MoneyWiz is a financial application that has over 400 features to help you manage your money. Currently available as a desktop application sold directly from the developer, MoneyWiz lets you manage your checking, credit, savings and loan accounts all in one place. You can even connect online to your financial institutions and automatically synchronize transactions with the MoneyWiz app.
MoneyWiz is already a popular financial app for iOS and Android, and should be available as a Windows 10 app in the Windows Store later this year. Seeing that a Windows 10 app is on the horizon, we decided to take a peek at things to see how MoneyWiz shakes out.
The layout of MoneyWiz is clean and simple, with navigation options running down the left side of the screen and your ledger or report views filling the majority of the screen. The navigation options include:
- Dashboard: MoneyWiz's Dashboard can be configured with a range of widgets that are dedicated to a specific feature and gives you a quick glance at your financial data. Current widgets include statistics, accounts, pending transactions and scheduled transactions.
- Accounts: This is a listing of all your financial accounts. They can include checking accounts, credit cards, mortgages, loans, savings and more.
- Budgets: Here is where you can set up your financial budgets that can automatically monitor accounts and categories of your choice to help you stay within your budgeted amounts.
- Scheduled: This is where you set-up any regularly scheduled payments for loans, mortgages, monthly bills, etc.
- Reports: If you need to check up on your financial performance, MoneyWiz has fifteen pre-defined and configurable reports.
At the very bottom of the navigation bar, you will find options to import or export data, add a new account, budget or group and access MoneyWiz's settings. MoneyWiz has support to import QIF, QFX, OFX, MT940 and CSV files. MoneyWiz files can be exported in PDF or CSV formats.
Settings for MoneyWiz cover a wide spectrum of options:
- Categories: Edit or add expense and income categories
- Payees: As you create transactions, payees will be added to MoneyWiz's database. If you prefer, you can also add payees or edit existing through this settings options.
- Currencies: Choose your default currency.
- General: Here you can select a few layout options, your default language and enable PIN protection for the app.
- Transaction layout: Choose the entry fields you want enabled for your transactions. Such fields include the account, amount, description, payee, category, date and time, etc.
- Subscriptions: Here is where you can manage any online access you have to your financial institutions. This is an add-on component that will cost you $4.99 per month or $49.99 annually.
- SYNCbits: SYNCbits is a free service that allows you to store all your data on MoneyWiz servers. It can be used to back up your data and have it accessible from multiple devices.
- About and Help: Here you can see the developer credits and access the online help section.
Because MoneyWiz is available for iOS and Android, the SYNCbits feature makes it easy to not just back-up your data but also have is accessible across various platforms. If you are managing a family account, it can be easily accessed from your PC or your spouse's phone.
When you have an account open, a ledger will appear on the screen detailing each transaction and depending on your layout options, a running balance for the account. Adding a transaction requires you to tap on the + button in the lower right corner of the display and completing the fields of the pop-up window that will appear.
If you need to search for an account transaction, there is a keyword search field in the upper-right corner and transactions can be filtered. Accounts can be reconciled in advanced or simple manners. Advanced Reconciliation has you setting the open and closing balances/dates and MoneyWiz will filter the transactions. If they do not balance, you will get a warning from MoneyWiz. Simple Reconciliation is a quicker method where you just mark the reconciled transactions.
MoneyWiz has a boatload of features (you can find the full list here) and the layout is somewhat user-friendly. I have used Quicken for years to manage my checking and savings account and in comparing the two, MoneyWiz is more of a power-user type of financial app (although Quicken is no slouch). I do think Quicken has a more user-friendly layout out of the box.
I liked the features of MoneyWiz, but would have rather seen the accounts laid out in more traditional "ledger" fashion with more of a direct entry for transactions. Having to tap the + button and complete the transaction fields in a separate window felt cumbersome. The interface isn't a deal breaker and after a few transaction entries, the flow gets smoother.
I did like the SYNCbits feature to not only back up your data but also access it from multiple devices. The PIN security feature helps keep prying eyes away from your financial data and the online synchronization with your financial institutions is a plus. I like that this feature isn't mandatory to use MoneyWiz, as some people may prefer to access their financial institutions directly through their websites or dedicated apps than through a third-party service.
MoneyWiz is currently only available directly from their website for $24.99 and the online banking feature is an additional cost ($4.99 per month, or $49.99 annually). A Windows 10 app version is in the works and the plan is to have it available this Fall from the Windows 10 Store. If the pricing of Android and iPhone apps are any indication, we'd expect the upcoming Windows 10 app to run in the neighborhood of $5.00.
If you are in the market for a financial app loaded with features, then MoneyWiz is worth considering. I would have liked to have seen a trial period to let you get a feel for things, but what we can offer you is a [20% discount code](hit this link for the discount](https://sites.fastspring.com/silverwiz/instant/moneywiz2forwindows?coupon=WINCENTRAL20OFF) that will be good for the next week (through April 21st). You can hit this link for the discount or visit MoneyWiz's site below.
