The evolution of technology has caused fundamental changes in the ways in which we seek entertainment and communication. The world of finance isn’t far behind, with the development of FinTech (consumer products with a mixture of finance and technology). In fact, global investment in FinTech companies rose to $17.4 billion in 2016. This new wave has sparked a surge in the creation of mobile applications to assist you in managing your budget and controlling your expenses. With an abundance of apps available to help consumers manage money, find out which are the highest rated ones and most worthy of your time.
#1) Mint (Free)
The Mint app is one of the most recommended money management apps, with more than 10 million downloads, and its appearance in PC Mag and The New York Times. You simply link your bank accounts to the app, which will give you access to the information that Mint provides, such as your expenses, your budget, your investments, and even your credit score. It also offers you options like bill pay alerts. This app stands out with the fact that all those services are completely free. Compared to other money management apps on the market, it offers the same, or even better services, but with no monthly or yearly fee.
#2) GoodBudget (Free)
GoodBudget is another app designed to help you control your expenses. This app is based on the old system of using envelopes for each expense and assigning a budgeted amount of cash for each envelope. Thus, one spends more cautiously, and if you run out of envelope money, you likely won’t exceed the budget limit. GoodBudget uses this exact same concept in their easy to use app. You can access your account from the mobile app or from a computer. Most people would benefit from the free membership when it comes to managing their finances, yet people with larger budgets could opt-in for the paid version of the service.
#3) Expensify (Free)
This is an excellent application for those who are self-employed and need to keep up with expense management for their businesses. Expensify is a tool developed for expense report management, as well as the capture and tracking of receipts, which is very advantageous for frequent business travelers. One of its most popular features is that it lets you take photos of receipts; that way, you don't have to worry about organizing paper receipt after receipt.
#4) Acorns (Free for students)
Finance experts always recommend that people start investing as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the investment world can be intimidating, especially with how little most people know about money management. That's why the Acorns app was created to help new and inexperienced people enter the world of investing. The app adjusts your spending on purchases on credit or debit cards linked to your account by rounding up to the next dollar, and transferring the change rounded up to a computer-managed investment portfolio. It’s also praised and recommended for providing educational content for new investors. Just keep in mind that this is an app targeted to younger college students with no investment experience, which means that for everybody else, the service costs $ 1 per month.
#5) Fudget (Free)
Fudget is an application for those who want simplicity in design and operation. This application is a simple and fast alternative to complex personal finance apps with all the fancy bells and whistles. If you’re already on track with an existing personal budget and want to manually enter expenses instead of linking your bank account to an app, you're in the right place!
#6) Wallaby (Free)
It is all too easy to fall into the trap of spending excessively with credit cards. This is why this app is for people who know how to manage credit cards responsibly. All types of credit cards have rewards programs different from others. If you have several credit cards, you can use the app to indicate which of them you should use in each store you visit to get the most out of your credit card rewards.
#7) BillGuard (Free)
Technology and mobile apps aren’t just ideal for cost control. They can also be used to protect you from unauthorized payments with your credit cards. BillGuard shows you every purchase you make with your card, and it also notifies you if a transaction looks suspicious, which you can use to verify you made the purchase. In addition, it keeps you informed by alerting you in case there’s a data breach at establishments like retailers.
Saving and managing your finances wisely is important, because it allows you to plan for the future, such as a car purchase. Infinity Insurance understands that, and for that reason, make sure you have a team of reliable people at your service when driving your vehicle. Call an Infinity agent at 1-800-INFINITY or get an online quote today.