5 Free Apps to Help You Control Your Finances

In a not-so-distant past, people tracked their personal finances by saving every single receipt and painstakingly balancing a checkbook. Technology has evolved over the decades, and now financial help is literally at our fingertips. Here are five apps I recommend to get your financial life in order:

1. Mint

You can sign up and use Mint for free. It allows you to see all your account balances and transactions together, so you can view your full financial picture, complete with graphs and charts. The app also connects to almost every U.S. financial institution connected to the internet. Mint's app is available for iPhone, iPad and Android.

2. Digit

Digit is a great app because it recognizes spending patterns of the user and moves small amount of savings into another account every few days. Digit allows unlimited transfers and can be accessed anywhere. It is free to use.

3. Goodbudget

Remember using envelopes to learn how to budget and save money? Each envelope had bills, food and other categories listed on it, and whatever amount of money was in it was the limit of how much you could spend on that category. Once the envelope was empty, that was it until it was time to replenish your funds.

Goodbudget is the digital equivalent of that tried-and-true saving and budgeting method. The app stores your budget that syncs between a mobile devices and the web. The app is available on iPhone and Android for free; however, additional perks carry a monthly fee.

4. Credit Karma

It is important for people to know their credit history in order to prevent financial hiccups along the way. This free app is an easy way to stay on top of your credit. It gives you free credit reports, credit scores and daily credit monitoring. Available for Androids and iPhones.

5. PocketGuard

PocketGuard eases the complexity of budgeting by automatically calculating your monthly expenses and income and using data to figure out exactly how much you can safely spend before you get paid again. Data is available in easy-to-read charts. Available for free for Android and iOS.


These digital tools and apps make financial peace of mind more accessible and affordable for all!

Source: http://wealth.kiplinger.com/


Theresa Todman, Managing Partner/CEO of B&M Financial Management Services, LLC . Theresa specializes in bookkeeping, accounting, QuickBooks solutions, small business tax issues and consulting.