Table of Contents
Introduction
Budgeting is often perceived as a difficult task and it can be if you do not have the correct tools and implements to help you out. If you ever want to achieve financial independence, regardless of your income, then you need to learn how to budget. This may sound ominous as it comes with the implication of self-discipline and penny-pinching. To become proficient at budgeting you first need to understand why you need to budget. Budgeting is a convenient and important way of fixing your spending habits, preparing for your future, and accounting for each penny that you earn. In the past budgeting used to be an activity relegated to the rich because of the tedious and time-consuming process of financial planning and reconciliation. However, the new age of technology and software development has made it easier and simple for anybody with a smartphone to become proficient at budgeting.
Why is Budgeting Important?
Budgeting is a money-saving or penny-pinching technique that allows you to create a spending plan according to your income. This technique will ensure that you always spend money that you can afford, account for all your income, and create a more defined way of saving for your future or other big expenses. Think about a budgeting plan as the affordable financial advisor who will help you improve your overall financial status.
What are the best money management apps on the internet today?
This is a contentious issue since everyone has different financial needs, incomes, and expenses. As such, there is no single app that can be recognized as the best. However, the ones discussed below cover a wide range of financial backgrounds and subsequent budgeting needs. As such, they are listed as the best budgeting apps in 2021. The list contains the best free budgeting apps in 2021 and other premium options that come with advanced user implements. The listed apps can be used on both iOS and Android phones and they include:
Mint
Mint is undoubtedly one of the most popular money budgeting applications on the internet. mint provides its users with access to investment accounts and an array of budgeting tools. Unlike other applications listed in this list, mint has a stronger budgeting portion with an underlying investment section.
This All-in-one budgeting application combines a bill tracker with a financial planner that is important for anyone looking to improve their credit health while simultaneously saving for investment. The tracking portion provided by this app allows its users to track expenses, account balances, and bills. This is quite important for a beginner budgeter as it allows you to have a clear understanding and depiction of how and when to pay your bills and the amount you should save towards investment and other futuristic expenses. This application is suitable for an individual who is looking for a super detailed budget that automatically updates your financial portfolio and planner according to your transactions. This is because mint automatically retrieves transactions from your bank accounts and credit cards which results in automatic analysis of your income and spending habits. This creates a detailed overview of your cash flow and expenses.
With such an array of applications, the next logical question for any users searching for a budgeting app is how much does the mint app cost? Most of the services provided are free to its users. However, you can upgrade to a premium version of the credit monitoring service which costs approximately $16.99 per month.
Mint is available for both iOS and Android users.
Ynab
You need a budget is another popular money budgeting application that helps users keep track of their money while simultaneously providing suggestions on how you can save. YNAB also offers occasional classes on finance and money management. These classes are free in the beginning but come with a monthly subscription cost. This app is suitable for a beginner budgeter who is looking for financial literacy classes and budgeting tools. The underlying philosophy that is used by this application is “a job for every dollar” with the application encouraging users to let their money work for them instead of vice versa. The app encourages its users to think ahead and plan for all futuristic costs ranging from grocery shopping to vacations. Like all other apps listed, YNAB comes with a money tracking and expense tracking tool.
This is a premium application but comes with a free trial for 34 days after which you can choose to enroll for their monthly or annual plan. The monthly plan costs $11. 99 per month and the annual plan costs $84 per year.
This application is available for both iOS and Android users
Good Budget
Good Budget is an application that is built on the budgeting concept of envelope budgeting. Like other applications included in this list, this app helps its user’s budget track the debt, and manage their money. one of the nifty features of this application is its sharing tool that allows you to share information across all your devices using their cloud saving feature. Once you sign up for this application you will get 10 envelopes for free but once you upgrade to their premium services you get unlimited envelopes for a monthly cost of $6. As with other envelope systems, you will have to stop spending when the envelope is empty or move money from a different envelope. Good budget was designed for both personal usage and spousal collaboration. This makes it easier for both you and your spouse to keep track of your budget and spending habits. Additionally, a good Budget sends its users reports about their spending habits that are analyzed against the expenses. This report tells you how sustainable your current spending habits are.
Good budget is available for both iOS and Android users.
Pocket Guard
The philosophy for Pocket Guard is “always know what’s in your pocket.” This money budgeting application comes with a simple and intuitive user interface with a plethora of money management tools that allows you to budget for your disposable income and pay all your bills on time. 1 of the best of this application is its disposable income calculator that allows its users to determine if they can afford an item from the disposable income. this application also comes with the habit and spending tracker that will analyze your expenses and they depict them in a graph displaying the items you spend on the most. Unlike other applications, Pocket Guard helps its users save money by finding unwanted subscriptions that you may no longer need. This is quite a nifty feature as it has been determined that most people spend money on subscriptions that they don’t use regularly. The application also allows you to set goals for yourself including setting savings targets within a particular period.
This money budgeting application is free to use and we’ll have you optimizing your spending and automatically saving within a few months.
