Fancy New Tools

I've been using this free Goggle Spreadsheet template from vertex42 for years. I download transactions from my accounts and load them into the sheet. I added a Net Worth tab that I update every month just recording the current balance of all my accounts (some I don't track in the transactions section like my brokerage account. Every year I make a new version and start over for the year. This way I have all my data and history and don't lose it. You can customize the budget categories and use the goals page for sinking funds.

Free Money Management Template for Excel

Tried Quicken Simplifi for 6 months but I use Fidelity for everything and they don't have a good way of putting brokerage expenses in the same place as regular accounts so I switched to monarch which has a beta feature that does this.

I was a Mint user for a long time for expenses. However, alongside Mint, I used a simple budgeting sheet to make sure we could cover our expenses each month. I used Mint to better understand where were spending on a annual/periodic basis. Pre-FI, I was using a big spreadsheet for modeling net worth and FI.

After Mint shut down, as others have posted, I tried the alternatives for expenses and replacing my budgeting sheet. Landed on Monarch but decided that was too much and switched to Rocket Money. After using Rocket for a bit, i stopped checking/using it and cancelled recently. While there is the automation, there was still a time investment to have good enough expenses data. I realized that the time investment wasn't worth it at this stage of our life where our monthly fixed expenses are more limited and we don't have any issues to solve for on the spending front.

All I do now for budgeting.. for "pay day" every month, I update checking and credit card values in my sheet. If there is a projected checking shortfall for the month, transfer money over to cover with a buffer. I automate as much as possible but decided automating this isn't worth it. if there was ever an API to get my account values, I might attempt to automate those and create a zapier to send a monthly email for fun :)

Ahead of hitting FI in 2024, we started consolidating our investment assets at Fidelity. A broad platform, some light, free advisory services and the full view aggregator were a part of this decision. So, we use Full View for checking net worth every so often as well as using the planning tool as needed--the free advisory services helped to get rolling with the planning tool.

I use YNAB and don't recommend it. It's great for budgeting and assigning every dollar a job, but I just want a tracker at this point. I spend too much time reconciling it because I can't stand for things to be "wrong" and in the red, but I'm not getting value from that! But I have so many years worth of data in there now that I don't want to lose it, so I just trudge on...

Been using Quicken for quite a while. It's a simple way to track all your accounts, expenses, cash flows, investments, real estate, etc. And it provides a snap shot of your net worth in real time. I think it costs about $70/year, but it's been worth it for me. Requires a small amount of effort and provides an accurate picture of your financial situation. There are loads of tools where you can go into the weeds in terms of tracking, forecasting, budgeting, etc but I mostly stick to the big picture.

My wife and I have tracked our expenses via a spreadsheet for the last 5 years-- After looking around at my options for tools recently I decided to make my own, and am now in the process of creating an app to to track expenses, do FI calculations and other helpful things but without the overly powerful aspects of something like Monarch. I like simple, minimalist tools, but there are some "fancy" things I do appreciate. Wish me luck! If you have any suggestions lmk haha

Just invest with Fidelity and use their free "full view" tool on desktop mode.

I use the free version of Everydollar. It's ok, I wouldn't call it great, but with a little tinkering you can create sinking funds. When combine with a spreadsheet it works great IMO The thing I like is my wife and I are both on it so we can each see where we are on budget in real time (as long as we enter expense). Not sure if the paid version would help with automation.

I used Mint until it shut down then tried a handful of the new tools before deciding on Monarch. It’s fantastic and has only gotten better in the last two years. Would highly recommend! You’re right, it has some limitations in regards to future projections, which is why I also use ProjectionLab for future forecasts. Each are right about $100 each/year but highly worth it in my opinion