The software should be easy enough to install even for a non-techie. Its interface must be intuitive enough for a person who may be financially-savvy but technology-shy. User-friendly is a term that you must see on its website often. Online banking should be a built in feature. The reports and graphs that it gives must be easy to understand so that more time is spent on what is really important. A finance software must be able to help you plan your retirement and manage your investments. It must be able to take real-time stock quotes and manage your insurance and loan data. Furthermore, a very good finance software must be able to transfer the necessary data to your tax program. It should save you the time it will take to manually transfer all your information to another software. The instructions that go along with it must be easy to absorb. If you find that the instructions alone are taking up so much of your time, it might not be the best budgeting software for you.

A personal finance software is not just a mere record of income and expense. It is the place where you can record your financial plans, your household budget, your debt and loan repayments, your bills to be paid, your bank accounts. In short, a budgeting software must be able to give you a snapshot of your full financial life. It should be able to help you make the most important decisions in life. It is not just a mere recorder of numbers. Finally, have a look at the company that produced it. Those that have produced a great software will not hesitate in letting you try it for free for a few days. Admittedly, the functions may be limited, but you will get the gist of their software from their free trial.