10 BUDGETING APPS YOU CAN USE TO CONTROL YOUR SPENDING

There are scores of budgeting apps out there but you could be clueless as to identifying the app best suited for your budgeting needs and preferences.

In figuring out the budgeting app that’s just the perfect match for you, one important thing is confirming if the app is affordable while another is weighing up the functions of the app.

Frankly, some budgeting apps pack excellent features that will serve you well but you might find their costs somewhat unbearable. Similarly, there are free-to-use budgeting apps with unsatisfactory features and/or functions.

If you’re hell bent on spending less while still searching for a comprehensive budgeting app, you may rest assured that your search ends here.

Helpfully, this post quickly reviews the top 10 apps you can bank on for the excellent control of your finances. While some of these apps are cost-free, several others charge certain fees considered affordable with respect to the excellent functions/features of the apps.

Finally, here are the top 10 budgeting apps you can use to control your spending:

budgeting apps you can use to control your spending

1.You Need a Budget (YNAB)

YNAB is a budgeting app that offers a budgeting strategy which ensures you aren’t spending the current month’s earnings in offsetting the previous month’s bills. Basically, YNAB lets you easily monitor your earnings and keep tabs on your spending.

One astonishing way YNAB saves you the risk of offsetting previous bills with current earnings is helping to generate an emergency fund. Interestingly, the emergency fund then becomes a budgeting buffer that ensures you still have extra savings that should cover your monthly living expenses. YNAB helps you achieve the latter via its Age of Money feature.

Another interesting thing about YNAB is allowing users to set goals for their future expenditure. This, really, is a good chance for YNAB users to better plan their financial lives.

If you’re looking for a budgeting app to synchronize with your bank accounts, rest assured that YNAB is a perfect match for you. Prettily, YNAB can automatically import transactions from your bank accounts.

2.Digit

Digit boasts an excellent algorithm which paves the way for convenient saving of funds. The budgeting app is well suited for various purposes such as saving ahead of unforeseeable circumstances, settling debt and budgeting for recurring transactions.

Besides helping you to save up for differing financial objectives, Digit offers automated savings and lets you conveniently monitor the progress of defined financial goals. Some of the impressive sides of Digit include unlimited withdrawals and a 0.10% savings bonus.

It’s worthy of note that Digit isn’t a free-to-use budgeting tool. Nevertheless, the app-based budgeting service charges only a paltry subscription fee of $5 per month. Why you needn’t worry about this cost is that the associated savings benefits are worth more than the cost. Particularly, Digit’s effortless saving guarantees pretty analysis of your spending and then transfers your checking account funds to your Digit account.


3.Mint

Mint is another free-to-use budgeting app that still provides you with a decent number of features and/or tools. Amazingly, Mint lets you know your credit score without you having to pay a dime. Other essential details Mint provides you are credit score education and an overview of your credit report.

Some of Mint’s notable functions are investment tracking and spending analysis. Mint’s analysis provides you with an annual, monthly or quarterly report of your spending. Another aspect of the analysis lets you realize how much you expend on specified merchants or in certain categories. Courtesy of Mint’s versatile analytical function, you’re very likely to find out the areas where you spend most and cut back on your spending when necessary.

4.PocketSmith

PocketSmith helps you with financial forecasting so that you’re able to know the future consequence of the spending/saving you make today. For example, the budgeting app displays a graph that changes based on your financial decision (spending or saving).

With PocketSmith, you can run a test of what financial implication the money spent or saved today will have in the next six months, one year and so on. Adding to PocketSmith’s excellent function is a budgeting calendar that lets you conveniently schedule and even reschedule your expenses.

PocketSmith offers three packages namely the Super package (which costs $19.95 per month), the Premium plan (which costs $9.95 per month) and the Basic package which costs no dime.


5.Empower

Empower provides clear analysis of your progress level towards a set spending limit in all your budget categories. This way, you can easily realize the categories where you have failed to spend within your set limits.

It’s not always easy to keep up a strict spending pattern particularly when it’s hard to accurately monitor your progress level. However, Empower positions you well as regards the control of finances by enabling you to set limits, keep tabs on spending and see your progress level.

Empower collects data about your savings goals. And based on its evaluation of your financial information (income and expenses), the budgeting app automatically identifies when you’re capable of setting aside some fund for future needs. Put simply, Empower identifies when you have funds in excess and then channels some funds into savings.

6.Money Patrol

This is another budgeting app you can readily synchronize with your varying bank accounts. Money Patrol is more than a mere budgeting app due to its versatility. Prettily, the app supports certain gift cards and differing account types: savings, business and checking accounts. Also, it helps users keep tabs on their mortgages, investments, student loans, etc.

