5 popular money management apps to help you manage your finances

According to a survey by the job search firm CareerBuilder, the numbers of people in the country who live from paycheck to paycheck is staggering, irrespective of how much one is earning. For instance, a whopping 9% of those people who earn $100,000 or more annually also felt that they lived from paycheck to paycheck most of the time, if not always. While earnings can sometimes stay outside our territory of control, we can certainly do something about managing money in a better way. Keeping one’s budget balanced will not only help people stay on track financially but will also go a long way in alleviating one’s stress levels when it comes to financial health. Managing money can also reduce your stress when it comes to money and your long-term financial health.

However, your money management methods and systems matter too. If your idea of money management is a wad of cash spread across various wallets and a huge, unsorted folder full of receipts, then you need to reshuffle, rethink, and reorganize. While there are countless ways to do that, the best way to keep track of spending, budget, etc. is via money management apps. You will not only get a handle on your spending habits but these apps will also help sort out and organize your finances in the long run. Listed below are the best personal finance and money management apps for the coming year:

Mint

When it comes to money management apps, mint.com is somewhat of a fan favorite. The intuitive app helps people in managing their earnings, budget, saving, spending, and even allows syncing all accounts, right from one’s savings accounts to IRA and 401k. This organized money management app provides a big picture of one’s financial standing, showing all of one’s recent transactions, accounts usage patterns, totals in accounts, monthly budget patterns, credit scores and history, categorized spending patterns, real time movement of cash, and even allows for alerts when your spending goes over your budget. What’s more? This website even sends a free credit score on each sign-up. This app is particularly helpful for credit card users, making them aware of how much money they really spent and really have left every month.

GoodBudget

The GoodBudget money management app, which was earlier known as EEBA, asks users to digitally apportion their funds into different “envelopes” for every month, essentially divvying up the user’s monthly spending according to their lifestyle and habits. Few examples are credit card payments, loans, bills such as electricity, phone, cable, internet, etc., entertainment, food, and the likes. For those expenses that appear regularly in one’s budget, the app allows users to set up recurring payments for those expenses—they can be monthly, biweekly, weekly, etc. This money management app essentially helps users understand their spending habits in a way that answers the question—where is my money going exactly? This is what makes this app great for freelancers too as well as those people who don’t have a regular paycheck option.

BillGuard

BillGuard essentially has two chief objectives—to protect your cards from fraudulent charges and to make you realize your spending habits, which, when it comes to tracking one’s spending, are two very vital goals. Firstly, one needs to sync BillGuard with their bank accounts after which the money management app shows the total balance as well as the amount of spending for that month. Every single transaction can be accounted for using a swiping motion, ensuring whether the transactions were actually made or were fraudulent. So, if one did make the transaction, one needs to swipe right. If one didn’t make it, then they will be guided through the process of helping them recognize the transaction, reporting to the bank, etc. after swiping left. The “All” tab summarizes all transactions along with date, amount, and the merchant.

Expensify

The Expensify app has a great user-friendly interface divided into 4 major sections: Track Distance, Track Time, Add Expense, and SmartScan. The SmartScan feature is one of this app’s best features. It allows users to take photos, save, and categorize payment receipts and bills electronically, thus saving them the hassle of collecting and keeping track of countless receipts. For those who aren’t comfortable with that, the app allows them to input data manually as well. Users can even classify expenses as reimbursable or billable, thereby stabilizing the cash flow. This money management app works great for those who travel by car and want to keep track of distance for billing clients. One can even track time to keep track of earnings by the hour. This app essentially offers users the big as well as the small, focused picture of one’s financial health.

The Birdy

This addictive money management app works like this—every day, users need to reply to an email the app sends you, which contains a transaction list the user remembers for the day. Also, the app immediately provides the user with a diagram of where all their money has been deployed in the form of a pretty, handy pie chart. What’s more? This money management app is free.