Everybody from the government (how ironic) to personal finance experts are telling us that we need to manage our money better and that?s good advice but managing money requires us to use something that we?re a little low on: Time. What we do have is a smartphone and making smart, data driven choices as well as keeping a more frequent eye on our accounts is easy on those devices but only if we can find an app that makes that task easy.
The problem is finding one. According to Apple, there are now more than 500,000 apps to choose from and although Google isn?t as forthcoming as Apple, estimates indicate that there are now more than 200,000 Android apps.
It?s great to have choices and as we know, only a fraction of those will be finance apps but still, who has time to try all of them or even read about them? Here are a few that should make your short list of personal finance apps to check out.
Mint>
I know that the debate over the best apps can get as heated as a political debate but after trying a lot of apps, I can?t find a ?financial snapshot? app that comes close to Mint. Mint allows you to set up one page that has all of your bank accounts, credit card accounts, investments, and loan accounts all in one place. You can monitor your accounts and Mint even makes recommendations about how to lower payments and save money. Head to mint.com and sign up. Then, download the app.
CNBC Realtime
If you?re a financial news junkie, there are a lot must have apps including Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, and Stocktwits but at the top of the list is the CNBC Realtime app. Not only do you get breaking economic news, but their coverage of all markets is comprehensive and easy to see in one place.
Portfolio Live
If you need an app to track your stock portfolio, my favorite is Portfolio Live. This app isn?t free but of all of the stock apps I?ve tried, this has been my favorite. It?s organized the data very intuitively. They also have Futures Live, an equally impressive app that tracks futures of all types but for futures tracking, I recommend the new free app from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Twitter? Yes, twitter. You aren?t going to manage your finances using twitter but if you?re looking for one place to get financial news, personal budgeting tips, investment information, and just about any other financial information you can think of, twitter is the place to go. Nobody said that you have to tweet. Using it as a media aggregator is just as valuable.
iHandy Tip Calculator
First, don?t pay for a tip calculator. There are a lot of apps that cost up to $9.99 but unless you?re an international traveler and need to tip in foreign currency the basic free app will be fine. The iHandy Tip Calculator not only works well but it looks good too. You can calculate using different percentages of the bill as well as figure out how to split the bill between other people at the table.
I, like most people, have way too many apps on my phone and most of those are free. I?m not opposed to purchasing an app but in my experience, you can satisfy all of your personal finance needs with a free app. What are your favorites?
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Source: http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/personal-finance-apps-2012.html
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