How To Choose The Best Budgeting App For You
While YNAB and Mint’s budgeting apps are great, let’s be honest: You’re going to want to download just one or two of them.
(That is, of course, unless you’re a huge personal finance nerd who loves to keep track of their spending. If that’s the case, you’re on the right website.)
When it comes to choosing the best budgeting app for you, there are a few questions you should ask yourself:
What are my goals?
This is a very important question to ask, no matter what budgeting app you ultimately choose.
Knowing your personal finance goals is the first step to financial success. And it can also help you choose the best app.
For example, maybe you want to simply save a little more each month without having to worry about looking at spreadsheets or a bunch of data each week. If that’s the case, Albert is probably the best app for you.
But if you’re a finance-savvy person who wants to improve their investments’ earnings by 10% this year, perhaps another app is more your speed.
If you need help coming up with a good personal finance goal, check out our article on how to create a SMART objective (aka the best kind of goal-setting out there).
How hands-on do I want to be?
When it comes to personal finance, people either want to be as involved as possible or completely hands-off.
Luckily, there are apps for every level of involvement.
Want to be able to go in and look at different data sets for your budget to optimize it? Tiller Money, YNAB, or Empower (formerly Personal Capital) would be good for you.
Want to take a more backseat approach? Mint could be good for you.
Decide how hands-on you want to be with your budget. There’s no right or wrong answer here.
Am I in debt?
Before you choose an app, it’s a good idea to take a look at the current state of your finances and answer one important question: Am I in debt?
Debt is the most common roadblock for people wanting to live a Rich Life. That’s why it’s so important that you work on getting out of debt before you even think of doing things like saving for huge purchases.
Those in debt want to choose a budgeting app that’ll help them lessen or get out of their debt entirely. Apps like Albert, YNAB, and Mint can help you do just that.
They’ll give you a snapshot of your spending as well as show you how you’re paying it down each month.
For more, be sure to check out our article on how to get out of debt fast.
Mint Budgeting App: Pros and Cons
Mint is a free budgeting app designed to fit users from various walks of life who have wide-ranging financial priorities. Users can stick to the app’s straightforward features, like creating a budget or categorizing transactions. But Mint’s real value comes from all the other opportunities to gain insight into your financial life, like credit score monitoring and bill tracking.
