"Personal Capital" alternative?

[almost there]

Have been using "Personal Capital" to track basically everything for the past 7 or 8 years. Due to unknown issues to me it has been spotty at best the past few years. Current example, trouble getting Charles Schwab to link since Jan. Removed it last month, now cant add it back? These issues have made looking back impossible. As entire accounts get dropped, throwing everything off historically.

Is there anything out there that does what Personal Capital does? And is as well trusted? Privacy wise?

Thanks! Its been the most helpful tool in my arsenal.
But am loosing faith in it. And its staff.

 

[Markola]

+1. I have enjoyed the Personal Capital Retirement Planner, with its nice clean interface. I haven’t found a good alternative, so I’ll be watching this. PC is free, and we’re told there’s no free lunch (except diversification). And we’re told that if an online product is free, then WE are the product (PC sees all our data, making us freeloaders their prospecting pool). Maybe that model is changing for them.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I think Schwab has been a problem for Quicken for months now and still not fixed. I think i might have also seen posts that TurboTax also had problems with Schwab downloads.
Even thouhg I've been a Quicken user for years, I can't recommend them any longer, something new seems to get broken almost every month now. I'm actually thinking about going to an Excel spreadsheet for my accounts when my subscription expires and maybe using Personal Capital for tracking only my checking and credit card accounts.

 

[Montecfo]

I used to use one of those aggregators but ended up with similar issues. Also not a fan of putting logins and passwords out there.

Once I consolidated my assets at a single broker there was less need.

 

[Iggysmom]

I have used Mint for years, and find it to be very helpful for tracking my expenses, and figuring out where and how I can cut back. I don't use the budgeting interface, but instead look at overall spending v overall income, and then can dive into particular spending categories (and income categories) for more information. I also download the transactions recorded into excel, and use that to prepare my taxes at end of year. And it's completely free!

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Is there a basic Excel or Google Docs template for that or is it something I'd have to create with my very limited knowledge of Excel? I did one 2 day class and that's it, never needed it much in my job and I had an employee that loved to be given all the Excel work. I'm willing to learn though especially if I can still download my bank transactions into the spreadsheet.

 

[COcheesehead]

I used Personal Capital for a year or two and ran into issues. Then I switched to Fidelity’s consolidation solution and that was a disaster. I finally took the time to build my own spreadsheet during the early Covid months and I never looked back. I update my dashboard now with one input. I get daily stress test results, spending parameters, years of expenses, return percentages and so much more…and I know it’s accurate, no solicitation calls and peace of mind.

 

[youbet]

I think Schwab has been a problem for Quicken for months now and still not fixed. I think i might have also seen posts that TurboTax also had problems with Schwab downloads.
Even thouhg I've been a Quicken user for years, I can't recommend them any longer, something new seems to get broken almost every month now. I'm actually thinking about going to an Excel spreadsheet for my accounts when my subscription expires and maybe using Personal Capital for tracking only my checking and credit card accounts.

TurboTax and Schwab linked and executed flawlessly for me while doing my taxes, same as the previous years.

 

[AmigaDude]

I think Schwab has been a problem for Quicken for months now and still not fixed. I think i might have also seen posts that TurboTax also had problems with Schwab downloads.
Even thouhg I've been a Quicken user for years, I can't recommend them any longer, something new seems to get broken almost every month now. I'm actually thinking about going to an Excel spreadsheet for my accounts when my subscription expires and maybe using Personal Capital for tracking only my checking and credit card accounts.

I've had those same thoughts, especially when Quicken forced the subscription model on us.

However ... For me, even with some technical issues, it feels much more painful to consider switching. I've done many spreadsheets over the years, but no thank you.

I've watch Personal Capital since they started, and still do not feel comfortable with their business model. Just as I don't give Google all my info (but they probably have most anyway)

So another year with Quicken for me, where I know what to expect and feel somewhat comfortable that my information is secure.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

I've had those same thoughts, especially when Quicken forced the subscription model on us.

However ... For me, even with some technical issues, it feels much more painful to consider switching. I've done many spreadsheets over the years, but no thank you.

I've watch Personal Capital since they started, and still do not feel comfortable with their business model. Just as I don't give Google all my info (but they probably have most anyway)

So another year with Quicken for me, where I know what to expect and feel somewhat comfortable that my information is secure.

I left Quicken for a few months last year and while you still have access to the file they change or remove features, shrink the size of the screen and use that portion to keep reminding you you need to update your subscription. I could not even download from my banks website manually into Quicken so I gave up and came back and they had the nerve to renew my subscription from the date that the last one expired which was about 3 months earlier. I really don't like being held to ransom so I'm definitely leaving this time for good and a spreadsheet seems the the way to go. I don't use most of the reports now that I'm retired, I just need to know how much is in my banks accounts and the ability to download into a google docs or excel spreadsheet and I will be happy.

 

[target2019]

At EOM I do this.
1) Login to Banks and get totals
2) Login to Institutions and get totals (copy and paste or download .csv
3) Login to 403(B) amd copy investment totals
4) Assemble datad in a scratch sheet in my Excel workbook.
7) Update the monthly sheet which goes back to 1990. Our focus has always been the total invested.
8) Update the asset allocation sheet so I can see where we're off target.

I don't save monthly data by investment in the workbook. That greatly simplifies things.

Consolidation of accounts the past few years has helped a lot. Some sites just seem to have at least one login problem per year. Three of those are now off our radar.

Eventually the free lunch has a price, or is eliminated. So I've never cared to go with those offers.

If I stay focused, the above takes about 15-30 minutes each month. I find that I have my eyes on the key numbers and returns, and usually have a quick answer for questions that arise.

