill reminders and a tidy calendar. Adding new accounts is a snap as well, and Moneydance 2009 connects to a large number of banks and credit unions the world over.
AceMoney
AceMoney was easy to install, and even easier to use. It’s not difficult to figure out what you need to do to access your portfolio, schedule bills and deposits, or run reports, to name a few. AceMoney also supports importing data in a large number of formats, including qif, ofx, ofc, qfx, and xml, so even if AceMoney can’t automatically update your account information, it can read files your bank exports.
BankTree Personal
BankTree was easy to install, and easy to use, with large navigation buttons at the top that make it apparent where to go to look at accounts, reports, etc.
RichOrPoor
We were disappointed RichOrPoor doesn’t have a setup wizard to guide you through the setup process. RichOrPoor doesn’t import any of the standard formats that most banks use, such as qif or csv. You have to locate where the information goes and then type it in. This becomes tiresome, considering some personal finance software packages connect directly to your bank accounts, and most import a standard set of file types. If by chance your bank exports your accounts to a .rop file, your data entry would be diminished significantly. Once you have entered all of your information, accounts, balances, transactions, and so on, the program is fairly easy to navigate. It’s getting there that’s a chore.
Budget Express
Budget Express is a software program that focuses primarily on budgeting and does a good job—this combined with its functionality make Budget Express one of the top ten money management products. If Budget express wanted to compete with some of the all inclusive financial software packages, they would have to add financial planning and investing features.
Account Xpress
Accounts Xpress doesn’t offer a setup wizard to help you initially input your financial information. This is a real downfall for people who are not familiar with finance software.
iCash
iCash has the ability to reconcile your accounts with your
bank statements and form a budget for everything in your books. We only found five different reports available within this product: balance sheet, profit and loss statement, profit and loss summary, account statement and taxes.
Home Bookkeeping
A user-friendly toolbar, that allows you to quickly access all your accounts, expenses, income, planning and debt, makes Home Bookkeeping a good program for the computer novice. The program was easy to install and we didn’t encounter any errors during installation.

Given the importance of the software working for you, if you have either good or poor experiences of any of these personal finance software programs, why not add a comment here. You then will be helping others to make a better choice.

Footnote: If you are interested in books on Personal Finance, then why not visit the Personal Finances Bookstore.

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• Personal Financial Software Survey (frugaldad.com)