Monarch Money is an all-in-one personal finance app that syncs all your financial accounts into one place for easy tracking, monitoring, and money management. With over 13,000 supported banks and institutions, Monarch Money provides users with a comprehensive overview of their complete financial situation.
Key Features and Benefits
Complete Financial Picture
By connecting all your financial accounts, from checking and savings accounts to loans, mortgages, investments, and more, Monarch Money gives you a holistic view of your finances in one centralized location. This makes it easy to see your total net worth, cash flow, spending habits, investment performance, and more.
Shared Finances for Couples
Monarch Money makes it simple for couples to combine finances and collaborate on money management, without the hassle of switching banks. Each partner gets their own login while sharing a view of the household’s collective financial accounts and activity.
Customizable Goals and Budgeting
Set customizable financial goals like saving for a down payment, college, or retirement. Monarch Money’s budgeting features allow you to track spending, create alerts, and monitor your progress so you can stick to your financial plans.
Investment Tracking and Reporting
Sync investment accounts to see balances, performance history, and asset allocation in one place. Useful reports, charts, and visualizations provide insights into investment trends and patterns.
Safe and Secure
Monarch Money uses bank-level security, encryption, and read-only access to financial accounts to keep your data protected. Your login credentials are never stored by the app.
Ad-Free Interface
The app has an uncluttered, ad-free interface focused solely on your finances, not trying to sell you anything. Monarch Money pledges to never sell user data.
Ideal for Couples and Financial Planning
With household sharing, Monarch Money provides a streamlined solution for couples to combine finances while retaining individual logins and privacy. Partners get a shared view of cash flow, investments, debts, and net worth.
For those focused on financial planning, Monarch Money allows you to track progress to saving goals with custom alerts. You can run retirement scenarios, calculate net worth, and monitor investment balances.
Intuitive App and Web Experience
Available as both a web-based platform and mobile app (iOS and Android), Monarch Money features an intuitive, user-friendly interface. The layout is customizable so you can focus on what’s most relevant to your financial situation.
Navigation is easy with category grouping of transactions and color-coding. You can also add custom emojis and labels. User reviews praise Monarch Money’s design for being more intuitive than competitors like Mint and YNAB.
Reasonable Pricing
While not free, Monarch Money offers fair pricing starting at $7 per month when billed annually. A 7-day free trial lets you test it out first. There are no limits on the number of household users, so couples pay only once for full access.
Considering the ad-free experience, security, customization, and advanced features, most users find the subscription cost worthwhile. It’s an affordable alternative to hiring a financial advisor.
An Alternative to Mint and YNAB
For those currently using Mint, Monarch Money provides a nice upgrade with its focus on total financial management, more robust goal planning and investment tracking, and ad-free experience. It also connects more financial account types than Mint.
Compared to YNAB, Monarch Money goes beyond just budgeting to provide investment monitoring, net worth calculation, and retirement planning functionality. The interface is also more visually appealing and intuitive than YNAB’s spreadsheet style.
Conclusion
Monarch Money succeeds as an all-encompassing yet easy-to-use personal finance management solution for individuals and couples. By presenting a complete financial picture, helping users set and achieve money goals, and providing a customizable, ad-free experience, Monarch Money offers significant value. For those seeking deeper insight and control over their finances, it’s a service worth exploring.