To some, Excel spreadsheets will do just fine. But for those who do not have much budgeting experience, it is better to use personal finance software. Personal finance software TEACHES you how to budget and helps you stick with it. Excel spreadsheets, on the other hand, simply provide a documented budget that you create.

You can find all kinds of software online to help you manage your finances. But one of the best is YNAB or You Need A Budget.

Product Overview

You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a personal finance software created to help you focus on your finances. The software is constructed around Four Rules of Cash Flow, each of which will help you break your bad financial habits. You Need a Budget will help you manage your finances in a simple and straightforward manner. YNAB is built on Adobe AIR, which enables you to run it on Windows, Linux and Mac.

Features

You Need a Budget’s methodology allows you to flawlessly follow the Four Rules of Cash Flow:

Rule #1: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck – this software helps to break the paycheck to paycheck spell.

Rule #2: Give Every Dollar a Job – every single dollar you earn will be assigned to a particular category. This system allows you to have power over your money by accounting them to a specific place in your budget.

Rule #3: Save for the Rainy Day – this system enables you to allocate savings for future use such as insurance policy payment, holiday getaway, emergencies, etc.

Rule #4: Roll with the Punches – unlike most finance software that only warns you when you spend more than your allocated budget, YNAB deducts your overspend from the next month’s budget. Thus, teaching you a lesson.

It helps you achieve financial peace by tracking all of your expenses.

Automatically import bank transactions, which can be a big time-saver. The software is able to import OFX, QFX, QIF, and CSV files from major financial institutions. They are the same as the files used by Quicken, but the good thing is, YNAB does not ask for sensitive info. It provides a more secure way of downloading your financial transaction data.

You Need a Budget provides all you need to manage your finances. It generates reports, manages recurring transactions, and puts you in control of your money. YNAB provides easy to understand charts and graphs, so visualizing your budget is made much easier.

YNAB comes with 5 bonus spreadsheets: YNAB Debt Snowball, Income Tax Planner, YNAB Retirement Planner, YNAB Mortgage Analyzer, and YNAB Car Maintenance Schedule.

It is easy to install. Just run it on your computer and it will be up and running in a few minutes.

This software runs on multiple operating platforms: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Product Summary

When you use You Need A Budget (YNAB) Personal Finance Software you will never experience difficulty in budget planning ever again. YNAB is a software that allows you to successfully manage your finances using the 4 Rules of Cash Flow. YNAB is a straightforward approach in budget planning. It is much convenient to use than an Excel Spreadsheet, and has more features compared to other personal finance software.

Pros

Okay, you can actually do these things with a pen and paper, but using the pen and paper method, or even the Excel spreadsheet method will not help you allocate a part of your income for ‘rainy days’; and Excel is not capable of downloading all your bank transactions at once.

By using the YNAB, you will learn to do four things: you will stop living paycheck to paycheck; you will allocate every single dollar you earn to specific categories; you will be forced to save (which is a good thing); and you will live with the consequences (when you overspend, that amount will be deducted from the next month’s budget).

This is definitely unlike other finance planning software that just lists your income and expenses and that’s it. You Need a Budget will teach (and force) you to make a working budget, a realistic working budget. Best of all, it makes visualizing your budget more interesting by using colorful pie charts and bar graphs.

Cons

Some people find it difficult to use (although a majority says it is user-friendly). And if you use YNAB, you’ll need a lot of time encoding data; which is, by the way, applicable to all personal finance software.

Bottom Line

Overall, You Need a Budget is ideal for those who, well, need a budget. It will definitely change the way you handle your money. It will not create a budget for you but it will make you follow one. Check out YNAB on Amazon.com and purchase it at a 19% discount and free shipping.

To keep up with other businesses, you must take advantage of the latest web-based planning and budgeting software, which will provide updated budgeting, reporting, forecasting, and analysis.

The budgeting software unifies a single application, interface and database; as well as strategic planning, forecasting, budgeting, analytics, and legal consolidating. The software generally uses easy-to-use programs such as MS Excel paired with a standard browser to construct a perfect budget for every business.

