As you probably know, there are dozens of ways to track your credit spending and stay on top of your finances. One I wrote about recently, Debitize, sets money aside in your checking account for each credit purchase you make. Meanwhile, some people use a service like Mint to track their spending and stay on track with their financial goals.
Personally, I use Personal Capital to track our ongoing spending patterns, net worth, and credit card balances. Not only is it free to use, but it offers an array of helpful tools as well.
What is Personal Capital?
In basic terms, Personal Capital is an online financial advisory firm that offers free tools to people who create an account. Many people also pay Personal Capital to manage and oversee their investments, but you don’t have to pay a dime to access their online money management tools.
Once you sign up for a free account with Personal Capital, you’ll get to work connecting all of your bank, investment, and credit accounts. Once all of your accounts are connected to the secure platform, their balances update automatically each time you log in.
Personal Capital Tools
While Personal Capital works splendidly if you just want to use it to track your bank and credit card balances, there are plenty of included tools that are also helpful. Those tools include:
- Net worth tracker – Personal Capital calculates your assets and liabilities continually in order to show you your net worth.
- Retirement fee analyzer – By connecting your retirement accounts to Personal Capital, you can see how your investment and retirement fees stack up.
- Cash Flow Tool – Personal Capital creates handy charts and graphs that show you how much you’re spending in every category.
- Retirement Planner – Personal Capital’s retirement planning tool analyzes your investments to provide you with a clear picture of whether or not you’ll reach your retirement goals.
My favorite part about Personal Capital’s free online interface is its cash flow tool. My husband and I literally have dozens of credit cards across out personal profiles and businesses, and Personal Capital lets me keep track of them all. When my husband uses an old credit card for a small purchase, that new balance is reflected on Personal Capital right away. And because I am notified, I can log into my account at pay it off before I forget.
I also enjoy Personal Capital’s charts and graphs, plus the way they break down our spending. When we spend too much on dining out, for example, Personal Capital lets us know.
Another component I love tracking is our net worth. This figure is the amount of wealth we have after subtracting all of our liabilities, or debts. While investments rise and fall in value, tracking our net worth helps us watch our progress over time.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a way to see all of your credit card accounts in one place, Personal Capital offers a helpful – and free – alternative to consider. And if you’re also interested in growing your portfolio, their wealth-building tools can help you get on the right track. Best of all, creating an account is 100 percent free.
Have you ever heard of Personal Capital? Do you use an app to track your spending?