Your phone is a powerful tool to make your everyday life easy. It’s your personal shopping assistant, your matchmaker as well as personal trainer and fitness companion. So, why not make it your own financial advisor as well? Here are some apps to help you save money, avoid unnecessary fees, and give you total control of your finances straight from your home screen.
1. Mint
This all-around finance app takes the hassle out of making a budget. Connect it to your bank and the app can use your details to help create a personalised budget with numerous categories. It also provides credit score access, giving you a comprehensive look at your investments, bank accounts, credit card statements and more. Stay on top of your bills by setting up due dates reminders and paying your bills directly through your Mint account. It will also alert you of unusual charges and helps identify tips tailored to your spending to help you reduce the money your spend on fees and other bills. It’s a great tool if you want to pay all your bills in one place.
2. Spendee
Similar to Mint, but a bit easier to navigate with its user-friendly interface. It comes with great budgeting tracking tools both for free users and subscribers. It is equipped with useful infographics that let you visualise exactly where you’re spending all your hard-earned cash. Expenses are easily logged into categories, with the option of snapping photos of bills and receipts for easy storage. This tool helps you see where your money is going.
3. PocketGuard
Connects directly to your bank account giving you all time access to your current transactions and balance. PocketGuard lets you see money in simple terms. The home screen shows you how much money is in your pocket, your income and how much you have spent. Aside from identifying your income to give you an idea of your cash flow, it also analyses your spending to recognise recurring payments you need to plan for. Its simple charts outlines where you spend your money and a tap shows what you’re spending in each category. If you want to cut back and optimise your purchases, then this is an essential tool for you.
A budget system that helps you create a budget that you can follow. It focuses on four rules to help you get your life in order: 1) Give every dollar a job, 2) Plan for infrequent expenses, 3) Roll with the punches, 4) Learn how to live on last month’s income. YNAB allows you to quickly refer to your accounts, budget categories, enter new transactions and modify your budget categories. It also contains a variety of educational tools and guides to help you build good budgeting habits and financial discipline.
5. GoodBudget
This digital envelope budget system recreates envelope budgeting of yesteryears. You can set a budget for each category and spend from that designated category forcing you to stop spending when the money for that category runs out. This can help you learn how to save for big purchases and put the plan into place in order for you to save for a vacation or new car.