The budgeting software provides businesses the power to immediately plan, analyze and adapt, allowing them to perform better. This software also aids in merging real-time alerting, business workflow management, web-based collaboration and multi-dimensional analysis all in a single platform. A specific budgeting software, the OutlookSoft Everest 4.2, also has the ability to create functional graphs, which complements the provided numbers. Some of its unique features include radar display tools.

Budgeting software is a tool that can really help you manage the business (or even the family) budget. If you like to purchase the service of one of these, here are some things to look for in budgeting software:

Ease of use. Nobody wants software that is not user-friendly. Most software has trial versions that can be downloaded from the Internet, you can opt to download a number of these and try them. That way, you will be able to determine which is the easiest to use with a greatest number of features.

Track multiple accounts. Is it capable of tracking multiple accounts? Most people have multiple bank accounts (at least one savings and one checking) and a business can have several accounts. Competitive budgeting software should be able to follow all these.

Accessibility. Online programs are better than programs that are run in your PC. Online programs will give you access on your account anywhere that has Internet connection.

Able to retrieve transactions. Using software that can help you retrieve transactions from online accounts will save you a lot of time and save you from errors, too.

Assign income and expenses to different categories. This feature can be used to manage your budget using the envelope budgeting method.

Compare budget versus actual expenses. This feature allows you to see how you are doing with the budget, and make any necessary adjustments.

Reports. See if the program features reports that you think will be useful for you.

Preparing for the future. Can the budgeting software help you get ready for your future expenses? Good software will be able to help you allot money for future (non-monthly) expenses such as car registration, etc.

Choosing good budgeting software will definitely help you stay on top of your business or personal money matters. With lots of software available in the market, it is very helpful to first consider the things you really need in the budgeting software, before deciding to buy it.

What we need, in order to gain financial success, is something that will motivate us do better; something that we will follow. There are several books about generating personal financial freedom, but only a number of them give an effective outcome. One of the most influential financial books is Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness.

About The Author

Dave Ramsey is a financial author, TV personality and radio host. He is the voice behind the syndicated radio program The Dave Ramsey Show, which is heard on more than 450 radio stations all over the US and Canada. He also had a TV show of the same title which aired on ET and Fox Business Network.

Ramsey has written a number of financial books including Financial Peace Revisited, More than Enough: The Ten Keys to Changing Your Financial Destiny and The Financial Peace Planner: A step-by step guide to restoring your family’s financial health. Furthermore, Ramsey is also the author of kids’ books The Junior Discovers Series.

Dave Ramsey is also associated with several businesses including The Lampo Group, Inc., which helps people who are struggling with their financial issues. Ramsey takes pride that this business has successfully run for years completely debt-free. He also runs the Financial Peace University, a service selling a 13-week financial training video series for adults. This video was later succeeded with a financial training program especially engineered for teenagers.

About The Book

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness is a 288-page book concentrating in managing personal finance. The book tackles Ramsey’s basic plan to gain financial success. If you look inside the book, you’ll find real life situations inside its pages. The stories are titled in such a manner that will hit you right in where it should be. With titles such as ‘I Did It My Way, And My Way Wasn’t Working’, you would think it was made for you.

In The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness, Ramsey talks about the ‘Gazelle Intensity’. He advises the readers to just live a financial life the way a gazelle saves itself from a predator: To outmaneuver the enemy and run for your life.

The best thing about this book is that it speaks the truth. The truth is that it takes hard work to be free of debt. Unlike other books that cheat you into imagining that you are going to get rich in a matter of minutes, The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness true strength is that it is a frank and uncomplicated motivational tool.

Review

Dave Ramsey has experienced bankruptcy himself so he is REALLY familiar with financial struggles and knows what he is talking about. Ramsey came to the conclusion that the key to a successful financial plan is to be honest with yourself.

In The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness, Dave Ramsey talks about his simple and straightforward principles: Pay cash, pay off your debts, and create an emergency fund. The book provides idiot-proof answers to what we thought were difficult questions about money.

Unlike his book Financial Peace, Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover is a how-to-do type of book. The book will walk you through the seven ‘baby steps’ to financial approach and will show you exactly what’s to be done.

