SmartLedger Is A Different Way To Count Your Money.

I am a perfect example of why Mac software that tracks money is such a good idea. There’s usually too much month left at the end of my money.

Despite the popularity of Intuit’s Quicken, the Mac has plenty of money management software. Some, like SmartLedger, are so good all you need to do is point and click.

The problem I see with most financial and money management applications for the Mac is the inherent complexity. Tracking money, coming in and going out, is serious business for serious people.

For the rest of us, there’s the CPA and accounting industry. It’s easy enough just to shove everything into a shoebox and hand it over to someone else to count, right? Seriously. People do that.

For the rest of us, we struggle through a steep learning curve, buy a manual or two, and try to figure out what the software means when it says credit, debit, income, or expense, or whatever.

SmartLedger takes a rather unique approach to managing your money. Instead of you having to figure out where to enter what data, SmartLedger has that part figured out.

All you need to do is select a pull down menu, find the right entry, and click.

That means you don’t enter anything except a few numbers—expenses or income, payments or deposits. All the rest of the information to keep track of your money is stuffed into those pull down boxes.

For Mac users (and Windows PC users), SmartLedger is the perfect computer alternative to using a shoebox to store receipts. In fact, SmartLedger even recommends you take whatever receipts and deposit slips you stuff into a bag or shoebox, and enter the information into your Mac.

SmartLedger is built in Apple’s Filemaker Pro database, so updates are simple, the interface is simple, so much so that those just learning how to balance a checkbook or a credit card statement will find it useful.

You’re not going to use SmartLedger to manage a small business or a complicated household, but if you’re new to managing money, or you know someone who is, it’s a good way to get started managing money.

High school student, college student, young couple starting out, Mac or Windows user (Filemaker Pro does both).

Don’t expect SmartLedger to toss a bunch of pretty charts and graphs at you, either. It doesn’t stray far from the basics. Select an action from the pull down menus, and enter an amount.

It’s like a checkbook that doesn’t require any writing or math skills.