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Looking to forecast your financial future? PocketSmith is a new online tool, produced right here in NZ, which could help you do it. It allows you to see really easily where you are headed with your personal finances and helps you plan for the future.

Here’s how it works

  1. PocketSmith looks like a web-based calendar, except all the events are financial. You put in your salary, bill payments, rent, etc and set them to repeat how ever often they occur.
  2. You can then upload your electronic bank statements and match the transactions up to categories e.g. Entertainment. If you spend cash or do not want to upload your bank statement you can also enter information manually.
  3. PocketSmith will then use the information you are entering to generate a 6 month cash forecast, with a daily predicted balance of your bank account. This means you can look at a date in the future and see an estimation of how much money you will have in your account on that day. If you adjust your spending in the present you can see how that will affect your bank balance in the future.
  4. You can then monitor your PocketSmith forecast and ensure you are reaching your goals. You can even enter interest rates and track the progress of your savings or debt repayment.

So what else is great about PocketSmith?

  • Integration – It integrates with Google Calendar, iCal, and Outlook. So you can be reminded about important cash flow events e.g. bills to pay.
  • Graphs – You can analyse your budgeting success with numbers or with simple, easy to understand graphs

The free version of PocketSmith is great, but if you would like additional features and benefits like the ability to export your cash flow forecasts then there is also a premium and Super version. To visit the PocketSmith website and try it out for yourself click here.