Manage your money
For many of us, managing money is difficult. Since the rise of the points credit card, where there is incentive to use credit instead of debit, it’s easy to lose track of what we have in the bank and overspend month after month. In order to prevent the monthly spend hangover, here are a few apps that can help with money management.
Pocket Guard (Apple, Android): This app allows you to link all of your accounts (debit, credit, etc.) and then analyzes where your money is going into categories. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’re spending on smaller things so having a wake up call to the areas of your life that are draining your cash allows you to focus your attention on the main problems. Free to use basic version and $3.99 a month for premium.
Acorns (Apple, Android, Web): This app rounds up your everyday purchases to the nearest whole dollar and then deposits the difference into a savings or investment account for you. It’s a great way to save some extra money without it being too painful. Basic is $1 a month and premium is $3 a month.
Mint (Apple, Android, Web): Mint automatically categorizes transactions from linked credit and debit cards and tracks them against a budget you can tweak and customize. And it will send you alerts when you go over your budget in a category or in your overall budget. Free.