People love checking their smartphones with some doing it over 50 times a day checking everything from weather alerts to work emails and from text messages to box scores. However, as many have learned, smartphones can be used to help keep tabs on finances. Sticking to budgets, managing money, and handling investment decisions is now easier than ever before thanks to the personal finance apps now available.
However, not all tools in the market are worth downloading and learning how to use. It is possible and easy to take some of the guesswork out of moving your finances to mobile with the following 2017 list of personal finance apps.
Mint: Best App for Managing Finances
Mint is the name behind TurboTax and QuickBooks and is a highly effective all-in-one solution for budget creation, spending tracking, and getting smart about finances. You can connect al your credit card and bank accounts along with your monthly bills, so that you have all your finances in a single, convenient location without the need to log in to multiple websites.
Mint alerts you when bills are due, the amount owed, and what you can pay. The app can even send you payment reminders to help you avoid late fees. Depending on your spending patterns, the app can even offer specific advice to help you gain more control over your budget. The free credit score is an amazing bonus.
You Need a Budget: Best App for Those Looking to Get Out of Debt
You Need a Budget is not similar to the other budgeting apps that you have used previously. It helps you pay down your debts, stop living from one payment to the next, and start “rolling with the punches” in case something unexpected ever comes up. It is built around a fairly simple principle that each dollar has a purpose.
You Need a Budget does not allow for the creation of budget around money that is not available since it forces you to live within your real income. If you ever get off track, the app will help you identify what you can do differently to balance your budget. It has an in-built “accountability partner” to help keep you on your toes. While users do have to pay a small annual or monthly fee for the app, the support and service are worth it. Online classes featuring live instructors for Question and Answer sessions for helping you learn the basics of budgeting are included. The app is actually so effective that the average user pays off $500 worth of debt after using it for 1 month. If you need further help then check out these options from Money Expert.
Wally: Best App for Expense Tracking
If you are a person that loves to be organized when it comes to tracking your personal expenses as you are for your expense reports at work, you will love Wally, a free app. Instead of logging your expenses manually at the end of the day, week, or month, the app lest you capture photos of your receipts. If you have geo-location enabled on your device, it will actually fill in that information thus saving you some steps.
Wally is a clean and streamlined app that is quite convenient and easy to use. It is an excellent option if you would like further insight into where your money is going.
Acorns: Best App for Stress-Free Saving
Want to tap into the benefits of the automation of good financial behaviour? If this sounds somewhat complicated, the Acorns app is not. Each time you make a purchase using a credit card connected to the app, it rounds it up to the next highest dollar then invests the difference automatically in a portfolio of inexpensive exchange traded funds (ETFs) you can choose depending on your risk preference.
Acorns puts your pocket change to work in an incredibly painless way with users reporting that they hardly ever notice the difference. How does the idea of finding an extra $300, $700 or even $1,200 in your investment account every year sound? For just $1 monthly for anyone that is not a student and for $0 for students, this can actually be your reality.
