Yahoo Finance 11 Best Personal Finance Apps To Help You Make – and Keep – Money
Most of us would like to save money on our purchases, but we don’t know where to begin. Many pull out their default operating budget and immediately look for places to cut back.
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To carefully budget and cut back are completely valid strategies and should be deployed for sure. However, harnessing the power of smartphone apps and internet-enabled financial technology is another smart move — and likely easier and faster.
If you’ve become somewhat jaded by living in an app-for-everything culture, you owe it to yourself (and your bottom line) to take another look. The trick will be to find something that works well for you and integrates seamlessly into the way you’re already living your life.
Take a few of these apps for a spin and find out. Chances are good you can use an app to lifehack your way to saving money during periods of high inflation.
Apps You Can Use To Manage Your Money During High Inflation
1. Empower
At a time when inflation is climbing and there is unrest in the world, you’ll want to be with a company that will keep you on track with your finances. Empower is the company for you. It is more important than ever to have your retirement efforts in place with a little time to grow. Personal Capital prepares you with a clear picture of all your assets and liabilities in one secure place. Assess your chances of retirement success and see what you can do to meet your goals.
Empower gives you the ability to uncover all hidden fees in your mutual fund, investments and retirement accounts so that you have the ability to compare plans to find the right one for you.
Free for iOS and Android
2. Rocket Dollar
Rocket Dollar is not an app, per se, but it is a really useful financial service for adding increased value and flexibility to your retirement saving strategy. Many (perhaps most) retirement products only include traditional stocks, bonds and mutual funds that can hardly be considered liquid assets.
Rocket Dollar, on the other hand, not only brings innovation to managing your accounts, but also permits retirement funds to be used for alternative investments such as funding a startup, crypto, purchasing real estate, and more. Clients who want to include alternative assets in their retirement portfolio are encouraged to reach out to the Rocket Dollar team for help getting started.
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3. Mint
For managing personal finance, Mint is an incredibly popular (and powerful) tool that connects all of your personal financial information in one place. Oftentimes adjusting unwise spending patterns is simply a matter of seeing the big picture, and Mint certainly fits the bill in that regard.
After an initial download of your data, Mint provides an easy-to-use system for budgeting, creating income and expenditure categories on the fly, and setting up custom alerts and notifications. And that’s just scratching the surface of Mint’s capabilities.
Free for iOS and Android
4. Swagbucks
The best kind of financial reward is one you get for doing something you already enjoy. The developers of Swagbucks have made it as pain-free as possible to chalk up real, tangible financial rewards for just continuing to do everyday things such as conducting an internet search, shopping online, playing video games and more.
Users can get cash back by shopping for groceries, eating out, purchasing gift cards as presents — you name it. You can even get discounts on your prescriptions.
Free for iOS and Android
5. Fetch Rewards
What if you could get cash back simply by scanning your receipts and continuing to purchase the brands to which you are already loyal? Fetch Rewards has made that possibility a reality.
This mobile shopping platform examines the entirety of your purchases and automatically adds credit to your Fetch Rewards account for every qualifying brand you buy. Fetch Rewards will even notify you of any special offers that you might find appealing and provide the time frame during which specific brand purchases qualify.
Free for iOS and Android
6. Due
While Due is also not technically an app, it is a powerful financial management tool that promises “simple retirement for the modern-day human.” With a Due.com annuity, you are in complete control of your retirement saving and spending. Users always know exactly where they stand and can even withdraw all of their money at any time if not completely satisfied.
The folks at Due.com also offer regular articles, updates, and advice to help clients maximize their investments. Applying for a Due.com account is free, simple, and takes less than five minutes.
7. Ibotta
Ibotta is an app that rewards its users with cashback for making purchases using the app. If, for example, you shop at popular stores such as Walmart or Best Buy (as well as many others), you can use the Ibotta app to make those purchases you were going to make anyway.
Ibotta earns a commission on every purchase made through the app, then turns right around and gives a slice of that fee to you, the shopper. The iBotta app can be used in-store or online, allowing you to keep shopping using whichever method you prefer.
Free for iOS and Android
8. ShopSavvy
Many of us have already gotten into the habit of using our smartphones to compare prices while we are out shopping, but ShopSavvy takes this practice to a whole new level. By using your phone to scan barcodes, ShopSavvy automatically does a deep-dive into pricing, availability, and user feedback for you.
There is purchasing power in reliable data, and ShopSavvy will give you everything you need to decide if you want to purchase any product on the spot, or if it makes more sense to shop online or across town.
Free for iOS and Android
9. CamelCamelCamel
Many of us are seasoned Amazon customers, but not all of us in that group are aware that Amazon changes its product pricing all the time. Retail outlets can be relied upon to keep prices relatively steady, but that is not the case with Amazon. But not to worry!
CamelCamelCamel is a money-saving browser extension designed specifically to help shoppers get a historical view of Amazon pricing for specific products. Complete with charts and easy-to-understand data, this app can help you decide to make that purchase today or perhaps wait for the price to come back down to its historical average.
10. InboxDollars
Shoppers enjoy connecting with brands they prefer and those brands very much want to connect with these specific shoppers. InboxDollars bridges this gap with a win-win solution that puts cash back into consumer pockets as it provides actionable data to advertisers.
Customers take surveys, sign up for special offers, play games and more. All the while, they receive cash back, and name brands have the opportunity to fine-tune their products and services to appeal to a wider market without paying for expensive research studies.
Free for iOS and Android
11. Flashfood
Save money and help cut down on supermarkets sending millions of pounds of food to the local landfill. Piloted by The Giant Company in Pennsylvania, the Flashfood app works by alerting customers to bargains that have been pulled from shelves just ahead of their expiration date and relocated to a Flashfood section.
If, for example, you know you’re going to use some fresh produce, meat, baked goods, or deli products in the next few days, Flashfood represents a strong win-win for you, your grocery store, and the local landfill.
Free for iOS and Android
Start Saving Today
No matter how easy it is to use something, there’s almost always a period of adjustment when trying something new. Use the list above to try out one or two services at a time. Give each app a fair shot, but feel completely free to ditch it and start over if the system doesn’t fit well with the way you are living your life.
Happy saving!
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 11 Best Personal Finance Apps To Help You Make – and Keep – Money
