Consider Using a Financial Tool

Many of the people I work with tell me that they just cant get all their financial affairs straight. They never seem to be on top of everything. As a result, folks often side-step the financial management task and operate on a "wing and a prayer." That can sometimes lead to late fees, non-sufficient funds fees, over-limit fees, lost airline miles, increased credit card interest rates, lower credit scores, and on and on.

Sure if you aren't a numbers person, or a detail person, there is a certain amount of tedium present in not only keeping all your accounts current (or at least paid), but also being able to have accurate information as an input into your financial planning. If you are a ledger and pencil person, go right ahead, an EXCEL spreadsheet user - that's a good tool too. As long as the job is being done, congratulations are in order. I prefer to let my financial management software do the "heavy lifting" for me.

Using a financial tool makes almost every aspect of your financial management less of a tedious task. It is a very effective way to keep all your information in one system. One such product is Quicken - brought to you by Intuit.

It enables you to:
-Reconcile your accounts (bank, brokerage, credit cards etc.)
-Generate your net worth (Quicken keeps a running tabulation of your net worth on it’s initial screen)
-Generate saving’s goals and targets and track their progress
-Track your savings
-Track your spending - It'll give you a synopsis of your inflow and outflow, and any expected shortages and when they are scheduled to occur during the month.
-Create a budget and be alerted when you exceed it
-Track your credit accounts
-Develop a debt management plan – informs the most expedient way to reduce your debt
-Track your investments
-Create a watch list of investments
-Transfer financial data into tax preparation software
-Generate multiple customized reports at the click of a button.

Take a look at the Quicken site, (click here) where you can compare the product’s features, and make a determination of which product is best for you.