Budgetpulse.com is a web-based personal financial management tool. The application allows users to manage their personal financial information without directly linking to their sensitive bank and credit card accounts. Users can enter accounts manually or import them from Quicken or Microsoft Money. They can then enter transactions by importing them from their online financial statements. Users then enter their budget goals, and the application is ready to use. Budgetpulse features powerful reporting with charts and graphs, so the user can easily track their budget goals. Users have a Dashboard, where they can see an overview of their current financial position. The Dashboard shows an overview of expenses, income or accounts, assets, liabilities, recent transactions, and upcoming and recurring transactions. Users have a convenient top menu bar for access to more information – tabs include Transactions, Budget, Accounts, Charts, Goals and Tools. The Tools tab allows users to export and import data in various formats. Budgetpulse works in any country, since it is able to use any currency format.

Visit www.budgetpulse.com

Budgetpulse.com was founded in 2008 by Premraj Jeyaprakash, who currently serves as CEO of the site. Nitin Pereira is CTO of Budgetpulse.

Competition to Budgetpulse.com comes from desktop applications such as Quicken and Microsoft Money, and from online applications such as Mint.com and Quicken Online. The major difference between these applications and sites and Budgetpulse.com is that Budgetpulse does not link directly to the user's bank and credit card accounts. Quicken and Microsoft Money have a longer learning curve than Budgetpulse, which is very easy to use. Mint.com and Quicken Online offer services very similar to Budgetpulse.com, and are easy to use as well. One item to note is that Intuit, the parent company of Quicken, has recently purchased Mint.com.

The site is quite responsive, and page loads and file uploads and downloads happen quickly. Navigation is intuitive, and the application is very easy to use. Account setup and transaction entry have been streamlined via the import tools available, and setting up budget goals is a straightforward process. There is no advertising displayed on the Budgetpulse.com site.

Registration to the Budgetpulse.com site is free and is required to use the site. The registration process simply asks for email address and password. Validation of the email address is not required. There is no premium membership offered to the Budgetpulse.com site.

It is not clear what the profit model is for the site, as the service is currently entirely free and there is no advertising. It is possible that at some point the site will start charging for the service.

Budgetpulse.com is recommended to anyone who needs a personal financial management application, particularly if they are concerned about linking their sensitive financial information to a web-based application. The application is very easy to use, and the reporting and graphing functions provided by the site make it easy for the user to see their overall financial position, as well as how well they are doing on their budget.

• Web-based personal financial management application
• Accounts can be imported from Quicken and Microsoft Money
• Transactions can be imported from financial statements or entered manually
• The application does not require a direct link to sensitive bank and credit card account information
• Sophisticated budgeting and reporting tools
• Very easy to use
• Currently, the service is free – future plans for the service are not clear

Visit www.budgetpulse.com

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