• Migrating From Moneywell 2 Moneywell Personal Finance Company
• Migrating From Moneywell 2 Moneywell Personal Finance

Jul 1, 2009 - Here are some powerful personal finance software programs to take the place of Microsoft Money. A great mac option is Moneywell, by NoThirst software. We've been using MS Money quite happily for 2 years and were sad to. Starter versions and moving to much more expensive programs,. Moneywell is a product of No Thirst which has created a number of software programs. What started out as a way to simplify personal finance management in 2006, ultimately turned into a platform that helps users manage their budget and get out of debt.

What's New in MoneyWell 2 Since 2007, MoneyWell has been the favorite budgeting app for people looking to make a real change in their financial futures. We spent months poring over what was great about MoneyWell and what could be made even better. Below are just some of the cool new features for 2012. Event-based Budgeting We think MoneyWell's new event-based budgeting will revolutionize the way you control your spending. Simply create a list of events that tell MoneyWell how you spend your money and let it build your budget. For example, your Dining Out bucket can have one event for your weekday espresso, another for lunch three days a week, and a third event for date night with your spouse once a month. MoneyWell takes care of the calculations and setting aside income for these events.

Having your spending plan broken up into events also makes budget revisions easier. If your electric bill rises, simply adjust that one event. Forget a birthday? Just add a new event.

Pay off a loan? Remove an event. The guesswork behind your budget amounts disappears.

Clean Visuals for Budgeting and Banking MoneyWell is designed to hold thousands of transactions, but information is useless unless it's easy to understand. Every view has been designed to present your banking and budgeting details in a clear and concise manner. Graphs are available for nearly every list to give you the big picture. Headers above each list give summary information along with quick totals for selections. Every visual has been crafted to help you see exactly what you need right where you are. Unlimited Smart Filters Smart filters are saved searches based on criteria you set up. If you do a quick search using the filter bar in MoneyWell, you can save that as a smart filter with a single click.

You can also create a smart filter from scratch by just adding rules to the filter. Want to filter your transaction list to all withdrawals last year with a 'vacation' tag? How about filtering to all transactions assigned to dining tagged as 'business expense' with an amount over $20? Add as many smart filters as you'd like with any combination of conditions based on date, payee, memo, amount, tags, and more. These work for every view and report giving you complete control over what you see.

Best-in-Class Currency Support No other finance app allows you to record a transaction in one currency, store it in an account register in a second currency, and assign it to a budget bucket in a third. Only MoneyWell gives you the flexibility to keep your budget in check no matter where you live or travel. When you set the currency on your transaction, MoneyWell automatically looks up the exchange rate based on the currency of your selected account. If your bucket has a third currency, it does the same for that. Since exchange rates are rarely perfect, MoneyWell also allows you to set the exact amounts for all three currencies and keeps those stored within each transaction.

From slide rule to online budget apps. Here are 5 alternatives to Quicken and Mint. (AP Photo) Mint had a similar effect, only with the Internet. Now no longer tethered to a hard drive, I could manage my finances from any place where I could get an internet connection.

Sadly (or not), both programs have lost a step or two. Quicken is clunky by today’s standards. And I’ve heard multiple complaints about Mint, especially about updating information from financial institutions.

There are, however, several great alternatives to Quicken and Mint. We’ll look at five of the best replacement options, the first of which is an advertiser on my personal finance blog.

It also happens to be my favorite and the one I use every day. Personal Capital has become an extremely popular tool to manage money. There are several reasons for this. First, it’s free. Second, Personal Capital’s financial dashboard manages every aspect of a person’s finances.

It tracks cash flow and enables you to see your spending by account and category. Further, it’s a.

The results of running Personal Capital’s fee analyzer on my 401k. It enables you to link all of your investment accounts. Once linked, Personal Capital provides a wealth of information about your portfolio. From asset allocation to investing fees, this tool gives you easy insight into your investment portfolio. This is particularly helpful if you, like me, have multiple retirement and taxable accounts. Finally, Personal Captial offers a retirement planning tool. You can see if you are on track to retire as planned.

Migrating From Moneywell 2 Moneywell Personal Finance Company

It even provides useful data on 529 accounts you may have for your children and tracks the value of real estate. YNAB For those focused exclusively on their budget, there’s nothing better than (short for You Need a Budget). I’ve tried virtually every budgeting tool available, and YNAB is without question the most effective. It uses a familiar spreadsheet format that’s very easy to use. Categories can be assigned to your spending automatically. Once you’ve used the software for about a month, you’ll rarely need to categorize expenses manually. And YNAB follows a very interesting approach to budgeting.

The goal is to live off of money you earned the previous month. As a result, you’re not living paycheck to paycheck. It may take some time to get there, but I’ve found YNAB the best tool to support this type of prudent financial management. Banktivity For those with a Mac looking for software, is an excellent choice. Much like Quicken, you can connect bank accounts, credit cards, mortgages, and even investment accounts. Once connected, Banktivity manages your entire financial life in one place. I’ve found connecting accounts to be, while not perfect, workable.

I’ve successfully connected investment accounts from major brokers, a mortgage on an investment property from Chase, and credit cards from Citi, Capital One and other issuers. What I’ve found most appealing about Banktivity is that it just works. There is, however, one downside. The software set me back $64.99, which by itself would be fine.

Migrating From Moneywell 2 Moneywell Personal Finance

However, if I want to automatically download transactions, I must pay a yearly fee of nearly $45. In the end, the cost was worth it. But it’s an important consideration, particularly when tools such as Personal Captial are free. EveryDollar For Dave Ramsey fans, is a good option.

It is an online budgeting and money management tool. It comes in both a free and paid version. The paid version adds, among other things, online connectivity to your financial institutions. The budget is broken down into categories, such as housing, transportation, and food.

You can customize expense categories. Without the paid version, however, it’s an entirely manual process.

For those following Dave’s Baby Steps, they are integrated into the budget. For example, save $200 and you’ll see Baby Step #1 (save $1,000 for emergencies), increase by $200. PowerWallet The last Mint and Quicken alternative on our list is.

This online budget tool enables you to link bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and investment accounts. I found the linking process to be smooth, with two exceptions. I was unable to link a retirement account at Fidelity and credit cards from Citi.

PowerWallet uses a cash flow model of budgeting. In the dashboard, it shows your cash inflows, outflows, and what’s left. It also highlights your top spending categories. It does use an advertising model for revenue, so be prepared to see some advertisements. Connectivity One persistent problem with all personal finance software is issues connecting to financial institutions. I have yet to use one that didn’t have at least one or two problems. I’ve found Personal Capital to be the one tool with the fewest problems. But you should expect to encounter some connectivity issues regardless of which tool you use.

Rob Berger founded, a personal finance website, a credit card and banking website, and, a free weekly newsletter. RECOMMENDED BY FORBES.