If you’re looking for a simple finance planner for your personal or business finances, chances are you’ve been bombarded by ads every time you look online. There are so many options out there, but if you need a budget money planner, you might not want to commit until you have all the facts.
Let’s take a look at some of the best online budget planners, apps and more.
Online Month Budget Planners
The first option for a simple finance planner if you just need a one-time snapshot of your financial situation is a tool like the online budget planner at Schwab Moneywise.
It’s a fully online tool that requires no account or signup and which divides all your income and expenses into easy-to-use categories. Change values and play with amounts until you find the right ratios for your situation.
There are several other options out there, but if you plan to use any online tool, look for one like this one that does not require sign-in. Not only will you not share your personal information, but you’ll avoid unwanted marketing emails!
Downloadable Budget Templates
If you don’t want to make an online budget, but you just want something simple to use to track and plan your spending, there are several downloadable budget templates, like the free spreadsheet version from NerdWallet.
They not only give you an easy-to-use and customize budget money planner, but they also offer handy budgeting tips, so if you’re not used to financial planning, you can work through it step by step.
Downloadable budget templates are usually simple to use and secure. Still, you do have to enter information manually, which could be a problem if you have a lot of income and expenses to track!
Budget Maker Apps
If you haven’t heard someone say, “there’s an app for that,” you must be living a very sheltered life! There’s an app for everything these days, and budget makers are no different. There are many different free and paid options you can choose for an app-based month budget planner, but these are some of the top choices:
· Mint
· YNAB or You Need a Budget
· Expensify
· Dollarbird
· Goodbudget
· PocketGuard
Many of these apps also connect directly to your bank account, so you can track and categorize expenses as they happen. Most are also available for iPhone and Android, but it’s a good idea to test drive a few before you commit to ensure that they have the right kind of features for your needs.
A Word On Security
If you are going to use an app or software to develop and manage your monthly budget, make sure you research the company behind the service first. Any time you link your bank accounts or personal data to any service, you are trusting the creator of that service to keep it safe.
Look for companies and services that are well-known and trusted, and do a little research about their security history.
As always, make sure that your phone, tablet or computer also has up-to-date and activated antivirus software and that you do regular scans to make sure your system is secure. Even if you use the best apps and software, if your own device is compromised, you could find yourself in trouble!
Accounting Software
If you have a more complex financial situation that includes a business or side hustle, rental income, investments and other types of income, as well as more expenses, you might want to use an accounting software package to manage and plan your finances.
Some of the best options are Wave, QuickBooks, FreshBooks and Zoho, among others. Most have free and low-cost options and will help you to make an online budget and track your finances the way professionals do.
Real-Time Budget Spreadsheet Adjustments with LiveFlow
If you do decide to use accounting software to manage your finances, but you don’t want to have to run complex reports just to make an online budget, you can use the LiveFlow platform to create a real-time link between your accounting software and your budget spreadsheet.
LiveFlow integrates easily with QuickBooks and allows you to map key financial data to your custom Google Sheets spreadsheets. This means as you capture income and expenses, your spreadsheet will automatically update.
LiveFlow is a valuable platform built for QuickBooks, which is designed to make it easy to create an integrated, real time connection between your QuickBooks data and customized reports and dashboards in Google Sheets. This means that you don’t have to give anyone access to QuickBooks simply to review reports – you can use pre-built templates or bring live data to any customized report you already have. This way, you only share what departments need to see. The live connection between QuickBooks and Google Sheets means that your reports will always be up to date – without any manual exports, data formatting or hands-on effort.
It’s a great way to integrate a simple finance planner with professional-grade accounting software. If you’d like to know more, reach out to our team with questions or request a demo.
The good news is that there are more simple finance planners than ever online, as downloadable resources and even on your phone, so you never have to wonder where your money has gone again.
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