Money apps are incredibly helpful tools. However, they can also prove true that saying about too much of a good thing. In other words, you do want to use the best money apps, but you also want to be selective about the ones you choose. When looking at money apps, you should consider several different categories of apps. Then you should find the best app in each category. You don’t want to double up. In other words, if you already have a budgeting app, you don’t need a second app that budgets. On the other hand, you might need a second app for making money. With that in mind, here are the money apps you should consider:
Money Apps: Budgeting and Financial Overview
The most important thing about personal finance is to know where you stand financially. That is why it’s critical to use a system that allows you to easily see your budget and spending. Mint has long been the recommended app for this part of personal finance. Although there are plenty of other options available, Mint continues to be the best one. Here are five reasons to make Mint your number one finance app:
- It’s free.
- You connect it to all of your accounts. Then it does the work for you.
- You can set a budget for every area of life. Moreover, you can see daily whether or not you’re within budget.
- Your current financial status shows up immediately. You can easily see if you’re ahead or behind in savings.
- This also provides an easy and free way to see your current credit score.
The phone app offers all of these things. Additionally, it syncs seamlessly with the Mint website, a portal through which you can gain even more insight into your personal finances.
Receipt-Scanning Money Apps
I find that Mint does all of the work for me of breaking down my budget. However, some people like to have a second app for organizing receipts. OneReceipt tracks all of your email receipts. Furthermore, you can add in scanned receipts. This keeps all receipts in one place. Help with budgeting is the main benefit of this app. In other words, you can use it to see where your money goes. However, there are added benefits, including easy ability to see when items you’ve ordered online are set to arrive.
Apps for Saving Money
Knowing where your money is going is half the battle. However, finding ways to save money is also an important part of personal finance. There are so many different types of apps that can help with this. However, you don’t want to overextend yourself by using all of them. It’s important to select just the right few.
Coupon Apps
Saving money with coupons is easy in the modern world thanks to the availability of coupon apps. There are many different types of coupon apps. Therefore, you will have to figure out what you most want out of coupons. For example, check out these various grocery coupon apps. As a general place to start, SnipSnap is a popular coupon clipping app.
Rebate Apps
Rebate apps are similar to coupon apps. However, they work after the fact. In other words, you clip coupons before you go to the store. On the other hand, rebate apps find deals for you after you’ve made a purchase. Therefore, you can go about your regular spending, and you’ll save money thanks to the app. Ibotta and Paribus are the two most popular rebate apps.
Cash Back Apps
In contrast to rebate apps, cash back apps give you money each time that you shop. For example, with Drop, you choose five retailers. Then, each time you shop at them, you get cash back. Similarly, Shoptracker is for Amazon shoppers; you receive $3 per month just for keeping the app installed.
Apps for Making Money
In addition to saving money, smart personal finance means that you make money. Yes, there are apps for this as well.
Money Earning Apps
Of course, there are apps for you to find jobs and gigs to earn money. For example, Lyft drivers use an app. We won’t list all of them. Instead, we’ll look at apps that are designed to let you earn money just on the app itself. Swagbucks is a well-established app that continues to be a good choice in 2019. Earn money on the app for things like taking surveys and watching videos.
Investment Money Apps
Make your money work for you by investing it. By far, the most popular investment app is Acorns. It rounds up your purchases, takes that leftover change, and uses it for investments. Plus, this app has a lot of additional great features that help you learn about investing and start to invest wisely.
Summary of Money Apps
In summary, here are the seven money apps we most recommend:
- Mint for overall budgeting, spending, and understanding your financial situation.
- OneReceipt for organizing all of your purchases.
- SnipSnap for clipping and organizing virtual coupons.
- Ibotta or Paribus for rebates on purchases.
- Drop for cash back on purchases at specific retailers.
- Swagbucks for making money doing tasks on your phone.
- Acorns for easy investments.
Do you have a favorite money app that isn’t on this list? Share in the comments and let everyone know why it’s worth a try. Read More:
Doordash is another app though not really sure what category it fits into. It’s more of a food app. You place your order from any of hundreds of local restaurants and they go to pick it up and deliver to your home. You save money and time by not having to go to the restaurant yourself to get the foods. Though doordash is not available in all areas. They sent a $7 coupon in the mail, which was a pretty good incentive to try it. And, if you refer a friend, you get $7 in credit toward food and your friend does too. A pretty good deal just for referring someone who likes local food anyway.