Technology can make tracking and analyzing your finances much easier than before. New financial tools take most of the legwork and estimation out of financial tasks. This makes it more likely that you will do financial tasks in a timely manner and get these tasks finished quicker. Here are some apps that are great to use to improve your finances.
Account Monitoring Apps
Account monitoring apps like BillGuard monitor your accounts for fraudulent or erroneous charges and flags them for you. Account issues are easier to fix the faster they are found, so these apps can be beneficial if a problem with your account occurs.
Budgeting Apps
Setting and following a budget is one of the best ways to improve your finances. Budgeting apps like Mint and You Need a Budget make this easy by connecting to your financial accounts, tracking your transactions, and automatically categorizing the transactions into budgeting categories.
Comparison Shopping Apps
Comparison shopping apps allow you to improve your finances by paying less for the items that you need. PriceGrabber and RedLaser allow for quick price comparisons when shopping online or in stores. PriceBlink is a browser add-on that lets you know if there is a lower price for the product elsewhere online.
Loyalty Card Apps
Never leave your store loyalty cards at home again. The Key Ring app allows you to load your loyalty cards digitally to your phone so you always have them on hand when you leave the house. Some retailers, including Kohl’s, Target, and Walmart, have their own loyalty card apps you can use to save in their stores.
Social Shopping Apps
Social shopping apps such as Mashalot or Blinq let you share coupons and great deals on items with friends. This is great for coordinating purchases for events and letting your friends know about great deals on products they were looking for.
Cash Back Apps
Cash back apps like Ebates helps you improve your finances by giving you money when you make purchases from certain retailers online. The cash stays in the app account until you reach a minimum amount, which can then be transferred to your bank account for use anyway that you want.
Coupon Apps
Coupons apps like RetailMeNot and Coupons aggregate a large number of coupons from a wide variety of retailers into an easily searchable list. Before heading out to shop, take a quick glance at the app to see if there are any coupons available that you could use for your purchase.