Favorite financial app that you use

[coffee]

We have been using Mint for years, but I’m pretty sure we are not up to date with any new ones that could be fun to try.
-what do you like about it?
-what do you dislike?

[madringal]

I use the free version of Dave Ramseys Every Dollar app. I love having a written out budget for every month - we have never been able to save as much money as we have since we started using this.

[ellipsis]

Personal Capital (PM me for a referral, it’s free but we each get $20).

I like it better than Mint because it doesn’t break constantly. It’s not as good for budgeting but good for tracking investment/retirement planning/net worth.

[mlkgls]

I use both of the apps listed by madringal and ellipsis, for different reasons. Mint has never wowed me.

I use PC as a “big picture” snapshot of my finances and I enjoy the visual representations of gain/loss over time for accounts. It helps me track net worth, but I don’t check it often.

I started using the free version of Every Dollar in February and it has been the best budgeting app I’ve used to date. It’s easy to setup and I love being able to toggle between Planned/Spent/Remaining categories. It’s not connected to my accounts, but the act of having to physically document each purchase and then balance to a zero budget works well for me. Money is much less likely to be frittered away if I have to log it.

[Susie]

I still have a Mint account, but it's not very useful anymore.  So many accounts require 2 factor authentication that is really clunky, and a bunch of accounts that are material to our financial picture don't connect at all.  I also find that it got vastly less useful for budgeting when I got an Amazon Prime account ~5 years ago.  There are purchases from Amazon across all kinds of categories, and it's too difficult to track what amounts belong in what categories.

The most useful thing I have is a spreadsheet tracking our net worth that I update roughly monthly.  I started it in August 2012, and I still feel like patting myself on the back when I look at what we've accomplished in that time.  

[calico]

Jun 12, 2020 9:19:36 GMT -5 Susie said:

I also find that it got vastly less useful for budgeting when I got an Amazon Prime account ~5 years ago. There are purchases from Amazon across all kinds of categories, and it's too difficult to track what amounts belong in what categories.

I've felt the exact same, not only Amazon, but also for Target and Costco. I can think of 3-4 different categories from Costco alone in one trip. It's a pain to split the purchase and do tax recalculations.

As for the OP, I've been looking for a new app/method for budgeting, but haven't found that perfect one for me yet. 

[MrsDarcy]

I love You Need A Budget, or YNAB. It’s been great, and I’ve used it I think about a year and a half. Pro - it’s a digital envelope system so it’s easy to see how much I have left for gas, whether or not we have money to eat out, etc. you can add any and all categories. Cons - it costs about 6-8/month paid yearly, and its been a little bad about updating lately since they switched to a new platform. It all gets updated (it pulls from your bank account) but sometimes there’s a delay. Overall, I love it!!

[madisen]

Also here to say I love You Need a Budget, YNAB.

Cons: It's not free, and I recommend youtube videos before diving in and setting everything up. Also, my Apple credit card and my Capital One credit card can't be linked at the moment so I have to manually put in those credit card charges.

Pros: Best way to handle credit card charges and payments that I've seen. I love YNAB.