Effective and sustainable financial management is important to both business leaders and consumers seeking financial success, but tracking income, expenses and investments on your own can be challenging, especially if you’re new to the endeavor. Fortunately, there are many affordable technology tools that can help you manage your finances more effectively.
From budgeting apps that allow you to track expenses and set financial goals to robust financial planning software, there are countless options for better personal and business financial management. Below, 13 members of the Forbes Finance Council share the tools they recommend for their clients.
Members left to right (Christopher Drake not pictured).
Photos are provided by individual members.
1. Bookkeeper360
Bookkeeper360 is a very effective tool. You can integrate it with QuickBooks or Xero, and it includes stunning, pre-built dashboards that provide a snapshot of your business. You can see how much runway you have in your accounts; View your expenses by month, quarter or year; And much more. Building this level of reporting on your own can be difficult, but this tool makes it easy to achieve a long-lasting system. – Joe Camberato, National Business Capital
2. Credit Karma
Credit Karma is a great tool that is very user friendly. It’s a great site to monitor your credit, view all of your credit accounts, and browse recommended offers based on your credit. As an added bonus, there’s an “Unclaimed Money” section in the Resources tab that people have actually used to claim large amounts of money (for example, a reimbursement check or insurance policy mailed to a previous address). – Andrew Kerai, Capital Ideas Inc.
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3. Imeni
Most of our customers use their own spreadsheets; However, we recommend eMoney. This software allows the user to connect and consolidate all their accounts in one place. Also, eMoney has unlimited storage space for important documents. It is a one-stop shop for all things financial in a consumer’s life. – Christopher Drake, Drake Consulting Group, LLC
4. Empowerment
One useful and affordable tool I recommend to private clients to help them better manage their money is Empower, formerly known as Personal Capital. It is a free financial management tool that provides an overview of one’s finances in one place. It integrates accounts, credit cards, investments and loans to provide an overview of your net worth, investment portfolio and cash flow. – Crystal Gilmore, Spearhead Group Inc
5. Excel
When managing personal finances, technology tools like Excel, or an app that summarizes income and expenses, are key to facilitating financial management. However, technology is not as important as the process. To better manage your finances, get a complete picture of every dollar earned and know where to allocate those dollars. This will help you make key financial decisions. – Kacey Butcher, Adaptive Finance
6. Intuit Software
Intuit is a leading player in the financial tracking industry for individuals (QuickBooks) and small to medium businesses (QuickBooks). Quicken can track your budget and expenses and help you reach short- and long-term goals, and QuickBooks can easily run reports, including P&L and balance sheets. Stay on top of your money with these products! – Will Murphy, Eternal Capital
7. LivePlan
LivePlan software “helps entrepreneurs and small businesses organize valuable strategic and forecasting information more concisely.” I use the software for all my financial forecasts and cash flow projections. The standard system comes at a cost of $20 per month, and is worth every penny. – Sheryl J. Moore, Wink, Inc.
8. Mint
One tool I recommend is Mint, the #1 most downloaded personal finance app. Mint is free and can be used for all financial needs, providing a single source for all financial needs. With Mint, customers can track their cash flow, spend smarter, improve their savings habits, create a budget, track their spending, track their financial goals, and more. – Eli Nur, personal wealth
9. My pictures
My Figures offers a unique tool that helps entrepreneurs and small business owners track income, expenses and net worth, as well as manage all their bank accounts, loans and lines of credit, both business and personal. Instead of logging into 20 different websites, My Figures allows you to do it all in one place. – Leo Kanel, 7 figures funding
10. Wally
There are a number of budgeting apps available for both iOS and Android devices, and they can help users track their income and expenses, set and manage budgets, and gain an overall understanding of their financial situation. One of them is Wally. Users can link their financial accounts, such as bank accounts, credit cards and loans, to the app to track their balances, transactions and spending habits in one place. – Jose Rodriguez, got credit?
11. YNAB; wealth front; Improvement
The most effective way to manage your finances is to use tools that allow for automation. The best tools connect to your accounts to import transactions and track your progress toward goals. Tools should perform three main functions: budgeting, goal planning and automatic investing. YNAB is a popular budgeting app, while Wealthform and Betterment are popular automated investing apps. – Martin de Beer, BrightPlan
12. Your financial services institution application
If you’re like me, you’ve been blessed with a great holiday season and your credit cards need to go on a diet right now. Make your financial services institution your friend, not your enemy. Sign up and use the budgeting app and all the wonderful bells and whistles that come with it. Personalize your interests and engagements and take control of your finances! – Monica Hovsepian, Open Text
13. Software to manage employee recruitment and compensation
Several software packages allow you to better manage payroll and regulatory requirements around hiring and compensation. They often have helplines for questions—which is helpful for many startup CEOs, especially since most are not HR professionals and don’t have the resources to hire an HR specialist. – Lise Birkundavi, BKR Capital
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