As more people are turning to managing their personal finances on a larger scale by budgeting and automating payments, it’s not wonder that people are turning to technology to help them with this often overwhelming task.

Choosing the technology however can be just as frustrating a task as actually managing money. There are many varieties of personal finance software on the market and unlike many other things, in this case one size does not fit all. Not all software will work for every individual because not everyone has the same needs or financial goals. There are programs that work with your online banking, automated bill payments, managing investment portfolios and 401k information. Depending on what your needs are will depend on the kind of software that is right for you.

What Should Be In the Software

User-Friendly Modules – the software you choose should be easy to use with features that do not require a degree in IT to use. Installation should be simple.

Report Capabilities – the software should be able to create reports and summaries that you can analyze and print easily.

Bill Pay/Banking – the software you choose should include features that allow you to use online banking services such as electronic payments, account reconciliation, and check writing/printing capabilities.

Financial Planning – the software should enable you ease of planning for your finances, such as debt reduction, taxes, purchases, retirement, emergency savings, and other money matters. Your software should also include calculators that help you guesstimate costs and savings plan for each of your financial goals.

Tax Information – the software you choose should have capabilities that allow you to export financial information to a compatible tax software. This will help you to look for deductions and estimate the amount of taxes, withholdings, and capital gains.

Personal Investments – the software you choose should offer a features that will help you manage your investments, including your 401k, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and other personal investments that are an integral part of your financial planning.

3 Personal Finance Software Reviews 2009

Quicken Starter Edition (Intuit, Inc) $29.95
Touted as an all-inclusive personal finance package, Quicken is one of the most efficient and easy to use personal finance software. In addition to helping individuals organize, track, and pay bills, do budgeting, and automatically backs up data, Quicken also includes a free credit report an score, works with the Turbo Tax software, and helps with loans and refinancing planning. The only component Quicken Starter Edition does not have is any features that manage investments. For beginners looking for a simplistic but complete finance software, Quicken will work well.

Moneydance (Reilly Technologies, LLC) $39.99
Moneydance (2008) is visually simple for the user and it’s navigation system is user-friendly. The software is capable of managing online banking, bill pay, bill reminders, account summaries and reports. Moneydance also has calculators for mortgages, loans, and home refinancing. Additional calculators include a credit card payoff, debt payoff, and investment calculator to make planning within the software simple. Unlike Quicken, Moneydance can import data about your investments and then summarize and generate reports for you to review. Budgeting is also a planning tool that works well. Moneydance also maintains a user-community on their website as well as a blog that keep members up to date on changes, developments, and financial news.

AceMoney (MechCAD) $30.00
AceMoney is personal financial software known for its extreme user-friendliness. It makes it easy, through its account overview feature to see all of your money at one time, review your accounts and retirement investments, and have a clear understanding of how much you owe on credit cards and other debts. It also has features to reconcile your bank accounts and perform your online banking transactions (be sure the program will connect to your account first.). AceMoney allows you to print nine different reports so you can follow along with your own progress. The software also allows you to deal with managing your retirement funds but there is no feature for stock quotes or trade information. Overall, AceMoney is a solid software for people looking for an easily navigated program.