Money is undoubtedly one of the biggest stressors in our lives, and getting your personal finances in check is no easy feat.
With so many personal finance apps available, it can be tough to know which apps will put you on the right track for fiscal health.
Here are the ones worth downloading.
Best app for understanding your spending: Wally
What does it do? Wally lets you keep track of your spending, and encourages you to think about why that purchase was worth the cast. The app lets you scan receipts and add notes to your purchases to explain them. It then gives you a detailed picture of how you’re spending, including which categories (e.g. food or fun) you splurge on the most and on which days you tend to reach for your wallet for frequently than others.
And, in contrast to a number of personal finance apps, Wally doesn’t need to link up to your bank account to work, meaning there’s an extra level of security.
What does it cost? It’s free for both iOS and Android users.
Best app for budgeting: Mint
What does it do? Mint, which links to your bank accounts, gives you a full breakdown of
your financial health, including how much money you have stored in your bank accounts and how much debt they have to their name. The app creates budgets for you based on your previous spending per category (e.g. food, entertainment), and notifies you when you go over your limit. The app also lets you check your credit score inside the app for free.
What does it cost? The app is free for iOS andAndroid users.
Best app for making the most of your credit cards: Wallaby
What does it do? Wallaby links to all of your accounts and then keeps track of your credit card spending, from notifying you when you’re spending too much or if there’s suspicious activity on your account. Its killer app, though, is that it identifies which card is best for you to use in a given store depending on the possibilities to minimize interest or get rewards on a purchase.
And for those who are worried about linking their accounts, you don’t need to do that to use this best card feature. In fact, you can just identify the types of cards you use and Wallaby will tell you which one you should swipe.
What does it cost? The app is free for iOS and Androidusers.
Best app for saving: Digit
What does it do? For people who have long struggled with saving money, Digit is a smart choice — the app helps you save money without forcing you to think about it. The app connects to your bank account and analyzes your spending habits. Then, every few days, it takes a small amount from your checking account based on its estimate of how much you can afford to put in a Digit savings account. You can withdraw from the Digit account as much as you want (it will take one day for the money to transfer.)
What does it cost? The app is free for iOS. The app isn’t available for Android yet, but users can add their name to a waitlist to be notified once that version is released.
Best app for investing: Acorns
What does it do? Acorns is a great app for inexperienced investors. You can create an account and link it to your bank account. The app will also select the best investment portfolio for you based on your financial health. You must first make an initial investment of at least $5. You can continue to make investments manually, or choose to let Acorns invest your spare change. (Example: If you spent $4.30 on a cup of coffee, Acorns will invest $0.60).
What does it cost? The app costs nothing to download for iOS and Android users, but there are fees (though substantially lower than traditional broker fees.) Portfolios under $5,000 have to pay $1 a month, while portfolios over $5,000 are charged $0.25 of their portfolio per year. College students, however, pay nothing for four years, so long as they have a valid college email.
