09 Aug Cash flow and budgeting tools
Managing personal cash flow can be a difficult task. Most of us hold multiple accounts, and make dozens of transaction each month. So how do we keep track of it all, and ensure that we have enough lying around to cover the bills?
Keeping budgets is good in theory, but for the most part, it has involved a high level of manual interaction (such as entering transactions in, and categorising them one-by-one), which most of us find hard to keep up.
Having researched the issue, we have found several applications which automate the tedious processes, and have some great features to help you manage your finances.
The ANZ Money Manager is an online application which really does it all. The website is able to connect to your bank accounts (most Australian banks included), credit cards, loan accounts, investment accounts, as well as many different reward programs. It also includes the following features:
- Monthly budgeting tool with alerts
- Account balance alerts
- Reminder e-mails for billing account
- Automatic categorisation of spending
- Custom Categorisation rules
The best thing of all is – it’s completely free.
http://www.anz.com/ANZ-moneymanager/default.asp
XERO is a similar service to ANZ Money Manager with only two caveats. The first is that it only allows automatic data feeding from bank accounts for business users, and the second is the cost ($34 per year). Having said that, we use XERO for our business accounting needs, and highly recommend it for small to medium businesses. For personal users, you will need to import your transactions – which can be done quite easily using the export function from your online banking site. XERO features include:
- Budget management tool (monthly, fortnightly or weekly)
- Financial snapshots (keeps you informed of your financial position)
- Planned payments
- iPhone app
- Automatic categorisation of spending
- Custom categorisation rules
https://www.xero.com/personal/
For further information on the above software or cash flow budgeting in general, please contact Lawrence Shamrakov at lawrences@adaptwealth.com.au or (03)9211 0175.
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About Reuben Zelwer
Reuben Zelwer established Adapt Wealth Management in 2011 to help time poor clients achieve financial freedom. For over 15 years, Reuben has helped professionals, executives, business owner and those approaching retirement make the most of their circumstances by making good financial decisions. Reuben’s professional practice is complemented by substantial voluntary work, which has included setting up financial literacy and savings programs in the local community. |