Managing your business and personal finances can be a headache. With so many different options out there, choosing the best one can feel overwhelming. We’ve put together a list of the best financial management tools for both personal and professional use.
Personal financial needs are often a little different from those of a business. Professional money management tools tend to be extremely robust and not always suited to individuals. For this reason, we’ve separated the two categories. Below are some of our favorite financial management software programs for personal use.
Google Sheets
Look, it doesn’t get more basic than Google Sheets. But we like that it can be quickly accessed from any device. Plus, it’s free. So, if you are keeping up with income and expenses, you can quickly pull the data without much thought.
Google Sheets is also helpful if you’re self-employed and like to keep information in one place without needing a fancy user interface. The formulas are very similar to those in Excel, so you don’t have to learn anything new if you’re accustomed to using Microsoft.
Credit Karma
For credit management, Credit Karma is a great way to keep an eye on your personal credit, as it shows your credit reports and scores from TransUnion and Equifax. (You’ll have to check Experian elsewhere.)
As of press time, Credit Karma was gradually rolling out a net worth feature, which included the balances that Credit Karma already tracks with the option to link financial accounts and input assets, allowing for a quick debt-asset comparison.
Empower Personal Dashboard™
Are your investment accounts spread across multiple brokers? Empower Personal Dashboard™ allows you to link all of your accounts in one place, making it easy to check your investment allocations. Empower also features calculators for education savings, net worth, personal budgets and investments, among others.
YNAB
YNAB follows the zero-based budgeting method, where you must account for every dollar that comes in. You can connect all of your accounts to YNAB, so it can keep up with your balances.
When you connect your credit cards to the YNAB app, you can set a payoff date goal or schedule your card’s balance to be paid in full monthly. This can help you figure out how much to allocate to this expense each month. Also, your savings goals do not have to have a specific, set monthly amount: You can set a goal date or an eventual goal with no deadline.
Honeydue
Do you want to budget with your partner? Honeydue will let you view shared expenses and chat about them with your partner. It can also tally monthly spending, categorize types of expenses and label them as individual or shared. You even have the option to set up a joint checking account that comes with a debit card and has no monthly fees.
Don’t want to share your personal account balances with your partner? No problem. You can limit what your partner can view in the app to keep some aspects of your financial picture private.
Financial management software for businesses
If you’re looking for a more robust and comprehensive financial management software to handle business finances, look no further than the list below.
Gusto
When you add employees to your business, it’s important to ensure that you are managing your payroll effectively. Gusto can help you pay your team and easily run payroll by integrating with your accounting software. Some of the integrations include QuickBooks Online, Clover, QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets) and When I Work. Gusto also has solutions that allow you to offer employee benefits such as health insurance and 401(k) plans.
One-person operation? No problem. Gusto also has options for one-person businesses that will allow you to pay yourself and remain compliant with the IRS.
QuickBooks
This Intuit product has been around for a long time—and for a good reason, too. QuickBooks can handle all of your business’s accounting needs, including payroll.
QuickBooks also has a variety of pricing levels based on the size of your business and the amount of complexity that you need. If you have employees, you can use QuickBooks’ time tracking options to easily track hours and allow your employees to clock in and out.
My Figures
If you’re looking for financial planning options for your business, My Figures could be a good start with low monthly rates. You can track your business and personal bank accounts in one place. You can use this tool to produce P&L and balance sheets with AI-powered categorization.
My Figures can also be used for forecasting to help you analyze your growth and runway expenses. It’s almost like having a CPA in your pocket.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is a cloud-based accounting software that is geared toward smaller businesses, with a small business price tag between $6.80-$22 per month, as of press time. This app is best for small businesses with simpler financial needs. FreshBooks can help with client management, from tracking work for billing to building client trust through connection. You can also use FreshBooks for invoicing, payments, double-entry accounting, time tracking and more.
Expensify
Manage expenses easily in Expensify, whether you are a team of one or have several employees. Scan receipts with Expensify’s easy-to-use app. Your employees can submit their receipts and get reimbursed easily.
Expensify also has easy automation for bill payments and offers a corporate card that can be used to automatically import and account for all expenses. Companies that set up the Expensify Card also get a discount on Expensify and earn cash back.
This article originally appeared in the May/Jun 2024 issue of SUCCESS magazine. Photo by Ground Picture/Shutterstock.com
