The best personal finance apps allow users the chance to personalize their budget plans so that they can stay organized as they work towards their financial goals. Tracking spending is a very important part of sticking to a budget, but these apps also help you get an ongoing, live picture of your finances so that you can stay motivated as you work towards achieving financial security.
Here are some of the best personal finance apps currently available.
Pocket Guard
This app is available for both iOS and Android devices. With it, you can perform all the basics like watching your chequing account balance and planning for regular expenses. Pocket Guard also allows users to track credit card accounts. The best thing about this app is that you can break down your budget into daily segments. This will help you to see how much you have to spend each day in order to stay on your budget.
GoodBudget
This app puts a high tech spin on a very old budgeting technique. Some thrifty budgeters used to withdraw cash from their bank each month and keep it in envelopes. They used one envelope for each type of expense. (For example, they had one envelope for food, another for entertainment, one for gas, and so on). GoodBudget digitizes this idea by allowing users to plan and track their spending in different categories.
Level Money
This app does a lot of the budgeting heavy lifting for you. You input monthly expenses and monthly net income, and the app subtracts the regular expenses and tells you how much you have left over. You can then set it to tell you how much you have to spend each day, each week or for the remainder of the month.
Mint
One of the biggest online personal finance apps comes from Mint. Mint aims to be an all-in-one tool. It can track your credit score, send alerts when payments are due or balances are low, and plan monthly budgets based on income and spending habits. Mint is certainly a muscular personal finance resource, but it will take time to learn all the different tools that the site and the app offer. Those looking for simplicity might be better off somewhere else, but Mint is a great option for people looking for a full-featured budgeting tool.
What about loans?
Most of these apps will not help you get a loan (though you may see loan services advertised on some of them). The best option for borrowing a smaller amount of money (to help you cover expenses for the month, for example) is to apply for an online personal loan. These loans do not require a full credit check, and approval takes a matter of hours. You can then add the loan repayment information into your chosen finance app so that you can plan to pay it off in a timely manner.