 

[tulak]

Schwab discontinued OFX support months ago, which could be the problem you’re running into. I’m surprised that PC hasn’t solved this by using an aggregator, even though that would cost the customer money.

This blog post is Moneydance specific, but the same thing happened to them and they offer aggregator support as an optional subscription service.

The article is still interesting for non-Moneydance users, since it gives you a peak into the current state of downloading data from financial institutions and the direction it’s going. It looks like we’ll all need to use an aggregator at some point.

https://infinitekind.com/blog/moneydance-plus-privacy-subscriptions

 

[Happyras]

I had problems with Schwab integrating with PC, but PC tech support was able to finally get it resolved some months ago. Have you reached out to them?

I am struggling with having accounts at both Schwab and Fidelity. Last year, I moved 60% of our IRA assets to Schwab on an incentive, leaving a good chunk at Fido. Schwab was the only broker that offered to hold private equity for us in our IRA accounts, but that is no longer needed.

Over the past year, I find it more difficult to deal with the Schwab website than Fido, and Fido Active Trader Pro is easier for me than Schwabs web based Street Smart edge. Fido's office and Schwabs office are both close. We get more perks from Schwab, but also get bad advise from Schwab. Fido set up our accounts for options trading quickly and we simply walked in to sign. It was more painful, and they were much less prepared at Schwab.

Back to PC question....with that said, Schwab sucks at web interface and does not integrate other outside accounts. Fido does, but not as well as PC. So, for now, I am very happy with PC and will likely re-consolidate accounts at Fido and move funds from Marcus as well. Fido is offering support, and up to $3K if we move $2M or more back....With that, the whole issue of Schwab not playing fair with PC will go away.

 

[COcheesehead]

At EOM I do this.
1) Login to Banks and get totals
2) Login to Institutions and get totals (copy and paste or download .csv
3) Login to 403(B) amd copy investment totals
4) Assemble datad in a scratch sheet in my Excel workbook.
7) Update the monthly sheet which goes back to 1990. Our focus has always been the total invested.
8) Update the asset allocation sheet so I can see where we're off target.

I don't save monthly data by investment in the workbook. That greatly simplifies things.

Consolidation of accounts the past few years has helped a lot. Some sites just seem to have at least one login problem per year. Three of those are now off our radar.

Eventually the free lunch has a price, or is eliminated. So I've never cared to go with those offers.

If I stay focused, the above takes about 15-30 minutes each month. I find that I have my eyes on the key numbers and returns, and usually have a quick answer for questions that arise.

I built a spreadsheet to update using one number, the total of all my investment assets (or what I call my retirement pool) which happens to be reported on my Fidelity summary page because I link my bank account. So one number and I get all the money management I want, return percentage, withdrawal percentage with guardrails at current, 10% above and 25% above current, years of expenses, a stress test at three different drawdown percentages for what ifs and a few other things to make me sleep well at night. It’s just one big dashboard using one number update.

About once a year I also update house value, car values and a few other things to create a personal worth statement.

 

[Stashu]

No problems at all with PC here, but I don’t use Schwab. I use the “free” version.

 

[almost there]

Yea, PC is a super tool. Have not found anything that compares.
Not even close.
You can see everything, and know exactly where you are in real time.
(Aside from CH SCH at the moment. lol lol)
Hope to get if fixed soon....
Its that good.
Prior to 8 yrs ago did it on my own (for over 30 yrs) no comparison......

 

[target2019]

I built a spreadsheet to update using one number, the total of all my investment assets (or what I call my retirement pool) which happens to be reported on my Fidelity summary page because I link my bank account. So one number and I get all the money management I want, return percentage, withdrawal percentage with guardrails at current, 10% above and 25% above current, years of expenses, a stress test at three different drawdown percentages for what ifs and a few other things to make me sleep well at night. It’s just one big dashboard using one number update.

About once a year I also update house value, car values and a few other things to create a personal worth statement.

Yes, we have all of that in the same workbook. Once a month we look, and talk about things.

No plan to link accounts in that way. Even if we did, all links are not possible with our institutions. I think there's benefit in taking the time to look at a balance and its constituents, then copy/past what you need.

I've done linking in the past, and built the mother of all macros in Excel. I lost interest in maintaining that, grew tired of links breaking from time to time.

Had a sweet Google Sheet that worked very well, updating through the day, until it didn't. It was fun building it, but the free lunch eventually disappears, IMO.

YMMV.

 

[Surewhitey]

Mint for over a decade now... Using it more for history of spending categories than anything else. I tried PC but it didn't seem to work with all the "little" banks like Mint...

May be different now, but I'm happy with the old ways.

 

[KingMota]

You might want to check out Tiller. It uses Google spreadsheets and connects well to various sources including Schwab. I think there is a 90 day trial and then around $99 per year after that. I have been using it for about 2 1/2 years. It has a good community that offers a lot of extensions and add-ons.

 

[GTFan]

Have been using "Personal Capital" to track basically everything for the past 7 or 8 years. Due to unknown issues to me it has been spotty at best the past few years. Current example, trouble getting Charles Schwab to link since Jan. Removed it last month, now cant add it back? These issues have made looking back impossible. As entire accounts get dropped, throwing everything off historically.

Is there anything out there that does what Personal Capital does? And is as well trusted? Privacy wise?

Fidelity Full View and GPS do the trick for me, after Yodlee Labs went into the toilet. Of course you'd have to be a Fidelity client, but that can be as easy as opening a cash account with them.

Very easy two-factor auth with the Symantec VIP app on my phone, too.