Your Financial Buddi

Yup, I’m talking about a financial buddy whose name is Buddi. It’s almost the new year and if you’re one like me who just recently started getting more concerned about her personal finances, then it’s great to have tools to help us. Worried about recording your cashflow and keeping the data secure on your computer? Buddi could help you record these information.

Buddi is a personal finance tool.

What’s the fuss over Buddi?

If you’re just beginning to learn to record your personal finances, there are reviews that point out that Buddi is one of the tools to check out. Why? A lot of them say that it is quite easy for beginners to use and understand compared to other software like GNUCash. That’s why I ended up checking Buddi. Also, Buddi has installer files on its project site and you could verify if the distro you’re using is supported. In any case, there’s always the generic Unix and Linux which is basically a script that you could run.

Features include:

• Creation of multiple accounts.
• Recording and updating of individual transactions.
• Creation of reports, including graphs, that gives you a graphical view of your finances. Could be extended via plugins too.
• Plugins.

But as most reviews I’ve seen, there really are things which aren’t quite as awesome when it comes to using Buddi.

• In terms of user interface, the number of open windows for each account could get confusing sometimes. Just don’t forget to check the top part of the window so you know which file you’re dealing with.
• You could not import the Buddi information unless you install the plugins to do that.
• The user interface isn’t very friendly to new users. I think that because this is a personal finance application, maybe it’s a good idea to have a wizard to help first time users in order for them to maximize this application without having to go online and check out a website. Also tool tips might be quite useful too.

Even if it’s imperfect, I think that it’s still useful. Recording transactions isn’t hard because you only need to click which account to use and then you will see a new window which lets you enter transactions. And as the expenses are in red, you really would notice them, making you realize what you’ve been spending on.

If you have recommended personal finance tools, let us know. ; )