With the unemployment rate in the United States hanging close to the 10 percent mark at the end of 2010, up from 2008's 7.4 percent, pinching pennies and sticking to a tight budget is as important as ever. You may know you can afford to go out to eat and hit the movies every now and then, but do you know how much you should be saving for retirement? Do you even know how much money you spend on snack foods every month? Could you be using a credit card that gives you cash back for every purchase? An amazing array of high-tech tools exists to help us answer every one of those questions. Whether you need to craft a budget to plan for retirement or pick out a new credit card with a low interest rate, there's a tool out there waiting to be used. Quicken may well be the single most ubiquitous piece of financial software on the market, and with good reason -- it's been around for more than 25 years.

If you're looking for a powerful piece of software to manage multiple checking accounts, savings accounts, online transactions and credit card bills -- pretty much every single dollar that goes in or out of your coffers -- Quicken is a good choice. You can use it to craft a budget, pay bills, and set goals to plan for retirement or that pool you've always wanted for the backyard. The basic version of Quicken 2011 costs $69.99, while the more powerful Quicken Premier costs $104.99. If you're interested in a tool to track and manage investments and stock market decisions, Quicken Premier is the better pick. If you need a simpler budgeting program and don't have multiple accounts to track, a less expensive solution may be for you. One last important thing to note: Quicken is primarily a Windows program, and the Mac software, Quicken Essentials, lacks the breadth of features available in the Windows version.

With that in mind, let's take a look at one of Quicken's most popular competitors. The no-frills alternative to Quicken, You Need a Budget (YNAB) lacks the scope of tools available in Intuit's famous budgeting software. YNAB doesn't track investments or offer as many options as Quicken; instead, it focuses on delivering a simple, robust financial application that's all about budgeting. With YNAB, you can categorize and track transactions, divide spending brackets into sub-categories and view spending on a month-to-month basis. While Quicken can automatically import transaction data from a huge host of banks, expenditures must be manually entered into YNAB. That makes money management a more proactive effort, but YNAB is $10 cheaper than Quicken at $59.99. YNAB offers a week-long free trial on its Web site for those interested in trying the software before buying it. If all of your spending is tied up in one bank account, a piece of software dedicated to money management might be overkill.

Why not handle transactions at the source, instead? Approximately 80 percent of U.S. Online services have become a standard feature of large and small banks across the country. But if you use only one bank, why not capitalize on the online services it offers specifically for its customers? Some banks facilitate online bill payments, move funds between accounts and setup alerts to monitor account balances. But online banking's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Because Internet services differ from bank to bank, your mileage may vary. If your bank offers useful online options, they could present an adequate and free alternative to a piece of software; you will just have to be the judge. Since online banking is accessible from any computer with Internet capabilities, it's a smart way to keep track of your finances while away from home. Better yet, it's free. Mint's Goals page ties into its budgeting system, allowing you to set specific milestones for monthly spending.

It's a free way to begin controlling your finances, and an excellent precursor to using a more complex pay-for utility like Quicken or You Need a Budget. There's the same support for investments and real estate. If you're looking for an online banking solution, try them both and see which one fits. After all, they're free. What if you need a new credit card or plan to buy a house and don't know a thing about mortgages? Now that we know what Web sites and programs to rely on for controlling our bills and bank accounts, let's delve into some of the best financial tip sites on the Internet. The credit card page highlights popular cards for low interest rates and cash back offers. The debt management hub offers advice on filing bankruptcy and consolidating credit card bills. BankRate.com's calculators offer an interactive element to supplement its information resources. The calculator hub includes several different tools.

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