16 |^ |^ March 2020
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Take control of your f inances
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o you constantly
struggle to stay on top
of your finances? Can’t
ever seem to work out
exactly where your
money goes or how
much is currently in your bank accounts?
What you need is a personal finance tool- and if you’ve been relying on Quicken
or Money for the task, then it’s high time
you switched to something more
modern (and guaranteed to remain
compatible with Windows 10).
There are two basic options for you
going forward. If you’re happy to restrict
your management to desktop and
laptop computers, then HomeBank
(http://homebank.free.fr/en/index.php)
is the perfect choice. You can import
data from Quicken or Money, then use
it to record, track and analyse your
financial ins and outs, giving you
everything you need to get on top
of your money and stay in control of
your spending.
HomeBank supports multiple
accounts within a single file, allowing
you to separate your current account
from your credit card and savings. Once
set up, click the Add button to enter
your first transaction – it’s all pretty
self-explanatory except make sure any
payments out are recorded as negative
values under Amount, and deposits into
your account as positive ones.
Make good use of the Category field - this will enable you to track your
spendingtoseewhereyourmoney’s
going – a handy pie chart in the main
screen provides a breakdown.
As you build up incomings and
outgoings you’ll be able to make use of
auto-fill to speed up data entry, but
check the step-by-step guide below for
a handy way to have all your regular
incomings and outgoings entered
automatically on the date they are due.A cross-platform solution
The biggest drawback of HomeBank is
the fact you need to be at yourcomputer to check and update your
current financial state. If you’re willing
to pay for the privilege, however, you’ll
find plenty of tools that work across
desktop, laptop and mobile, keeping
everything in sync and allowing you to
quickly record spending.
We’ve been using Moneywiz (http://
homebank.free.fr/en/index.php), which
charges £3.99 a month (or £39.99 a year)
for all platforms, or you can purchase a
lifetime licence for each platform you
need – £39.99 for desktop, and £9.99 for
Android or iOS.Set up recurring transactions
1
Duplicate
One way to speed up data entry
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transaction and duplicate it: select the
previous transaction and click the
Inherit button. A new identical
transaction with today’s date will be
created – make any required changes
and click Add.3
Regular payments
Direct debits, standing orders
and other regular payments work in
the same way. Select Scheduled and
click ‘+’. Fill in the basic details of your
transaction and click Add, then click
the Schedule button to set up a
recurring transaction using frequency,
end date and so on.2
Create templates
Templates let you create new
transactions with your choice of pre-
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Template is selected and click the ‘+’
button. Fill in the details of your
transaction and click Add.You can record all kinds of detail
about transactions to help you
analyse and manage them better.