This App Promises To Organize Your Financial Life In Just 5 Minutes A Week — But Does It Really Work?

The future is always uncertain, but now especially, it can feel difficult to know what exactly it holds. Inflation and interest rates are on the rise, while global shortages are prevalent but that doesn’t mean it’s time to panic. Instead, it’s a good reminder to take control. Luckily, when it comes to organizing expenses and planning accordingly, technology makes it much easier.

In fact, the Simplifi app by Quicken supposedly makes it possible in just five minutes a week. And right now, you can get a 30-day free trial to see if it works for you. It has been named the top budgeting app two years in a row by The New York Times’ Wirecutter — but what exactly does it do, how much does it cost, and how can you use it to take control of your financial future starting today?

As a single homeowner who’s part-time at two companies and freelance at three or four (or five, depending on the month), my financial life isn’t exactly simple — so I decided to try this app out for myself and see if it really does help with budgeting and financial awareness.

FAST FACTS:

• Securely sync your bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, etc.
• Track all of your finances in one place
• Create spending plans and savings goals
• Visualize your spending using graphs and reports
• Organize and categorize transactions
• Get alerts about bills, subscriptions, and payments
• Celebrate achievements and promote good habits with badges
• Free for 30 days, then $47.88 for the first year

What Is Simplifi By Quicken?

Simplifi is a mobile and web app created by Quicken, a trusted company that has been creating personal finance software for over 30 years. This advertisement-free, security-conscious app is designed to be highly customizable and track all of your finances — including bank accounts, credit card bills, investment accounts, and more — all in one place.

While it’s particularly helpful to see all of your incoming and outgoing money at a glance, Simplifi doesn’t stop there; it also helps you stay on track with budgeting tools, savings goals, notifications, and graphic reports for those of us who are a little more visual. You can even earn badges as you save money and grow your investments, which helps to keep you motivated.

My Issue With Budgeting

As previously discussed, my financial life is all over the place. I don’t get two clear-cut paychecks a month like many people; instead, some of my work is W-2 while some of it is 1099, and it can often come from 10 different sources in a year. Money trickles in sporadically and, as a result, it can be very hard to track.

My investments are also a little chaotic. I’m particularly lucky in that a few of my freelance clients and employers offer 401ks, but I also have some accounts on my own (a Roth IRA and some cryptocurrency), so in order to calculate my total investments, I’d have to sign into several apps and do some math — which truthfully is not my strong suit.

Simplifi Features I Love:

• All accounts in one place: I have one 401k with a freelance client, one with a part-time employer, one Roth account on my own, and some crypto investments. I also have four credit cards, all for different uses. Finally, when my money comes in, it comes in sporadically from all different sources. It’s so convenient to be able to see a single number that represents everything I have (my net worth), or to be able to sort things by banking, credit, investments, and retirement.
• Subscription monitoring: I’m a sucker for free trials, but even though I usually mark the end of the free trial on my calendar so I can cancel it if I can’t see myself using it regularly, some subscriptions fall through the cracks. This app actually helped me realize that I was paying twice for one subscription — one through my old spam e-mail address and one through my new one. (Whoops.)
• Actual representation of your finances: Most bank accounts and budgeting apps show you your balance as of right this second, but they don’t factor in what you already owe on credit cards and other loans. As soon as I synced my credit card accounts to Simplifi, my banking and net worth numbers went down in order to reflect what I’ll have after they’re paid — which is admittedly a bit disheartening in the moment, but at the end of the day, I’d rather know my actual balance so I can plan accordingly.
• Web and phone access: I’ve used a couple of other budgeting apps in the past, and for some reason, none of them had a platform that I could access from my browser. Since I’m always at my computer, and I only do work on my phone when I have to, this was a deal-breaker for me. I love that with Simplifi, I can log in from my phone and my computer, with all of the features accessible from both.

The Thing I Didn’t Like:

While I absolutely believe that this app will save me time and effort in the future, it did take time to set up. When I was first syncing accounts, my primary checking account (where all of my money comes in and goes out) wouldn’t connect. I finally called up Quicken to ask about the error code and was told it was an app-wide glitch that should be fixed in a few days — a definite inconvenience, but on the plus side, I was able to reach a human representative right away, which I appreciated.

I’m still unable to sync my cryptocurrency account and my mortgage provider. The former is negligible, but the latter is a bit disappointing since I’d love to see how my home’s equity factors into my net worth. If this doesn’t rectify itself within a few days, I’ll call up Quicken again.

Final Verdict

All in all, Simplifi by Quicken is a great all-in-one budgeting app that’s definitely worth the $4-a-month annual price. If you’re able to invest the time into setting it up, it’s a user-friendly, comprehensive way to not only track all of your present spending but to plan for a safer future. Once my 30-day free trial is up, I plan on paying the annual fee and using this app indefinitely.

How Much Does Simplifi Cost?

You can try the Simplifi for free for 30 days. After that, it costs $3.99 a month (billed annually for $47.88, which is only applicable for the first year), or you can pay month-by-month at $5.99, which adds up to $71.88 a year.

How Do You Get Started?

Click “Start Free Trial” to download the app on your phone or access it on your web browser. (You’ll need to enter your credit card info, since you’ll be charged after your 30-day trial is up).

Once you’ve got the app, Quicken will prompt you to start adding your accounts. Theoretically, you should be able to connect all of your financial institutions to Simplifi — checking accounts, saving accounts, credit cards, mortgages, loans, 401k, and even your cryptocurrency accounts — just by searching for the financial institution and using your credentials to log in. Once all of your accounts are synced, you’ll be able to see everything all in one place: your spending, your savings, your investments, and your net worth.

From there, you can organize and tag your transactions; set up notifications about important bills or incoming payments; set yourself up for success with goals and spending plans; and see exactly where your money is going with comprehensive reports and subscription lists.