Using personal finance software brings your money management to a whole new level, but to take full advantage of all these programs have to offer, it's important to choose a program that fits your personal needs. Fortunately, there are several excellent programs available and they get better every year. With all the features offered in the programs listed below, there's no reason to look further for personal finance software.
1. Microsoft Money 2006 (Standard)
MS Money is a robust, user-friendly personal finance program that includes features that allow you to manage your finances, budget, track your investments, bank online, and plan for your taxes. The electronic checkbook allows you to pay bills online if you choose, and keeps track of your expenses so you can print financial statements at the end of each month to see where your money has gone. Money also includes many tools and special features for those with more complicated financial situations.
2. Intuit Quicken Premier 2006
Like MS Money, Quicken helps you with your banking, investing, taxes, financial planning, budgeting, and more. You can pay bills online, balance your checkbook and reconcile your bank statement quickly and painlessly. A variety of reports and graphs show you how you spent your money and compares your actual expenses to your budget. At tax time, Quicken data can be automatically transferred into Turbo Tax to reduce data entry.