I recently published a pulse post on my LinkedIn about the best free apps to manage your personal finance and I wanted to share it here as well, since it’s pertinent to the theme of this site. Feel free to follow the link to the original post as well! Without further ado…
If you’re a broke college student like me where you’ll do whatever you can to save money, then the word free is very appealing. Why pay for something when you can get the same thing for free? I’m talking about personal finance apps here. There are a lot of great smartphone and tablet apps out there designed to help you manage your personal finances, but it defeats the point a little if you have to shell out a lot of money just to have access to their services. It’s stressful enough learning to manage your money and make smart investment decisions, so to ease some of the pressure, I’ve compiled a list of the best free personal finance apps on the market. It’s never too early to start taking control of your personal finance and planning for the future…you can thank me later!
1.Mint
Mint, which I recommended in another blog post, has the best of everything. It allows total control of your personal finance. Mint links to your bank accounts, thereby allowing you to manage your accounts, monitor your spending, and receive bill reminders and alerts all in one place. The app also helps you create budgets for different categories based on how much you have in your account and your previous spending patterns. You can even check your credit score for free!
2. Wally
Wally is a great app for the beginner investor to understand their spending habits. Wally analyzes your spending by allowing you to upload receipts and add notes to your purchases to explain why you made them. It will then provide you with a detailed explanation of how you’re spending your money, where you splurge the most, and on what days of the week you tend to spend more than others. Wally has the power to help you take charge of your spending, and as an added incentive, you don’t have to link the app to your bank account to use it, so there’s an extra level of security.
3. Acorn
Download this app, and you can save up a whole lot of acorns! Acorns is the perfect tool for the beginner investor. Link your Acorns account to your bank account, and you can choose to invest manually or let the app invest your spare change automatically.
4. Wallaby
A wallaby is an Australian mammal belonging to the same family as kangaroos, and it’s also an app that can help you master your credit cards. How you use the app is up to you. You can link it to your accounts and have it monitor your credit card purchases and notify you if there’s any suspicious activity, or if you’d feel more secure not giving out your account information, that’s fine too! You can use the app’s best card feature to determine which card would be best to use for a given transaction.
5. Prosper Daily
With Prosper Daily in your toolbox, you can live long and prosper! Okay, I’ll stop with the puns. But actually, the name is very fitting. This app will track your spending and protect your credit cards from fraud and errors. You can have some peace of mind knowing that Prosper Daily will alert you of any suspicious charges, and not only that- it allows you to report the charge and will help you get your money back from fraudulent or erroneous charges.
6. Level Money
Level money gives you total control and insight into your disposable income. Learn how to set financial goals for yourself, determine how much “spendable” money you have at your disposal, track expenses, and create a spending guide to keep your purchases in check.
7. Digit
If you download Digit, you will totally dig it! Okay, that’s the last one, I promise. Digit analyzes your income and your spending habits to help you save money. It transfers a small amount of money to a “Digit Savings” account, which can easily be moved into your checking account at any time. This way, you’ll always have some money set aside for a rainy day and won’t be tempted to overspend.
There are so many personal finance apps out there that I only skimmed the surface, but this list should be a good start to help you start taking control of your finances at the most attractive price there is- free! So go download one (or more) of them right now. What are you waiting for?