|
 I have tried an absurd number of software programs that promised to
simplify, streamline and de-clutter our family's financial life.
Most fell short, offering too little benefit, steep learning curves
or both. A few insanely useful ones, though, made it to the mobile
Hall of Fame, otherwise known as my home screen.
If you are trying to get a grip on your money, you may find these to
be helpful:
1. FileThis (http://filethis.com/)
The app does what I frequently forget to do since going paperless
several years ago - download account statements.
It also gives you an overview of your accounts and gives you bill
due-date reminders.
I use FileThis' free version to automatically fetch statements from
up to six "connections" or links to financial institutions.
I have multiple accounts at each institution, so I am able to track
far more than just six accounts. The free version offers 500
megabytes of cloud storage.
To get more connections and storage, you can pay $2 a month for up
to 12 connections and 1 gigabyte of storage or $5 for up to 30
connections and 10 gigabytes of storage. Users also can opt to have
documents downloaded to a number of other storage sites, including
Dropbox and Evernote, or to their computers.
2. ItsDeductible (https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/itsdeductible/)
We donate a ton of clothes, toys, books and household goods to local
charities, but I always put off attaching values to the donations
until our taxes were due and it became a big, unpleasant chore.
The free ItsDeductible app from Intuit Inc allows me to record
contributions as we make them and offers values for common items. I
print out an annual report for our tax pro, although TurboTax users
can download the information directly into their returns.
3. DropBox (http://www.dropbox.com/)
Accessing files from any device or location is essential for my
work, but cloud-based storage also helps when we travel and in
preparing for natural disasters. So I regularly upload travel
documents, insurance policies, appraisal reports, home inventories,
scans of old tax returns and other important paperwork.
I used the free service for years but recently approached the 2
gigabyte storage limit and upgraded to 1 terabyte of storage for $99
a year.
4. Mobile banking
I dismissed mobile check deposit as a fad until I actually tried it.
Now I agree with financial planner Michael Kitces, who calls it "a
crucial aspect" of his financial life.
[to top of second column] |
"The only time my wife or I have set foot in a physical bank branch
for the past two years was to get a legal document notarized. It’s
glorious," said Kitces, research director at Pinnacle Advisory Group
in Columbia, Maryland.
All the other stuff my bank app does - transfer money, pay bills,
send alerts, find fee-free ATMs - makes this one of my most-used
mobile money tools.
5. Mint (http://www.mint.com/)
Intuit's free personal finance aggregator allows its 2.5 million
monthly users to track their spending, monitor their credit scores
and spot potential fraud by automatically downloading transactions
from bank, credit card and investment accounts.
It is also a favorite among financial advisors.
"Mint allows you to combine all of your finances into one location
so that you can take a high level view," said David Almonte, a CPA
in Providence, Rhode Island.
If you are an active investor, you might prefer Personal Capital
(http://www.personalcapital.com/), which has a better free portfolio
manager. I liked Personal Capital's elegant, ad-free dashboard. I
did not like, however, being emailed and called about signing up for
its fee-based investment advisory service, which is the site's
raison d'etre.
While some worry about security with aggregator sites where you have
to hand over your account login credentials, I am comfortable with
these sites' privacy and security policies.
As the victim of several database breaches, including those at
Anthem Inc and Sony Corp, I know that staying offline is no
guarantee of safety. Too much of our private information is stored
in insecure databases over which we have no control. With these
sites, at least, I have some choice over what I share.
(Editing by Beth Pinsker and Diane Craft)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
