Often, individuals end up spending more than needed, either to keep up with the Joneses or because they are unaware of their spending habits, which can lead to debt accumulation. Fortunately, strategies like keeping track of expenses and credit scores, setting aside money for a rainy day, and investing monthly can help individuals manage money. Additionally, budgeting apps can help individuals monitor their spending and achieve financial goals.
Rocket Money
This personal finance app is a must-have for those looking for an easy budgeting experience. It has everything from basic to advanced budgeting features to manage personal finances. Besides that, its app and desktop platform’s interfaces are simple and intuitive. Additionally, the app gives multiple reports and notifications that can help individuals stay updated with daily budgets; it provides information about monthly spending reports and bill increase alerts. Along with this, the app makes it easier to save by allowing automated transfers to any savings account to be set up. This money management app is available as a free tool, with optional premium services that include subscription cancellation and bill negotiation.
Quicken Simplifi
This is a handy app for those who need customized plans for their budgeting and expense-tracking needs. The plans can be created based on each individual’s income and expenses. Besides this, they can easily create a budget and regularly monitor it. Also, they can track their spending habits without any hassles. The interface is quite simple, with a main dashboard that can be linked to multiple accounts. The dashboard is also useful to get snapshots of bank accounts, main spending categories, and spending patterns. Its projected balance tool also allows individuals to view repeat transactions and calculate their overall balance over the next 30 days. The app is useful when an individual wants to get detailed views of all aspects of their financial life, including net worth and investments.
You Need A Budget (YNAB)
The app is based on a zero-based budgeting strategy. With this, an individual has to utilize every dollar that they earn. The app ensures there is no overspending by assigning their entire income to different categories, such as savings goals and bill payments. This is why YNAB is considered a useful budgeting tool for millennials who want to manage their finances in detail. For instance, if they want to save for a big-ticket purchase, such as a new TV, they can set it as a goal in the app with money assigned to it every month. As an expense tracker app, YNAB is slightly more complex than others in terms of organizing and analyzing budgets and expenses. Plus, it is available only as a paid version. Despite this, it is worth the money and complexity for those who want to stay on top of every dollar they earn.
PocketGuard
This is a good option when looking for budgeting apps. It is quite simple to use, as it tracks all expenses based on several categories. This way, individuals can control their spending and pay attention to overall saving goals. Additionally, they can easily link the app to their accounts to automate the tracking process. Along with this, the app has features that allow individuals to track subscription services. It also alerts individuals whenever recurrent expenses can potentially deplete their resources and provides suggestions like low-cost services based on individual profiles. PocketGuard is available as a free and paid version. The free version includes budgeting tools, an expense tracker, and spending reports. Meanwhile, the paid versions allow individuals to make multiple budgets and custom budget categories with a debt payoff plan and unlimited savings goals.
Goodbudget
Creating a budget for the first time can be quite overwhelming. Here is where Goodbudget comes in. It is an app for beginners that simplifies the entire budgeting process. The app uses the popular envelope method, wherein individuals put money in different envelopes labeled for rent, groceries, utility bills, gas, savings, and other expenses for building budgets. Goodbudget employs the same strategy, dividing an individual’s income into digital envelopes or categories. The app’s free version has fixed categories and goals that users can choose from and deposit money in monthly. With the paid version, individuals can make their own unlimited categories.
Honeydue
This app is designed for those who like to keep track of finances with their partners. Both can add their account details and synchronize their credit cards, investments, and loans with a single app. Both partners can also choose how much they want to share. This free budgeting app is quite easy to use, as it automatically creates expense categories. Along with this, it offers the flexibility of creating customized categories. Both partners can set up limits for these expense categories every month. Whenever the expense limits get closer, Honeydue sends alerts to both. Plus, reminders are also sent for bills that are due.