We take a look at the best financial apps on the market, mainly because April is the month dedicated to financial literacy. While I have no idea what or who uttered the aforementioned dedication, the topic is appealing, and everyone should delve deeper into this often neglected area of self-improvement.

Financial apps work best at gathering data about the pecuniary aspect of one’s life, though the interpretation of said data is still a human function. Moreover, you will never find a single app that encompasses the whole spectrum of a modern financial life. Most apps, courtesy of the division of labor theory, are good at a single thing. Let’s get to know them!

Best Financial Apps – Monitoring Behavior

• Level Money – is a personal financial app that is a tad on the simple side, yet it performs where it is expected. Down at Level Money, Inc., they boast close to a million satisfied customers, and the numbers just begin bamboozling you from there: access to and partnerships with over 18 000 US financial institutions and being the recipients of at least a dozen awards for the app. Setting-up all your financial accounts has never been easier, and from then on you may start building monthly and yearly plans in the attempt to restrain your spending. FREE!
• Digit – by connecting an account to the app, it starts analyzing and profiling spending behaviors. Then, Digit starts approximating a small amount of money that is deemed unnecessary, based on patterns of the past. These fractions (no less than $2 and no more than $17) are then transferred into your own Digit account, hence the catchphrase “save money without thinking about it!”. With unlimited withdrawals and insurance of up to $250.000, Digit is free and funds itself through the interest generated by the very savings of its users.
• HomeBudget with Sync, by Anishu, Inc. – for $4.99 this one  keeps track of all your expenses, distributing them into categories, in addition to managing budgets and balances. Users will take pictures of receipts and integrate spending in a sort of family financial thesaurus. The Sync part relates to the fact that data can be shared between iPhones, iPads, laptops and desktops for an experience that touches the complete. By reviewing the data made available through this app, surely you will scrutinize your financial behavior more often.
• Credit Karma – has taken religious proportions if we are to believe that it aids more than 40 million credit-seekers worldwide. When linked to the bank and credit card accounts, Credit Karma creates your patterns and provides you with reports on your credit along with your own credit score. With the drafting of your profile complete, the app suggests (better) alternatives to loan offers. Furthermore, it boasts tips on how to improve your current credit. It really does seem to have it all, operating in almost every corner of the market, from auto and life insurance all the way to mortgages. User reviews of the product are more than complimentary, creating the impression that Credit Karma is akin to a credit psychiatrist with an endearing tone in her voice. FREE!

Screenshot of Credit Karma

Best Financial Apps for Investors

• Betterment – Automated Investing seems to bring the process of investment from the realm of eternal desire never materialized into the realm of possibility. With this app, you may find out and practice the art of manipulating stocks and bonds. Although you still need to do a certain amount of research before diving head-on, Betterment seems to be the better way to creating a diversified portfolio of investments, in order to wave bye-bye to the limit-imposing traditional savings account. The developers pride themselves with the security of the app, with just a certain amount of management costs that you pay, depending on your total balance.

The Betterment App

• Stash Invest – promises to walk hand-in-hand with you as you take your baby steps on the long road of investing. It stresses affordability because you can begin your journey with just $5, invest small amounts as tips and tricks of the trade are being shown to you. You are to choose from 30 different investment themes, with the actual investment being directed by players such as BlackRock or Vanguard. Stash is free for the first three months of use, costs $1 for every month after that, and different flat fees annually when you start making the really big bucks.

Plans of self-improvement are much in the same vein as New Year’s Resolutions, ever-present in the background of one’s mind, yet rarely acted upon and put into practice. That being said, with the availability of some of the best financial apps, developers have provided us with a less impressive arsenal of excuses for not building on our pecuniary futures.

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