Best Personal Finance Apps for 2013
To help those 2013 financial New Year’s resolutions along, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best apps to help keep track of spending. We’ve already made our case for why smartphones are worth the dough (in our humblest of opinions), and these personal finance apps play a large role in that.
So without further ado, here’s our list of Best Personal Finance Apps for 2013…
NOTE: All apps listed below are for iPhone. We cannot speak to the availability or functionality on other phone platforms.
For everyday expense tracking
L: Easy Envelope Budget Aid // R: HomeBudget
Free:
Easy Envelope Budget Aid (4.5 stars)
This app puts the popular envelope budgeting system on your phone. Add some envelopes (budget categories) and add a transaction every time you spend. It’s simple, clean, and free.
Paid:
HomeBudget with Sync ($4.99 – 4 stars)
Everyone has a budgeting system that works for them. For Johnny and me, this is it. We swear by this app. The design and flow is intuitive and really easy to set up. And the fact that it syncs our account on both of our phones is super convenient.
For bill organization
L: Pageonce // R: BillTracker
Free:
Pageonce – Money & Bills (5 stars)
Show your bills who’s boss in 2013 with this free app. Pageonce provides a lot of the same great features as Mint, but does a much better job keeping track of bills and alerting you of any suspicious transactions. Score.
Paid:
BillTracker ($1.99 – 5 stars)
This is the easiest app to view your outstanding and upcoming bills at-a-glance. It features a helpful reminder system and includes an archive of past bills so that you can see your full payment history.
For tracking everything
L: Mint.com // R: Accounts 2 Checkbook
Free:
Mint.com Personal Finance (3.5 stars)
If you don’t have a Mint account, go get one. Now. This app automatically tracks everything on your phone: your bank accounts, credit cards, loans, spending, etc. It’s incredibly intuitive and it’s all in one place so you can easily see the big financial picture.
Paid:
Accounts 2 Checkbook ($1.99 – 4.5 stars)
This is a do-it-all daily finances app. It syncs between devices and automatically tracks your expenditures from your credit cards, bank accounts, etc. You can also transfer funds, store photo receipts, and print money (!)… OK, I made that last one up.
Worth noting
L: LearnVest // R: Expensify // Not pictured: Debt Free
Free:
LearnVest (5 stars)
With 5 stars and a clean, simple design, LearnVest is another solid alternative to Mint. With the app, you have the flexibility of adding transactions on or offline and can easily add cash transactions using geo-location. Pretty spiffy.
Expensify (4 stars)
This is the ultimate app for business travelers. Expensify helps to automate the expense report process and has an awesome receipt scanning function. Johnny’s problem with receipts is well-documented, so hopefully I can get him to use this app more frequently in 2013.
Paid:
Debt Free – Pay off your Debt With Debt Snowball Method ($0.99 – 5 stars)
Ready to slay your debt with the snowball method? Here’s your answer. This app helps you organize and keep track of your snowball progress. It includes a payoff date calculator so that you can set a target “get the heck out of debt” date.
Conclusion
Now if only there were a financial app that used Siri. Who wouldn’t love hearing in that lovable voice of hers, “Prego (my name since Johnny hacked my phone), you are $25 over your eating-out budget for this month. Stop eating.”?
What financial resolutions will you be starting tomorrow? Any apps you’d add to this list? How do you feel about paying money for an app that’s supposed to help you save… money?
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(Original photo by williamhook)
December 31, 2012 at 7:43 am
I don’t use apps but in terms of paying for them…They cost money to develop and I appreciate that apps and games take time and effort, people need to get paid!
December 31, 2012 at 3:16 pm
Amen to hard work. I usually only pay for apps when I get iTunes gift cards, but I definitely think they’re deserving of every penny they earn. My $0.99 has gone a long way for the hours and hours I’ve wasted playing Angry Birds.
December 31, 2012 at 8:05 am
I use Expense Manager on Android. It isn’t flash, but it’s free and super easy to use.
December 31, 2012 at 3:19 pm
I’d take substance over flashiness. It’s all about whatever works.
Thanks for the recommendation.
December 31, 2012 at 8:45 am
I used to use mint for a while, but I spent too much time trying to reclassify purchases and then my main bank stopped allowing them access, so I stopped using them. I liked they for a while and it was interesting. I also liked using Wikinvest to track portfolios on the go, but I stopped using them too because it was easier to just use the apps from the various brokerages themselves.
I would pay for an app if I thought it would really help, but for the most part I have yet to find one I think is worth paying for when there is a free alternative that is 95% as good.
December 31, 2012 at 3:25 pm
I feel the same way about Mint. We still use it for getting an at-a-glance look at everything, but we’ve never been able to make budgeting/expense tracking work. We realized that there wasn’t enough pain in spending money if it was automatically tracked. We needed to type each expense in manually for it to register. No pain, no gain… or something.
December 31, 2012 at 8:58 am
I’m a mint junkie. I’ve been using it since it was in beta testing in 2007, and we now have it on 2 phones, 1 tablet, and the desktop app on my laptop. Is there a support group for this kind of addiction?
