5 Budgeting Apps to Help You Budget and Invest Better

No matter what stage of life you’re in, managing your money and debt wisely can be fruitful. With a handle on your finances, you can save for future so you can buy that house you’ve dreamt of or take that trip you’ve always wanted to. And thanks to technology, you can do so all on your own with the right apps. Here’s our list of budgeting apps for the frugal soul:

YNAB

Cost: Free

Platform: Web-based, Android, iPhone

This app had us sold the minute we knew what it was called. You Need A Budget or YNAB is a free app for those looking to budget their expenses from paycheck to paycheck. It is an easy to use app that relies on your statements from last paycheck to determine your spending budget. If you’re someone that doesn’t want to share your banking passwords with an app, this is for you. YNAB asks all its users to manually upload their banking documents each pay cycle. While this is a great budgeting app, it doesn’t offer options to track investments or savings.

Personal Capital

Cost:  Free and Paid

Platform: Online web-based

Personal Capital is another free app to help you with all your budgeting needs. The great thing about this app is that it is both a budget and investment tracker. It tracks all your investments, including RRSPs. This app directly connects with your financial institution giving you the choice between manual and automatic uploads of financial documents. The cash flow tool is handy and tracks all your spending by category. This means, you don’t have to go in and set up categories unless you really want to. To add to its fantastic features, personal capital also tracks your assets and their allocations, returns, costs of investments and dividends.

Quicken

Cost:  Free and Paid

Platform: Windows, Macintosh, DOS

Quicken goes a step further than personal capital. Not only does it help budget and track investments, it can also help pay your bills and generate financial reports. Documents are directly uploaded from your credit card and banking accounts. Making it easier for you to check your finances without having to manually input the data each time something changes on your account. A great feature of quicken is that is allows for you to work off of different devices and sync all the data to your quicken account.

Mint

Cost:  Free

Platform: Web-based

Mint is the first cousin of Quicken. It is owned by Intuit Inc. a firm that also owns Quicken. Mint is an online app that tracks your budget, investment, spending, current trends, income, assets, net worth, debt and so on. The app comes with built-in categories but users have the freedom to add more to the list. You can also split transactions between your card and cash, when you make a purchase that involves both forms of payments. You can also set budget alerts to keep you from over spending. This app also comes with a free credit score!

Learnvest

Cost:  Paid

Platform: Web- based, iPhone and iPad

Learnvest is a little more sophisticated than free personal finance apps. Which is why it’s high initial cost is fairly reasonable. Learnvest gives its users more flexibility than the free apps. It helps track your budget, set budget goals, investments, assets, income and whole 9 yards. In addition to offering every feature you will ever need to understand your personal finances, it also gives you access to a financial advisor. The financial advisor can assist you with questions or concerns. Learnvest can help you create and maintain a financial plan long term. It also has offers tools to help you invest better.

November marks National Financial Literacy Month. It is a month dedicated to ensure the financial
well-being of Canadians. Take that extra step towards managing your finances  today, for a better tomorrow!

If you are interested in going back to school but your financial situation stands in the way, get in touch with our Student Financial Administrators to discuss what options you have to pay for school.