If you love getting automatic notifications about your important financial concerns, rest assured that Money Patrol will serve you well in that regard. While it’s certain that you can connect Money Patrol with your varying bank accounts, it’s quite fascinating that the budgeting app is compatible with 15,000+ financial institutions.

By and large, Money Patrol offers you the opportunity to effectively plan your finances by supplying you with data on your spending habits. Beyond that function, Money Patrol also tracks your recurring charges and your future bills. Leveraging on the information Money Patrol provides (as regards your spending habits), you’re in a good position to set a reasonable budget and control your finances.

7.CountAbout

Frankly, CountAbout is one of the best easy-to-use budgeting apps you can find out there. Although it doesn’t come as a free-to-use service, CountAbout offers a decent number of user-friendly budgeting tools.

You can choose either of CountAbout’s Premium package and Basic package. With a yearly price of $39.99, the Premium package guarantees you comprehensive offering. On the other hand, the Basic package comes with the yearly price of $9.99 but guarantees limited access to CountAbout’s service offering. Nevertheless, the Basic package still lets you access basic budgeting functions.

One of CountAbout’s key features is FIRE which is an excellent widget for keeping tabs on your retirement timeline early enough. Besides allowing for a clear-cut organization of your monthly expenses, the app’s FIRE widget lets you monitor your preferred asset or budget category.

CountAbout is one nice budgeting app that you can synchronize with your accounts at various banks. It’s nothing short of excitement to have a budgeting app that automatically updates your financial information and this is just one of the benefits CountAbout has got to offer. Another good thing about the app is the ease of customization it offers. You can opt to personalize such app features as report, function and field.

Not only does CountAbout enable you to track your bills, the budgeting app also enables you to schedule future payments. This way, you’re able to maintain perfect control of your financial life.

8.Personal Capital

Personal Capital is a widely used budgeting app that lets you manage your finances judiciously. Besides being a free-to-use app, Personal Capital comes with great features such as its Fee Analyzer which provides insight about the fees in the user’s retirement plan.

With a user base of 2 million+ individuals, Personal Capital happens to constitute the most-used budgeting apps out there. The app does offer retirement tools, making it an excellent planning tool for anyone to plan their savings life ahead of retirement.

Courtesy of its Wealth Management feature, Personal Capital offers more than the mere opportunity to plan your spending. Basically, Wealth Management is a paid-for plan that guarantees you access to full investment management as well as the opportunity to receive financial advice from an expert. While Wealth Management is available to individuals willing to invest at least $100,000, Personal Capital charges a yearly fee of 0.89% from the invested fund.

9.Trim

Trim is quite different from the other budgeting tools in this post. Basically, Trim is an AI assistant widely acclaimed for its capability to negotiate bills.

Broadly, what Trim majorly does is beating down the huge fees that some companies (cable and Internet services) usually charge. Trim helps handle your personal finances and in doing so, the budgeting service cuts down your outrageous bills and removes services/subscriptions you hardly use but over which you make regular payments.

Another excellent function of Trim is automated savings. Courtesy of its Simple Savings, Trim lets you schedule automatic weekly savings for an account. How this works is that funds will be moved into the scheduled account on a weekly basis.

10.Charlie

If you’re just keen to have a free-to-use budgeting app that still offers decent features, Charlie could be your best bet. Of course, the app does come with a spending tracker that helps moderate your spending.

One great thing you’d love Charlie for is its ability to handle your finances wholly rather than partly. This way, the app easily links up with your credit card and bank accounts. After syncing up with your accounts, Charlie is in the position to monitor your spending and then identify where you should cut back on your spending. Also, the app lets you know where you should save some money.

Besides packing an excellent spend tracker, Charlie does have an intuitive notification feature that informs you when payments are due as well as when your account balance is running short of fund.


Conclusion

There are relatively many budgeting apps out there and so, you really have to be sure of your taste and budgeting needs before opting for any budgeting app.

Although an important factor, price shouldn’t be your major criterion for selecting budgeting apps.

Whether your need is to schedule future expenses, cut back on excess spending or find a lasting way of paying off huge bills, you’re very likely to make success with the listed budgeting apps.

Interestingly, all of the listed apps, whether cost-free or cost-inclusive, will serve you in their own capacity. This is why you should clearly define your budgeting needs and/or preferences before making a pick.

Meanwhile, we hope this post has helped you figure out the best budgeting app for your financial targets or plans.

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