I do not receive any compensation for the review on this product, all links are affiliate links.
There are many personal finance softwares available to individuals to keep track of their income, expenses, bill payments, and general finances. These softwares attempt to offer unique and different tools to their customers – usually making them more and more complicated and expensive. Pocksmith is unique!
Developing unique and affordable personal finance software is not easy these days. Given that there are numerous personal finance softwares out there (YNAB, Quicken, Mint…) it is not easy for a newcomer to survive in this market. Pocketsmith, however, has the potential.
Forecasting Made Simple is their slogan. Pocketsmith focuses on helping you forecast your financial future. By analyzing your income and expenses it helps you predict your future which in turn you can use to set better goals and save money. I have mentioned how important setting financial goals are in previous articles and Pocketsmith is great tool in helping you reach those financial goals. It also provides a great graphical feature to compare your “actual” savings and spending to your “forecasted” savings and spending; this can be a great tool to get you back on track. This focus on future rather than the past makes Pocketsmith unique and probably one of the best personal finance application.
Pocketsmith also provides a great Goals feature, where you can enter your financial goal (e.g. save $1000 for vacation) and it will calculate when you would be able to save enough for that goal based on your current finances. You can set multiple goals for multiple time periods. To me this is probably the most appealing feature of Pocketsmith, considering real dates can be a great motivator when it comes to reaching goals. Again Pocketsmith encourages it’s users to focus on the future and not the past.
Pocketsmith Goals
Like many other personal finance softwares available, Pocketsmith uses calendars to keep track of your incomes and expenses these can be integrated with the Google Calendar. Also, if you are using the iPhone Pocketsmith calendars are also accessible on iPhone through CalDev.
The Verdict:
Pocketsmith is a great tool! I have been using it for a few months now and I must say I have enjoyed using the program so far. Although it can seem a little confusing at first after the tutorials and some practice Pocketsmith is probably the most user friendly personal finance software I have used. I also like the focus on the future rather than the past, Pocketsmith orients its users to concentrate on the future and not the past this can be very powerful in reaching financial goals.
Recommendation
I would highly recommend you at least try out the FREE version of Pocketsmith for yourself and if you like it you can always change to the paid versions. I believe the $5/month plan is sufficient for most of us.
Cost:
Pocketsmith provides 3 different plans and the great thing is that you are never locked in for any of these plans. You can change plans at any time and go from the super plan to the free plan and visa versa.
The Plans
Ray is an ex-financial adviser and the founder of Financial Highway. Currently working in the financial industry and working towards completing his Chartered Financial Analyst, CFA, designation.