iFreeBudget Personal Finance Manager

Working out a workable budget is a very important part of staying on top of your finances. iFreeBudget is a proper, but free, accounts program that is easy to learn. Being dedicated to accounts, it is a better tool than trying to do the same work in Excel.

iFreeBudget works on the double-bookkeeping principle, a term familiar to accountants but probably less so for lay people. All entries to the budget are made in two halves; it isn't possible to just inject money into the budget. It may sound convoluted but it makes the accounts far more accurate and iFreeBudget explains it better than most.

For added security, a password is added to each set of accounts. This not only prevents unauthorised access but is used to encrypt the information so it cannot be stolen any other way.

The transaction wizard covers the normal transactions using plain English and can add accounts if they are needed. It cannot create accounts within subfolders, which is a shame, but it is easy to drag and drop accounts into the appropriate folders afterwards.

There are reports to show income and expenditure and iFreeBudget can also manage a portfolio of shares.