Ramsey’s short but factual advices like: “A new $28,000 car will lose about $17,000 of value in the first four years you own it. To get the same result, you could toss a $100 bill out the window once a week during your commute.” and “If your mortgage payment is $900 and the interest portion is $830, you will pay that year around $10,000 in interest. What a great tax deduction! Right? Otherwise, you’d pay $3,000 in taxes on that $10,000. But who in their right mind would choose to trade $10,000 for $3,000?”, will surely wake you up and convince you that it is about time you do something with your financial matters.

This is not a ‘get rich quick’ book from an inexperienced guy claiming he is gonna help you with your current financial struggles. This is a practical and highly-motivational book that will guide you through the steps in building true wealth. It has loads of true stories from people who have succeeded in following Ramsey’s financial plan.

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness does well in presenting inspirational stories of people who WERE once financially struggling. This must-read book and it is available on Amazon.com for only $14.99 and it is eligible for free shipping.

Personal Finance Education Rule #1: Pay yourself first. You should always give yourself a monthly allocation for savings before paying your monthly mortgage, credit card payments, and even groceries. By paying yourself first, you will not have to worry when an emergency comes up or when you eventually retirement. If done right and/or early enough paying yourself first can also enable you to retire faster and enjoy the life you always wanted.

Personal Finance Education Rule #2: Protect what you own. This may not be exciting, but having insurance coverage for your car, home and even your life is a must. You do not want to get wiped clean if something tragic should happen. And what if you died early? It is better to be prepared especially for those in your care that you leave behind. These things need to be thought about no matter how morbid the thought of death is to you.

Personal Finance Education Rule #3: Pay your debts as early as you can. Make paying it off a priority because debt is a financial cancer you don’t want to live with for the rest of your life.

Personal Finance Education Rule #4: Take control of your income. It is crucial that you know how to invest your income in real estate, stocks, etc. in order to gain future financial freedom. By investing, you will receive returns that you can use for your future needs or even an early retirement.

Personal Finance Education Rule #5: Power over money. Like the fourth rule, this rule states that you should have power over your finances. Control your income by assigning every single dollar a place for it to go. Most important of all is to think of a way that will keep you earning money even if you stopped going to work. Build a website, for instance. Invest in real estate. Join a reliable multi-level marketing company. These are some ways to expect future income with a little initial effort.

Browse the bookstore or Amazon.com for interesting titles and authors, but do not buy anything yet. Even if you found one that is on sale, do not buy it. Write down the titles and authors.

When you have gathered enough titles, conduct a simple research on each title. Look for reviews about the personal finance books on your list. Research the authors’ biographies in order to get an idea of their backgrounds and if they are really credible in the finance area. You should make sure that they are positively financially successful.

Visit finance forums and ask questions about the books and their authors. You can gather enough information about the personal finance books you are considering by talking with anyone who has read them. Generally, good books are really popular and there is a big chance you’ll find out a lot about them online.

If you found out that a certain book is really good and helped other people with their financial struggles, go on and buy it.

To give you some idea regarding which personal finance books to pick, here is a short list of top personal finance books in the market:

Multiple Streams of Income by Robert G. Allen – this book will help you realize that it is ideal to maintain “multiple streams” of income. That way, you will have to live from paycheck to paycheck.

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris – this books talk about the ‘New Rich’ or those who have the privilege to work for only 4 hours a week but still have the power to live the life they want.

Rule #1 by Phil Town – this book talks about investing and gives simple but helpful strategies.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki – this book tells a story about growing up with two different dads: one is rich and the other is poor. The story eventually describes the difference between the rich dad’s and poor dad’s money habits.

Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – its idea is ‘what your mind can conceive, your body can achieve’

This list combined with the tips above will help you choose a personal finance book that is right for you. Remember to do a little research about the book that you are interested in. Not all personal finance books are created equal and only the best will be able to help you.

Then, our thoughts will drift to how much money do we have left, and how much have we put in our kid’s college funds; and then we will remember our insurance policies are due next month and we haven’t allotted enough money to pay for them. If these things are bothering you, maybe you should learn some personal finance basics.

One of the many aspects of personal finance basics is learning how to save money. Cutting down your expenses will surely give you extra for savings and annual expenses such as car insurance and more. Here are the tips on how to save hundreds of dollars a year:

1. Avoid impulse buying. One of the best rules in personal finance basics is to avoid buying impulsively. Every one of us knows that buying impulsively can definitely hurt the finances. We should only buy the things we really need. For example, when grocery shopping, you must first list down the things that you need, including the number of items you plan to buy. Follow your list and DO NOT buy things that are not listed. You will be surprised with how much you will save just by doing this.

