MoneyWell App Reviews

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I know this is an old thread, but if anyone's still reading, do you know if there's another envelope budgeting app for macOS and iOS? The best candidate for a replacement to MoneyWell that I've been able to find is Banktivity. I'm exploring it now.

But at some point, this software is going to break, and I have little confidence that this (apparently lone and unskilled) developer will be able to fix it. I think the app is good enough that it could work well if someone with some budget and energy were to acquire it.

MoneyWell still works well, and I've had few problems with the (very dated) iOS apps for iPhone and iPad. it's quite odd that they're all so inconsistent. At any rate, it's pretty obvious by this point that the software is abandonware. The developer who took it over obviously tinkers with Xcode a bit, and occasionally releases an update that has some inconsequential tweaks.

crashes on start

just updated to current relasse and cant start money well any more, it crashes every time

Thinking the extra $10 was worth it.

This program is great, downside is its based on an evelope concept which works well. Downside is, if you want anything outside of that, this program cant do it. And to ever is in Canada looking at this, TD Canada Trust does not work with there direct connection. iBank works with it. (Hence the title). Do your research, I enjoy it, but wish it had some of iBank features. First review on mac store!! ************AP

Just what I was looking for

I have been looking for an application that helps me budget for a long time. I used to use Quicken - which was fantastic for tracking my accounts, transactions and spending habits, but did very little to help me budget my money "right now". There is no longer a Mac version of Quicken and it also has no iPhone app to sync with. MoneyWell has almost everything I was looking for. My husband and I both sync our iPhones to the desktop application and we both know exactly how much is left to spend in each budget category (or bucket - to use proper MoneyWell grammar). Overspending is a hard habit to break, but when you have the hard numbers staring you in the face everyday - it sure makes it easier to choose not spend...most of the time. There is a learning curve for quicken users who are used to living in the account registers, but once you get the hang of it there is no going back. If that isnt enough, the support has been fabulous - even stupid questions are answered quickly and professionally (and Ive asked a my fair share of stupid questions). I look forward to version 2 which looks like it will make a great product even more solid and well-rounded.

CAUTION!!! Check out carefully before you upgrade!

I upgraded to this new version and have quickly used Time Machine to give me back the old one. One of my favourite features of MoneyWell was the Spending Plan. I used the previous twelve months of history to create my plan and reviewed it monthly to make adjustments as I saw fit. In this new version it is intensely cumbersome to create a spending plan. It basically has you create an "event" for every transaction that you can foresee and that becomes part of the plan. Youll have to check out their description of it on their website. One of the virtues of this program has been its simple, down to earth, common sense way of looking at personal finances through "buckets". This one change alone has moved MoneyWell away from that simplicity to a complexity that most of us dont have the time or the interest to embrace. Sorry, MoneyWell, this was a huge mistake—you could of at least given us the option of which type of budgeting system we would use.

Wonderful Update

As of verison 2.0, Moneywell has been upgraded to work with Lion and has a completely new UI. This was the update I was waiting for to move away from another piece of financial software. Ive found the software to be very easy to learn and use even without the forthcoming documentation. Ive seen others complain about the new event based spending plan but I see it as an incredibly powerful tool. Theres also nothing stopping you from creating one event per bucket if you want to use it like the spending plan in 1.7 but youre throwing away some of the smarts with the way the fill bucket feature works with the spending plan events. Ive found it very easy to import both QFX and OFX files from my bank (no direct connect in Canada). I do this each morning and it takes just a few minutes. The iphone app and dropbox sync have been flawless between my laptop, my phone, and my wifes phone. This has enabled us to be on the same page when deciding when and how to spend money.

Disapointing functionality

Money Well version 1.7 was great in its simplicity. But be forewarned that the new version changes some things. If you liked to forecast your future transactions with the repeating of your current major expenses and placing some dummy expenses in the future to try out various possibilities this functionality has been changed and no longer works in a straight foreword manner. If you are like me and all your flexible costs ( food clothes gas etc) with Credit cards and pay them off in one lump each month to eliminate bank per transaction charges and keep your debit card safe from being cloned, then there are actually only fixed expenses that run through your main account and very few actual purchases. The forward repeat of income and expenses was a very acturate way to predict the future several months in advance. This was also very useful in this case because you are purchasing with money of the future so you must have an acurate view of your espense flow atleast two to three months ahead. For this, the repeat into the future transactions was very useful in version 1.7 -- 2.0 has killed that. At the moment in the new version you cannot see that flow of transactions unless you add each one manually .. it does take forward the scheduled transactions in to the cash flow view of your account. The buckets idea is much the same, but as other reviewers have noted, the change to the ease of making a spending plan has occurred, however your current spending plan will import into the new version. The new interface is fancier, more Lion like, but I actually like the old interface better. I for one will not be using my update until the software returns the foreword repeating of future transactions and bring my charished forecasting ability back to like it was before. Atleast that the option would be available to make that feature return.

