Personal finance is a complicated part of life. For example, you can’t just take your income, subtract expenses, and see what’s left. Sure, that’s where it starts. But countless additional, nuanced elements also factor into a healthy budget and effective wealth generation strategy. Consequently, it helps immeasurably to add at least a few personal finance tech tools to your toolbox.
As inflation continues to bite down on budgets and a recession looms, it’s important to approach your personal finances with a comprehensive mindset. The best way to do that is by equipping yourself with the right tools.
With that in mind, here are some recommendations for the best personal finance tech tools that provide user-friendly and effective support for efficiency-minded people.
1. Veteran.com keeps you up to date.
Often the best personal finance options adjust to your specific needs. If you spend too much, a spending tracker is useful. If you’re a saver, a retirement app is a good fit.
Sometimes the applicability of a particular finance tool can be even more precise — as is the case with Veteran.com. The military-focused website provides a wide array of resources for both current military members and veterans.
Along with blogs and resources on education, jobs, and housing, the popular site has an entire section dedicated to money and finance. This includes military pay charts, an updated military pay calculator, and even a VA Disability calculator.
As veterans and active members of the armed forces navigate their personal finances, the site can provide a steady stream of useful information.
2. Acorns helps with savings.
Managing to save money is one of the most common personal struggles at any time. Trying to do so when inflation rates are high can feel impossible. The temptation to spend money on needs and wants alike can be hard to overcome. Empty bank accounts and crowded credit card statements can leave you feeling stressed.
Enter Acorns. The financial technology company enables users to invest seamlessly in their future. Its online app and banking tools are user-friendly, keeping things simple and straightforward at every step. At the same time, they’re backed by experts from major investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard.
The revolutionary lender offers different tools to help individuals dominate their finances and build toward a better future. One of these tools is the company’s automatic savings and investment option. This rounds up each transaction that takes place, putting the extra money into well-balanced, expert-built portfolios. As a result, the result is better financial awareness and a slow-but-steady trickle into your savings.
3. Mint gives you a financial snapshot.
Some people need targeted personal finance tech tools. Others need comprehensive solutions. If you find that you’re in the latter category and an eclectic fintech stack isn’t helping, you may want to try the Mint app.
Mint is an application with a high reputation. It can link to multiple checking accounts, integrating your assets into a single dashboard. This gives you a unified financial snapshot that can help you see positive and negative tendencies before they get out of hand.
The powerful software solution can also categorize transactions, predict spending patterns, and generate budget recommendations. This provides a steady stream of insights that can foster positive financial habits.
4. Personal Capital is comprehensive finance defined.
Another application similar to Mint is Personal Capital. The wealth management app provides a comprehensive and insightful financial overview.
Once again, this piece of fiscally-minded software has the power to bring together multiple financial data sets. You can link up different personal checking and savings accounts to create an amalgamated snapshot of your current finances.
Along with helping with budgeting and cash flow, Personal Capital also provides a savings planner and net worth options. The former helps create and monitor savings goals. The latter gives you an accurate view of your net worth at any moment.
The app also has extensive retirement savings options, such as a retirement planner and a fee analyzer. These resources can help monitor any quiet or hidden costs to your long-term savings. You can even assess if you’re saving enough for future educational costs and can periodically conduct an investment checkup.
5. Status Money gives you comparables.
Comparing your personal success to others is a dangerous activity. You don’t want to stoke unnecessary levels of discontentment or jealousy. And yet, there are times when seeing how you stack up against others can provide useful information.
Status Money is the perfect solution for those moments. You can input your various debts and assets into the app. From there, it analyzes them and then provides comparables to others in similar circumstances.
Healthy doses of peer-to-peer comparisons can be a great way to stay motivated. Consequently, it can also provide perspective and help workaholics and the hyper-ambitious allow themselves some well-earned rest.
6. GoodBudget goes back to budgeting roots.
Finances can feel overwhelming. When that’s the case, sometimes the best option is a simple one. That’s where GoodBudget comes into the picture.
The personal finance tool focuses on the concept of relatable and user-friendly finances. In fact, it embodies the digital version of one of the oldest and most grounded forms of personal finance: the envelope system. That is a form of financial organization that utilizes envelopes to divide and track cash, creating a natural barrier to overspending in the process.
GoodBudget gives you an app-driven envelope system alternative. Users can divide their money into different “envelopes” that help track how much money they have left in each category. To be fair, the result is similar to most budgeting apps. For those who struggle with walls of numbers and charts, though, an accessible visual like envelopes can make all the difference.
7. Prism helps you track your bills.
Personal budgets tend to focus on income, expenses, and savings. It helps calculate what you owe others and how much you want to set aside for a rainy day. But it doesn’t actually pay off your bills. That’s an extra step that is easy to overlook — especially if you have a lot of different bills to attend to on a regular basis.
Prism is an app that helps eliminate the stress of the bill-pay cycle. Unlike more comprehensive options on this list, like Mint and Personal Capital, this is a fintech tool devoted to one activity, and one activity only: paying your bills.
The app connects you with your various lenders. It syncs up accounts and tracks what you owe. These are then presented in the Prism app, where you can see what you owe, when, you owe it, and to whom it must go.
8. Etrade helps manage investments.
If you already have a firm grasp of basic personal finance and you’re looking to take the next step, you may want to consider Etrade. The financial wealth management software facilitates hands-on trading and investment. This turns an otherwise daunting activity into a very accessible form of personal finance.
Etrade doesn’t take commissions and has a wide range of different investment product choices. These include both active brokerage accounts as well as retirement options. In either case, if you want to stay involved in your retirement planning, Etrade gives you quick and easy access at all times.
9. Vanguard features automatic investing tools.
Vanguard is another retirement and investment-focused personal finance solution. The reputable brand offers automatic investing tools and solid support.
A key element that attracts many users to the wealth management tool is the fact that it’s investor-focused — and that’s not just referring to a customer support initiative. Vanguard is actively owned by those who invest in Vanguard funds. As a result, this gives them a collective focus on mutual wealth creation and successful asset management. Add its suite of comprehensive fintech tools, and it’s an easy choice for many in search of easy-to-use personal finance solutions.
10. Due gets top marks for generating wealth.
It would be a gross oversight to neglect Due on this list. Many peg the popular financial tool as the internet’s number one retirement resource. Forbes rated it as a top finance blog with excellent resources for those looking to generate wealth. Entrepreneur Magazine called it one of the best places on the interweb to glean retirement information.
Due is the perfect combination of resources and tools for personal finance management and wealth generation activities. The site has multiple finance-focused products, from annuities to life insurance and beyond. It also has a wealth of information in the form of an ever-growing blog and a lengthy list of comprehensive guides that revolve around money and its management.
Whether it’s the need for quality fintech tools or a resource to inform your use of those tools, Due is the one-stop shop for successful personal finance.
Personal finance is always important. During economic and fiscal crises, it’s particularly wise to gain control over your income, expenses, and investments.
To sum up, use the list above to identify the best personal finance tech tools to fill in your personal financial shortcomings. Do you need a targeted solution for something like paying bills? Or is a more comprehensive application in order? Consider your situation, make your selection, and then invest in taking your personal finances to the next level.
