by Laura Adams
If you’re like most people, you don’t leave home without your mobile technology. If you have a smart phone or an iPad, you can download very inexpensive or free mobile applications or “apps” designed for your type of device. Need to track your budget on the go? There’s an app for that. Want to find a coupon while you’re shopping? Oh yes, there’s an app for that, too. In this article I’ll tell you about a few of the most popular personal finance apps, what they do, how much they cost, and how to use them wisely.
What Are the Best Personal Finance Apps?
I’ll start by reviewing two excellent financial apps that do something called “account aggregation.” If you’re not familiar with account aggregation, it’s a technology that collects the data from your various online accounts and reports it in one place. It automatically pulls up-to-the-minute transactions from Web sites where you’re already registered, such as your bank, credit card, brokerage, or auto lender, for example. Aggregation is really handy because it eliminates the need for you to log into multiple online accounts to see your transactions and balances. Instead, you can see everything you need on one screen.
Mint.com Personal Finance Apps
One of the best aggregation apps is from Mint.com. Once you create a free account at Mint, you can download their free mobile app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or for Android. The app gives you real time balances and transaction details for each of your accounts. It shows how much you’ve spent in each spending category that you set up, so you know how much money is left in your budget. You can see the performance of your online investments and even add other assets like your home or car value to get a picture of your real-time net worth. The app syncs with your online Mint account, so you can use both the app and the web versions.
Pageonce Personal Finance Apps
Another impressive app that aggregates financial data is from Pageonce at pageonce.com. They’re the largest mobile personal finance service in the U.S. Their app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad is called Pageonce Personal Finance. They also have apps for BlackBerry, Android, and Windows Mobile called Pageonce Personal Assistant. All the apps are free but there’s a premium version with no ads and more functionality that costs $6.99.
The free versions give you real time balances and transaction details for each of your online accounts. You can also get e-mail reminders when your bills are due as well as a variety of non-financial information. Pageonce gives you updates on your cell phone minutes, frequent flier miles, loyalty program points, movies in your Netflix queue, eBay bids, feeds from your social networking accounts, and more! I haven’t tried this app yet, but it sounds incredibly versatile.
HomeBudget Personal Finance Apps
If you’re not comfortable giving up your logon information to an aggregator or you don’t have many online accounts to manage, you might enjoy a simpler app just to track your budget. Apps that don’t automatically aggregate your data require that you enter your information as you go, but that’s generally very easy to do.
Home Budget is an app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and the iPad that allows you to track your account balances, bills, and budget. You can create reports, see trends with charts, attach photo images of receipts, and more. The regular version is $4.99, but you can also try out Home Budget Lite for free to see if you like it before buying the paid app.
Apps That Save You Money
And speaking of buying stuff, there are some great apps that can help you save money. Here are three money-saving apps that are always working to bring you coupons, discounts, and deals:
ShopSavvy is a free app that turns an iPhone or an Android into a barcode scanner using the phone's camera. Then it searches the Internet for the best price while you’re browsing through the store. You’ll know if you should buy the item in the store or if you could save money buying it online.
Coupon Sherpa is a free app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad that helps you streamline your coupons. You can search for coupons and special offers by store name, product category, or at a store located nearest to you. E-mail them to yourself, a friend, or just show them at check out on your mobile device.
Shooger is a free app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Blackberry, and Android. It has over 80,000 coupons, deals, discounts, and special offers from over 25,000 local and online merchants. You can search for offers by location and product category, and even get alerts when your favorite stores have new coupons and discounts available.
How to Use Mobile Apps Safely
Before you download a ton of cool apps, read their descriptions carefully so you can be sure that they’re going to help you. Start with one or two and see if you use them over the next few weeks. If so, then you can try out more.
A major concern is safety and what could happen if you lose your mobile device. For most apps you don’t reveal or store anything confidential like a bank account number or your Social Security number. Account aggregators, like Mint.com and Pageonce, have top-level security that’s been proven safe. Their apps are password protected so no one else can open them and see your account transactions. But if someone were able to get in, they couldn’t manipulate your information or see your username or password because the apps are in a read-only mode. If your mobile device is stolen, you can also go to the app’s website and shut down your account completely. You can also set many mobile devices to lock after a certain period of time and require a password for reentry, which is an added layer of protection.
There are hundreds or probably thousands of financial apps—and more are being created all the time. You can search for free or paid apps in the iTunes store or by doing a Google search for something specific, like “mobile coupon apps.”
Connect with Money Girl
I’d love to know if you have favorite mobile apps that are helping you improve your personal finances. E-mail me at............tweet me at @lauraadams, or make a post on the Money Girl Facebook page so we can share them with the Money Girl community.
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