As technology develops rapidly, the number of cameras on our smartphones seems to increase exponentially, and these devices also offer us more and more opportunity to be proactive and productive, despite the court of public opinion perhaps saying the exact opposite.
We already as a nation spend a ton of time on our phones, perhaps more than we should in fact, with it being reported that the average person spends over three hours on their phone each day, picking it up around 58 times too. So, why not use this time to our advantage and actually learn something for a change?
Looking for a financial planning app to help you put away some savings for the long term? Perhaps you’re just interested in some general budgeting apps to help you be a bit more conscientious of your outgoings? Well, for some more information, take a look at the following short guide, giving you some initial insight on how to best make use of your mobile, followed by some app recommendations to help you maintain a healthy financial profile.
Before getting into the other additional apps that you can use to help you financially, you should first make sure that you’re using your phone’s existing capabilities and features to their full capability.
Here are a couple of pointers that you should make sure you’re doing to help you to get the most out of your smartphone:
Not only can you manage your account, viewing current balances, available balances, and managing/cancelling direct debts, but with some banking apps, you can even transfer money and make payments. this can be a real help if splitting the bill or lending a friend some cash on the fly.
If you use contactless payments a lot through your card then this is definitely something to look at, as with fingerprint/facial recognition required it’s more secure. You can also monitor the amounts that are coming out as it will give you an instant notification once payment has been confirmed.
Here’s a selection of five financially beneficial apps to take a look at, all of which are free to use.
An advanced budgeting and personal expense tracker app with a bills and finance monitor built-in, Mint is a handy and portable-friendly financial planning app from Intuit, the makers of financial software such as QuickBooks – which is popular among small business owners and entrepreneurs for helping them behind the scenes.
The personal assistant that you never knew you needed, Cleo is a free financial advisor app that describes itself as “like a bank, if they cared”. An AI-powered chatbot that links up to your account via Facebook messenger, Cleo will give you financial advice and information through informal text messages. There’s even a ‘roast mode’, where Cleo will employ sarcasm and even the odd GIF to poke fun at your spending habits.
With a playful premise that doesn’t get too bogged down in projections or statistics, Cleo is perfect for students or young people that want friendly advice given to them straight. That’s not to say that facts and figures aren’t important, but sometimes it’s good to have a bit of variety, as it might even help you to think about your money in a different way.
As the Christmas period approaches, it can be easy to go a little overboard with gift-giving and present spending in the festive spirit, and so you might decide that you want an app to help you keep on top of your outgoings. Money Dashboard is a great financial planning app and tool that allows you to set financial goals, categorise payments in easy-to-understand, colour infographics and charts, and even set up a planner to help you stick to a strict schedule with your money.
Maintaining a positive credit rating is an extremely important factor in staying financially stable, and yet many people in the UK struggle to keep their credit footprint clean. The Mirror reported last year that an estimated 43% of people missed credit repayments, which can have a bad knock-on effect on their credit score.
While Mint also has a facility that allows you to monitor your credit rating, you might also want to take a look at Credit Karma. Stating that credit-checks and scores should always be free to the public, and pledging to treat their data as if it’s their own, Credit Karma provides you with a fast and simple way of checking your credit score. It also even gives you insights into what specifically might be negatively impacting your score, and what you might want to change/tweak to improve it.
Here’s an advanced look at an app that has not yet been released in the UK, but is set to release shortly, and is doing immensely well overseas.
As the name probably suggests, Robinhood is a trading app that aims to help give even the most inexperienced of investors a good chance at investment success through publicly-traded stocks and cryptocurrencies, all commission-free. Many people with full-time jobs and careers don’t have the time to sit and study the investment market, and so learning on the go with an introductory app such as this one is a great way to efficiently make the most of your time when you’re commuting or have five minutes to spare.
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As technology develops rapidly, the number of cameras on our smartphones seems to increase exponentially, and these devices also offer us more and more opportunity
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