9 Best Apps to help you budget and save your personal finances

Whether you are planning to retire early or seeking to resolve your debt burdens, budgeting your finances is essential. Budgeting also comes in handy when you are looking to achieve certain financial goals and it helps you make the most out of your money.

What modern applications provide is convenience and a breakdown of the expenditure which simplifies the whole budgeting process. They come with a range of benefits from easy tracking to clear organization which help you successfully budget your expenditure.

Here are the best ten apps you can use to manage and save your personal income.

Chip

This is a great app if you find saving up being a challenge. The app analyses your spending habits and uses this to determine the amounts you are able to save.

The money you are able to save is then deposited to a separate Chip account held with Barclays Bank. You have the ability to increase or decrease your savings, expenditure and even move it up to $100 a day though this has to be done manually.

This app’s big advantage is the seamless way it allows you to make savings without interrupting with your current expenditure.

This helps you overcome the temptation to overspend and you hardly feel the pinch as your savings are conveniently tucked away. Take a look at this extensive review of Chip for more information.

Mint.com

This is one of the best apps in the market largely due to its versatile features. It allows you to keep track and organize your income, expenditure, savings and budget from one platform. Better still you can organize and synchronize your investments across the different platforms. It is free and available for both Android and iOS users.

This app helps you see the flow of your money and it notifies you on any charges out of the ordinary while alerting you when you go above budget. The real-time tracking of your expenditure is great providing you with a clear picture of your financial situation. A look at all the features and benefits this app offers will help you determine its suitability to your circumstance.

BillGuard

If you have a heavy reliance on either your debit or credit card for your expenditure, this is an app you should definitely consider having.

It’s always a challenge to keep track of all the swiping you do and BillGuard comes in handy at such times. One reason you should consider this app is to monitor fraudulent charges to your card.

With Billguard, you are able to keep track and account for every transaction you make as the app is synced to all your bank accounts enabling you to understand your expenditure better.

This helps you identify areas you can cut back on your spending while providing protection. Here’s a great overview of the features and utility of the app.

Mvelopes

This app is almost the equivalent of having a financial planner on your mobile phone. The app is free and available for both Android and iOS users.

With Mvelopes, you get to set up a monthly financial plan based on your income.

It uses an envelope structure where you define your budget and obtain a view of how much you can spend on each item. The app also helps you track down your credit and debit transactions from the bank. Here is a detailed look at the app.

Homebudget

This app takes the award for best organization and easy navigation. Its intuitive interface comes with readymade categories like expenses, budget, account, and income.

Next to these categories are the amounts for each tab and below them is a chart indicating your total income and the balance remaining. You also get three other tabs where you can get your regular Payees, Reports, and a search tab.

It is great for freelancers and entrepreneurs looking to organize their income flow while everyone else can easily use it to observe and manage their finances.

You can even organize documents for various transactions within the app. It comes with a number of benefits including the ability to sync with other family members. You can get the lite version for free while the advanced one comes at a cost and is available on both iOS and Android.

Level

If you are looking for a better way to keep track and plan for your future expenses, then Level is the app you are looking for. It calculates your average daily spend and uses this to forecast your weekly, monthly and annual expenditure.

Using this, it is able to let you know whether you can sustain your current expenditure with your income.

The app lets you know where you need to cut on your expenditure by allowing you to keep track of individual categories and see the overall impact each has on your income. It is available on iOS and Android and its range of features make it one of the best financial management apps.

Unsplurge

If you are looking for a tool that will help you plan your savings and meet specific financial goals, Unsplurge is the app to go for. It allows you to execute delayed gratification and helps you keep the progress of the savings. All you do is set up an account and customize your goal.

Every time you save you will have to come and log in your savings to see your progress. There is an online community where you get to see other users and their progress in attaining their goals and you can discuss various tips for frugal living to help you attain your goal.

It works more as an accountability tool than a budget resource.

Qapital

This is arguably the most fun-filled app in this list. This app which is available both on android and iOS for free allows you to plan and save for specific goals. However, it helps you make the actual savings by automatically deducting certain amounts of money based on rules you have set.

Frugal expenditure is rewarded by the set amount while penalties in form of savings are dealt for extravagance.

The app allows you to have great freedom on the rules with a variety of settings and features that make savings easy and fun. You will need to open an account with Qapital to use the app. The savings do not accrue interest as that is how the company makes money.

GoodBudget

If you are just starting out on the whole budgeting and saving affair, then the budget app to review is GoodBudget. It also uses the old age formula or budgeting your finances using envelopes in different categories. You define the categories and allocate money for each based on your usual expenditure. You can also get to set up recurring payments based on the frequency of their payment.

Once you have allocated the amount to each envelope, you will be logging in every transaction you make and the amount is deducted from the envelope.

You can also have an envelope for savings and easily set targets that limit your expenditure. There is an irregular option for cash flow that is not routine. This app helps you actively track every expenditure and chart a financial plan to follow.

With so many apps in the market, it may be a challenge to identify the right one for you so we hope this list has been useful to you. While reviews can help you cut down on the number of apps to look at, only a personal experience will help you make the right pick. There are several methods to use to evaluate if an app will be effective for you or not.

Conclusion

An app is not going to force you to set aside some money or spend less. The best most can do is automatically deduct savings from your checking account.

What they however bring is the ability to organize and work out a clear plan. They add convenience and motivation to personal finance management.

With the right apps, you get to enjoy the full benefits of budgeting and chart your way to financial freedom. This article is not exhaustive but just a guideline, you can share your thoughts on budget and if you have used some share your experience in the comments below and let us know of any you recommend.

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