Is it safe to keep financial records on my own PC?

It can be, provided the program is careful and you look after the file. Money by Zaweba keeps your finances on your own PC with no cloud and no telemetry, can lock a money file with AES-256 encryption, and makes a backup every time you close it, keeping the last 10. The rest of keeping it safe is ordinary good sense about your computer and your backups.

Safety here really means two separate things. One is keeping other people out. The other is not losing the records yourself. Money has something for each.

Keeping other people out

The first protection is that the data doesn't go anywhere. Money has no online service, sends no telemetry and never asks for a bank login. Statements arrive as files you download from your bank's own website, and they're imported on your PC. So the only copy of your spending history is the one you keep.

The second is the optional password. A money file can be given a password from the Password item, which encrypts the whole file using SQLCipher 4 with AES-256. Without the password, or with the wrong one, Money refuses to open the file. You can add, change or remove the password later. When you first add one, Money offers to delete older unprotected backups, which is worth accepting, because an unencrypted backup sitting next to an encrypted file rather defeats the point.

A password matters most on a shared PC, a laptop that leaves the house, or anywhere someone else might have access to your user account. If you're the only person who ever uses the computer and it already has its own sign-in, you might decide the extra step isn't needed. That's your call.

Not losing the records yourself

The bigger everyday risk with any file on a PC is losing it: a failed drive, a stolen laptop or a mistaken delete. Money keeps a backup on close and whenever you use File, then Back up now, holding the last 10 copies in a backups folder next to the money file. File, then Show the backups folder, opens it. A backup is simply a copy of the money file, so restoring one is a matter of opening it.

Those backups sit on the same drive as the original, so they protect against mistakes rather than against the drive failing. For that, copy the money file, or the backups folder, somewhere else from time to time: a USB stick, an external drive, or another backup routine you already use. Because the file on disk is the whole story, a copy is a complete record.

The password warning

Money is plain about encryption. The password dialog says twice that a lost password means lost data, and you have to tick a box to show you've understood. There's no reset and no back door, which is exactly what makes the encryption meaningful. Write the password down and keep it somewhere safe and separate from the PC, or keep it in a password manager you trust.

A sensible arrangement

A reasonable setup looks like this. Keep the money file in your Documents folder under your own Windows account. Give it a password if anyone else uses the machine. Let Money make its automatic backups, and once a month copy the latest one to a drive you keep elsewhere. Make sure Windows itself is kept up to date and the PC has a sign-in.

None of that needs special skills. With Money by Zaweba doing the encryption and the rolling backups, the part left to you is the copy away from the PC and remembering the password, and those two habits cover most of what can go wrong.