For a while now I’ve been thinking about using an application to track my expenses with my iPhone. You see I used to use Microsoft Money with a Windows PDA phone (the dreadful O2 Xda Atom), and ever since I’ve switched to a Mac I haven’t been able to find a money management platform that I was happy with, which also provided a mobile solution for the phone.
Well, I’m happy to say that this is no longer the case. I was recently talking to a friend about it and he mentioned to me a website for this very purpose that had caught is eye. It’s called Wesabe. While the name initially does remind me of the Japanese spice, wisabi, the only thing way that this relates to the product in my mind is that it’s hot! So hot right now!
The application is based on a website: www.wesabe.com where you can set up a free account to manage your finances online. While I know there will be some technophobes who have reservations about putting the details of your finances online (and I’ve got one word for your people, SSL – okay, it’s an acronym, not a word, but get over it, truly), personally I have no such qualms.
The main virtue I was looking for in a money management application was that it didn’t cose the earth, and this one qualifies, in fact, it’s free. What more could you ask for. Yes, I realise that once they’ve got my data they may decide to charge me to access the service, and then I’ll be faced with a choice, determining whether the service they provide is worth the asking price, but that’s a choice I’m happy to make (when it comes to that).
In the meantime, I’m happy to explore the app and the iPhone application that comes with it (and it’s also free). What’s more I like the look and feel of both the site and the app. The site takes a non-judgemental approach to helping you manage your finances. While, the application still helps you to get a hold on the bottom line, however negative that may be, it makes things like budgeting extremely easy. Allowing users to set targets, instead of spending limits, for example is a nice way, I think of using semantics to help people to take a positive approach to managing their finances. What’s more the app actually appeals to people like me, who find the whole practice of managing their finances, somewhat, hmm, how should I put it… tedious!
While, it did take a little getting used to after being a Microsoft Money user, Wesabe has actually been quite easy to use. The web application tries to make it easy to upload data from your banking institution and I suspect most major Australian Banks are supported. That said, the lengths that my bank (Westpac) have gone to to make their site more secure, do mean that the automatic replay option for downloading banks statements really doesn’t work to get my statements into Wesabe on a day to day basis.
Other major bank users may have more luck. My NAB Visa card for example, seems to have no such issues. Hmm, why do I suddently regret switching banks. Oh well, they’re all bastards! But, luckily some of the developers of iPhone applications aren’t. Hopefully you find Wesabe as useful as I do!