Financial advice budgeting tools

There exist numerous financial advice, planning and management software programs to date. Tools include financial calculators to help manage mortgages, refinancing, and loans; cash flow charts for personal investing and tax reports; as well as graphs, and reports to manage your portfolio, k, bonds, stocks, and real-time stock reports, for example.

Forbes magazine featured some of the newest and most ingenious financial planning services, as of The top three were CreditKarma. The Wall Street Journal SmartMoney website contains a "tool" section that is dedicated to articles, references, tutorials, tools and formats for a variety of financial categories such as autos, bonds, college planning, debt management, elder care, estate planning, insurance, investing, marriage, mutual funds, real estate, and retirement, for example.

As of March , SmartMoney offers a free online service called LifePlan, which is an interactive program that asks participants questions about their income and savings, offers financial to-do lists and tutorials, and articles tailored to help solve financial problems of consumers.

You can personalize these categories, which are unlimited. Besides those budgeting features, Mint may help users pay down debt, save more money and track goals. The app also shows users their credit score and net worth. Why you may want to think twice: Mint is impressive in many ways, including the fact that it tracks just about everything on your behalf. Cost: Free. Apple store rating: 4.

Google Play rating: 4. Note that all ratings were current as of Dec. Why we recommend it: Goodbudget is more about planning for your finances than tracking previous transactions. This app is based on the envelope budgeting system , in which you portion out your monthly income toward specific spending categories called envelopes.

Then you assign money toward envelopes. You can access the app from your phone and the web. Goodbudget offers a free version that allows one account, two devices and limited envelopes. Its paid version, Goodbudget Plus, allows unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices and other perks.

Cost: Goodbudget is free. Why we recommend it: YNAB is designed so that users plan ahead for their financial decisions, rather than track past transactions. This app follows the zero-based budgeting system, which has you make a plan for every dollar you earn.

As soon as you get paid, you tell YNAB how much of your income should go toward various categories, including expenses, goals and savings. With all this decision making, YNAB is about as hands-on as you can get. YNAB allows you to link your checking and savings accounts, as well as credit cards and loans. The app works on the phone, desktop, iPad, Apple Watch and Alexa. By design, it works best for users who want to get hands-on while planning for their money. Also, compared to the other apps that made our list, its price is high, and its Google Play ratings are low.

College students can use YNAB for free for a year. Google Play rating: 3. First, an explanation of the names: EveryDollar is a free budgeting app. On Personal Capital's secure site. Cost App is free, but users have option to add investment management services for 0. A budgeting app and investment tool that tracks both your spending and your wealth.

Yes, bank and credit cards, as well as IRAs, k s, mortgages and loans. Data encryption, fraud protection and strong user authentication. Pros Free to use Includes money-tracking dashboard, plus a net-worth tracker as well as a breakdown of your investment portfolio Offers free investing tools, such as a retirement planner, education planner and fee analyzer to check portfolio fees Syncs to your bank accounts and credit cards as well as other financial accounts Offers Daily Capital blog for financial planning tips Security features include data encryption, fraud protection and strong user authentication.

Cons Budgeting features aren't as comprehensive as other apps Investment management services come with cost. Information about GnuCash has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by GnuCash prior to publication. Allows users to import their bank account information. Pros Free to use Compatible with most computers Good accounting option for startups and small businesses with limited budgets Offers helpful data visualization of your budget with graphs and reports Available in multiple languages and tracks multiple currencies Website offers an extensive FAQ section for user support Users can create recurring transactions and set reminders when things are due Finder tool allows users to easily search for specific transactions Security features include not being an online, cloud-based program.

Cons Double-entry accounting method used may be more helpful for small business owners versus individuals trying to manage a budget Desktop software interface looks outdated. Making a budget can be done in as little as five steps: Calculate your net income: First, find out how much money you make each month your cash inflow. Your net income is the amount of money you earn after taxes and can be found on the pay stub you receive through your employer.

List your monthly expenses: Next, you want to look at your monthly costs your cash outflow. Common monthly expenses include rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, loan payments, insurance costs, transportation, child care, groceries, dining, household goods, travel, streaming subscriptions and memberships.

Also include in this category your savings contributions, such as in a k or high-yield savings account. Label the monthly expenses as fixed or variable: Go through your list of monthly expenses and now label each as a fixed essential items or variable cost nonessential items. Examples of fixed costs are rent, utility bills, transportation, insurance, food and loan payments. Your dining, travel, clothing beyond the basics , subscriptions and memberships are variable costs. This is an important step in the process because it helps you see where you can cut back if you need to.

Determine the average monthly costs for each expense: List how much you spend on each expense per month and add them all up. It's easiest to do this step while looking at your bank account and credit card statements from the past month.

Make adjustments depending on what your budget reveals: The final step in creating a budget is the most telling. This is when you compare your net income to your monthly expenses to see where you stand. If your expenses exceed your income, this means focus on finding line-items in your budget that you can remove or cut back spending on.

Reviewed by David Kindness. David Kindness is a Certified Public Accountant CPA and an expert in the fields of financial accounting, corporate and individual tax planning and preparation, and investing and retirement planning. David has helped thousands of clients improve their accounting and financial systems, create budgets, and minimize their taxes. Learn about our Financial Review Board.

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