You could choose how to manage your personal finances by manually writing it down in a personal notebook, but you will soon realize that it would not be enough if you want to do an analysis of your personal expenses and make a rather complex personal financial statement. At that point, you will need personal accounting software.
There are many personal accounting software options available in the market such as Quicken, YNAB, and many more. Paid software tends to have more complete features and good support.
If you are a common user without any accounting knowledge, or just want to try the software for free before buying commercial software, whatever the reason, you have several free software options.
Many free software options will help you determine the right software for you, but on the other hand it can be confusing how to choose the right software for you. I have tips to help you choose free software for you. Even so, you can also apply these tips when selecting paid software.
1. Does not require accounting knowledge.
The user is the home user who has a very diverse educational background. Therefore, the software must be understood by everyone, and the software must not use terms that only accountants understand, such as balance sheet, depreciation, amortization, accounts payable, etc. The user must need knowledge about simple arithmetic calculation only.
two. Budget
The budget concept is very simple but very useful to control. Compare the actual data with your budget and then you will get an early warning when you exceed the budget. The software should have features to facilitate the performance of budgetary control.
3. scheduled transaction
Household expenses must have routine transactions to be paid every month such as electricity, telephone, internet, etc. The delay in paying these regular bills will bring a very inconvenient impact. In this case, the software should be unmountable.
Four. Postponement
Your income and expenses for a month or a year can be presented in a table or on graphs to help you analyze your transaction activity. This function is mandatory presence.
5. Help / Manual
In paid software this may not be a problem, but not in free software. Good free software should have a clear help/manual, and the user can easily understand it.
6. Key code
Your financial transaction is very personal and very confidential. The software must maintain that confidentiality. The password feature will keep your personal data transaction confidential.
7. life planner
Lifetime Planner is the tool to plan your retirement. Actually, this function requires a bit of knowledge in finance, such as the inflation rate. Not all free accounting programs have this feature. However, this feature is very useful for you, trust me. This function is not required, but it is recommended.
Many free accounting programs meet those criteria, such as Ace Money (Lite version), Buddi, HomeBank, and Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe.