Tools for tracking your money are great, just so long as they don’t loose you in their cool charts and fancy graphics. You don’t want to let all those pretty pictures distract you from the main goal, which is keeping track of your personal finances. That’s not to say that tracking tools aren’t helpful, but sometimes all you need is a good template or spreadsheet. Of course the type of tracking tools you find necessary will certainly depend upon your level of money managing experience and the depth of your personal finances. With that being said, here are some tracking tools that might help you to better manage your money.

BudgetPulse.com

A free online budgeting tool, BudgetPulse offers a variety of money tracking options as well as help with how to save for large purchases, and access to their blog sites and forum. The part I like best about the site is that it doesn’t force you to put account numbers or financial information that you want to keep private out there and at risk of being seen by others. You can watch the brief video on their homepage to get a better feel for exactly how the site works and what it offers.

MoneyTrackin.com

A free online tracking site, at MoneyTrackin.com you can visit their blog, use the site’s saving map to find ways to save money that hit close to home, or discuss budgeting matters and discover tips within MoneyTrackin’s online community. They even offer tools for small business accounting. Take their tour to discover more about the site’s features and capabilities.

Geezo.com

Create money goals, utilize money alerts, or chat about ways to save. Geezeo offers a variety of tools when it comes to tracking your money. Get recent news at the Press Center, meet and discuss budgeting topics with like-minded members of the Geezeo community, or just crunch some numbers and look for ways to save when it comes to your personal finances. The site is free and offers a short introduction by way of a brief (1 minute and 37 second) video tour.

Microsoft Excel

I personally find that simple Excel spreadsheets are one of the most effective methods of tracking and managing one’s personal finances. You can build the managing devices that best suit your needs, get as in-depth or keep it as simple as you’d like, add graphs and charts if needed, and keep your personal financial information away from any prying eyes that might be lying in wait upon the internet.

Microsoft Money

As you might already have this software (at least in some version) installed upon your computer, it could be a useful and available tool for managing your money. While Microsoft is no longer making this software available for sale, it doesn’t mean that it can’t or won’t be a valuable tool for your money managing needs. Frankly, I sometimes find that older versions of particular software are actually easier to navigate before all the added bells and whistles start to gum up the works.

BudgetTracker.com

BudgetTracker.com is a free online tracking tool that allows you to manage your financial life. Among its tools, the site offers the ability to track bills, build a budget, utilize charts and graphs, create a custom calendar of reminders, forecast incomes, or manage your business.

Bill Organizer

If you’re looking for simple and basic, Bill Organizer might be the money tracking tool for you. Bill Organizer is a downloadable spreadsheet devoid of many of the extravagant features found on so many other sites. Bill Organizer allows you to keep track of where your money is going, when it goes there, and in what amounts.

PearBudget.com

PearBudget offers a 30-day free trial, after which the service runs $3 a month. While I find it difficult to pay any amount of money for money tracking tools, PearBudget.com’s wizard function makes getting started quick, easy, and relatively painless.

Debtsteps.com

Debtsteps offers plenty of advice regarding financial matters and a number of tools including, budget worksheets, a discussion group, interactive debt help where you can read a money horror story or tell one of your own, and budget calculators. The budget calculators can be used to determine things like mortgage payments, credit card payoffs, minimum payments, or build a household budget.

Mymoney.gov

Yes, even the government is getting into the act when it comes to helping you with your money. While they don’t offer the same type services as many others on this list, they do provide several tools to help you with your money management. A slew of calculators ranging from college planning and credit card repayment to home buying and investing are there to assist you with your money matters.

Tom writes about managing money at MoneyCompare.com.au where consumers can compare online savings accounts in order to get the highest interest rate and lowest fees for their money.

Homes are essential for everyone nowadays. Therefore there is an increase in the demands for home loans all through out the world. If you really want to save thousands on to your home loans then pay heed to the following tips:

Interest Rate!

The rates of interest will decide the life time payment amount. With any type of long term procedure, the interest rates are always transferable. It is better to receive quotes from many lenders and then make comparisons in their rate of interests. Inform the lender that you have found a better deal somewhere else, then see whether that lender can provide better facilities with lower rates to you. There is no harm in asking.

Extra Payments!

One excellent way to save your money on the mortgage loan is by finding out what the minimum amount is you are required to pay. Then always pay more if you can afford it..Make that your goal to stay ahead of the game. If your interest rate changes then make sure you are aware of your minimum payment again.

 Installments!

In spite of paying for the monthly payments, it is advised to make payments after every two weeks because this way you are saving great money.  Of course if you can pay weekly, this is even better. The  sooner you pay back the loan, the less you will have to pay in the form of interest.  Always check out that your home loan contract to be sure that they do not charge for making extra payments or even paying out the loan amount earlier.

Credit card advertisers have a uniquely difficult job – they are selling something that no one in the world wants, credit card debt. Therefore, many take the route of talking about anything and everything but the actual debt, repayments and interest rate, and the results are some very clever and quite funny commercials.

Following are 10 ads which are encouraging you to get into debt – hopefully you can see through them, and are able to use your credit card wisely. Have a laugh, but don’t be fooled:

1 Mastercard Priceless – Elephant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFNXwor69-U

The Mastercard ‘Priceless’ ads are quite well known in popular culture and they work well for credit card issuers as they are focussed on what you can do with the card, rather than what you will need to do to pay off the card. The Priceless elephant ad not only shows you how you can use your Mastercard, but also tugs on all the emotions associated with cute (and clever) animals, and feeling sick and wanting someone to take care of you. This ad is a clever and subtle mixture of humour and real emotions which you’ll be falling for before you know it.

2 Mastercard Priceless – The Simpsons

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ccv4dZHRDE

It is nothing new for credit card issuers to use celebrities in their advertising so it is no surprise to see one of the world’s most famous men in a Mastercard ad. Again humour plays a big part in the ad – as it does in the Simpsons TV series – but the ad is of course coupled with a moral too (again, much like the TV series). After using his Mastercard to run errands quickly and easily, Homer is now free to spend time with his family – but must be forcefully prodded by the ‘voice over guy’. So, in keeping with the TV series rule that the end of the show must finish in the same place it starts, Homer must be convinced to leave Moe’s, and still carelessly brushes aside the old man outside of the pub on his way home, without really learning his lesson.

3 American Express – Robert De Niro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrzeP4TvzXc&feature=player_embedded

The American Express ‘My Life. My Card.’ campaign was a very successful one for the company because American Express is a lot about selling the prestige of the card, and the exclusivity of the brand and what better way to do that than to use a celebrity customer. In this ad however, we also see De Niro take us through his life, ‘my oldest friend…my first love…’ and he doesn’t show us his expensive cars or opulent hotel rooms, we instead see his roots and his everyday life. Therefore we can both relate, and aspire to the lifestyle, and to the card which facilitates this lifestyle for De Niro.

4 Visa – Mr Brosnan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJfVBYPxIWo&feature=player_embedded

In this commercial Visa are pointing out that they know we know they use celebrities in their ads to catch our attention – just as Pierce Brosnan has caught the attention of the taxi driver. However, they play down his importance, as Brosnan plays himself, and when he’s not playing James Bond, he faces disasters just like the rest of us – but with his Visa card, he can handle anything.

5 American Express – Making it Big

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOo0U-Zi0eQ&feature=player_embedded
This American Express ad doesn’t feature a super star or a high flyer – it’s about a girl and her band, working hard to make it big. The ad shows the band struggling but succeeding because they have the help of an American Express card, and as they succeed they are part of the prestigious life the card advertises – Nicole is able to fly her friends out to see her play, all because of her credit card.

6 Visa – Jaws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BhLAWP7jGA&feature=player_embedded

For this ad to make sense, you have to know that the man in the ad is the actor who plays Jaws in the James Bond movies and as Jaws, he has a full mouth of metal entwined teeth. Regardless the ad still plays to humour and tells us we shouldn’t judge people by their appearances – ‘Jaws’ is polite and smiles despite his overbearing appearance, and the Visa Mini card can make large purchases despite its size.

7 Korean Big Debt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2tVORc7n-M&feature=player_embedded

You don’t need to be able to understand the words in this ad to know that the credit card provider is trying to tell you that with a bigger credit card limit, you’ll be the bigger man (or woman). The ad plays to natural insecurities about success in business, being able to buy nice clothes and eat in nice restaurants, not to mention the schadenfreude-like desire to enjoy the discomfort of others, in this case, those who are ‘beneath’ you.

8 Citibank – Rewards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W36rqvcUD6E&feature=player_embedded

This Citibank simply makes you smile and when you’re smiling and laughing at the teens making up for not having a games console, you’re not thinking about how much they would have had to spend to earn the points for that reward.

9 Citibank – Security

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGPBRXKuoMc&feature=player_embedded

Credit card fraud and identity theft is not a funny issue, but it is one which most people dismiss with ‘that will never happen to me’. This ad is clever and funny, but it also gets your attention and shows you how easy it is to have your credit card details used fraudulently, and how important it is to have a credit card with fraud protection. Citibank are making you focus on the security features of the card, making you think you really can’t do without it – ‘Help getting your life back – that’s using your card wisely.’ You don’t want to use your credit card irresponsibly now do you?

10 Citibank – Big Boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE4AgLGLUaM&feature=player_embedded

This ad is for a Citibank Simplicity credit card, but the voice activation scenario could be applied to any number of banking, financial, phone or services business as voice activation systems are used more and more, and they seem to be getting harder to use. Therefore, Citibank are doing what ads do best – relating to your life, to a situation which bothers you and you wish you could change, and offering you a solution.

Fred writes for Credit Card Finder, where is he offers advice on the best credit cards