Last year during the New Year season, I ran a very popular promotion: use one of my affiliate links (I get a referral payment, but it doesn’t cost you any more) to purchase either You Need a Budget, Moneydance, or Mvelopes personal finance software, and I’ll give you a copy of The Secret to a Successful Budget for free (offer expires January 31st at 11:59 EST)

If you prefer just to purchase a copy, I’ve discounted the price by 50% for the month of January (offer expires January 31st at 11:59 EST).  To get 50% off your purchase, just enter the code newyear in the discount box at checkout.

In 2011, The Secret to a Successful Budget was nominated by the personal finance blogging community as one of the best new personal finance ebooks released in 2011.  If you’re interested in the book, you may want to read what others around the web have to say about the book.

I’m excited to announce it is now available in a Kindle compatible format, so you can read it as a PDF or read it on your Kindle.

How to Get Your Free Copy:

1.  Click on one of the following links to learn about each of the three featured products:

a.  You Need A Budget Review

b. Moneydance Review

c. Mvelopes as reviewed with other best personal finance software.

Click here to compare all personal finance software.

2.  Purchase the product using one of the link anywhere on Money Help For Christians.

3.  Email me (include invoice number or proof of purchase) or complete the following request form:

How to Purchase a PDF or Kindle Version for 50% Off:

1.  Visit the book landing page by clicking here.

2.  Add the book to cart.

3.  At checkout, enter ‘newyear’ into the discount box and update the cart.

4.  Complete your payment.

5.  In less than a minute, you’ll receive an email with a link to download both versions of the book and other bonuses.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> The Secret to a Successful Budget 50% or Free [Limited Time]

Other Great Articles:

1. Transforming Your Financial Diet [Limited Time Low Pricing]
2. Download Your Free Copy | The Bible and 21st Century Finances [Limited Time]
3. Buy Select Financial Software and Get The Secret to a Successful Budget Free

Yes, I am the author of The Secret to a Successful Budget.

Yes, in that book I said, “[the budget is] an essential component of any healthy financial plan.”

Yes, I also said, “If I had to identify one financial habit that helped us become debt-free, it would be the budget.”

Yes, I did mention, “For almost seven years now we’ve kept a budget – even now that we are debt-free. And we still think it is the most important factor in maintaining a financially healthy lifestyle.”

And yes, we’ve decided to kiss budgeting good bye.

Why We Kissed Budgeting Goodbye

For the first ten and a half years of our marriage, we kept a budget.  We followed all the rules and told our money what to do.

With this plan in place, we were able to pay off our student loans within a year of when my wife and I graduated with our masters degrees.  It’s not easy to live off $34,000, pay for two masters degrees, and cover all your expenses.  But we did.  Thanks to the budget.

In our nearly twelve years of marriage, we’ve only borrowed money for one car and a house.  The car loan was paid off in less than a year.  Thanks to a spending plan.

The budget helped us allocate extra money each month to help us make extra payments on our home.  That outstanding balance is now only 4 digits.  How?  The budgeting our money.

Last year, we were able to give away almost double what we’ve ever been able to give away before.  How?  The budget.

So I do think that a budget is an essential component of any healthy financial plan.  If you are not budgeting and you are in debt, I highly recommend you consider keeping a budget.

Still, here’s why we’ve kissed budgeting goodbye.

1.  The time commitment no longer brings the appropriate reward.

Both my wife and I are creatures of habit.  Since we’ve been budgeting for so long, we instinctively know what is too much.  I know it sounds strange to budget based on instinct, but we do.

As an example, we have enough money budgeted that we can go out to eat twice a month as a family and once a month as a couple.  Sometimes we choose to do three times a month as a couple and once as a family.  In the end, we know that if we stick to that dining out schedule, we will be within budget.  This has been our practice for nearly five years.

Thus, when we spend time budgeting, it doesn’t do much to affect our already established healthy habits.

2.  Our big goal motivations are disappearing.

One of the main reasons we budgeted after we became debt free was to help focus our excess savings (FYI: you tend to have money in your bank at the end of the month when you don’t have debt).

As an example, if we were planning a vacation, we’d allocate x number of dollars each month to our vacation and the rest would go towards the mortgage.  We’d have no idea what ‘the rest’ was unless we tracked our spending.

At this point in our lives, we’re doing a lot of free vacations, so we can easily cash flow our vacations.  We’ve also reached our house savings goals, so the function of the budget is disappearing for us.

3.  It was causing an undue amount of tension in our home.

About a year ago, I decided that I wasn’t going to give the time any longer to keeping a budget.  Time was becoming more scarce, and so it wasn’t a priority for me to give my time to doing it.  My wife lovingly agreed to take over the budgeting.  The problem was that I was trying to take care of half of the financial responsibilities (like paying bills), and she wasn’t getting all the necessary information to keep the budget. (That’s a little something called a lack of communication.)  She felt pressure because she wasn’t getting the budget completed every month, and I felt pressure to commit the time to getting all the information to her.

Just last week, we sat down and asked the why question.  Why do we keep the budget?

You see, when you’ve done something for so long, you may continue to do it even when the circumstances change.  We needed to revisit the why question.  If we had good reasons, then we’d just found the motivation to keep budgeting.  If there were no reasonable explanations to keep budgeting, we could kiss budgeting goodbye.

We discovered that even if we were reaching our grocery limit for the month, my wife would still buy food because we need to eat.

We discovered that no matter what was happening with the budget, we’d still buy medicine when one of us gets sick.

The budget wasn’t functionally doing anything for us – other than causing us to feel overwhelmed and behind on tracking numbers. 

This is not a liberty all of us have, but with a fully funded emergency fund and making more than we spend, we no longer need to watch our spending in such a militant fashion.

The Budgeting Way Forward

1.  Track Only Giving

In the end, we decided to track only one category for our budget: our giving.

My wife and I agreed that the category we most wanted to be sure we were giving appropriate attention to was our giving. Because we don’t give all our donations to the local church exclusively, it’s important that we track our different giving activities to be sure we’re giving what we’ve predetermined.

I am a proponent to the budget.  I think if you have debt, there is no excuse for not keeping a budget.  You’re going to remain stuck in the mud for a very long time.  However, in our case, we feel like it’s time to move on.

2.  Budget Again

We have also decided that when we move in the middle of next year we will start budgeting again.

Why?

Because we’ll no longer be able to trust our instinct.  Our living habits will change.  Spending habits adjust.  When you change setting a budget is important to help you to be sure you’re spending your income on appropriate things.

In June 2012 you can expect a post on why we’re budgeting again .

An Ode to a Budget

When we thought of budgeting, we couldn’t think of any ‘whys’,

You’ve been our companion for all the years.

But, now we say our bitter sweet goodbyes,

And on this day, we’ll share no tears.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> 3 Reasons Why We Kissed Budgeting Goodbye

Other Great Articles:

1. 20 Reasons to Start a Budget
2. 3 Biblical Reasons to Work
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This promotion has expired as of January 10th, 2011.

For the next two weeks, I’m going to give you an extra incentive to get your financial life in order.

Here’s the promo:  between December 27th and January 10th, if you purchase a personal finance software, you’ll get my eBook, The Secret to a Successful Budget, for free!

Eligible Financial Software Products:

1. Moneydance (yes, this can be combined with the 20% off coupon CPF10 ) – Here’s my Moneydance Review
2. You Need A Budget – Here’s my YNAB review
3. Mvelopes

Here’s the best part with all three of the products I’ve listed above.  They all come with a free trial.  Try one or try all.

As an example, you’d ordinarily pay $49.99 for Moneydance and then $17.00 for The Secret to a Successful Budget.  But until the 10th of January, you can get both for $39.99.  That’s a $27 combined savings.

What you need to do to be eligible for this promotion:

1. Purchase one of the above personal finance software programs using my affiliate link.
2. Send an email to mhforc at gmail dot com and include your invoice or purchase reference number.
3. Once I confirm the purchase, I’ll send you a free download link for The Secret to a Successful Budget.

You must purchase before midnight (EST on January 10th, 2011).

Affiliate disclosure – I am an affiliate with each of the products mentioned above.  When you buy through my link, I do get an affiliate sale commission.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> Buy Select Financial Software and Get The Secret to a Successful Budget Free

Other Great Articles:

1. The Secret to a Successful Budget 50% or Free [Limited Time]
2. Moneydance Software 20% Discount Sale
3. Purchase The Secret to a Successful Budget Today and Save 30%

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the special launch price for my eBook is increasing today.  Purchase The Secret to a Successful Budget today, and you will save 30%.

The cost of the book will increase at midnight tonight (EST).

To my regular readers, I want to apologize that over the last 10 days I haven’t written about anything other than budgeting and my budget book.  However, I do want to let visitors to this site know about the eBook promotion.  Thanks for your patience.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> Purchase The Secret to a Successful Budget Today and Save 30%

Other Great Articles:

1. The Secret to a Successful Budget 50% or Free [Limited Time]
2. Final Day to Purchase Transforming Your Financial Diet
3. Buy Select Financial Software and Get The Secret to a Successful Budget Free

As I’m sure you noticed on the sales page for The Secret to a Successful Budget, I have a lot of positive things to say about MY book.  Not surprisingly, I like the book.  Well, it turns out it’s not just me.

I’ve pulled together some of the reviews of the eBook from other websites.  I want to give you a taste of what others are saying about the book and direct you to some outside resources you can read if you are considering buying the book.

Common themes from the reviews:

1. The book is easy to read. I do my best not to bore or intimidate anyone when it comes to discussing personal finance.  What’s the point of talking about something if you can’t understand it?  Anyways, it was nice to read that others thought this was a strength of the book.
2. The book motivates readers. When I wrote the book, I didn’t want to focus on just the mathematical aspects, but also the psychological side of budgeting.  Thankfully, the reviewers picked up on that focus.
3. The tips, suggestions, and advice are useful and easy to implement. The reason I wrote this book is to help you budget.  I wanted a book that was very practical.  And fortunately, from the feedback, it seems like the book is just that – practical.

Reviews of The Secret to a Successful Budget

Frugal Zeitgeist Review by Forest

I was impressed by the stance and detail he has taken to laying out the art of creating and maintaining a budget. He has packed over 50 pages with solid information covering almost every aspect of budgeting and accounting for a variety of styles and personality. … It’s also important to note that Craig’s excellent use of personal stories and real world style examples are extremely motivating.

Heavenly Homemakers review by Laura Coppinger

I was very impressed with how thorough the book was to help everyone set up a budget that works. … The Secret to a Successful Budget is SO easy to read.  Not at all complicated.  It uses simple terminology and basic ideas to help you get a budget set up for your family….a budget you can stick to!

Wisebread Review by Linsey Knerl

This book has all the solid principles of an upper level finance class, but without all the jargon. Anyone with the ability to swipe a credit card can read and understand the sound advice in this book. … This 58-page book and included worksheets reinforce this thinking with useful advice, practical tips, and compassion and caring like few other books on the market have shown. With Craig’s clever style of writing, it gives you hope for a better financial future via a solid method you can rely on: a budget.

Canadian Finance Blog review by Tom Drake

While The Secret to a Successful Budget sets out steps for creating an effective budget, Craig also shows other budgeting methods so you can find the way that works for you. … A one size fits all approach does not work for budgeting. Whether you get paid monthly, bi-weekly or through freelance work, this book has tips for you. If you still can’t pay all your bills, or if you have money leftover, the book has answers for each situation.

The Saved Quarter review by Penny Saver

This book gives a practical and straightforward approach to making, and more important, sticking with a budget. In the book, Craig outlines five methods of making a budget, so you can find the style that fits you best. He also shares suggestions beyond the “how to” to help you overcome budget challenges, like communicating with your spouse, how to tweak your budget as you work with it, and how to budget with an irregular income.

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff sent the following in an email:

This is a great reference for everything budget!  Those looking to start are walked through the budgeting process.  People who already budget can pick up new tips along the way.  I really enjoyed the inside look at Craig’s personal finance journey and the stories he used to illustrate his points!

Click here to learn more about The Secret to a Successful Budget – http://www.moneyhelpforchristians.com/successful-budget-how-to/

By the way, if you are have a copy of the book or you have a blog and you are interested in making money through the affiliate program, check out this page.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> The Secret to a Successful Budget: Reviews Roundup

Other Great Articles:

1. The Secret to a Successful Budget 50% or Free [Limited Time]
2. Buy Select Financial Software and Get The Secret to a Successful Budget Free
3. Purchase The Secret to a Successful Budget Today and Save 30%

While I’ve made my fair share of financial mistakes and missteps, by the grace of God, our family has also made a few wise decisions.

Right now my wife and I are positioning ourselves to pay off our house in less than 6 months.  We’ve done this while my wife has stayed home (for the last five years), and we’ve lived on less than $50,000 annual household income.  Oh, and we didn’t miss out on of all the luxuries of life.  In fact, in the last five years, we’ve vacationed in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and various places in the US and Canada.

Please don’t hear me bragging.  This has all been by the grace of God.  However, if living without debt appeals to you, I did want to share the most important tool that helped us accomplish this feat.

What is the key to becoming debt-free? Start a Budget

While there are many contributing factors, the single most important choice we made was to start a budget.

When we graduated from college, we were like a lot of young married couples.  We had a car payment and between $10,000-$15,000 in student loan debt.  Fortunately, we didn’t have any credit card debt.  After graduation, we ventured off into the great unknown – a world where we both had fulltime jobs.  The transition from living on hundreds of dollars a month to thousands is always a hard transition for young married couples.  Looking back, one of the things that really saved us a lifetime of financial stress is that we lived in a church parsonage.  As such, we didn’t have the temptation to consider buying a home that we couldn’t afford.

Once we left college, we very quickly paid off the car loan.  The decision to get a car loan was one that I automatically regretted and so it became public enemy number one.  It has now been ten years since we’ve owed anything on a car.

The problem was the student loans.  I think we had about $12,000 in student loans.  We did something foolish.  We just made minimum payments.  It was foolish for us because we knew our plan was for me to go back to school full-time.  We had also committed to making arrangements so my wife could stay home when we had kids.  During those two years when we both worked fulltime we did save, but just not intentionally.

Then it happened.

I was back in grad school full-time and my wife took a job at a private school.  Her salary was cut by 35%.  Fortunately, that was a choice we could afford to make because she loved every moment she taught at the school.  But, the way we afforded it was by cutting our lifestyle.

This was make it or break it time for our financial future.  We knew the decisions we would make during these three years (while I finished my graduate work) would be crucial.  Even though we were both working towards our masters degrees, we were going to cash flow everything.  No borrowing.  No loans.  Cash only.

We knew one important component was increasing our income, so while my wife worked full time and went to school part time, I went to school fulltime and worked part time.  At one point, I had four jobs (basketball coach, substitute teacher, secretary, and preacher).  Still, there was something missing.

I believe it was October 2003 when Dave Ramsey did his Total Money Makeover presentation in Memphis.  Somehow we managed to get $10 tickets so we went.  Once we got home, it was clear what the missing ingredient was – a budget.

We decided to start a budget.

Within a week we were on a budget.

Now, seven years later, I would say that starting a budget was one of the most important financial decisions we ever made. The only other decisions that had an equally important impact on our finances today included the decision that we wouldn’t borrow money for anything except to buy a house, and the decision to start investing.  I guess the decision to start a budget would be one of our top three most important financial decisions.

By the way, we still keep a budget today.

Several months ago I decided to start to write a series of books on personal finance topics.  I called the series Bite Size Personal Finance Series.  There is an ancient proverb that asks, how do you eat an elephant? The answer, of course, is one bite at a time.  In this series, I want to teach people how to get control of their finances one bite at a time.

Many months ago, I wondered what I should write the first book about, and the answer was immediately clear.  I’ll start where we started.  Surely, what was so important to us as a family would also help others.

So, I wrote a budgeting book.  Not another dry budgeting book that makes you feel guilty for previous mistakes, but one that helps to come alongside you and provides some relevant resources to help you make a budget that lasts more than a week.

The books is now completed.  It is called The Secret to a Successful Budget: Practical Advice for Making a Budget That Lasts.

Until the 31st of August, the book is 30% off.

Click here if you want more information about the book and learn how to start a budget.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> Start a Budget and Open the Door to a Debt Free Life

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There are a lot of misperceptions about budgeting.  We tend to think budgeting is something others need, but certainly not ourselves.

I tried to make this a funny list, but either my funny bone wasn’t fully functional, or it is hard to really make light of this topic.  Either way, here is my list of 31 signs that you might need a budget.

31 Signs that it is Time to Start Budgeting

1. You make six figures, you eat out four times a week, take fancy vacations, and bounce checks at the grocery store.
2. Live off two salaries and still need a little extra input from Master Card.
3. Your credit card bill arrives, and your bank account doesn’t have enough cash to cover the balance.
4. You wife or husband looks you square in the eye and says, ‘We need a budget’.
5. You try to tell your kids “no”, and they look at you like you just swore in front of them.
6. Kids spend money like water, and drink like Coke is free.
7. You lay your head on your pillow, but your mind refuses to rest.  Your mind is like a human calculator trying to figure out how all the expenses are going to balance together.
8. You say a prayer before opening the mailbox.
9. Your stomach turns every time you hear the phone ring.  So you answer the phone under a false identity – “Pizza Pizza, Craig speaking.”
10. You walk into the bank or past the ATM just to remind yourself of what money looks like.
11. You think to yourself – where did it all go?
12. You have to put less than $10 in your gas tank because that is all you have.
13. You feel all of these things, and then go out shopping just to feel better.
14. Money’s coming in and money’s going out, but you just can’t seem to find the leak.
15. You think making more money is the only way to solve your financial problems.
16. You throw credit card bills in the trash just so you don’t have to deal with them.
17. You think budgeting is just for broke people.
18. You’re content to eat Spam and bread when you get older.
19. Your idea of a long term financial plan is hoping that your kids make enough money to save you from your ignorance.
20. Your ATM refuses to spit out dollars.
21. Someone asks you if you have an emergency fund and you pull out your credit card.
22. Investing for the future involves a monthly ceremony where you put an extra can of Spam in the storage room.
23. You think social security will offer you the retirement of your dreams.
24. Someone asks you how much you make, and the best you can do is give them a blank stare.
25. You think loving your children means giving them everything they want.
26. You rely on your credit card to cover gaps in paychecks.
27. Your idea of saving up for a big vacation is applying for as many credit cards as possible.
28. The value of your car is more than the value of your bank account.
29. You’ve been tempted to take money out of the church contributions (instead of putting it in).
30. You stand anxiously in front of an item at the store and ask yourself – can I afford this?
31. You read this list and identify with more than 3 items.

Next week on August 23rd I’m going to be releasing an eBook on budgeting.  If you subscribe to my newsletter, you should be expecting an extra special deal on top of the already discounted release price.

Here’s what Bob from Christianpf has to say about the book:

Craig has taken an often misunderstood (and sometimes frightening) subject and has provided an extremely helpful and valuable resource for anyone wanting to create a budget. Having written about budgeting myself for years, I have not seen a more thorough resource dedicated specifically to setting up and maintaining a budget than Craig’s eBook.

If you need a budget, you are in luck because I’m about to teach you exactly how to make one – step by step.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> You Might Need a Budget if …

Other Great Articles:

1. 20 Reasons to Start a Budget
2. Why Make A Budget?
3. How To Make Your First Budget

1. A budget is a forecasting tool, so it lets you plan your future.
2. Budgeting is a tool that helps you reach your life goals.
3. Every dollar you save by budgeting is better than a dollar you make working.
4. It provides a platform for communication between a husband and wife.
5. Motivation.  When you get a clear vision of your progress each month, you are motivated to continue forward.
6. Self discipline.  I always feel better when I’m in control of myself.  You’ll feel better when you start doing instead of start wishing – shoulda’, coulda’, woulda’.
7. Budgeting brings to light your impulses and indulgences.  When you always overspend on dining out, you know that is a personal weakness.
8. Budgeting makes a way for you to indulge in your indulgences.  Our family loves to vacation, but we wouldn’t be able to do it unless we said no to certain unimportant spending so we could focus on spending that is important to our family.
9. Budgeting opens the door for more generous giving.  When you control what you have, giving becomes easier.
10. A budget can teach you things about yourself. 
11. Makes your mommy and daddy proud.
12. A budget is a tool you can pray over to see if your spending patterns and habits need to change.
13. Can force some organization into the lives of the unorganized.
14. Helps you save for expenses you always wish you could buy.
15. Probably one of the most cost effective uses of your time.  I bet that 15 minutes a week could save most people over $50,000 in lifetime.
16. Creates a creative challenge allowing you to do more with your money than you ever thought possible.
17. Puts your mind at ease when you know you’ll have money for all the bills before the month even begins.
18. Budgeting is an important tool for anyone trying to build wealth.
19. A budget is one of the best ways to find money.  You’ll find it hiding in your own income.
20. Allows you to spend less time working and more time doing the things in life you really love.

Putting a Positive Light on Budgeting

I’m not sure why budgeting gets so much bad press. I’m one of those people who keeps on budgeting.  I don’t do it because of anything that anybody has said, but I do it because I’ve seen it improve my own personal finance situation. 

If you’ve wanted to start a budget and you just don’t know how to do it, in just under two weeks (August 23rd, 2010) I’m going to be releasing my budgeting book. 

Here’s what Len Penzo has to say about the book:

Like a master safe-cracker, Craig deftly unlocks the secrets to crafting a successful budget.  I appreciated his methodical and easy-to-follow step-by-step approach for teaching everything one needs to know about budgeting – it’s everything you ever wanted to know about budgeting but were afraid to ask!   Regardless of whether you earn a regular salary or your income varies from one month to the next, Craig’s ebook is an essential tool for creating an effective budget that can guide you in your quest for achieving financial freedom. 

Why do you think people should keep a budget?  Why do you budget?

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> 20 Reasons to Start a Budget

Other Great Articles:

1. 3 Reasons Why We Kissed Budgeting Goodbye
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3. Start a Budget and Open the Door to a Debt Free Life

Every Thursday I answer a reader’s question.  If you want to ask a question, you can contact me. 

I had a question this week that I didn’t want to answer.  Here is the question:

I’m still very reluctant to turn over passwords to all my private accounts to a software program where everything is together in one package.  Any thoughts on that?  Frankly, it just scares me. 

I should note that in the question the reader did at one point specifically ask about MoneyDance security.  The question came up because of my post on the best personal finance software of 2010.

In fact, when I first replied, I basically just avoided the issue.  Here was my first response:

I’ll be honest (I usually try to be honest )  I don’t really know much
about online security issues.  Here is my philosophy.  The people who
develop these programs know what they are doing and have made it secure, otherwise there is no way it could get past those who do know.  I know that is just blind trust.

How’s that for useless advice?

Here’s my disclaimer on this answer.  This is the first time I’ve ever done any research on the question, but I was intrigued by what I found …

Should I Store My Passwords on a Personal Finance Website or Software?

I read a dated (2002) report on some things with Quicken Security.  What I found most interesting was this statement from the abstract:

I’ve found that the password protection used by Quicken is easily reversed with the purchase of a $30 password cracking application.

Granted, I’m sure that the application can no longer crack the newest Quicken, but as Quicken improves, wouldn’t password cracking tools also?

If I were currently using Quicken, that article would be enough to make me grow a brain and find out if my information is secure.

MoneyDance Password Security

Here’s what the folks at MoneyDance said about their security (via customer support email):

Because Moneydance is a standalone program rather than a web based application like mint.com, your online passwords only ever exist on your computer or in a direct encrypted connection to your bank. Your passwords are not stored on a Moneydance server. By default, Moneydance does not even store your passwords locally on your computer and you have to enter them every time you connect to your bank.

Moneydance does have an option to let you store your passwords locally on your computer such that you don’t have to enter them each time you connect to your bank. And we recognize that storing your passwords on your computer is a security risk. Because of this risk, Moneydance will only let you store your passwords in your data file if you encrypt your data file. If you go to  File->Encryption there is an option to “Store online passwords in file.” Once your data file is encrypted, you will be prompted to enter a single password each time you run the program and open your file. This file password is yours and yours alone. It is never sent to Moneydance.

On the one hand, entering your passwords each time is extremely annoying.  On the other hand, entering a PIN at the ATM is annoying, but the extra layer of security is kind of nice. 

Lesson Learned: Research your own software and see what they have to say about the security of the product.  If you are nervous about your password information, then choose not to have it stored on your program.

Mint Password Security

On the Mint forums, the Mint folks make a big deal about the fact that they don’t store your passwords.  Here’s what they say:

Mint does not at any time store or retain your online credentials, whether in the form of Login IDs, account numbers, passwords or pins for this Account Information.

That’s all well and good, but as you continue to read, all they are saying is they don’t store it so they send that information off for someone else to store. 

Here is an article that asks is Mint safe?

The basic argument is much like my original one.  If Mint.com was ever to have a security breach, that would be the end of their company with hundreds of thousands of workers.  I’m sure they are working feverishly to protect users’ identities.  This will not satisfy conspiracy theorists, but it makes sense to me.

Lesson Learned: You can’t fool all the people all the time.  If it was high risk to store passwords with Mint, someone (who wouldn’t be able to understand their explanation) would blow the whistle.  I’m sure there is a way a password could be stolen, but I prefer not to live in paranoia. 

General Online Password Security

For around five years, I’ve been using a program called RoboForm.  You’ve probably already heard of it as they have 10 million users.

I use RoboForm for two primary reasons.  First, they have an automatic form fill that makes filling out webforms simple as pie.  Second, they have a secure system for storing online passwords.  You already know I don’t know what I’m talking about, but the geeks say Roboform offers file encryption up to AES 256 bit – whatever that means.  I’ve taken the Mint.com approach here.  If the product (designed to store passwords) does not store passwords safely, then they are on the verge of bankruptcy. 

Anyways, I used to have the exact same password for every financial account.  Who can remember more?  Now with RoboForm, it generates and saves unique passwords for me.

You can get a free 30 day trial download, and then you can purchase the product for about $30.  Check out RoboForm here. 

Lesson Learned: Having one password for everything is a bad idea.  If that is what you are doing, all one person needs to learn is one of your passwords and you are going to be in a big mess.  Change your passwords.

This post does contain affiliate links.  Read more about my ad policy.

Anyone understand computer security geek issues?  How do you determine if your passwords are safe?  Do you ever do research or just blindly trust that things are secure?

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> Passwords Security | How To Safely Store Passwords

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Find the best personal finance software

Once upon a time I started on a quest.  It was the most noble of pursuits – to find the best personal finance software.

My mission, of which I was given no opportunity to accept, is to find or upgrade my a personal finance software by April 30th.

I had  Quicken Personal Finance Software, but alas my friends at the Intuit company want to continue to generate income so as of that date I will no longer be able to update my information via the internet.  This, unfortunately, renders my current software as virtually useless.

So, to be honest I’m a little anxious to get away from Quicken.  I wanted to teach Quicken a lesson (don’t charge useless fees or you’ll lose customers) but, I didn’t want to deal with the learning curve of a new program.

Moneydance |Best Paid Desktop Personal Finance Program

MoneyDance – Here’s my full Moneydance review.

I’ll be honest – I’d never heard of Moneydance before I started this search.  However, there seems to be a lot of positive comments about it that ultimately this is one of the products I’m going to try.

Their foreign currency capabilities is one of the most appealing elements.

You Need A Budget (YNAB)

YNAB is very specific in what it does (budgeting) but also very effective for that.

The YNAB philosophy is build on four simple tenants: Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck, Give Every Dollar a Job, Save for a Rainy Day, and Roll with the Punches.  The budgeting software was created to help you do those four things in the easiest way possible.

YNAB is both Mac and PC compatible.  It is easy to navigate and has a crisp interface.

Here is a YNAB review.  If you want to start a 7 day free trail you can do that here.

Mint | Best Free Web based Personal Finance Programs

Mint – easy to use and navigate, popular, satisfied users.  Cannot track cash, small bank and credit union issues, tracks what has been spend instead of what will be spent.

Other free products:

Yodlee www.yodlee.com

If you want a product that has a different feel to it try the free PocketSmith online tool.  If you want to try and win a free PocketSmith premium membership valued at $60 just be sure to leave a comment on one of the Money Saving Monday posts this month.

Disadvantages of these free products:

• Most free products mean you will be seeing ads on the webpage.  Some people are fine with this and other would rather pay for something than see ads.
• They give you the bank’s balance, but it’s not so easy to know what checks or charges are outstanding.
• There is reports of compatibility issues with smaller banks and credit unionsI mentioned at the start of this post that I’m not really interested in a web based product so obviously I didn’t really seriously consider any of these.  But, I did want to point them out for you.

GnuCash | Best Free Desktop Personal Finance Program

GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org/) was the most recommended application.  I am also going to give this a try (alongside MoneyDance) however I’m less confident about GnuCash because the reviews talk about how it has a pretty steep learning curve.  I’m not one to stick around a lot of complicated programs so we’ll if I survive the trial.

MoneyWell | Best Personal Finance Software For Mac Users

MoneyWell is a must try program for Mac users.  There was some great comments and recommendations for MoneyWell.

Mvelopes & YNAB | Best For Personal Finance Programs For Budgeting

Mvelopes is an online finance tool that uses the often recommended envelop budgeting system, but with a twist. It uses electronic envelopes.

Once expenses are recorded that amount is removed from your envelope. This is a perfect alternative for people who like to use their credit or debit card for spending, but are attracted to the envelop budgeting system.

Once transactions are downloaded from your financial institution you simply drag and drop those transaction into an expense envelope. Mvelopes does have a 14 day free trial.  It’s a cool alternative to you standard personal finance software.

Click here to try Mvelopes.

Moneydance: My Final Choice For Personal Finance Software

I automatically eliminated the free online products, because I wanted a desktop version.

Earlier this year I did purchase and use You Need A Budget.  It was a great program, but it did not have the foreign currency tools that is so important to me.

I was intimidated by GnuCash.

So I went with MoneyDance.  I’ll give a full review sometime in the future but I can say we really like it (we’ve had it for a couple of months now).  For full disclosure I should mention that the folks at MoneyDance gave me a free copy of their product.  But, they didn’t give me a free copy until I first bought MoneyDance for $40.00 (updated 8/27/10 – the purchase price in now 49.99).  When the found out I was a personal finance blogger they refunded my money.

I wanted to finish this post with a quick fact about MoneyDance from one of their online reps:

In case you don’t already know this, we have a generous trial so users can decide if they like our program before they purchase it.  The demo version is fully-functional and allows you to manually enter 100 transactions. Imported transactions are not limited.  If users decide to purchase the program at a later date you can keep all your data, the license key simply unlocks the ability to manually enter more transactions.  … We also provide online customer support to all of our users, even those who are using the free trial version.

Get your free MoneyDance trial version today.

Learn how to get The Secret to a Successful Budget FREE ($14.95 value) with purchase of select personal finance software.  Limited time offer till January 31st, 2012.

Is personal finance software necessary?

For a moment I thought about taking a stand against buying a software package.  Instead, I was going to use Excel (just like I do for my personal budget) to track everything.  However, I quickly realized that this would be a lot of work to set up and I don’t want to take the time to customized everything to track my investments and such.

I decided that I would buy another software.

What Personal Finance Software Features are Most Important To You?

Initially I was going to set this up like my 88 best personal finance books post where I tried to find the most recommended personal finance software.  However, I quickly came to discover that the best personal finance software has everything to do with what you are expecting and what you prefer from your software.

Here’s what’s most important for me:

• A product that allows me to see all my account balance and activity in one single location
• Can download information from the internet
• Tracks investments
• Foreign currency features are important
• Customizable and proactive (not just reactive – I can enter information not just sort bills once the money has been spent)
• Because of my lame internet service I prefer a desktop version not web based

A Note About Free Personal Finance Software

I think that we can all learn something from the fact that Microsoft Money recently closed it’s doors.  They cannot compete against the free products.  I take that as a compliment to the free stuff.  Just because a product is free does not mean it is not any good.  When searching for personal finance software try free first.

Methodology: How Did I Find the Best Personal Finance Programs?

I started looking around online for recommended personal finance software.  I looked at several different sites and reviews.  Here were three that I enjoyed:

• Consumerist – What the best personal finance software?
• Christian Personal Finance – What’s the best personal finance software?
• Frugal Dad – Best Personal Finance Software

But one of my first stops was the most beneficial – Get Rich Slowly.  I read JD Roths’ post on the best personal finance programs.  The article was good, but I’m found a gold mine in the comments sections.  There was 230 comments where some people suggested their favorite finance programs (not all suggested their favorite software).

The thing I like about the comments is they are real people who have no incentive to promote a product (except of course the developers and employees who left comments).

I did more searching, but the comments helped me find the best personal finance software.

This post includes affiliate links, please see our ad policy.

Anyone have any favorite personal finance programs they can recommend?  Be sure you let us know if it is a desktop product or web based.

To leave a comment or easily share the article with your Facebook or Twitter friends click here -> Best Personal Finance Software 2012

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