Along with more and more companies entering the already highly competitive market of online personal finance programs, Green Sherpa launched their web-based money management solution at the end of August 2009.
The service provides the usual features you’d expect to see such as account monitoring, automatic transaction categorizing, expense tracking, reconciliation, alerts, budgeting and goal setting. You can also use the program with your iPhone.
The main benefit of Green Sherpa is that it’s simple to use compared to other programs, yet offers a powerful 12-month cash flow projection feature that takes into account not only past spending but also future projected expenses and potential income. This can give you a much clearer picture of where you’re heading financially, with enough advance warning time to do something about it, if you need to.
Another nice feature is that you can safely provide access to your account to your partner & financial advisor/accountant. It’s possible to flag any items that you’d like to discuss and comment on them through the site.
We signed up for the free 14-day trial (no credit card details necessary) and so far we like the simple, uncluttered dashboard & interface. There’s a help feature which takes you through step-by step demos showing you how to use the main features.
A Green Sherpa monthly subscription currently costs $7.95 (or $5.95 per month with the annual plan.) If that seems a bit high compared to the other free online services such as Mint.com or Quicken, we’d recommend users try their free trial. If you think the program may help you make better financial decisions then it should be worth the price.