2. Shop on sale. This is another rule of personal finance basics. Do not forget the first rule (list down the things you really need to buy), but shop on sale. Yes, you should look on the sale rack for your necessities. Who knows? You might find a couple of items listed on your shopping list.

3. Buy in bulk. Browse your shopping list and check the things that you are more likely to use very often. IF your family normally consumes rolls and rolls of paper towels then it is advisable to buy from wholesale outlets. The same goes with things like cereals, juice and toilet paper. This is one personal finance basic that most of us overlook.

4. Request free samples. A growing number of retailers give free samples on the internet. Visit the websites of power retailers such as K-Mart or Target and you will see that they offer free samples from time to time. Free samples vary from shampoos, pet food, and fruit drinks. There’s no harm in trying out samples, you know.

5. Clip coupons. Clip coupons from newspapers or print them out from online sites. These coupons will help you save hundreds of dollars if you will just use them. It’s not old-fashioned; you are just practicing personal finance basics.

6. Change credit card habits. Credit cards can be really dangerous if you do not know how to use them. Be sure to use your card only for major expenses; and never use it if you cannot pay the amount off in one month.

These are simple personal finance basics that you can follow. They are just some of the ways to become free of debt and get ready for the future. By carefully following these useful tips, you will be able to save money and get ahead in your personal finances.

These days, modern technologies such as PCs and the Internet have made our lives easier. Even the sometimes tedious task of making a monthly budget planner can be done with just a few clicks of the mouse. There are loads of downloadable monthly budget worksheets, which can help you handle your finances effectively.

If you have managed to download and print an easy-to-use monthly budget planner worksheets, categorize your columns into these groups:

total monthly gross earnings

monthly accommodation expenses

monthly family expenses

monthly travel and vehicle expenses

monthly debts

monthly miscellaneous expenses

total net monthly income

When your monthly budget planner sheet is ready, list all your expenses in their respective categories. For example, mortgage or rent, household repairs, property taxes and utility charges should go down on the monthly accommodation expenses.

Childcare, school expenses, clothing, magazine subscription, medical expenses, life insurance and investments should be listed down on the miscellaneous section.

Monthly family expenses may include food and other groceries such as toiletries; while travel and vehicle expenses include car loans, gasoline, insurance, auto repairs and other vehicle-related expenses. Credit card debts and other loans fall in the monthly debts category.

Carefully categorize all these expenses in your monthly budget planner. If possible, list down every single regular or recurring monthly expense. This will help you plan better.

Sum up all your monthly expenses; this will become your monthly expenditure. Subtract your expenses from your total monthly gross earnings and there’s your total net monthly income.

One of the benefits of having a monthly budget planner is finding out if your income is enough for all your monthly expenditures. A monthly budget planner also helps ease the task of managing your monthly finances.

It is really important that you can see the breakdown of your monthly expenses. This way, you can determine whether you can have more savings by lessening your expenses in certain areas. Based on your monthly budget planner, you can make appropriate adjustments to your expenses; thus, giving you the chance to improve your monthly revenue.

Managing personal finances starts with creating a budget. Every person must create a budget to track and manage their income and expenses. The most important thing in managing personal finances is to keep your expenses with your income balance. Your expenses should never be greater than your income.

Income and Expenses

If this is the case, which is not really unusual, you should cut down your expenses to meet your income. Or you should be prepared to make more money to cover your expenses. Unimportant expenses such as takeout coffee and food must be eliminated, for this may take up more of your money than you expect. Impulsive shopping should be controlled, too.

Debt

The next step to managing personal finances is to handle your debts. Although debt is vital in building credit, the amount of debt must not be overwhelming. Managing personal finances consist of listing down all your debts including the creditors, the amount of debt and interest rate. Take care of your debts today before something bad happens tomorrow.

More Credit?

Sometimes acquiring more credit is another way of managing your personal finances. However, if you are the type of person who does not handle their budget and debts in a good way, then adding another credit line is not a good idea. You must make sure that you understand all your credit obligations, including all the credit’s terms and conditions.