Great update

The previous version of MoneyWell (1.7.1) was useful, but bugs in its Dropbox sync feature created lots of headaches, and some UI design is not very intuitive. This version cleaned up the UI with a complete redesign, and in the meantime removed some features from 1.7.1. In my opinion this is the right direction to go, since only when an application is simple can people use it with ease. There are still features that I feel are desirable, such as the ability to copy and paste a scheduled transaction, and a few minor bugs, but i think this version (2.0.1) is solid enough for daily use. I havent bumped into any problems doing sync over Dropbox, between three Macs and two iPhones.

Worth checking out has alot of potential

This app is very thorough it will have anything related to or involoved in finances and if you have a major bank bank account then thats a major help. If you dont theres a lot of work and I will probably get tired of putting in every transaction after awhile. I am confident they can work on getting some smaller banks and credit unions and everything else within a few years. Overall : Great app as long as you have a major bank acct. w/ auto +ing transacs // Otherwise tough to keep up with every transaction investment. To MoneyWell Support: Good app I love how youve covered every possibility just keep getting banks to allow these connections I would absolutely Love this app if that happened and it would be a must have. Im only 22 and I understand this but being 22 Im busy most the time and in-between I enjoy my lazy periods anything operating auto is a dream. Thanks

Great Update, Great Software!

After trying a few different budget softwares and scanning through reviews, Moneywell was by far the best budget I could find. This software gives you great control and flexibility and yet still keeps the process simple and straightforward. (Note: I am also a Canadian user with both a Credit Union and TD Bank Account, but that doesnt mean I have to type in every transaction. Both my bank accounts as well as my Mastercard on the online website, allow me to download transactions by day, week, month or year. etc and all at once and they appear with all the required information in Moneywell. Its a simple process each site I have has an option of setting the applicable date(s) and then I change format to "Quicken" and then press download, it downloads all the transactions at once right on to Moneywell(you may have right click on the download and tell it to open with Moneywell). Simple as that! I rarely have to type in any additional transactions!

Dont waste your $$ or time.

There is NO DOCUMENTATION for new users of the current version. It is nearly impossible to figure out how to use it as all videos are for previous version. Wait till documentation comes out.

Its Just One Big Bug

Stay Away, I cant beleive this version has actually released. Most companies would not even release a Beta with this many bugs in it.

Confusing! Very little help

This is the most confusing personal finance software Ive ever used and all the online help videos are for an older version.

Version 2.0 is a bad software

They had a great product with version 1.7 now the version 2.0 is hard to use, not intuitive and buggy. It would takes you hours just to figure out how this new version works and you will conclude that it didnt worth it. I suggest you to try to find the version 1.7 or find an other product.

Very Poor Quality Software Crashes Constantly

The concept behind Moneywell is excellent the execusion is terrible. Stay away until the developer can fix the problems. I bought this and the app crashes constantly even after re-installs. Worst $50 I have wasted in a long time. TERRIBILY UNSTABLE.

Tackles finances in a very effective way

The app is great and works very well. Its a beautiful UI and is probably the best looking finance app out there for the Mac. Also very functional but of course it always depends on exactly what you plan on doing with it. All finance apps are different in their own ways, especially their budgeting methods. I personally prefer the envelope budget method that MoneyWell uses. I also love the (albiet somewhat controversial) feature for event spending. This feature is to say that you can budget for that coffee every weekday and itll know exactly what to put aside for you for a given period of time, etc. Its a nice alternative and Im warming up to it very well. Also, their support and developers are top-notch, responding quickly to support requests and answering questions and acting fast on any feedback. Can use their forums, Twitter, and Facebook page for support. Kudos to their support team! Competitition is fierce, however, and is played well by MoneyWiz and Jumsoft Money as well. Though support is far better for MoneyWell than the previous two I mentioned, so if the three apps are quite similar in the feature-set that I use, then Ill go with the one with the best support and reasonable price-point. Once again, kudos to the support team as they are a part of the reason I stick with MoneyWell! :-)

A MUST HAVE APP!

THIS IS AWESOME MAC APP !

Hard to use

I agree with another user that said no manual and the videos dont help. For such a simple concept the software seems to be very difficult to figure out. I create "events" to fill buckets but no buckets get filled. This is so frustrating. I really wanted to like this app but its just not worth the money!

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