By Elliot Mueller
We have learned lots of information throughout the course of personal finance. One of the topics I learned a lot about were the various budgeting apps and their features. I will cover some of the most popular budgeting apps, discuss their strengths and weaknesses, and give my overall opinion on whether or not they are worth using.
There are plenty of budgeting apps and platforms available on the market. All of these apps offer a similar service; creating a personal financial budget based on your income and life circumstances. These budgeting apps tell us where we can cut down our spending, and which categories could use more of our financial attention. In these apps we can put in future financial goals, and it will show us what is necessary to complete these goals. There are plenty of options when it comes to picking the right budgeting app. According to NerdWallet the top three budgeting apps for 2020 go in this order; Mint, YNAB, EveryDollar.Each of these services have their strengths. Mint is “the best” because It automatically updates and categorizes transactions, creating a spending plan. Users can add their own categories, track bills, split transactions and set budgets that alert them when they have gone over their planned amount. The service also provides free credit scores. Along with all of this, the service is free. YNAB is a close second. It is for the committed user. It requires money to budgeted down to the dollar and is very precise, it also costs 84 dollars per year. While costly it is the smoothest software and most glitch-free program available. Finally, Everydollar is third best because it connects directly to your bank account. It uses a method where your expenses match your income exactly. For a more streamlined process you can upgrade to EveryDollar Plus. This costs 129 dollars annually. This easily the most expensive budgeting app in the top three.
Finally, I believe that it would be very smart to use a budgeting app. When I enter the real world and start earning an income I certainly plan on using one of these apps. They do all the hard work for the user and I think they are very handy when it comes to making the right financial choices. Personally I would choose mint because it is cost free and the best overall app. Overall budgeting apps are certainly worth it and I recommend them to anyone looking to properly manage their money.
This is very interesting to me because I have never looked at apps like these. I haven't heard of any that you described here. What I find interesting and beneficial is that these apps create a spending plan and help you budget your money. Because of this post, I am definitely going to look into the different apps and see what they bring to the table for my money because I think it would be very helpful to see what it tells me to do.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see how technology can help financial stability. I think that EveryDollar is the most interesting, because of it’s direct connection to your bank account, however, I wonder about possible security risks. That being said, I believe that it’s the most useful for saving money because it would be able to give you the most accurate and personalized data.
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