Year is almost over so this is very late. I've gone all-in on Tiller, so I didn't do much research this year. My primary requirement to consider a personal financial solution continues to be a jack of all trade's solution. I do not assess apps that just do subscription management or just do simple budgeting. This is primarily because my personal financial picture is complex, and I want one place to review and manage my money.
Main solutions for consideration:
Rocket Money is a newer entry to the space. They were originally just a subscription manager, so I never considered them, but they have since added features to the point that they look to be a direct competitor to Mint. Both Mint and Rocket Money actively manage recurring subscriptions on your behalf if you care about that.
On Tiller, this is my go-to solution at this point. I love it and I've gone all-in on it. I'm going to copy my original Pros and Cons here with updates now that I've used it for year and a half and have become fairly proficient with it.
Pros
Cons
I still log into Personal Capital to look at their investment visualizations because they remain the best that I've seen. In addition, PC was purchased by Empower so those of you whose 401ks are managed by Empower may be looking at the PC platform when you log into Empower. If you haven't logged in lately, you should go check that out and so you can see what the Personal Capital platform looks like, if you've never seen it.
Also, a lot of our money is at Fidelity, so I also have access to eMoney Advisor via the Fidelity Full View feature, so I'm effectively triangulating my financial picture amongst Tiller, Personal Capital, and eMoney Advisor.
Hope this helps.
Main solutions for consideration:
- Tiller - Cost: Subscription - $80; Format: Google Sheets or MS Excel based.
- Quicken - Cost: Subscription - $36-$72 depending on version you get; Format: Desktop Client, Web, and Mobile App.
- Simplify - Cost: Subscription - $29; Format: Web and Mobile App - this is owned by Quicken and seems to be their off ramp from their very bloated legacy Quicken solution.
- Mint - Cost: Free but in-app purchases (Web and Moble App).
- Rocket Money - Cost: Free but in-app purchases (Web and Moble App).
- Empower Personal Capital - Cost: Free - However you will get calls and emails about meeting with one of their FA's to manage your money (Web and Mobile App).
- Money in Excel - No longer available; users were funneled to Tiller.
- eMoney Advisor - Cost: Free - Platform that powers Fidelity Full View and some private FA portals; imagine a less slick looking Personal Capital.
Rocket Money is a newer entry to the space. They were originally just a subscription manager, so I never considered them, but they have since added features to the point that they look to be a direct competitor to Mint. Both Mint and Rocket Money actively manage recurring subscriptions on your behalf if you care about that.
On Tiller, this is my go-to solution at this point. I love it and I've gone all-in on it. I'm going to copy my original Pros and Cons here with updates now that I've used it for year and a half and have become fairly proficient with it.
Pros
- Spreadsheet based if you prefer to have a lot of control and want to build and customize your own tools.
- It's fast and runs circle around Quicken from a speed perspective. My daily connection update on Quicken takes 30 seconds to 1 minute and Tiller's takes about 5 seconds. Navigating around Tiller is instantaneous while clicking around Quicken has become a cumbersome, bloated trial while you wait for stuff to load. [UPDATE] - I have found that Tiller will bog down a little bit the more community mods you load and if you use certain ones. In addition, holding transaction data longer than a year over year comp might slow it down a little as well. IOW, I currently only have 2022 and 2023 transactions for YOY reporting.
- Community mods
- Customizable transaction rules and reports
- Bill Pay tracker
- Recurring expense tracker (ie Subscriptions)
- Available anywhere you have internet connection
- 30-day free trial
- Fairly active community with good info sharing
Cons
- While it has a basic version for Excel, the full product is only available for Google spreadsheets. However, they are planning to launch the full product for Excel in 2022. [UPDATE] Excel version has been launched and they are continuing to bolster that version although it does not have all of the mods that the Google Sheets version has, yet. I plan to eventually port to Excel.
- Most expensive option [UPDATE] If you are active in their online community, you can earn $50 gift cards and even a free year of Tiller.
- Detailed investment tracking is not currently supported although they are debating if and how to support. It connects to everyone and will track your overall balances and record the debits/credits to these accounts, but you can't really track in the weed's investment transactions. So, you can still accurately track your Net Worth and see general insights with your investments but not see detailed allocations and holdings...yet. [UPDATE] Detailed investment tracking still not officially supported but some users have built mods to start getting there.
I still log into Personal Capital to look at their investment visualizations because they remain the best that I've seen. In addition, PC was purchased by Empower so those of you whose 401ks are managed by Empower may be looking at the PC platform when you log into Empower. If you haven't logged in lately, you should go check that out and so you can see what the Personal Capital platform looks like, if you've never seen it.
Also, a lot of our money is at Fidelity, so I also have access to eMoney Advisor via the Fidelity Full View feature, so I'm effectively triangulating my financial picture amongst Tiller, Personal Capital, and eMoney Advisor.
Hope this helps.
