Save Money Live Better Using These 11 Financial Apps
Currently, smartphones dominate the spectrum of communication. Not only because of the ability to connect to the internet, but because they have become very useful tools; thanks to the fact that we can turn them into important allies for carrying out different tasks using apps that can be installed.
If you live in the US, these smartphone apps will make saving, paying bills and investing so much easier. It is important that before using any application, you do your research on each platform and accept any risks that it may entail so that you can save money live better.
What are Apps and what are they for?
As you know, there are thousands of these programs designed for smartphones and tablets, which you can download from an application store such as the iOS App Store, the Android store, Google Play and the Microsoft Store, among others.
Productivity apps can help you with all kinds of tasks, for example, to find out how to save money, and they even offer you a direct connection to mobile banking and paying your bills over the Internet.
Transportation and food apps make your life easier by saving you time.
Entertainment apps are very popular, as they allow you to enjoy content on demand, such as your favorite music, movies and series.
Now, let’s look into some favorable apps that can allow you to save money, and allow you to live better as they will guide you into financial responsibility.
Mint
With over 20 million users, Mint is one of the most popular personal finance and bill management apps in the United States. In addition to being free, with Mint you can concentrate all your accounts in one place and track and categorize your bank account, credit card, loan and mortgage expenses as well as your income and investments. This gives you an overview of the state of your finances and allows you to create budgets and know exactly how you are managing your money.
Mint also includes options for setting and following long-term and short-term goals - such as creating an emergency fund or paying off certain debts - bill payment notification, monitoring your credit score, and recommendations based on your credit, habits, and financial goals.
Advantages
Perfect for those whose finances are not that complicated and for those who want to manage them from one place.
It is also very useful not to forget to pay bills.
The app is available for iOS and Android platforms and its main focus is to allow users to save money live better.
Disadvantages
Mint's investment tools are very basic and many users have problems with syncing and reconciling bank accounts.
Not available outside of North America.
Expense Control
Expense Control is a highly flexible application that allows you to organize and control your expenses and income through chronological lists, by groups or by projects. This can greatly facilitate the control of finances in your home or business thanks to the possibility of creating accounts, wallets, budgets and lists for specific groups and projects.
Another option in this application is to attach photos of receipts and invoices for all your expenses so that you can keep track of them and organize them later. Also, you can generate reports in Excel and send them through email, Dropbox, Google docs or Evernote.
Advantages
Expenses and income can be included in different currencies.
Disadvantages
The interface can be difficult to understand and some updates do not work well on newer devices.
YNAB
Creating and following a budget is a very difficult task for many people, which is why YNAB has become one of the most popular personal finance apps on the market to guide users to save money. This application uses the envelope system and is exclusively designed so that you can keep a budget and stick with it.
YNAB's budgeting philosophy is based on 4 principles, and the system is designed to help you follow them:
Each dollar should have a specific purpose
By telling your money where to go and what to do as soon as you receive it, you gain discipline and control over it.
Spread expenses throughout the year
Take the largest and least frequent expenses (annual premiums, birthdays, or vacations) and spread them throughout the year. This way you will have more control over your budget in months with higher expenses.
There are always unforeseen events that will lead you to spend more in some months than in others
The same system gives you suggestions to spend less in certain categories and cover these contingencies.
You will also learn how to invest
The secret to controlling your expenses and starting to save is to increase the time between receiving the income and spending the money.
Honeydue
Are you having financial problems with your partner? This application aims to get couples on "the same page" and reduce arguments related to money.
Honeydue allows couples to share and comment on each other's transactions, as well as manage bill reminders, such as their home rent so as to save money live better.
Movii
Paying your bills has never been easier. You just have to follow these steps and recommendations to pay bills online:
Enter the App in the option Pay bills.
Select how you want to find your invoice.
You can look for it in one of our categories: electricity, gas, water.
You can select the city, to better filter our agreements.
Search by the name of the agreement or invoice.
Or in the lower button you can select scan invoice and there you only need the barcode of your physical invoice. Select how you want to find your invoice.
After finding the agreement, you would pay the invoice, but always check that the information and the name of the agreement are correct.
Tip: Remember that you can add your invoice as a favorite, so you can have it on hand, every time you want to make the payment. It’s also important that you keep in mind that there are Mixed invoices, that is; that you can pay them with the scanner or with the name of the agreement.
