My Review of Monarch Accounting

I’ve recently taken over managing our household finances from my wife following her accident in January. Over the years I’ve used multiple backend accounting applications from the days of Peachtree to Quickbooks as well as newer enterprise and small business solutions like Netsuite and Freshbooks. I’m not going to lie either, I was a little intimidated at first when I started looking into what solution I was going to use. Without going into a lot of detail my wife had managed our household on spreadsheets in the past and if you know me that’s just not going to cut it. I crave integration! Oh, and let me preface this by saying that I used to love to use Mint for my personal finances prior to getting married. Of course, it’s gone now…

Anyway, I thought I would do an honest review of Monarch (Monarch Money / Monarch Accounting software) for anyone that might be on the fence or even looking for a solution themselves. Bottom line, I really like Monarch because of it’s usability, powerful features, and flexibility. Here’s kind of a breakdown of what stands out to me:

The User Interface…

Obviously, this is the most important part, at least it is to me. I need to have quick access to information, entry points and the navigation needs to be simple to understand. Monarch has done a great job. Everything is easy to find and not cluttered or buried.

Complete Financial Tracking

Monarch allows me to connect my bank accounts, credit and debit cards, investments, assets and loans in one place. I can also keep a daily track on my net worth, transactions, and balances across multiple accounts.

Budgeting and Planning Tools

While my wife was in the hospital I was horrified to learn that we had a number of accounts that were not on autopay and several were overlapping on due dates, etc. Given the fact that she was sedated with a traumatic brain injury I couldn’t go somewhere and pull up our monthly budget and makes heads or tails as to what was going on so budgeting was a top priority for me. Needless to say, Monarch has this handled. I can track spending, create budgets, and set long-term financial goals that work well enough to meet my needs.

Great for Multi-Users

Now that my wife is on the road to recovery it’s conceivable that she will one day ease back into helping me with our household finances at some point. I can already see where Monarch is going to be great for shared finances situations as well as shared budgeting, goals, etc.

Easy to Customize

I really like the flexibility from Monarch. I can create custom categories, build rules for transactions, adjust budgets, and much more.

Great Insights & Reporting

Another thing I really like about Monarch is how it gives me great insights into things like income and expenses (spending). Understanding spending patterns can definitely help you be more intentional with your money decisions.

Mobile and Web Application

Monarch has a great mobile app that I use almost daily to review transactions. The web application is probably even more robust. I use iOS but I’m told that android people have an option as well.

In conclusion, I searched around the web, asked accounting professionals, and did a lot of research before landing on Monarch. I honestly do not know of another product on the market that is anywhere close. I hope this helps someone, if so please drop me a note and let me know!