Comparing results for February

DannyB

I actively use two services to keep track of my personal finances: Quicken Simplifi and Empower (formerly Personal Capital). Beyond the surface similarities, these to apps are quite different animals so I don't think of one in competition with the other - they serve two different purposes though providing some similar but quite distinctive features both have superb features not found in the other.

Quicken Simplifi is my close horizon planning and tracking app and my go to app for keeping tabs on the everyday stuff.

Empower is my far horizon planning and tracking app and my go to app for keeping tabs on the big picture stuff.

Another way to put it is that Quicken Simplifi is my street level view and Empower is my birds eye view.

That being said, both apps give me a solid end of month report of my routine income and expenses thus providing a way to cross check my numbers. There is always some slight disparity between the two reports but as long as that disparity is within a couple of hundred dollars, I am satisfied that I have successfully followed my monthly plan.

In February the difference was $150, not enough for me to feel compelled to try for a "reconciliation" between the two. Right now, my expense category schema is a "bit" different between the two apps and to get a better comparison I would need to take the time to bring those schemas into alignment. For now, I'll let it ride.