Spending Profile is a free web-based tracker for your finances, developed by Lisa Wall, a software developer, in her free time. The tracker, which would be familiar to users of Microsoft Money or Quicken, can be used to record your income and spending. For each transaction, you can enter the amount, date, type (fixed or variable) and vendor and assign it to a category. The main web page displays pie charts of expenses and also a list of transactions for the current month.
The website also offers features such as the ability to import transactions from a chequing or credit card account, an income versus spending graph, a monthly summary statement delivered to your email and a rudimentary budgeting capability. I found a few minor annoyances and Ms. Wall notes that she is constantly improving the tool based on user feedback.
If you are already using personal finance software, you won’t want to switch to Spending Profile (though as a programmer myself, I appreciate how much hard work Ms. Wall has put into the website). If you are just starting out in life or you are starting to become smart about your finances and your needs are fairly basic, you may want to consider using the website to track your finances. It is very easy to get started, you can access your account from anywhere and best of all, it’s free.
