Monday, July 17, 2017

The Best Finance Apps to Help You Manage Your Financial Goals

by Danielle Forshay, July 12, 2017 in Saving Money


Wouldn’t it be nice if our finances would manage themselves? We may not be quite there yet, but with some of the apps currently available, we’re getting pretty close. No matter what your financial goals are, there are apps out there that can help you meet them.

To develop our list of the best financial apps, we spoke with financial experts about their favorite apps for specific goals. They gave us the lowdown on the apps that get the most use and some of their coolest features. Here are their picks.

The Best App for Saving Money: Qapital

Trying to save up for that big vacation and just can’t seem to make any headway? We’ve all been there. Kevin Han of Financial Panther recommends Qapital, an app that gives you a boost with a variety of “rules” that you can set to streamline your savings.

Kevin’s favorite feature is Qapital’s round-up rule. As he explains, “Qapital will monitor all of your credit card transactions and round up each transaction to the nearest dollar, and save the difference for you.”

Users can also automate their accounts to save a certain amount of money on a daily basis (the “set and forget rule”) or even link it to an event, such as saving $5 every time your favorite football team hits the field. The “guilty pleasure rule” allows you to “charge” yourself (i.e., deposit a certain amount into your savings account) whenever you indulge a guilty pleasure spending habit.

The Best App for Managing Investments: Personal Capital

When it comes to managing your investments, things can get complicated.

Brandon Yahn, founder of Student Loans Guy recommends the Personal Capital app. Its user-friendly interface allows you to add and track all of your investments. He enjoys the ease with which the app allows you to link all of your accounts and keep track of spending and investments.

Personal Capital allows you to track your investment numbers by account, asset class or individual security. It will also show you how your portfolio compares to major market benchmarks so you can keep on track to meet your personal investment goals. The app can also connect you to investment experts who can advise you on your portfolio.

The Best App for Making Payments: Prism

If you’re the owner of multiple credit cards, then you know that keeping on top of all those bill due dates can be tough! But there’s no need to live in constant fear of missing a deadline. When asked about the best app for making payments, Kevin Han promptly said, “Definitely Prism. It’s an app that not a lot of people know about, but it is my most used financial app.”

The beauty of Prism is that it links all of your billing accounts, paychecks and available funds so that you can easily visualize the movement of your finances. Once you connect all of your billing accounts, all your bills and account balances are synced to the app. It keeps track of your bill due dates and makes sure you never miss one. With a function even allowing you to pay those bills directly from the app, the process of managing bills could not be easier.

The Best App for Financial Advice and Overall Financial Management: Mint

When it comes to overall financial management and getting good advice on your spending habits, Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation.com, recommends Mint, a well-known budgeting app. Mint helps you understand how your spending breaks down and can even provide advice based on your spending habits to help you meet your financial goals.

As Deborah remarked, “When you use Mint, you can literally see where the money you’re spending is going. It sends you an alert when you’re about to reach the end of your budget, provides advice on how to save even more money, and offers the ability to view your credit score. This app makes it easy to be mindful of your finances and proactive in the process, taking control to reduce your spending on unnecessary purchases now that you know how those purchases add up.”

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