Tracking your monthly expenses helps you to budget better, while also giving you insight on your purchasing habits so that you can save money.
Money Management apps track your spending, and show you how much you could save, by categorizing your expenses. They’re a great tool to help you take control of your finances and become one step closer to financial freedom. Below are a few of the best money management apps out there.
- Mint
Mint is an excellent money management app that enables users to regularly review their financial accounts, showing individuals exactly where money is being spent. The app syncs to users bank accounts, credit cards and retirement accounts to track your income, purchases and savings.
The Mint budgeting app comes with a daily budget planner, which suggests budget goals based on your spending. You can adjust your goals, changing them where necessary, as you use the app. Mint will automatically update and categorize your expenses for you, but you have the option to revise and add categories as needed. You can also create your own savings goals and track your investments in the app.
What makes this app even better is the access to a free credit score and credit report summary, in addition to notifications of changes to your TransUnion credit report. The app will also notify users when they’ve gone over budget, of any suspicious transactions from their account, or if they’re being charged an atm fee.
The Mint app is completely free, with no in-app ads.
- YNAB (You Need A Budget)
YNAB (You Need A Budget), is a money management app designed to help people take control over their finances. You can link your bank account to the app, though there is the option to enter everything manually (just keep in mind that this will take more time).
This app is built on 4 budgeting principles. First, any income added is assigned to a specific category or expense. Second, users create goals and monthly payments to pay off infrequent expenses outside your normal budget (house repairs, car repairs, medical bills, etc.). Third, if you go over budget in one category, you are able to move funds from a different category to cover the additional expenses. Lastly, it’s important to let money sit in your bank. Use money earned from previous months to fund your current budget.
YNAB is not a budgeting app for beginners, as it requires a bit more work than other apps. That being said, learning how to use and navigate the app is very accessible, as there are many live workshops, helpful articles and guides, a podcast, and online forums to help users get started.
YNAB is a paid app. You can sign up for a 34 day trial, and after that, it’s $14.99 per month USD.
- PocketGuard
PocketGuard is a budgeting app that displays cash flows and expenses to users, which helps them save more each month. This app links users credit/debit card(s), which displays all of the users transactions. Users can also connect their loans and investments. The app then shows how much you have left to spend after setting aside funds for necessities, bills and goals.
A great feature of this app includes a pie chart, which visually displays users expenses. The app also has an In My Pocket feature (IMP) which shows users how much money they have left over after paying all of their bills and reaching the financial goals they established.
PocketGuard has a free and paid version, called PocketGuard Plus. You can use many of the apps functions for free, however some features are only included with the paid version. If you wish to export transactions, have unlimited goals and categories for your budgeting and splitting transactions into different categories, then the paid version, PocketGuard Plus, may be better suited for you.
- Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a personal finance app great for budget planning, debt tracking, and money management. It is a great financial app for beginners, making it a good choice for newcomers.
This app relies on the traditional envelope system. The “envelope method” means that each month, users allocate a certain amount of their income into categories (or digital “envelopes”) labeled things like groceries, rent, utilities, and debt payoff. This helps individuals prioritize their spending and plan ahead.
Users are only supposed to spend the amount they put into each envelope. If they go beyond the allocated amount, the envelope will change to red, indicating they overspent. Unlike most budgeting and expense tracker apps, Goodbudget does not link to users’ bank accounts and credit cards. Instead, you manually create “envelopes” and input your transactions. The app will categorize your expenses for you, but you can customize the envelope categories according to your needs.
There are two versions you can subscribe to: a free version, and a paid version called Goodbudget Plus. The free version offers you access to nearly all of the features on the app. The paid version provides additional capabilities, such as unlimited envelopes, unlimited accounts, 5 devices, 7 years of transaction tracking, and email support.