Automate Your Spreadsheet Budget With Tiller Money App
Even diehard spreadsheet fans could use a little assistance to keep track of monthly spending.
Tiller Money is a budgeting tool designed specifically for those who prefer to use spreadsheets to manage their finances. It allows you to link your bank accounts to your Excel or Google Sheets budget spreadsheet, so you don’t have to manually enter every deposit or expense.
In this Tiller Money review, we’ll go over the main features of this app, so you can determine whether it would be the budgeting aid for you.
What Is Tiller Money?
Tiller Money is not your typical budgeting app. It’s a personal finance service that enhances spreadsheet budgeting by incorporating automation.
Tiller Money takes your financial transactions and automatically updates your spreadsheet each day — saving you from having to record the data yourself. If you’re budgeting with a partner or have multiple bank accounts, you can see your combined balance in one place without having to do any math.
You can use one of Tiller Money’s spreadsheet templates or create your own, allowing for total customization of your budget. The app’s AutoCat feature will help you sort your spending in the appropriate budget category.
Tiller Money works with over 21,000 banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions. The company, which works with the data aggregation platform Envestnet | Yodlee, recently launched an open banking data-sharing feature that allows Citi and Chase Bank customers to access their bank data via Tiller Money without having to share usernames and passwords. Tiller Money plans to expand this feature to include other top banks.
How Does Tiller Money Work?
Once you sign up for Tiller Money, you’ll need to authenticate your bank accounts within the Tiller Money console. After that, you’ll customize your import options to send your financial data to your existing Excel or Google Sheets budget. If you haven’t already started your budget spreadsheet, you can create one using Tiller Money’s foundation template.
Each day, Tiller Money will update your budget spreadsheet with your most recent transactions and will send you an email outlining your daily financial activity. You can gain insights to where you stand financially and see your spending habits in graphic form.
Tiller Money keeps your information secure using 256-bit AES encryption, which is standard bank-level encryption. Tiller Money does not store your bank credentials and only accesses read-only data from your financial institutions.
New customers get a free 30-day trial to test out the service. Once the trial’s over, you’ll pay $79 a year, which breaks down to $6.58 per month. If you’re a student, you can use Tiller Money for free for an entire year.
If you run into issues, you can run your questions by the Tiller Money community, check out one of the company’s webinars and blog posts or reach out to its US-based customer support team.
The Pros and Cons of Tiller Money
The major benefit of Tiller Money is that it consolidates all your financial information in spreadsheet form without you having to enter data manually or download CSV files from your bank.
Since you can create your own spreadsheet layout or customize an existing template, you have the flexibility to format your budget how you see fit. If you want to use 100 budget categories, go right ahead. If you want to budget on a biweekly basis or an annual basis, you aren’t restricted to budgeting by the month.
Since Tiller Money is all about spreadsheet budgeting, however, you’ll want to try out something different if you’re not a fan of using Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets.
If you’re looking for a budgeting app that’ll show you your credit score, remind you when a bill is due or send offers for recommended credit cards, you’re better off using an app like Clarity Money or Mint. Those two tools are also free, while Tiller Money is not.
Who Is Tiller Money For?
Tiller Money is perfect for spreadsheet budgeters who want to simplify the process of recording and categorizing transactions. It’s also a good choice for people who want the ability to fully customize their budget rather than follow pre-set guidelines from an app.
Sign up for a 30-day free trial to see whether Tiller Money would benefit your budgeting life.
Nicole Dow is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
