One of the most important keys to financial success is having a clear picture of your financial position — that includes knowing how your money is flowing in and out of your accounts and how your balances are changing over time. 

Financial account aggregators make that job easier by integrating all your accounts into a single, complete view of your balances, transactions, and net worth.

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What is a financial aggregator?

As personal finances become more complex, they start to have a lot of moving parts. These might include checking and savings accounts, credit cards, personal loans, auto and home loans, assets (like your home’s value), investments, and even retirement plans.

A financial aggregator helps you see all of those accounts in one place, giving you a complete picture of your net worth and how it’s changing over time. These apps (which you can often access on either your computer or your phone) let you connect to these accounts so the information in your aggregator’s dashboard stays up to date automatically. 

Whether you just bought a cortado at your favorite coffee shop or made a payment on your mortgage, that transaction will be reflected in your dashboard in something very close to real time — especially since many banks, credit cards, and loan providers report those transactions instantly.

5 benefits of using an aggregation system

No matter what your unique financial situation looks like, nearly everyone can benefit from being able to view all their financial data in one place. 

Here are some of the main benefits of a financial account aggregation system.

1. Apply your time more efficiently

Managing your finances across multiple financial institutions and websites is time-consuming. Most of us spend far too many hours checking accounts and entering data into spreadsheets — relatively simple tasks that computers can do much more quickly. 

Even if you happen to enjoy working with your finances, the time you spend visiting various banking apps and websites to gather your data isn’t especially valuable — it’s the picture you’re building that matters. Financial aggregators build that picture automatically so you can spend your time more efficiently  — analyzing your data and planning ahead.

2. Automate routine work, like categorization

The best financial aggregators also let you set up rules that automatically categorize and tag your expenses so you can customize that picture. You might want to see your 401(k) contributions to make sure you’re maxing them out, or you might want to pull a report at the end of the year to see if you should itemize your deductions.

An aggregator stays on top of the categorization work that makes those reports possible, and it can even generate the reports for you. So you get the information you need without all the work.

3. Watch your money while you sleep

Aggregators can track your transactions 24/7, alerting you about unexpected transactions or potential fraud — or just gently reminding you about that one bill you like to pay manually every month. 

The best aggregators are highly configurable, so you can choose the alerts you want and even change how they work. Instead of settling for what someone else thinks is a “large” transaction or a “low” bank balance, you can define those limits for yourself.

4. Get richer, more in-depth insights

Even if you’ve been managing your money closely and building the spreadsheets and reports you like to track, a financial aggregator may offer reports you hadn’t considered — or that you wouldn’t want to take the time to build. 

The best aggregators come with calculators and planning tools built in, like a retirement planner that lets you change your projected retirement age, investment returns, and so on — to see how those changes affect your financial projections. 

5. Share your data with peace of mind

Financial aggregators offer secure data sharing so you can easily manage and plan your finances with the people you trust. Plan your retirement with a partner, prepare for tax season with an accountant, or share your investment portfolio and performance with a financial advisor. 

Whether you just want to email static reports or give a trusted partner access to more dynamic information, aggregators give you that choice, keeping the control in your hands. 

Consider an aggregator with over 40 years of trust

For over 40 years, more than 20 million customers have relied on Quicken’s financial aggregation software. Featured in CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2024 and awarded Editors’ Choice by PC Mag, Quicken offers a suite of personal finance and life management solutions, including:

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