Unlike most programs, which use a ledgerlike check-register metaphor, Budget uses a conceptually vivid envelope metaphor, providing the digital equivalent of cashing your paycheck and then distributing the money to different expense envelopes. Of all the programs we looked at, Snowmint Creative Solutions’ Budget 4.3.3 was the most unique. So as good as the program is for people in the earliest stages of saving, it’s not currently capable of expanding to meet growing financial needs. Beginning budgeters don’t usually need to print checks and import bank transactions, but if you’re setting up your first real bank account, being unable to reconcile PigMoney’s account data with your monthly bank statement is a serious problem. PigMoney has no check-printing capabilities, includes no way to balance a checkbook, and, like many of the programs we looked at, made importing financial information we downloaded from a real bank account a frustrating experience. However, this isn’t a problem for finance amateurs with simple budgets. If you have many different expenses, the expense list often ends up disappearing behind the corresponding pie chart. The amount of information in the window can swamp PigMoney’s interface. As you enter each new transaction, a small window displays a list of expense categories sorted by the amount spent below that is a pie chart detailing each of your expenses by category. PigMoney has an autocomplete feature similar to Quicken’s it remembers items you’ve entered and enters them automatically as you begin to type them again. You create new transactions in PigMoney by clicking on one of the program’s three main transaction buttons - New, Edit, and Delete - and then entering details, such as payment amount, payee, and category, in the transaction window that appears. It’s a perfect solution for younger savers who are just starting to keep an eye on all their baby-sitting or lawn-mowing money. If a very basic Excel spreadsheet is the first step in financial record-keeping, SweetCocoa Software’s PigMoney 1.1 is the second. In the end, Quicken remains the program you can bank on, but PigMoney and Budget are excellent alternatives for people who don’t require all of Quicken’s specialized financial features.
Unless otherwise noted, all the programs we reviewed print checks, create financial reports, and provide functions for balancing your checkbook. We took a look at five personal finance programs - SweetCocoa Software’s PigMoney 1.1, Snowmint Creative Solutions’ Budget 4.3.3, Reilly Technologies’ Moneydance 2003, Max Programming’s iCash 1.4.3, and Intuit’s Quicken 2004 - most of which include excellent features for a wide variety of people.
Whether you’re stuffing your life savings into a mattress, dropping every dime into a savings account, or spending your money as fast as you make it, you need to know where your cash is coming from and where it’s going.
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