Planwise financial planning app makes budgeting easy

There are many websites you can use to create a budget or track your finances day-to-day. Planwise takes a different tack -- looking at the Big Picture. The website allows you to gaze into your financial future by graphically plotting the impact of current and future financial decisions.

You begin by creating a financial profile. This consists of entering information about your income, spending and debt. You will instantly and literally see your current fiscal picture on a graph. Next, add any plans that will affect your finances either positively or negatively -- these could include the purchase of a car or home, a raise, taking a vacation, having a child or the loss of your job. You can add as many plans as you like for up to 10 years into the future.

As you add plans, the graph modifies itself, demonstrating how your finances will be affected by these decisions. Not happy with how the future is looking? You can make adjustments by turning on or off one or more plans.

Planwise is free and can be used anonymously, but if you want to save your results, you must register with an email address. You can then return and continually track your progress and make modifications. The site also has a mobile app (bit.ly/U8NSLi) compatible with iPad and IOS 5.0 or later.