Once you have organized all your credits and personal loans, see if you have a problem with anything. If you are struggling with any of your personal loans, you must manage them first in order to successfully keep your finances on track. You must be really committed to getting your finances back in order. If you don’t do this, you will suffer financial difficulties such as bad credit.

Monthly Budget

Managing personal finances includes making yourself stick to a monthly budget. You must also keep your debt controlled and you must not get overwhelmed with your credit. Managing personal finances should be an ongoing process, and you can’t forget your personal responsibilities. Once you have mastered the science of managing personal finances, you will be in control of your finances again. After a while you will be able to afford your dream lifestyle.

Create a realistic budget that will allow you to meet your basic needs and allows you to save money as well.

If possible, spend according to your budget and try to save some cash. It is best to keep track of your income as well as your expenses; and you should allocate money in your budget for bad times.
Invest wisely. This is one of the best personal finance tips you will hear. If you know how to invest your money sensibly, you will be able to get optimal returns. Keep in mind that it is better to spread your investments among various companies rather than invest all your money with one single company.
To keep your credit rating good, try not to miss any credit card or loan payments deadlines. Aside from a bad credit rating, not paying your bills on time will create late fees, making you pay more than you are originally required.
Reduce expenses by cutting electricity use. A good way to save money on expensive monthly electric bills is to make sure you unplug any unused appliances. Plugged appliances still eat up about 20% of their regular energy consumption even when not in use. Aside from this, the government provides tax rebates to people with energy-efficient homes.
Keep your investments regular even during tough times. This is one of the most overlooked personal finance tips that you should consider. Whether small or big, investing is still a good measure to ensure that you will receive returns in the future.
Avoid spending too much on expensive food and alcohol. These items should be categorized with unnecessary spending. The more you cut down on these, the bigger your savings will become.
Always do your research first before doing a making a big money investment. It is crucial that you know the possible outcomes could be and where you are making a high risk or low risk investment.

There are lots of personal finance tips that can be found in books and online. The personal finance tips mentioned above are just a fraction of hundreds of things that you can do to keep your finances on the right track.

Personal Financial Software Reviews

You Need A Budget – A user-friendly software that allows you to bring in information from your bank, set up recurrent expenses and enables you to use categorized charts and other user-defined reports. In addition, it eliminates the need of repeated data entering because it is automated. Setting up the You Need A Budget software is fast and simple. Aside from this, it has online customer support such as tutorials, a wiki, a forum and an online user manual.

You Need a Budget (YNAB) Personal Finance Software Review Summary:

It comes with 5 bonus spreadsheets, a free eBook, and an auto-suggest budgeting. Although it is good software, it still isn’t available for Mac.

Mvelopes – this software uses the popular envelope budget system, allowing you to save a part of your income from time to time (can be done bi-weekly or monthly). It is a much easier way to allocate money for specific expenses. You create “envelopes”, which are spending categories you set up for different expenses. Mvelopes is web-based so you do not have to download any software to your computer. Mvelope also has features such as free online bill paying system and automatic income allotment for your spending accounts. It also offers links to over 14,000 financial institutions.

Mvelopes Personal Finance Software Review Summary:

This software is best for people who travel a lot. Since this is web-based personal finance software, you can check on your account wherever there is internet connection. But the main disadvantage is that it has quarterly or annual fees. The other downside is that it only has one savings category and it takes too much time to learn because it is very elaborate.

Quicken Deluxe – enables you to combine data from your bank account, monthly bills and investments into one database, making it easier to organize software budgeting. The Quicken Deluxe includes tools that can help you generate your monthly budget, manage your investments, pay your debts, lets you save and plan your retirement.

This is really good in tracking your expenses and is great help at tax-paying time. Even when there is no internet connection, you are able to search help topics if necessary. In addition, Quicken Deluxe offers access to a number of major banks, enabling you to download your account statements online.

Quicken Deluxe Personal Finance Software Review Summary:

This is really good for following and analyzing your income, expenses and investments. It also allows you to download data from your bank in an instant.

Reading Personal Finance Software reviews are helpful when you are looking for the best software for you. Don’t overlook these and other personal finance software reviews as they can be very helpful in choosing which software is right for you.