3 Amazing Apps to Help You Stick to Budget
A great way to become more responsible and mindful of your spending habits is to create a budget, and in today’s world, there are lots of apps that can pretty much do it for you. This makes budgeting more convenient, simple, and user-friendly. Using a budgeting app can help you to stay on top of your spending, and also significantly improve your financial situation.
The following apps are generally popular with consumers, affordable, and simple to use. Take a look at these app descriptions and their features to find the one that is best for you!
Mint
Price: Free
Platforms: IOS, Android, Internet
If you have seen budgeting apps before, you have probably come across mint at some point. Mint is a helpful and easy-to-use app that helps track your spending, create new budgets, and notify you if it notices any overspending. The app also categorizes your spending so that you can see trends as well as problems areas in your budget that need trimming.
Mint also offers its customers a webpage that has more features than the app. You can even obtain a free credit score, move money from your checking account to your savings, and create spreadsheets with financial information.
Pocketguard
Price: Free
Platforms: IOS, Android, Internet
This app is often compared with Mint because of its many similarities, but it is a budgeting app all its own. Pocketguard allows you to see each one of your transactions and can put them into formats such as graphs, charts, and spreadsheets. You can set goals, put a limit on your spending, and attach notes to each of your transactions. It also lets you know whether you can afford a large purchase, how much cash you have available, and how much you have to spend at any given time overall. Your personal information is kept under bank-level security and encrypted as well.
Chime
Price: Free
Platforms: IOS, Internet, Apple Watch
Chime is a free app that is actually it’s own bank, which makes it very different from the other budgeting apps. You can open a new checking account with Chime Bank, and they will mail you a Visa debit card. You can also set up a savings account and use the app's “Save When I Spend” feature. This will round up each of your transactions to the nearest dollar, sending the remainder over to your savings account. There is also another feature called, “Save When I Get Paid”; this feature will automatically save 10% of each paycheck which is deposited into your savings account directly.
A huge plus to this app is that it provides you with free access to more than 25,000 ATMs throughout the United States. There are also no overdraft fees or minimum balance required for the bank accounts.
If you don't have the time or money to budget this year, you may need the convenience and speed of payday loans. A payday loan can put cash into your pocket in as little as 30 minutes and help you get back on your feet in time for the holiday season. But if you don't want to rely on payday loans later, budgeting apps are great tools to help you take control over your money. Using them may take some time to get the hang of at first, but it will pay off immensely when you do. Happy budgeting!
Note: The content provided in this article is only for informational purposes, and you should contact your financial advisor about your specific financial situation.