No matter what your financial situation looks like, whether you’ve got a cushy savings account, you’re living paycheck to paycheck, or somewhere in between, one thing is for sure: managing your money is important. Budgeting effectively is what allows us to move towards our big financial goals such as paying off debt, buying a home, or saving for retirement.
The problem is that budgeting and crunching numbers can quickly get confusing and overwhelming. There. are. so. many. numbers. Still, managing your moolah doesn’t have to be challenging. With the help of money management apps and all their nifty features, budgeting can actually be pretty easy and dare we say, fun.
Ready to step up your financial health? Here are 11 money management apps that will help you make the process a whole lot easier.
Mint
Price: free
If you’re tired of logging into a bunch of different accounts, check out Mint. It brings all your accounts into one place, including bank accounts, credit cards, loans, and retirement accounts. You can get a full picture of your finances and manage your cash in one place. It also helps you set and track financial goals, create budgets, alerts you when bills are due, and allows you to check your credit score at any time.
EveryDollar
Price: free
Budgeting is the name of the game with EveryDollar. In the app, you can create a monthly budget, add in your monthly income, plan expenses, and track your spending. The downside is that you have to manually enter your expenditures unless you upgrade to EveryDollar Plus ($129.99 billed annually) to get it automatically synced to your bank account. The upgraded version also gives you access to Financial Peace University, a nine-lesson class on paying off debt, saving, and building wealth.
PocketGuard
Price: Free
Similar to other money management apps, PocketGuard groups all your accounts onto one dashboard for easy access. It also automatically categorizes your transactions, so you know how much you’re spending and on what. What’s unique about this app is it’s “in my pocket” feature that lets you know exactly how much money you have available to spend after factoring in your bills and expenses. The app will even help you save some money by negotiating lower bills for you. With the plus plan ($3.99 per month), you can also track your cash.
GoodBudget
Price: free
The GoodBudget app takes the old-school envelope system virtual. It helps you allocate a certain amount of money to different categories (i.e. groceries, bills, entertainment, fitness, leggings. Kidding about the last one, sort of.). You can also share your household budget with others, which makes it easier to take charge of your finances as a family. If you want to sync more than one bank account and have unlimited envelopes, though, you have to upgrade to the plus plan ($7 per month).
Personal Capital
Price: free
Personal Capital is more of an investment tool than a money management app. It does help you budget and track your spending. But, it goes and beyond that by calculating your net worth, helping you plan for retirement, allowing you to manage your investment portfolio, and more. Fair warning: There is a bit of financial jargon involved. So it may not be the best fit if you’re looking for something simple and easy to navigate.
Acorns
Price: $1-3 per month
Got change burning a hole in your pocket? Put it to good use with the Acorns app. The app rounds up each purchase you make up to the nearest dollar and puts the extra change towards investments. Let’s say you spend $4.50 on a matcha latte. It rounds the purchase up to $5 and puts the extra 50 cents towards stocks and bonds. It’s an easy way to dip your toes into investing. The app also helps you get started on saving for retirement.
Simple
Price: free
Simple is not a money management app per se but rather a mobile banking account with built-in budgeting tools. It has all the standard-issue features you get in a mobile banking account (pay bills, transfer money, deposit checks on your phone, etc.) as well as its Safe-to-Spend feature that tells you how much you can spend at any given moment. As its name suggests, the dashboard is sleek and straightforward, so it’s great if you’re looking for something easy-to-use to replace your tried and true spreadsheet. Plus, the app prides itself on not having any sneaky fees. So there are no surprises there.
Dollarbird
Price: free
One of the tricky things about managing your money is that money drips in on certain days, and bills and expenses go out on certain days. This makes it challenging to keep up with where you are in your monthly spending on any given day. To remedy that, Dollarbird puts your spending on a calendar so you know exactly when everything is due and can plan accordingly. You can also add others to your calendar to budget and track your money together. It also works for businesses that need to manage multiple calendars.
Wally
Price: free
If you don’t need or care for all the bells and whistles that some money management apps have, Wally might be more up your alley. It keeps things super simple but still has cool capabilities, including the ability to save pictures of receipts, include notes with every expense you log, plan shopping lists, manage foreign currency, and two years of insights and spending patterns. It also breaks down your spending into pie, bar, and line charts, which is great for us visual learners.
Albert
Price: free
Albert has many smart money management features worth checking out. It alerts you if you’re in danger of overspending (when you’re about to order yet another pair of leggings, for instance). You can automate your savings and get started with a custom investing portfolio with just a few dollars. If you’re in a pinch, it’ll even give you a small advance on your next paycheck with no interest. And, arguably, the app’s most helpful feature is that they have financial advisors (aka real professionals, not bots) available via text to answer questions based on your specific financial situation and goals.
Freshbooks
Price: starts at $15 per month
For self-employed folks or those with small businesses that need something a bit more robust to help track their income and expenses, Freshbooks is a good option. You can create invoices, snap pictures of receipts for tax purposes, categorize spending, track time worked, accept payments, access profit and loss reports, and even chat with clients right on the app.
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