Budgeting Apps and How They Can Change Your Life
For some the word budget can bring a wave of panic and fear. This is due to its reputation of being tedious and challenging. However having a set budget is incredibly important when it comes to financial planning and very useful in the long run.
Budgeting improves your life immensely, and is basically a guide to whether you're going in the direction you want to be going financially or not. Budgets come in handy when setting goals as well as preventing you from overspending and making rash money decisions. You can meet your savings goals as well when it comes to setting aside money for savings and other investments. Having a strong, well-planned budget gives you total control of your money rather than your money controlling you. One of the most crucial aims of having a budget is that it keeps you out of debt or helps you get out of debt.
Benefits of Budgeting
Overall budgeting is crucial and improves your lifestyles and financial decisions, however despite being aware of its benefits, most people simply just don't have the time or the motivation to plan out a budget. For this reason budgeting apps have become incredibly popular and useful especially over this past decade. There are a variety of these apps, some of which are free or paid. Certain softwares have the ability of monitoring your spending and saving habits by linking your accounts which track your cash flow.
Budgeting software apps have taken the challenge out of the process of doing it yourself. These apps help you stick to a strict spending plan and come with many additional features. These are a few of the most well reviewed budgeting apps and their individual benefits that make them stand out amongst others.
Most Popular Budgeting Apps
After scouring the app store for the most well rated and liked budgeting apps i've highlighted the top three below. Now mind you, these are not the only ones you should research. Each person is unique and so are your needs. Be thorough and make sure you choose the one that is the right fit for you and your family.
YNAB- You need a budget
YNAB app towers over all similar apps for its company philosophy and reputation. The company says that new budgeters typically save up to $600 within their first two months and more than $6,000 in their first year! This app is the costliest option of the list, however it offers a 34 day free trial and 100% no risk, money back guarantee.
This app gives you a complete budget makeover to give you the most efficient saving program. The company also has strong customer service for any of your immediate needs. The cost per year is $84 or $11.99 per month. With this app you can sync your bank accounts, import data and enter your transaction information. The company also suggests understanding the basics of the app by watching video guides or following workshops to understand and benefit the most.
After you sign-up you will create your first budget and give each dollar a purpose such as rent, car payments, or your grocery shopping. The goal of the app is that you get one month ahead, so that you would be spending money you earned thirty days ago.
If your sceptical of having an app that has access to your finances and your bank account information, fear not as YNAP says that privacy and security are it’s absolute top priority. This company protects your information but uses a bank level encryption for all of your data, passwords and more.
Mint
If you're looking for a great budgeting app that's free, look no further. Mint by Intuit stands out with its popularity of 25 million users. Best of all, it's free to use for budgeters of any level. Some of the benefits that come with as setting up payment reminders, track investments as well as your credit score. This app is great for anyone who is looking to improve their current spending habits and aiming to save.
Similar to YNAB you can sync all your financial accounts and details within the app or if you want, you can also manually add in your transactions. The layout allows you to see all your accounts in one place you can track your spending on a daily basis. You will also receive payment reminders to avoid late fees. Mint also comes with a few additional resources such as a loan repayment calculator, and a home affordability calculator.
Regarding the information you put in, the company saves your login information on a separate database that is encrypted with several layers of hardware.
Simplifi
Simplifi by Quicken is another great app that syncs your financial goals to show you your progress on financial goals. Simplifi also tracks your subscriptions and monthly bills. The most attractive feature of the apps however is its personalized spending plan which gives you real time updates of how much money you have left to spend throughout the month.
This app is the best for cash flow solely because of its amazing tracking abilities. It is the best option for always being aware of how much you can spend between your paychecks. While this is a paid app, the company offers a free 30 day trial and after which it will be $2.99 per month which would be billed annually at $35.99.
Quicken, which is the app’s parent company, has been trusted with sensitive financial data since 1985 and continues to work on expanding their security measure. The app uses a 256 bit encryption which may not make a lot of sense to you and me, but essentially means that all your important information remains confidential.
Overall budgeting can be quite the challenge, but due to its benefits it is a necessity in our lives. As budgeting sounds like a tedious task to do manually with a spreadsheet, you should resort to making your life much easier with the help of a budgeting app. There are a variety of apps which are completely free, or come with a free trial before charging you. So you can pick an app of your choice which suits you most and is safe and secure with your information.
We are in no way endorsed or affiliated with the affirmentioned companies or apps. We just thought it would be nice to share!
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