The application is available for both iOS and Android users
Personal Capital
Personal capital is a relatively popular budgeting app that is often listed as one of the best money management applications available for both smartphone and desktop usage. This application allows users to track their budgets and includes information about their investment accounts. Personal capital application comes with an intuitive and simple to use user interface with graphical depictions of the user’s investments by asset class investment account or individual investment. This makes it easy to track the investment performance and management of your portfolio. A user can even get help from investment professionals in some cases. It is important to note that this application is mainly geared towards investment that is why most of its features are investment-related. However, you can use this app to plan your budget as it allows you to list your expenditures and transactions and also comes with an intuitive application that allows you to see the percentages of categories of your highest expenses. One of the best features of personal capital is its net worth tracker that allows an individual to see how the net worth increases or decreases over some time. Most people interested in using this app often compare it to other popular budgeting apps like mint. A review of mint versus personal capital will be provided in one of our upcoming posts. Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when we upload it.
Personal capital is available for both Android and iOS users.
Honey Due
Honey Due is regarded as one of the best budgeting applications for spouses. The application allows you and your partner to get an overview of your finances without having to log into different accounts. Some of the nifty features of this application include bill payment reminders and monthly spending limits to ensure that you and your partner stick to your budget and do not overspend. The app also allows partners to split their bills. The chat feature also allows you and your spouse to communicate with each other and query expenses or unexpected bills that you do not understand. This application makes budgeting easy and simple for couples. Honey Due also allows their users to own joint accounts with their significant other. The app is FREE for all usages.
Albert
The Albert money budgeting application takes a unique approach on financial planning. This app is designed to provide artificial virtual assistance using aspects of artificial intelligence combined with human guidance. The application provides personalized information regarding your current financial health and areas in which you can improve on. Albert automatically creates a financial plan for you based on your spending habits bills and income. The entirety of Albert’s usage does not only stop at budgeting as it comes with a savings tool that helps you set money aside for savings and investments. The application also allows you to analyze your bills and identify areas where you overpay and even alert you on subscriptions that have free trials that are almost ending. Albert comes with a premium cost and a free plan. The premium cost allows you to text human experts and get more health in areas like investing and debt payments.
The Albert application fees range from $1 24 dollars for the genius subscription. The application is available for both iOS and Android users.
Google Sheets
Google sheets are one of the free-to-use budgeting applications online. However, its usage is different from all other apps listed on this list. This is because google sheets provide users with access to a range of spreadsheet budgeting templates that also come with graphical depictions. You need to have basic expertise in the usage of google sheets or Microsoft Excel files. This application is suitable for both newbies and experienced budgeters and can be used to meet both individuals and joined budgeting needs.
Clarity Money
Clarity Money is an all-in-one money budgeting application that uses artificial intelligence to analyze the finances of its users and help them make smart financial decisions. This application allows its users to link accounts from thousands of different financial institutions, create a budget track spending and monitor their debt. All you have to do is organize your spending into different categories, set financial goals, and monitor your progress. The application also allows its users to automate expense tracking and savings.
This application is free of charge and available to both iOS and Android users.
Spendee
This is money budgeting application that uses visual depictions to demonstrate your financial net worth and planning. The application syncs with your bank account and automatically downloads transactions and categorizes them according to income and expenditure. The application also has a sharing feature that allows you to share certain parts of your budget with others. You can assign money to virtual wallets and track your spending. The application also allows you to share specific wallets with your friend’s thereby encouraging accountability and motivation towards achieving your goals. The application also offers a travel mode that supports multiple currencies for users who are regular travelers.
Spendee is available for both Android and iOS users.
The app comes with a 7-day free trial. And a monthly and annual plan. The monthly plan is categorized into premium, plus, and basic. Premium plans cost $2. 99, Plus costs $1.99 per month, and basic IS FREE. The annual plans cost $22.00 for premium, $14.99 for plus, and free for basic.
Mvelopes
This is another popular money budgeting application that is based on the envelope strategy. The envelope budgeting strategy is simple. All you have to do is divide your money according to your expenses and spend money in that category until the cash is gone. Mvelopes helps translate your credit card and digital spending into a cash-reliant budgeting system that tracks where your money is going. Like all the other applications you can create a budget and let the application handle the rest. This is not a free application and comes with a monthly subscription fee of $4. This is the bare minimum but other subscription costs are depending on the features you need including access to financial coaching services.
The application is available for both iOS and Android users.
Acorns
Acorns majesty Robo advisor financial model with automated savings tools allowing users to invest for their future while simultaneously budgeting for their current lives. Acorns use a unique savings technique by taking virtual change out of your account and investing the difference. This app is suitable for individuals looking for an investment plan and application that automatically does everything for you. The model of investing in spare change works on a simple principle. Let’s say you go and purchase a Starbucks coffee for $4.79. Acorns will Round Up the spare change and invest in recurring investments. The application also allows you to grow your knowledge through access to hundreds of articles from different financial experts.
This application is not free but comes with quite affordable subscription plans with the Lite plan which is $1 per month, the personal plan that is referred to as the all-in-one plan that costs $3 per month, and the family plan that costs $5 per month.
Conclusion
Having a money budgeting application is vital in modern money management. These applications simplify the process of budgeting, investing, and saving through automation making it easier for anyone to create a clear plan and adhere to it. If you want to check your spending habits, limit these spending habits, saving and investing more than downloading one of these applications is integral.
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