Tiller Money Review: Spreadsheet Heaven
Review
Updated
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Tiller Money is perfect for budgeters who prefer to view their financial plans laid out in spreadsheets. What makes it ideal for serious budgeters is the wide variety of templates that can be customized to fit a person's current financial situation. Rather than remain static, Tiller Money is designed to grow and change through the years.
Bottom line: Tiller Money provides enough templates to make any spreadsheet enthusiast happy.
Let's start with an explanation of what exactly Tiller Money is, and how it can work for you.
If creating spreadsheets gives you a little thrill, Tiller Money may be the budgeting app for you. That is, if you're not looking for a mobile app. Tiller Money was originally intended to be a mobile app, but after interviewing potential customers, developers decided the spreadsheet layout would work better on a desktop.
While it's possible to access Tiller spreadsheets from your iOS or Android (by using the Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel app), it may be difficult to make updates via your mobile device. However, clever members of the Tiller Community offer fellow Tiller users workaround options that allow them to access their budget on the go.
Tiller Money is a budget planner that connects your online financial accounts. Each day, it automatically pulls your investment balances and bank transactions -- including deposits and withdrawals -- and uploads them to a Google or Excel spreadsheet software (whichever you use). That way, you always know where you stand with your home finances. And to make life even easier, the company sends you an email each day to keep you up to date.
Tiller not only tracks everyday expenses and helps you stay on budget, but it also monitors your debt payoff strategy. It all begins with linking Tiller to your bank accounts, credit cards, and investments.
As soon as your accounts are linked, Tiller will automatically categorize the transactions for you, or you can categorize them yourself. If you want specific spending categories, you'll have the opportunity to include them.
One interesting thing Tiller allows you to do is split transactions into more than one category. For example, let's say you pick up groceries and school supplies for the kids at the same store. The Tiller Splitter add-on allows you to split the expense between different categories. For example, you may want half to be listed under "groceries" and the other half under "educational expenses."
Tiller has a "Build Your Own" feature that allows you to create your own templates and financial reports. One of the best things about Tiller is the growing number of free personal finance templates available. The nice thing about this free template library is that you can test drive different templates until you find what works for you.
Finally, Tiller Money makes it easy to share your records. This can come in handy if you're working with an accountant around tax time.
With dozens of templates to choose from, spreadsheet budgeters can mix and match to find the planning system that works for them.
Tiller data is protected with 256-bit AES encryption, the industry standard. In addition, Tiller is blind to your financial data and never mines or sells your information.
With no advertisements cluttering spreadsheets, Tiller users have a clear view of their budget sheets.
Tiller provides a U.S.-based support team to answer questions, although customer service help may not be necessary. Tiller's vibrant community of fellow budgeters is always around to share tips, answer questions, and provide fresh ideas. And if that's not enough, Tiller offers webinars to help you make the most of its program.
Anyone who wants to check their budget on the go may be inconvenienced by the fact they'll need access to a computer if they plan to make major edits.
While Tiller Money can be used with both Google Sheets and Excel, there are far more options and tools available to Google Sheets users.
Unlike some of the other big names among the best budgeting apps, Tiller does not provide detailed investment tracking. Tiller does keep track of the basics, like purchases, sales, and dividend reinvestments, but there are no detailed records of each investment.
Tiller Money offers a 30-day free trial, and that's followed by a cost of $79 per year.
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Rocket Money is a good alternative for anyone looking for a budgeting tool that can help reduce unnecessary subscriptions, negotiate bills on your behalf, and monitor your credit.
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You enjoy the details found in a solid spreadsheet. Tiller Money includes all the fun of creating a spreadsheet without the tedious chore of coding.
The goal of any good budgeting app is to help you save money. As long as you do save money, yes, the app is worth the annual fee.
Tiller's community forum appears to be quite active and is a good place to ask questions.
Tiller Money helps you monitor your progress and serves as a reminder of how close you are to reaching your goal. As the months pass and your balances drop, Tiller may be the inspiration you need to stick with your payoff plan.
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