I had the pleasure of interviewing Craig Kessler of BudgetPulse.com last month and he really got my attention when he explained his firm’s free budgeting and forecasting software. You can hear the entire interview with Craig.

For of those of you unfamiliar with BudgetPulse.com, it’s a newish software program created for you and me to help us manage our personal finances. You may think I’m weird, but I get all perky when it comes to this kind of thing. Whoa…..

Back to Craig…

During our interview, I learned a lot about Craig’s product and (more importantly) how different our needs are as consumers.

You see, I’m a long-time Quicken/Quickbooks user. I use it for the following reasons:

a. I started tracking my spending before anything else was available.
b. I like the automatic download feature. It saves me from the arduous task of inputting all the data by hand.
c. I’m lazy and don’t want to learn another system (see point A.& B. above).

For years, I’ve been of the mind that everyone should use Quicken/Quickbooks but after speaking with Craig I’m not so sure. Let’s take a tour of Budget Pulse and then you be the judge.

1. It’s free.

Do I need to say anymore?

2. Easy to use.

The website claims that it’s very easy to set up and takes only minutes. When I took a tumble over there, I agreed. It was pretty simple – and that’s more than I can say for Quickbooks which takes hours – and even then you have to pray you didn’t make any mistakes.

The ease of use could make the difference between you using a system and not using one. A huge plus for Pulse a great way to fix a marriage if budgeting is the problem.

3. Complete budgeting and savings goals management.

I have not tested this feature but Craig explained how it worked and it got me perked up even more. This feature is crucial for your financial success and it’s a must-have. This ability to budget towards goals could give those people without a financial plan a mini-plan. Nice! Thanks Craigster.

4. Security.

Since you do not upload data from your credit cards and/or banks into Budget Pulse, there is no threat of someone getting your sensitive information. This feature comes at a cost – it means you have to input data manually.

I know some people personally who do not use a software system specifically because they don’t feel secure and this feature should take of that problem. If you don’t have lots of transactions then it shouldn’t even bother you.

Personally, I need the automatic download feature but for others, it might not be critical.

5. Fund Raising.

Budget Pulse has a neat little button that will allow you to raise money from your family and friends effortlessly (perfect way to fund your trek to the Himalayas this year!).

Thankfully I don’t need this feature right now. I don’t really know how I’d feel if someone I knew hit me up for some cash using Budget Pulse – or anything else for that matter. Having this feature might make it too easy for some folks to give it a try. (If my daughters are reading this……don’t even think about it!)

All in all, I think Budget Pulse is a great little program that will solve the problems left unresolved by many of the older programs like Quicken/Quickbooks.

Do you use a software package to track your finances? Which one? What do you like/dislike about it? Do any of the features of Budget Pulse appeal to you?

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