BudgetPulse: More than just a checkup

August 1, 11:13 AMSF Personal Finance ExaminerBarbara Bryn Klare

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"Secure", "Upbeat" and "Giving Life to Your Finances" - these are a few of the catchwords and phrases used to describe BudgetPulse, the free online financial tracking tool. Recently I spoke with Craig Kessler, Marketing Director.

The clean look and feel of the site reflects the company's overall "Keep It Simple" philosophy. In fact, BudgetPulse CEO Raj Jeyaprakash started the site after he experienced a lot of frustration trying to find a money management tool that was truly easy to use, and that did not ask for personal or account data. He created the model for BudgetPulse, showed friends and family, and got such a good response, he brought it to the public. It has been out of beta since 2008 and has over 13K users.

Because you enter your data manually (or import from Quicken, MS Money, or any CSV-formatted file), you are in charge of your personal information at all times. "This is a vital feature for many of our users. Reducing exposure to identity theft risk is very important these days," states Kessler. The recent email debacle at a competitor site has definitely added fuel to this fire. If your big concern is safety online, couldn't you just use Excel to track your money? "Being online is definitely a step up - you can access and track your money from anywhere you can log in," Kessler states. Of course, check for the "s" at the end of the "http" in your browser; BudgetPulse is Verisign and McAfee-certified. In other words, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Tracking your accounts and transactions is all well and good, but isn't that really just "rear-view mirror accounting"? How does BudgetPulse help people get better with their finances? "This site is for everyone and anyone, but many of our users have some debt and are trying to get themselves organized for the first time. Getting organized is key," Kessler points out. He also emphasizes that the graphs and charts can help you see where you have come from, and hopefully project where you are going. Basic personal finance education is covered in the blog articles but they are basic and the blog is not easy to find. Kessler admits they need to do more outreach, more content and engage users in discussion.

In the next month, BudgetPulse will be moving into a new arena by implementing a "group goals" function. Examples of common group funding goals might be saving for college, for a car, or even for tracking kids' allowances. Clubs and teams could also benefit from this new feature. Handling multi-member input is not always very easy, but other firms have handled it reasonably well (Upromise has a good model for Friends and Family to contribute to a college fund for one or more students) and Kessler believes this new function will help distinguish BudgetPulse from the rest of the free online personal finance management crowd (Mint, Geezeo, and Wesabe to name a few). It's a good strategy but only if it's done well. They plan to keep enhancing the group function as it progresses and they get user feedback. Look for group budgeting in the future.

Group Goals function mockup

All in all, BudgetPulse is a good tool to have in your quest for financial health. It's more than just a checkup.

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