5 Best Online Budget Tools
When it comes to managing your money, you want tools and resources to help you stay on track. Depending on your stage of life, you may be making several transactions a month. Trips to the grocery store, paying rent and utilities, making payments on your car and covering all of life’s other necessary expenses.
As you track and stay on top of your budget, you want to know where your money is and where it’s going at all times. That’s where a budgeting tool comes in handy. Especially when you do a lot of your purchases online and transfer money from your bank to pay rent, loans and other bills, using a tool that’s all online becomes a quick and easy way to manage your money well.
With the growing popularity of online money management and budgeting tools, there are a lot of options you can choose from. To help get you started in finding the right solution for you, here we share five of the best and most popular budgeting tools you can access all online.
Mint
Perhaps one of the most often used and recommended online budgeting tool for many ages is Mint.com. With both an online platform and an app, you can track where your money goes at all times.
What makes this tool so well-known and great for tracking? Its automated features allow you to sync your spending quickly and easily so you don’t forget to enter in a purchase or transaction. Weave in your account balances, bills and credit tracking all into one platform.
Check your information in real-time with automatic updates and categorizing based on where you make your transaction. Track your credit card usage to help protect you from overspending and stay on track for retirement savings.
Mint.com also offers resources and blog articles to help you plan your spending and saving wisely so you can reach your financial goals.
Setting up your account is free and easy to do. It also links up with about every U.S. financial institution, so wherever you bank, you can stay connected, automatically.
EveryDollar
An extension of Ramsey Solutions from Dave Ramsey, EveryDollar is an easy-to-use tool that helps you achieve financial stability. Setting up a budget is fast and simple, eliminating your excuses for not having a budget.
The concept of this tool allows for zero-based budgeting, meaning you work to manage your account so that your expenses equal your income. This helps you prevent overspending and know where your money is going at all times.
EveryDollar – and Dave Ramsey in general – offers helpful resources through blogs and other free resources. While there is a Plus paid plan (for $130 a year), you most often can get away with just the free plan. While you won’t be able to directly link your bank account to track automated updates on your account with the free version, you can still note each transaction and assign it right to where in your budget it should go.
Personal Capital
If you have a variety of active investments, this Personal Capital online tool can help you track your strategy. By combining both investment tracking and budgeting resources, you can easily manage your growing wealth and where your money is going.
The features of this free resource are plenty, including connecting and tracking credit card accounts, banking accounts as well as other investments you have a stake in. Their free resources and tools provide helpful information to equip you to make the right moves.
If you’re one who wants some additional insight, you can also connect with human advisors to help you make the right money moves. This free app provides you constant monitoring no matter where you access from. Manage your portfolio and see the changes that you may need to make to get your investment to where you want it to be.
If you want additional features and greater access to one-on-one advice, you can also upgrade to a premium subscription to the service.
You Need A Budget (YNAB)
Like EveryDollar, the You Need a Budget (YNAB) platform focuses on zero-sum budgeting, meaning you can account for every dollar that you bring in. The service promotes a passion and positivity for adapting your lifestyle toward financial success, no matter where you currently are financially.
The service is presented in a spreadsheet design that is easy to follow and navigate. You can also plan for your future budget using your previous month’s income, giving you insight into how to benchmark your spending.
While YNAB doesn’t allow you to automatically sync your financial information, you can easily integrate them by transferring in your transactions from your institutions. This requires a little bit more work, but is simple and easy to do. You also won’t be able to track your investment options.
A downside of this service is that it isn’t free. You’ll get a free trial for 34 days, and students can get a year for free as well. After that, you’ll pay a fee each month or year based on your plan selection.
Excel
If you’re already into budgeting and would want a more hands-on approach for budget tracking, using a spreadsheet program like Excel or Google Sheets allows you to navigate your spending wisely. And, of course it’s free or already on your computer.
By using a free template provided by either Excel or Sheets, you can set up your own budget formatted and designed for you personally. While you’ll need to include a little bit more work in setting up your budget exactly how you want, this tool gives you the freedom to manage your money your way.
Track Your Money, Your Way
With the numerous opportunities to track your budget and money online, you can be on your way to reaching and maintaining financial success. Find the resource that works best for you and how you make your transactions. By knowing where your money is going, you can discover the areas where you may need to improve and continue the practices that demonstrate your financial wisdom.