Excellent app
Been using Personal Capital for over 9 years and it is very useful to be able to see your financial history at your fingertips. I have bought 2 homes and sold 1, been through market cycles, tracked retirement accounts and other financial accounts, and everything is there to see in the app and online. There is also other useful features like the retirement planner which allows you to get a good high level view of your retirement progress and add future events like home renovations or vehicle purchases, and asset allocation analysis and budget tracking. Really powerful financial tools!
They started out not offering additional advisory services but eventually moved into that space. It is optional, but they are somewhat pushy trying to get you to speak with their advisors (which is a paid service!). They will cold call about 1-2x per month. Luckily you can opt out of the paid advisory service and just use the financial tracking with the app which is still a useful benefit. I am sure they also get a handle on your “data” to understand aggregate trends of their customers (and who knows what else??). In any case, overall a fairly useful service!
They started out not offering additional advisory services but eventually moved into that space. It is optional, but they are somewhat pushy trying to get you to speak with their advisors (which is a paid service!). They will cold call about 1-2x per month. Luckily you can opt out of the paid advisory service and just use the financial tracking with the app which is still a useful benefit. I am sure they also get a handle on your “data” to understand aggregate trends of their customers (and who knows what else??). In any case, overall a fairly useful service!
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Please make this one change
Long-time user here. After acquisition by Empower, I have noticed a change which makes my day-to-day use much worse. I am an avid user of the Categories feature, and even Tag my transactions (two different ways of sorting/searching). However, every time I update a Category (Venmo for pet food for example) it asks if I want to save it going forward (Venmo for pet food forever?)
There are a few issues with this: for one, you can’t turn it off/make it optional. Two, even in cases where I want it (my paycheck, for example, should consistently be marked the same), if there is a transaction name that *slightly* does not match, the change is not applied. For example: I receive a paycheck from employer and it has -123 as a reference number. Next paycheck, from employer and has -456 as a reference number. The app will ask EVERY TIME I update the name or Category if I want to save it. So, I just tap “no,” multiple times a day, forever now until this is fixed. I tried to use it, but it’s broken. Please let me turn it off entirely.
There are a few issues with this: for one, you can’t turn it off/make it optional. Two, even in cases where I want it (my paycheck, for example, should consistently be marked the same), if there is a transaction name that *slightly* does not match, the change is not applied. For example: I receive a paycheck from employer and it has -123 as a reference number. Next paycheck, from employer and has -456 as a reference number. The app will ask EVERY TIME I update the name or Category if I want to save it. So, I just tap “no,” multiple times a day, forever now until this is fixed. I tried to use it, but it’s broken. Please let me turn it off entirely.
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Harder and harder to use
I’ve used your app for six or seven years and I always found it to be easy to navigate and well functioning. But I have to say lately it seems like small changes are being made for no apparent benefit, and they are making the use of the app more frustrating. The current example is, I’m trying to upload couple of tax documents for an analysis requested by my advisor and I can’t find any link to upload such documents. I am almost certain that I’ve done it in the past, not for several years, but when I did, it was easy to do and took a little effort. I’ve now spent 20 minutes coming over every link in the site, trying to find a way to upload documents without success.
Even though I believe this is a problem with the other vendors, I will make a note about recurring difficulties linking with one of our credit unions and one of our investments. My wife and I both have accounts with SELCO credit union as well as other banking institutions. we almost never have difficulty with most of the accounts, but we we’ve always had difficulty keeping our Selco credit union accounts linked to Empower and lately all the efforts to “fix” the links fail. We also have repeated difficulty with my wife’s Oregon savings and growth plan account.
Even though I believe this is a problem with the other vendors, I will make a note about recurring difficulties linking with one of our credit unions and one of our investments. My wife and I both have accounts with SELCO credit union as well as other banking institutions. we almost never have difficulty with most of the accounts, but we we’ve always had difficulty keeping our Selco credit union accounts linked to Empower and lately all the efforts to “fix” the links fail. We also have repeated difficulty with my wife’s Oregon savings and growth plan account.
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Empower is not what Personal Capital used to be
This app used to be good. It was easy to link all my accounts, and they stayed updated without problems.
In the last two years (especially after Empower took over), my experience has gone way downhill. Most of my accounts have had long-term problems staying linked now. The worst was Schwab (one of my largest accounts) which I couldn’t log into at all for months because PC kept taking me to a broken login page (Schwab worked fine on my other apps). Other accounts that are now broken for me include HealthEquity, Citi, Chase, and Venmo. I tried to “fix” them, and I even tried unlinking and re-linking. Now, Empower is using some terrible home brewed account linking interface that gets stuck on a loading screen forever. If I’m lucky enough to make it through to the account’s own login page, I’m able to login and grant permissions and it seems like all is well, but then I get stuck on a “if you’re not redirected back to the app, click here” page, and if I manually go back to the app, the account is not linked… Why can’t Empower just do account linking through Stripe like all its competitors do?
