Best Budget and Money Management Apps

Times are hard. Whether you make a lot of money or you are barely making to the end of the month, keeping track of where your money is going is important. There are plenty of ways you can track and record your investments, spendings, etc. Since most of the time your smartphone is with you in your pocket, mobile apps are a great option to track everything.

There are plenty of apps available on the market and new arrivals pop up every week or so. Therefore, dividing good apps from poorly built ones can be a big problem. A good app can save you from the complexity of managing your personal finance life. It can show you specific problems with your finances like lack of savings, excessive credit card debts, spendings on things you don't use or need (gym memberships) or can help you with digitizing or editing your receipts.

Budgeting apps can be compared to Apple Watches where instead of tracking and reporting time and your heartbeat, your budget app will monitor your earnings and spendings. So the question is, which budget and money management apps are the best in class? We compiled a list of the ones we think are the most interesting, each having strengths of money management apps with some unique features that stand out.

Image to Word Converter

This is the best way to convert images of your receipts or other financial documents to MS Word right on your mobile device. Simply take a photo of your paper or onscreen document and the app will do its magic. It will convert it to editable MS Word document with ease. 

Powerful OCR engine is used for conversions so excellent text recognition and conversion quality are guaranteed. Most popular cloud service like iCloud, Dropbox and Google Drive are supported which means you can convert images directly from the cloud. Instead of using a scanner and then converting scans to editable files, let this app do the job for you and save you time in the process.

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

Mint

There are barely any things not to like about the Mint app. The app seamlessly syncs to your bank account and tracks all your incomes and expenses. It creates personal budget tailored just for you, tracks all your bills and even provides notifications and alerts so you never miss out any payments. 

Mint regularly informs you about your credit score and provides you with special tips and strategy ideas on how to improve it without using a credit card. The app can work across many different financial platforms like brokerage or retirement savings account, your bank account, credit card account etc. And the best thing is, it's free to use.

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

Acorns

Everyone knows that it is smart to invest some money, right? But it's often easier said than done. To save you time with finding great investment options, we decided to introduce you to the Acorns app. It is very similar to Qapital app. The only difference is that instead of saving a virtual change it took from your account, it reinvests it. 

This is the great way to start investing with literally no effort from your side. You simply set everything up and the app will do the rest. The app invests your money in the diversified investment portfolio of stocks and bonds that you own. Or you can choose to save money for retirement.

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

PocketGuard

The name of the app is self-explanatory. Simply said, the app will save you from overspending. It links to all your financial accounts and track and compare your spendings to your monthly budget. It is very easy to set up the app and connect it to all your accounts. 

It will track your monthly income, savings, expenses, and bills. You even have an option to track specific bills and the app will help you find opportunities to save even more. For example, PocketGuard can look at bills from TV, cable or phone companies and try to find a better deal on your monthly services.

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

Venmo

It is one of the best apps developed for splitting the cost of a bill with your friends. The service is similar to PayPal (which owns Venmo) but at the same time unique in its own way. It enables users to share and like payments through social media. Logically, the service is very popular with the millennial generation. 

This is how the app functions: if you want someone to pay you, you simply send them your personal QR code and they will then add you as a receiver. The transaction limit is $299.99 per week and for authorized merchant payments your limit is $2999.99 weekly.

Price: Free

Available on: Android and iOS

As you can see there are plenty of great apps in this space and it was really hard to choose 5 of the best. The key to succeed with money budgeting is to pick one or maybe more and stick to them. Learn how everything functions, apply it to your finances and reach desired goals.

Christmas Debt Still Have you Down - 3 Ways to Bridge that Financial Gap

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

Spending money at Christmas time can take a significant toll in the New Year, with many people starting January with serious debts from the previous year. From dealing with food bills to making payments towards presents, and including the need to meet high energy bills, many people choose to find ways to bridge their financial gaps after Christmas to avoid sliding further into their overdrafts. There are many ways to stabilise your finances in the New Year, which, while representing calculated risks, can help you to get a head start on 2013.

Short Term Loans

For most people, it can be necessary to take out some kind of short term loan in the New Year to cover their spending at the end of the year. There are a wide range of different options available to you for loans, but with the complication that you’ll need a good credit history and report to gain access to loans with favourable interest rates and repayment schedules. A short term personal loan from a bank can be taken out on a 12 to 18 month repayment schedule with fixed interest rates, but only if you’re able to provide a strong credit report.

If you have bad credit, then your loan options are going to be more limited to higher risk deals. Examples of these deals include payday loans, which are repayable when you receive your next wage slip; while payday loans are easy to apply for and receive, you face the problem of paying very high APR on your initial borrowing, as well as extensive minor fees and penalties. In this context, you’ll need to make a careful decision as to whether you actually need to borrow money for an emergency, or whether it’s better to avoid taking on further debt.

Pawnbroking

Another option when it comes to bridging your finances is to use a local pawnbrokers. It’s possible to boost your finances by taking part in a buy back scheme, where you use a valuable item as collateral on a loan; this might involve exchanging jewellery or gold for cash, and then buying back the item by paying for its resale value with interest added. Alternatively, you can use a pawnbroker to directly sell your items, while also taking advantage of short term cash loans and gold valuation services to make the most of any possessions that can be put forward as collateral for a loan.

Financial Management

In all these cases, however, you’ll have to decide whether a short term financial boost is really needed, and whether you’ll be incurring further debts after spending beyond your means at Christmas. The New Year should also represent an opportunity to start putting aside money for the rest of the year, and to target financial independence through savings and paying off existing debts; this can be achieved by making use of tax free savings accounts like ISAs, by seeking financial advice from credit unions, and by downloading personal finance apps that will help you to balance your short and long term budgets.



About the Author:Patrick Hegarty has been supporting his family on a low income for many years. He has found selling his unwanted items a great way to supplement his income. He can be found blogging about different subjects from balancing finances to family life.