In my continuing review of SplashWallet, today we will look at SplashMoney. If you have missed part 1 you can catch up here. In part 1 I reviewed, SplashID which I found to be an excellent password and private data manager. Moving on to SplashMoney, I am curious to see how this app performs on my Lifedrive and being that I use MS Money to keep my checkbook balanced (it’s a whole lot easier then doing it by hand), I’m really curious to see how easy it is to keep both programs synced.
SplashMoney
When I was in college, I wasn’t one to watch my money carefully. I tended to spend more than what I had. Now if I would have had something like SplashMoney and a Palm device I probably wouldn’t have made so many mistakes! Nowadays, I keep a current checkbook, but I sometimes lose receipts from my debit card purchases. I’m going to see if SplashMoney can work with me here.
First off, rather then using SplashMoney and export my data to MS Money or Quicken, I decided to try SplashMoney as my main finance manager. Importing my current data was quite easy and all my categories and such carried over. The only thing that didn’t carry over was my payees, which to me wasn’t that big of a deal.
You can also setup SplashMoney to keep track of your cash, credit card, other checking or savings accounts, asset (Home Equity, Vehicles or Retirement Accounts), mortgages, auto loans, money market, and line of credit. To me that’s a lot of accounts and seems to cover all that a person would want to have.
Inputting data on my handheld.
Being a user of MS Money for several years now, I found SplashMoney Desktop to have all the same features I would normally use in MS Money. The desktop application is done very well. What impressed me the most about it was the ability to create reports, similar to the reports I have on my MS Money. I could easily view my account history for the year or the month or whatever the dates I choose. You can also include icons with your transactions as well. I could really see SplashMoney as an alternative to using Money or Quicken. If you are just using Money or Quicken for keeping balances, you could do the same thing with SplashMoney and really not miss a beat. The big plus to me is that I would normally carry my Lifedrive with me anyways, so I could easily input my debit card purchase or ATM withdrawal on the go. Then later I could sync my handheld and SplashMoney Desktop would have all that information.
When I inputted my transactions in, I was able to categorize them, classify them as business, personal, or a custom class, and I was able to split my transactions just like in Money. Really, I found inputting new transactions to be fast and simple. I was able to get SplashMoney up and running and use it like I had always used this program.
You can also reconcile your bank statements with SplashMoney which is really easy to do. I was able to set reminders and scheduling transactions like my rent, life insurance, etc. SplashMoney allows you to setup a budget as well. Overall, the SplashMoney desktop was simple and smart all at the same time; it really proved to be quite sharp.
Keeping it Synced
I exported my MS Money account to a QIF format and then imported it into SplashMoney. It really wasn’t hard at all and all my data was displayed correctly in SplashMoney: simple and easy for me to do. You also have the option to sync with your bank via your internet connection and receive your latest transactions- just in case you missed one or two. Unfortunately, my bank wasn’t listed, but there is quite a list of major banks so I’m sure many people will find their bank listed and be able to sync their accounts.
Overall, the ability to be able to update my MS Money account or via online with my Palm was helpful, albeit I had to manually sync MS Money. SplashMoney does convert your data automatically, but you need to import it into MS Money or Quicken. While I think SplashMoney really has all that you need in regards to a fiancial manager; I’m sure if SplashData adds support for MS Money or Quicken native syncing, it would be an even bigger seller. As it is, it’s excellent as a replacement or a companion to MS Money or Quicken.
One feature I would like to see if is the ability for two different Palms to sync to the same data. For instance, my wife has a Z22 and I have a Lifedrive. I want to be able to have both of us add transactions via our handhelds and have those transactions uploaded to the same account via SplashMoney Desktop. That would make this app incredible. Maybe it is something SplashData can incorporate later.
My Conclusion:
The SplashWallet Suite really supplies you with all the tools you would need on your handheld. SplashMoney is an application that will allow you to maximize your handheld and help you keep accurate financial records. This isn’t some stripped down application and desktop companion. This is a full featured financial manager. I highly recommend SplashMoney and you can download a trial of here. If you purchase SplashMoney now you will also receive SplashShopper which is the next app that I will review as part of my SplashWallet Review.
Joshua Burdick – Associate Writer (Buffalo, NY, USA)
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