I’m sad to leave this app, because it really used to be so good - and I still feel like there’s no other good replacement. But this app isn’t what it used to be.
In the last two years (especially after Empower took over), my experience has gone way downhill. Most of my accounts have had long-term problems staying linked now. The worst was Schwab (one of my largest accounts) which I couldn’t log into at all for months because PC kept taking me to a broken login page (Schwab worked fine on my other apps). Other accounts that are now broken for me include HealthEquity, Citi, Chase, and Venmo. I tried to “fix” them, and I even tried unlinking and re-linking. Now, Empower is using some terrible home brewed account linking interface that gets stuck on a loading screen forever. If I’m lucky enough to make it through to the account’s own login page, I’m able to login and grant permissions and it seems like all is well, but then I get stuck on a “if you’re not redirected back to the app, click here” page, and if I manually go back to the app, the account is not linked… Why can’t Empower just do account linking through Stripe like all its competitors do?
I’m sad to leave this app, because it really used to be so good - and I still feel like there’s no other good replacement. But this app isn’t what it used to be.
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Great for seeing the big picture
I read a lot of online reviews of financial software offerings before I found Personal Capital. I love that I can get a big picture overview of my net worth, determine if I’m saving enough for my child’s education, if I’m saving enough for retirement, and seeing an aggregate of all my investments in one place. Also, like that it tracks my spending so I know how I well I’m keeping to a budget each month. In the past, I’ve tried tracking my finances using iBank, but it didn’t update automatically very well and was a lot of work to maintain. Personal Capital automatically updates everything. A few drawbacks is not everything could be connected. For example, I couldn’t get my US Savings bonds to connect. I do like getting daily cash flow reports in my email. It allows me to easily confirm what I’ve spent on things before I’ve forgotten about them. Would definitely recommend this app and the desktop app as well. I ended up opening some accounts with Personal Capital/Empower after meeting with the investment advisor. So far earnings have been okay, but they appear to be on par with the economy at the moment. The meetings with the personal advisor have definitely been worthwhile and they provide very professional webinars on the current state of the economy as well.
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I’d give 5 start, but . . .
It’s nearly perfect, except for the budgeting aspect, which was actually the real reason I originally started trying out Empower. It does a fantastic job tracking almost all my accounts and lets me know if something isn’t syncing right away. It doesn’t play well with Apple/Goldman (though I haven’t tried recently, I just know it was a problem a few months ago), but since I only use ApplePay as linked to another credit card, it totally serves my needs.
In terms of budgeting, while it does categorize transactions, and tracks those various categories, you can not set budget targets for categories, nor does it do the kind of envelope budgeting which allows for some categories to have spending be budgeted over longer or shorter periods. As it isn’t billed primarily as a budgeting tool, it is still a very good tool for aggregating all my financial accounts in one place and lets me quickly get transaction data into csv format where I can manually budget the way I want on a separate spreadsheet.
In terms of budgeting, while it does categorize transactions, and tracks those various categories, you can not set budget targets for categories, nor does it do the kind of envelope budgeting which allows for some categories to have spending be budgeted over longer or shorter periods. As it isn’t billed primarily as a budgeting tool, it is still a very good tool for aggregating all my financial accounts in one place and lets me quickly get transaction data into csv format where I can manually budget the way I want on a separate spreadsheet.
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Great product
I have been been using for over 2 years and I have to say I use it daily. The mobile app is fast to load and easily understandable. Having this quick access to all of my financial accounts make it easy.
After having had-to replace several credit cards and having had someone apply for a personal loan in my name I decided to finally do something to decrease my vulnerability to scams and schemes. I good friend who is a cyber security expert recommended I implement a 3 tier plan.
1. Put a hold with all 3 credit agencies on releasing your credit scores. This then prevents thieves snooping to see if you have money and applying for loans in your name.
2. Sign up for a reputable password vault and use it. There several good ones.
3. Finally sign up for empower. It is free. They really are an investment company that wants you to use there services but provides this one stop view of your financial health and safety. Unlike Fisher investments who promised not to bug me when I signed up for some free literature bugged my secretary for weeks until she insisted I take the call and tell them to bug off. I have been contacted once by empowered. Quick sales pitch and when I explained investing was my hobby so no thanks she said it looks like I was doing it well and wished me luck. No further calls. That impressed me to the point that I recommended them to my wife in my “instructions for finances when I am demented or dead” note as she has 0 interest in investing.
