If you are wondering how to manage your money better, a CNN Living article highlights where to find easy money management. The software described is in general free and is usually much more rudimentary than the Personal Finance Software For Seniors that we discussed in a previous post. They may offer everything from displaying spending patterns at a glance to suggesting ways to save.

The three mentioned in the article are:

Mint.com

Keeps track of a great deal of financial information from savings to mortgages, student loans and credit cards. It also helps users save money by directing them to credit cards that offer lower interest rates. It displays investment performance and allows users to compare their portfolio to market benchmarks to see whether their investments are meeting their growth goals. Mint.com has an iPhone application as well as a feature where users can text to receive real-time balances.

SmartyPig.com

Users can open an account for free, set a savings goal and then stash that extra cash. The site lets the user know exactly how much he or she needs to save over the allotted time in order to reach his or her goal. SmartyPig recently launched a mobile site.

Thrive.com

This bundles all of the user’s financial data to help formulate a budget. It also helps its users analyze their financial information and calculates their financial health, aiding them in predicting their financial stability in the long term.

If you want to do a little more research, then Google has many more free money management software offers. Here are the top ranking ones for Google. Of course if you need fast cash to add to your budget for an unexpected emergency, then that is not covered by such software.

AceMoney Lite

AceMoney Lite is a freeware version of the fully featured personal finance manager. It has all the features of its big brother except multiple accounts management. It supports all the features required for home or even small-business accounting needs.

ManageMe

Money Management for Everyone from India indicates that Geographies don’t matter. Whatever part of the world you may be spending in, your accounts stay in your base currency and help you manage your expenses better.

GnuCash

GnuCash is an open source personal and small business accounting package. If you are familiar with the likes of Money or Quicken you will think you have stepped back in time when you open up GnuCash. This is mainly for two reasons. First, the user interface is very basic. This doesn’t mean it’s poor software, it just means the developers concentrated on the stuff that really matters.

IngenMoney 3

This hasn’t been updated in a while now but it is still not a bad piece of software. This is a calendar-based money management application that is good for basic finances and keeping up to date with bills and day to day spending. It also throws in some extra features such as a calculator and, inexplicably, an MP3 player. It does not handle QIF or OFX files so it is quite limited. It can be handy for keeping budgets though.

Easy Cash Manager

This is a simple book-keeping program. You can use the program to keep records of your incomes and expenses. It has only the functionality that you need for very simple bookkeeping, so it is easy to use.

Abassis Finance Manager

Main Features are that you can easily create a personal budget and then track your expenses in detail. It suggests that you can then manage and get rid of debt and improve your savings account.

GFP – Personal Finance Manager

GFP aids personal finances administration with a variety of reports, charts and allows filtering data on screen to highlight important information for your financial health.

Which software meets your needs best is a very personal decision. If you find a particular software works well for you, why not add your comments here on its features. You may help someone else who is checking on alternatives.

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