In these uncertain times, finding the best budgeting software can be nearly as important as making the decision to budget. The keys to this decision are found in the answer to three important questions: Is it easy to use?, Is it customizable?, and Can I create custom reports? Because financial times are difficult for so many of us, budgeting has found its way to the top of our priority list. Finding the best budgeting software for us requires a little knowledge and a lot of introspection.
Is it easy to use? For the simplest of budgets, a computer program is replaced by a lined pad and pencil. The first thing to remember is the ease of use sometimes requires a tradeoff with a lack of flexibility. For those of us who may be apprehensive about putting software on the computer, some online services are available for budgeting. The advantage here is that, for a price, they can also be available for support questions. We would always test drive a car before making a purchase, and many software companies permit the use of a “test” version which can be downloaded to see if it suits your purposes.
Is it customizable? Customizability is important because the program needs to meet the needs of people with differing needs. This concept is also important because your situation may change over time. What if you add a home-based business to your budget? What if you buy a rental home – can the system track multiple accounts? You may want to spend extra money on a system, which will permit these changes over time. You may also want to consider that that hand-entering every transaction is tedious and time-consuming. It is also prone to error. A system, which permits online links to your various accounts to download the data will be a great help as your financial complexity changes.
Can I create custom reports? As mentioned previously, if all you need is a simple table with rows and columns tallied each month or at the end of the year, then all you need is a simple spreadsheet or even a lined note pad and pencil. However, if you have multiple categories of income and expenses, you will need the flexibility to both customize them and report them separately. You also need to determine if you process information better if presented in graphic form such as a pie chart or a bar graph. Customizability in reporting may also involve comparing projected with actually budget for both income and expenses. Can these reports be automated month-to-month or year-to-year? Can you set up a “template” which determines most of the calculations and then adapt it to another category?
In conclusion, the best budgeting software for you becomes obvious when you have considered all of the many options each budgeting software program has to offer compared with what you are looking for now and in the future.
Dan Kudo’s interests include other sports such as skiing and flyfishing as well as music, photography, and videography. He provides information on martial arts as well as other timely topics such as fitness, energy conservation and finance in the form of articles and web pages for everyone to enjoy free. Check out this page for more on Aikido techniques, and martial arts.
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