PRISM
Prism is a bill management app that you should definitely download and keep to keep track of your bills and other financially significant accounts. You get to keep all accounts in one app so as to have easy access to them all. The app will also give you a full picture of what your finances look like. The app boasts thousands of billers, which includes large financial institutions and small utility companies participating. All you have to do is to add your bills or accounts to the app.
The app will help you to track bills and expenses automatically; sending you reminders of your due dates and helping you to stay current with your payments. You can schedule your monthly bill payments for the same day or some future advance date. You don’t have to log in to different accounts. Everything is listed once you log in.
Explore Possibilities to Save Your Money. Meet Billry.
Qapital
If you want to save for a certain purpose, this application works with realistic goals using various criteria to make the saving process easier. The rules can be automated and can be created to suit you. For example:
Save $10 every time you go to the gym
Saving for that trip to Thailand every time you order takeout
Spend less than $20 at a coffee shop and save the difference to buy a new vehicle
Arbor
Arbor is a 100% free financial health app and digital piggy bank, which allows you to save money automatically in your day to day transactions. It helps you to pay off your debts and invest. It makes saving easy!
What is Arbor?
You can use the app to save, cancel debts and invest. You can use the app to cancel debts to pay less interest and invest using the amount you have saved. Arbor is the perfect application for you to take care of your money. You get everything in the same app including bill payment. You don't need to be a personal finance expert to manage your money. You just need to use the right tools ... like Arbor.
With the built-in calculator, you will be able to know how much your debt is really costing you, create a savings goal to pay a higher monthly payment and pay off your debt with less interest and faster. Thinking about saving if you have to pay off debt can be difficult. Save the money you are paying to the bank in interest, and paying off that debt faster. How?
Saving with Arbor is the solution. Saving is the only way to cancel debts, and if you can save automatically, the better.
Mobills
Mobills helps you to organize and categorize your expenses. In so doing, you will be able to track how you spend your money and how well you are budgeting. You get to view the amount of money you have in your account, which you can spend and still keep within your budget. You also get to see if you are overspending so you can restrict spending and manage your money better.
This could be considered an app which is great for planning your budget. It has interactive charts; allowing you to assess your finances. You can use the app to adjust your spending and meet your financial goals. It also allows you to add your billing information, which includes due dates and amounts; guiding you on how to pay your bills on time. If you get the free version, you will find that the functionality is limited. You would have to upgrade to premium to get the best use of the app.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is one of those apps that help you save toward retirement and learn how to invest money to arrive at your financial goals in a timely manner. It helps you to organize and track expenses and the interface is easy to navigate; giving you options on paying bills, investing, buying stock and managing your bank accounts. You will be able to do comparison of your stocks and market shares as well as retirement accounts. It can be downloaded on both Android and iOS platforms.
Spendee
Spendee is great for bill paying and curtailing your spending and managing your expenses. It allows you the option of creating shared wallets so as to manage household expenses with other family members who want to be kept in the loop. You have access to a bill tracker feature, which makes sure that your bills are paid on time and with it, you avoid paying your bills late. It is great for budget planning. If you have to plan a vacation, you have the option of creating a specific category for this and the spending that will go into it so you can maintain a specific budget.
The Goalry Mall
The main concept of the Goalry platform is that it offers you a ‘one stop shopping mall’ where you can find products to help you meet your financial goals. It gives you the option of comparison shopping for things related to money and finances.
On its first floor, you will find a social community where you can interact with others who are trying to seek the same goals as you. You can exchange ideas with them.
The second floor offers financial education.
The third floor is the finance store where you will find all the related products.
Billry Platform
There are many other similar options in the Goalry platform where users get to access bill paying features in the new “Billry” feature. It is highly recommended. If you want to get the scoop on how to meet your financial goals and learn how to manage your money, the Goalry platform offers several ways that you can do so including “Billry,” which teaches you how to stay abreast of your bill paying schedule.
Billry allows you to view the status of your bills and give you ideas on how you can save and budget. It allows you to control your spending and with its innovative features, you will be able to organize and categorize your bills; from the first due date to the amount. You get to view all details of your bills and use the information to avoid late fees. You get an overview of how you can save on energy, the Internet and gas; among other things.
Conclusion
Regularly examining where we spend our money seems to be key to making a successful budget. If you are constantly reminded of how much you have spent, it is more painful to pay for the next item and so you will likely refrain from spending more.