There’s an App for That: 5 Top Personal Finance Apps
Looking for a better way to budget your expenses, track your investments, monitor your credit score, or even pay your bills? As Apple would say, “There’s an app for that!”
Today, we’ll consider five popular personal finance apps and uncover what services they provide, whether there’s a cost associated with the app, and how you can utilize these apps to monitor your finances better.
Most Popular: Mint by Intuit
Boasting that it’s the number-one most downloaded personal finance app, more than 25 million users have downloaded Mint. The main reason why: it’s free. Of course, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” so you’ll see financial product ads while using the app, but let’s break down a few of the other reasons why Mint is a popular finance app.
One app for all your finance needs. By uploading your checking and savings accounts, credit cards, investments, and loans, Mint combines all of your accounts in one place. This gives you an overview of all your financials, helping keep track of your income, expenses, and investments.
Budgeting. Mint categorizes your expenses across accounts to give a better picture of your budget, where you’re spending, and how you can save more. You can also track your monthly and yearly subscription fees and bills, receiving notifications when bills are due, or fees rise. Tracking automatic renewals for services like Amazon Prime, Netflix, LinkedIn Premium, and more is included, too.
Portfolio Tracking. Upload your investments from your personal portfolio, IRAs, 401Ks, or other retirement funds, and easily track how your investments fare in the current climate. Mint also uncovers hidden fees to help you pinpoint the unnecessary ones.
Credit Score. The Mint app also provides credit score updates and information on how the various bureaus calculate your credit score. You can not only check out your current credit score for free, but you can also see how your on-time payments, accounts, and credit usage all play into your overall score.
It’s secure. Mint utilizes several security measures, including a four-digit code, touch ID, and multifactor authentication, as well as VeriSign for data transfers. You’re also able to delete all of your sensitive information immediately from a remote location if your smartphone is lost or stolen.
Wealth Management: Schwab Mobile App
The Schwab Mobile app focuses primarily on wealth management, personal investments, and banking. In addition, Schwab is a leading custodian for fiduciary financial advisory and investment management clients, and supports the integration of a customized hybrid approach for individual investors who want to manage part of their investments on their own and want them to be viewable by their Financial Advisor (and/or able to be managed by their Fiduciary Investment Manager).
Can be free. The standard Schwab Mobile app is free to use. Still, you also have the option to utilize the company’s robo-investment management services and have access to customized banking services, insurance, and other investment products. Schwab’s custody business also provides a platform for investors who want to integrate some of both (personal investment management and fiduciary advisory & management services) into the control of their finances.
Retirement Planning. This feature enables you to delve deeper into your retirement plans. You can consider different scenarios and how they could impact your retirement savings—and even select one of these scenarios if it better helps you achieve your goals. You can create a spending plan for your retirement, account for expenses like your children’s college education or second home, and add all of your current income sources (pension, Social Security, etc.).
Investment Tracking. With an easy-to-use dashboard, the app gives you an overview of the performance of your investments, changes to your net worth, allocation comparisons, and your budget. It also offers a Fee Analyzer to uncover any hidden fees associated with your investments.
It’s secure. Schwab uses industry-standard encryption to ensure that your sensitive information remains private and safe and provides 100% coverage of losses due to unauthorized activity.
Budgeting: You Need a Budget
You Need a Budget, or YNAB, enables its users to gain a better grasp of their spending habits by helping you develop a budget based on four main principles: 1) Decide where you’re spending your money before you spend it, 2) Break down your expenses into manageable monthly bills, 3) Adjust your budget when necessary, and 4) Only spend money that is at least 30 days old. By following these principles, the app boasts that users save $600 in their first two months and more than $6,000 in the first year.
Free Trial. YNAB offers a free 34-day trial, and you don’t need to supply a credit card to get started. After that, it costs $84 per year (or $11.99 per month), but it also has a 100% money-back guarantee.
Budget Creation. With YNAB, you can upload all of your bank accounts to have a complete picture of your financial situation and then develop a budget. You’ll allocate your funds according to your needs, learn how to make wise spending decisions, and determine when to adjust your budget during the month based on circumstances. You’ll also set spending and saving goals and receive detailed reports with graphs and charts throughout the month to show your progress.
Workshops and Support. YNAB offers 20-minute, free seminars every day to help you learn the four YNAB rules, develop a budget, curb your overspending, pay down debt, save money, etc. It also provides a personal support team standing by seven days a week to answer your questions.
It’s secure. YNAB ensures that they protect your personal information by encrypting data, using accredited data centers, and bcrypt hash all passwords. The app’s infrastructure is also built on the technology of Amazon Web Services (AWS), which government agencies trust to protect their sensitive data.
Curb Overspending: PocketGuard
If you tend to overspend or are uncertain about the available funds in your account, then PocketGuard might be the right app for you. PocketGuard’s proprietary algorithm enables you to monitor your spending habits, income and expenses, as well as savings, to help you determine how much money is “in your pocket” and how much you can spend each day.
Free and Paid Versions. PocketGuard’s basic features are free, but if you’re looking for cash tracking and/or custom categories in your budget, then you’ll need to pay for the premium service. PocketGuard Plus costs $4.99 per month or $34.99 per year.
All Accounts in One Place. You can upload and link all of your bank accounts, credit cards, investments, and loans in the app to ensure that you’re keeping track of all your money. Then you can see where you’re spending too much and where you can save more. Smart bill reminders also help you track when bills are due, while at the same time pinpoints where you could negotiate for lower bills.
It’s secure. PocketGuard protects all your financial data and sensitive information with 256-bit SSL encryption or the same level of security as major financial institutions. The app also uses a four-digit PIN and biometrics for further protection if your mobile phone is lost or stolen.
Budgeting: EveryDollar
Based on Dave Ramsey’s zero-based budget method, EveryDollar simplifies the budget creation process. The app boasts that you can create a budget in less than 10 minutes and start taking control of your financial future.
Free and Paid Versions. EveryDollar offers a free and paid version. The paid version, EveryDollar Plus, costs $129 per year. With the free version, you’ll have to manually input all your financial information, while the Plus version enables you to connect your financial accounts and track your day-to-day spending.
Budget Creation. EveryDollar aims to help you give every dollar a purpose in your budget. You add in your monthly income and your expected expenses, then link your bank account to input each transaction or purchase you make throughout the month. This tracks outflow within your budget to see how much you’re spending and if you’re staying on track.
Nicollet Investment Management, Inc. isn’t affiliated with and doesn’t endorse any of the aforementioned applications.