Archive for the ‘personal finance software’ tag
Works Well, It’s Excellent – Personal Finance Budgeting Software Review
Personally, YNAB has cut down the amount of time I spend managing my daily budgeting and cash flow. If I do it a few times a week, it takes me just a few minutes (maximum) to get “caught up” on my balances using YNAB. When it comes down to it, that’s what I need – help controlling my spending so I can get out debt and out of the rat race sooner rather than later. Before YNAB, it was as if I was walking through a dark cave with a very dim flashlight and I could only see things when they were right in front of me. There are other free extras as well; you really have nothing to lose. If you are living in financial peace, but know you can be a better steward of your money…but this software. You won’t be disappointed with this God-sent utility. I have been using YNAB for a little over a year now. Worth every penny! Just 6 months ago I hadn’t even heard of “You Need A Budget” (YNAB), but our financial situation was probably screaming out for one. It’s perfect. This software also comes with a great community of budgeters who are good with their money and can help you be the same way. Quite frankly their budget set-up interface left a lot to be desired, only allowing you to create a general monthly budget. With YNAB, I was up and running within a few minutes, and after playing with all the features to see what it could do, I was fully loaded with a budget and bank transactions within twenty minutes. Instead of putting a budget together and then recording your spending, this was more like the old “envelope” system my parent used, but electronically. Rather than planning money that you will get in the future, you “budget” how to spend the money you have on hand.
The confusing part is that sometimes not placing an item in a category is the correct thing to do, even though most of the time it’s not. That’s actually caught me a time or two.
YNAB is more than just software. It’s a whole approach to budgeting.
I consider myself fairly financially savvy. I understand financial concepts very well and have worked in finance for some time.
YNAB not only performs the needed computations of a budget, but organizes them on easy to read spreads. The budgeting principles taught along with the program truly saved my wife and I during a particularly hard month because we had a month’s income saved to back us up. If we need to buy a new pair of pants, we don’t have to wonder if we can afford it, we just look in the “Clothing” category and see how much we have available. If the money is there, we buy without guilt.
It practically holds your hand in making a budget and even gives you yellow and red “flags” for things you need to correct! If you are a beginner to advanced computer user, you should completely appreciate this product and be able to use it.
You cannot use this software to balance your checkbook, but it will balance your budget. One of the best features of this software is that it will allow you to apply money to a specific category each month, and let that category grow.
So I’m earning May’s income and it is just pouring into my checking and sitting there. BUMPER SCUFF REPAIR.
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Assessing a Roth IRA account
Whether to invest into a regular IRA and tax-advantaged employer plan accounts versus investing in “Roth” tax-advantaged employer plan and IRA personal accounts is not always a straightforward choice.
The decision on the alternatives is one of the very intricate choices of lifetime personal financial planning. A lot of personal finance issues can decide whether a ordinary tax-advantaged employer plan or IRA retirement account contribution versus a Roth tax-advantaged employer plan or IRA personal account contribution choice would be optimal.
For most people’s lifetime circumstances making further investments into a traditional IRA or tax-advantaged employer plan retirement accounts is the best choice, when those deposits would be deductible against this year’s income taxes.
Over a lifetime the analysis is quite complicated. Rules-of-thumb are not able to analyze all the important factors. The decision is not just about present versus future tax rates. Instead, the decision requires a fully personalized financial planning projection and valuation of the family’s lifetime income, taxes, and assets.
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Whether someone will consume less and save enough and invest carefully over their lives is most important in the Roth retirement account versus the “deductible against this years income taxes” regular retirement account additional investment choice.
When an investor cannot make enough money, does not save aggressively, cannot dramatically reduce investment expenses, and/or does not build up a large enough retirement nest egg, then that person won’t be in the upper tax brackets when retired — whether or not state and federal tax have moved up or down in the interim. If an investor will not have sufficiently large assets and income in retirement, then the current tax reduction an investor will get from choosing an ordinary retirement account contribution will tend to be more financially favorable over a life cycle.
Note: This article ONLY talks about financial situations where the person can choose between a “currently tax deductible” ordinary IRA or 401k additional investment versus a currently “not deductible against current income taxes” Roth IRA or 401k additional investment. When you can’t take the deduction this year but can make a Roth deposit, then the Roth deposit is more desirable.
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Personal Financial Management – A Boon for Adults and College Students
Looking after budgets has to be done both by adults as well as college students. Once you are an adult one has to worry about getting employed and about how to go about paying bills. It is easy to throw the money after expensive items like clothes and cars and restaurants, but not easy to get out of the debt that such activities can put one under for a long time.
Managing one’s finances and the proper way of keeping them tracked on a monthly basis is crucial to comprehend. It does not matter that one’s spouse normally does the bills since one needs to follow what is going on with them in case there is a problem and you must take over the responsibility.
The first thing that you need to do is to create a bill plan. On this plan you need to make a list of the bills you have to pay each month and how much you have to pay them. This includes the normal house, car, energy bills and any loans that you have as well as what you spend in food and gas. After this you should put down how much you make that month. Put the numbers together and determine how much you have left over, if any. Online money management can help a lot in handling these.
When it comes to any type of bill that you owe you need to make sure that you pay them on time. The moment you are late you have to worry about late fees and this can increase your bill and even double it. Also make sure that you pay back loans when they are due so you can keep your credit high. Such home financial management can be helped by using free budget management software.
For those in school, there are many ways of saving money using different methods. Instead of purchasing textbooks, rent them and find savings of up to 50%. Instead of going the Microsoft route use Open Office from Sun Microsystems and save $120. Use a bus instead of a car on campus. Use online money management to look after the budget.
Despite using more and more plastic in our everyday finances, ATM fees especially for college students rapidly build up. For colleges that are out of state or even out of region, the local bank or credit union may not have authorized ATM’s. Using these ATM’s charges a fee which adds up. Start a free checking account instead of using the ATM and save.
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