It’s Tax Time, and you want to finally get your financial life in gear by keeping good records and budgeting.
QuickBooks is more or less built for small businesses, but…. Would it work for personal use?
Being a QuickBooks Accountant in Alberta, I'll let you know the pros and cons, my thoughts as an accountant, and some extra details for you to consider. Let’s begin. For the usual disclaimer, this information does not constitute tax or financial advice.
QuickBooks for Personal Use Options:
QuickBooks Desktop for Personal Use
If you’ve already got the QuickBooks Desktop Software, creating a file for you to use personally wouldn’t be all that hard to do. This is your first option when setting up QuickBooks for Personal use.
QuickBooks Online for Personal Use
If you want to go the QuickBooks Online route, you may have to pay for setting up yourself personally as a new company.
My Take on Which Version of QuickBooks is Better for Personal Use
So right out of the gate, QuickBooks Desktop version will save you money. Be aware that you may not be able to fully deduct QuickBooks Software if it is not used for business 100%. See this article on allowable tax deductibility for QuickBooks Software in Canada.
QuickBooks Alternatives For Free (or close to it)
This leads us to the question: Is it even a good idea to use any version of QuickBooks for personal use? Let’s look at alternatives.
There are several personal finance software options available, each offering different features and functionalities to help individuals manage their finances effectively. Here are some popular personal finance software programs that I could find (please note I do not endorse any of these nor am I paid by any of these):
1. Mint
Mint is a free budgeting and expense tracking software owned by Intuit, the same company behind QuickBooks and TurboTax. It allows users to link their bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts to track transactions, create budgets, set financial goals, and receive alerts for unusual spending.
Check Out Mint Here.
2. YNAB (You Need A Budget)
YNAB is a budgeting app that follows the zero-based budgeting approach, where every dollar has a specific job. It focuses on helping users allocate their income to different categories, prioritize spending, and reduce debt. YNAB offers features like goal tracking, debt paydown tools, and educational resources.
Check Out YNAB Here.
3. Personal Capital (Now Empower)
Personal Capital is a comprehensive financial management tool that combines budgeting, investment tracking, retirement planning, and wealth management. It offers a dashboard that provides a holistic view of your financial accounts, including bank accounts, investments, and retirement savings. Personal Capital also offers tools for portfolio analysis, asset allocation, and retirement planning.
Find out more about Personal Capital Here.
4. Quicken
Quicken is a longstanding personal finance software that offers a range of features for budgeting, expense tracking, bill management, investment tracking, and tax planning. Quicken allows users to sync their financial accounts, categorize transactions, generate reports, and create customized budgets. It also offers features for managing loans, mortgages, and other debts.
Get to Know Quicken Here.
5. PocketGuard
PocketGuard is a budgeting app that focuses on helping users track their spending, manage bills, and save money. It offers features like automatic expense categorization, bill tracking, and goal setting. PocketGuard also provides insights into spending patterns and suggests ways to optimize finances.
See if Pocket Guard is right for you Here.
6. Tiller Money
Tiller Money is a spreadsheet-based personal finance tool that automatically updates financial transactions and balances in Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. It allows users to customize their budgeting and financial tracking using the familiar interface of a spreadsheet while benefiting from automated data import from bank accounts and credit cards.
Check out Tiller Money Here.
7. Wally
Wally is a personal finance app that offers features for expense tracking, budgeting, and goal setting. It allows users to manually input expenses or link their bank accounts for automatic transaction import. Wally also offers features like bill tracking, currency conversion, and spending insights.
See Wally's Website Here.
8. GoodBudget
GoodBudget is a digital envelope budgeting app that helps users allocate their income to different spending categories based on the envelope system. Users can create virtual envelopes for different expense categories, set spending limits, and track transactions. GoodBudget also offers features for syncing budgets across multiple devices and sharing budgets with family members.
See more about GoodBudget Here.
These are just a few examples of personal finance software options available to help you track expenses, manage budgets, save money, and plan for the future. You might want to try some of these out. You won’t need to pay for the basics, but if you want some fancy features, expect to pay a fee.
What I use as an Alternative to QuickBooks for Personal Use
Personally, I am a bit old-school and use Microsoft Excel to track all my personal expenses and income. I like the ability to modify and change the spreadsheet to exactly what I want to track. I track actual expenses against budgets.
Anyone can look for an Excel template online to find something basic for personal accounting. A good Excel system will be able to categorize income and expenses, bank accounts, investment accounts, savings accounts, budgets, debts, etc.
Excel offers some nice visual features if you want to spend the time learning how. The upside is you can update stock prices in real-time in case you want to track investment accounts. The downside is that you’ll be entering everything manually.
The thing about Excel is you have to have a bit of experience and know-how, otherwise it is just going to be a headache. I’ve learnt a lot on excel and prefer it, but it isn’t for everybody.
Conclusion
If you want to master your own finances, QuickBooks can be used for personal use, whether it is the Online or Desktop Version. If you are using the Desktop Version for personal use, you may be limited in how much of the QuickBooks fees are allowed to be deducted on your business tax return.
There are plenty of alternatives that are inexpensive or free listed above.
Excel is a great free alternative for tracking personal income, expenses, investments, and debts, but takes a bit more time.
If you need any bookkeeping or tax preparation services in Canada, we offer those and are located in Southern Alberta. We can work with you remotely to help you with your small business. Contact us today.
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