themoneyshed
Managing your money can be a bit of a chore; bills often seem to increase, and overspending is easily done. The festive period tends to wreak havoc on our finances and leave us a little stressed when January comes around! Perhaps you’re looking for ways to save money? Instead, you might be after a little advice on how to improve your financial health or start investing? Those looking for a few tools to improve their financial game would be well advised to take a look at this selection of apps.
1 . Pocket Guard
PocketGuard is a finance app that can help you to budget and make wise choices on your spending. With PocketGuard, you can link your bills, savings, accounts, investments, and loans, in one place. The app syncs all of your financial activities and designs a budget. You can log your income so that PocketGuard can set a budget based on what you can stand to spend and save. PocketGuard tags transactions in ‘pocket’ categories and then sets up a budget for each of these, which is based on your habits. For example a budget for food, for transport, etc. PocketGuard is also pretty nifty as you can use hashtags to categorize spending associated with a certain trip or event.
2 . Mint
To get started with Mint, log all of your accounts and expenses onto the app. As well as tracking your accounts, you can also use Mint to access your credit score and set reminders on any upcoming bills. Within Mint, you can set goals and budgets depending on your current financial situation. Mint also works via separating your spending habits into separate categories, and each category has a budget. The app suggests a budget based on your finances, but you can amend and add to these as you wish. If you choose a monthly budget scheme, and you have money left over, you can tell Mint to add this cash to the next month’s plan. Mint also has a place to review your investments; there are reports where you can check performance and values seamlessly.
3 . Wally
Wally is a pretty simple budgeting app that allows you to track your earnings and helps you to stop overspending. It’s free to use, so it’s an excellent option for those who don’t want to pay out for a finance app! With Wally, you can set regular payments and create groups if you need to organise a joint account. Wally can also provide you with spending insights; this is done by organizing your payments into tags, certain places, or categories. Wally can be used to split payments with your friends (so no more chasing people up for cash)!
4. GoodBudget
Goodbudget allows you to split your budget into sections and allocate a figure for each one i.e., rent, bills, leisure activities, etc. Goodbudget encourages you to plan your spending beforehand instead of merely tracking it. This app is a great one for couples because it allows you to sync your budgets together. You can sync a particular category that’s shared so that the other person knows what’s been spent (and when)! As well as this, Goodbudget has some handy features to help you to save money for bigger purchases and work on paying off your debts.
5. Albert
Albert is a great app that monitors your balances and alerts you when you overspend. You can use the app to put goals in place and work on achieving them in the long term. Albert also has features that can help you through guided investing, allowing you to set up a custom portfolio. Albert has advisors which work with the app to give you awesome pieces of financial advice via text messages. You can also use Albert to help you seek out lower prices on your recurring bills!
Further help
Often, budgeting becomes easier with a little trial and error. It might take a few attempts to find a budget that’s sustainable and long-term. This can be particularly true if either your expenses or income are changeable. Freelancers, for instance, may spend more time reworking their budget than most. Sometimes, no matter how great your budget is, there just isn’t enough to cover all of your expenses. In times like this, it can be a good plan to look for a responsible lender to help you get back on track. You may not currently be in a position to save money, and that’s okay. Overtime you can return to a workable savings plan.
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