After having had-to replace several credit cards and having had someone apply for a personal loan in my name I decided to finally do something to decrease my vulnerability to scams and schemes. I good friend who is a cyber security expert recommended I implement a 3 tier plan.
1. Put a hold with all 3 credit agencies on releasing your credit scores. This then prevents thieves snooping to see if you have money and applying for loans in your name.
2. Sign up for a reputable password vault and use it. There several good ones.
3. Finally sign up for empower. It is free. They really are an investment company that wants you to use there services but provides this one stop view of your financial health and safety. Unlike Fisher investments who promised not to bug me when I signed up for some free literature bugged my secretary for weeks until she insisted I take the call and tell them to bug off. I have been contacted once by empowered. Quick sales pitch and when I explained investing was my hobby so no thanks she said it looks like I was doing it well and wished me luck. No further calls. That impressed me to the point that I recommended them to my wife in my “instructions for finances when I am demented or dead” note as she has 0 interest in investing.
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Waited too long…
As a long-time (12’) user of Mint I never really looked elsewhere for a similar wealth management tool. After trying the intuit credit karma migration from mint shuttering it’s operation I quickly looked for alternatives as that product (and to some degree mint) was more geared towards budgeting mind sets vs wealth management. As an idovidual with diversified assets credit Karama was just too limiting.
I didn’t want to pay for an finance aggregation tool so that brought me to mint and I quickly fell in love. There a few small things I wish the app did slightly different (collapse networth accounts!) but overall I am more in control of tags/categories and a much cleaner pro tire of my equities/401k positions and costs. I don’t mind getting solicited for the other services they provide and would much rather have that (and consider using them in fact) vs credit karma or mint focusing on credit scores, credit card signups etc. in other words of your looking for a solid networth
I didn’t want to pay for an finance aggregation tool so that brought me to mint and I quickly fell in love. There a few small things I wish the app did slightly different (collapse networth accounts!) but overall I am more in control of tags/categories and a much cleaner pro tire of my equities/401k positions and costs. I don’t mind getting solicited for the other services they provide and would much rather have that (and consider using them in fact) vs credit karma or mint focusing on credit scores, credit card signups etc. in other words of your looking for a solid networth
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Organized and clear, connects to everything.
I have used this now for a few years and it is great. For me it’s the simplest way to see the total snapshot of my finances and spending habits. The move from Personal Capital to Empower was transparent to me.
The security here is good; I do expect that keeps my information secure. I have seen improved handoffs with the 3rd party vendors and the syncing feature last longer with the various institutions. There are still some company’s that work (HSA account) and then stop working with the syncing services but my guess is that security protocols keep changing.
I have used this for about a year now and find it insightful. It took a bit connecting some more complicated accounts like a health savings account. This is the first place I go to when checking on my finances. I hope they keep my data safe, so far no problems. My only issue is that every few days on one of my connected accounts I have to fix my connection. I am sure this is a security issue so I won’t deduct a star for that as I’m happy that personal capital takes security so seriously.
The security here is good; I do expect that keeps my information secure. I have seen improved handoffs with the 3rd party vendors and the syncing feature last longer with the various institutions. There are still some company’s that work (HSA account) and then stop working with the syncing services but my guess is that security protocols keep changing.
I have used this for about a year now and find it insightful. It took a bit connecting some more complicated accounts like a health savings account. This is the first place I go to when checking on my finances. I hope they keep my data safe, so far no problems. My only issue is that every few days on one of my connected accounts I have to fix my connection. I am sure this is a security issue so I won’t deduct a star for that as I’m happy that personal capital takes security so seriously.
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Excellent way to recover your stolen money!!
I was impatient to carry out necessary research but I really wanted to jump on the crypto trading and investment buzz. Unfortunately for me, I invested 75,700 GBP worth of bitcoin with a fraudulent company. I was happy to watch my account grow to 214,575 GBP within a couple of weeks. But I didn't realize I was dealing with a scam company, until I tried to make an attempt to withdraw. I made a withdrawal request, and noticed my account was suddenly blocked for no apparent reason. I tried contacting customer support, but all to no avail. I needed my money back at all cost, because I could not afford to let it go. So I tried all possible means to make sure I recovered my scammed bitcoin. I did a lot of online search for help, and tried to see if there were other people who had any similar experience. I stumbled upon a cryptocurrency forum were a couple of people mentioned that they had been through the same process but were able to recover their lost cryptography funds with the help of RemotePundit So I file a report on RemotePundit @ Gmail and he was able to help me get back all my lost funds withing 2 weeks I feel indebted to him. Apart from trying to express my gratitude to them once again using this medium, I will recommend anybody who wants to recover scammed bitcoin, stolen cryptocurrency, funds lost to binary options forex, investment and any other form of online scam to reach out to RemotePundit @ gmail
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