My other recent favorite app is somewhat pf related – gympact. Turns your gym habits into a money making proposition. I’ve made about $40 using it so far and it gets me to the gym when I’m less than motivated.
December 31, 2012 at 4:49 pm
We use Mint regularly, but we do our best to keep it at bay. Its automation of everything makes everything too easy for us. We needed something that makes us sweat a little every time we buy something. As far as your addiction, I’ve always wanted to stage an intervention, so maybe this is my shot.
GymPact looks awesome, too. Very clever idea.
December 31, 2012 at 10:42 am
I really don’t use that many apps for personal finance purposes. I don’t even log into my fidelity from my phone. I do use a ton of apps, but mainly things like Twitter, Facebook, ESPN, etc. I definitely am open to exploring new apps, though, just haven’t really gotten around to it.
December 31, 2012 at 6:11 pm
The first three apps on my homescreen: Twitter, Facebook, ESPN. Great minds think alike.
December 31, 2012 at 12:03 pm
I have thought about using Pageonce along with LearnVest, but just haven’t done it yet. Good luck with the baby. I know the waiting game is not exciting, but the birth is pretty awesome!
December 31, 2012 at 6:48 pm
I’m a sucker for clean design/UX, and both apps do a great job in that department. I’m fans of both.
Thanks for the well wishes! Any day now… any day. And congrats again!
December 31, 2012 at 1:00 pm
I keep hearing about the merits of Mint but I am hesitant to link our bank accounts up to something like that. It freaks me out! I’m sure it would be fine, though.
Hey, is that baby here yet? JUST KIDDING~!
December 31, 2012 at 7:03 pm
It freaked me out at first, too. But if you can get over the scariness of storing ALL OF YOUR FINANCIAL INFO (that still freaks me out saying it), it’s a really awesome service. There’s something really satisfying (or depressing) about seeing all your money.
We’ve received five or six verbatim texts asking that today. Except they weren’t kidding. MAKE IT STOP!
December 31, 2012 at 4:57 pm
The financial institution where I work at does not allow mint.com to connect to the bank accounts. Mint.com would use our member information for marketing purposes and we don’t want that. We were thinking about using this PF software called Money Desktop. It pretty much does the same thing. I am a fan of manually tracking expenses because it helps keep you involved and accountable.
December 31, 2012 at 7:07 pm
I’ve seen other apps/software that are similar to Mint, minus the marketing. But since I’m a marketing/advertising guy, I’m pretty good at phasing out all the marketing pitches in Mint when I use their site.
All that being said, and as I’ve mentioned in other comments, manually tracking is the ONLY way that’s worked for us. Accountability and pain is key in our household.
December 31, 2012 at 8:37 pm
You’re right in saying that everyone has a budgeting software that works for them! For us, it is YNAB (www.youneedabudget.com). It is super great! Like HomeBudget, it allows for syncing, so that if I enter a transaction across town, when my wife pulls it up on her iPhone, our budget is current and she doesn’t overspend! It also has geo-location as well, so every time I fill up at the Shell station, it remembers that location and even the card/payment type I used! There is a free 34-day trial if you want to test it out! And no, I am not a paid spokesperson for YNAB. (: I HAVE however recommended it to about 5 other people, all of whom absolutely love it.
Just like you guys, we primarily use Mint.com for an at-a-glance look at our finances and to clear transactions in YNAB. Good luck with the birth of your child and Happy New Years Eve!
January 1, 2013 at 2:59 pm
Just because HomeBudget works for us now, it doesn’t mean there’s not something better out there! We’ll definitely give YNAB a try. Thanks for the tip, and Happy New Year to you and your wife as well!
January 1, 2013 at 11:36 am
I like the idea of apps, but I end up using the good old fashioned pen and paper and an excel spreadsheet in the end. I wish I had the discipline to use them more!
January 1, 2013 at 3:08 pm
The most important thing is to keep track, no matter whether it’s with pen and paper or an app. We’ve got a new month and year starting today that we can track perfectly!
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January 4, 2013 at 7:01 am
[...] Best Personal Finance Apps for 2013 – Our Freaking Budget [...]
January 20, 2013 at 3:55 am
My husband and I used EEBA for awhile and really liked it. Just like you said; simple, clean, and free. I especially liked how you can access it online, in addition to the apps. It’s much better on iPhone than Andriod though.
Ultimately joint banking just doesn’t work for us, so no more need for the app.
April 15, 2013 at 8:13 pm
One little known excellent free online budgeting web app is Out Of The Dark (OOTD) Budgeting, it offers easy, comprehensive and customizable budgeting with built in cash put-aside, a credit card debt terminator tool and expense tracking side by side on the same screen with budgeting, plus auto period closing with budget and historical reports sent to the account’s e-mail for easy, safe keeping, anonymous usage without giving out personal identity and without giving out access to bank accounts, all unconditionally free. It’s not a phone app but an excellent easy to use laptop power tool for those who are serious as I am about living without debt…