Money budget tools

It also has, by far, more reviews than any other app we reviewed. As far as the actual budgeting, Mint automatically puts your spending into budget categories. You can personalize these categories, which are unlimited. Besides those budgeting features, Mint may help users pay down debt, save more money and track goals.

The app also shows users their credit score and net worth. Why you may want to think twice: Mint is impressive in many ways, including the fact that it tracks just about everything on your behalf. Cost: Free. Apple store rating: 4.

Google Play rating: 4. Note that all ratings were current as of Dec. Why we recommend it: Goodbudget is more about planning for your finances than tracking previous transactions. This app is based on the envelope budgeting system , in which you portion out your monthly income toward specific spending categories called envelopes.

Then you assign money toward envelopes. You can access the app from your phone and the web. Goodbudget offers a free version that allows one account, two devices and limited envelopes. Its paid version, Goodbudget Plus, allows unlimited envelopes and accounts, up to five devices and other perks.

Cost: Goodbudget is free. Why we recommend it: YNAB is designed so that users plan ahead for their financial decisions, rather than track past transactions.

This app follows the zero-based budgeting system, which has you make a plan for every dollar you earn. As soon as you get paid, you tell YNAB how much of your income should go toward various categories, including expenses, goals and savings. With all this decision making, YNAB is about as hands-on as you can get. YNAB allows you to link your checking and savings accounts, as well as credit cards and loans.

The app works on the phone, desktop, iPad, Apple Watch and Alexa. By design, it works best for users who want to get hands-on while planning for their money. Also, compared to the other apps that made our list, its price is high, and its Google Play ratings are low. College students can use YNAB for free for a year. Google Play rating: 3. First, an explanation of the names: EveryDollar is a free budgeting app.

You manually enter incoming and outgoing money throughout the month. You also categorize line items in your budget and set reminders for bill payments. You can also track debts, see reports on how you spent your money and print your transaction history. Cost: The basic version of EveryDollar is free. Why we recommend it: Personal Capital is primarily an investment tool, but its free app includes features helpful for budgeters looking to track their spending.

You can connect and monitor checking, savings and credit card accounts, as well as IRAs, k s, mortgages and loans. The app provides a spending snapshot by listing recent transactions by category. Adjust your budget accordingly, but always have one.

If you're struggling to stick with your plan, try these budgeting tips. Start by determining your take-home net income, then take a pulse on your current spending.

Check your account statements. Categorize your expenses. Keep your tracking consistent. Explore other options. Identify room for change. Free online spreadsheets and templates can make budgeting easier. Start with a financial self-assessment. Once you know where you stand and what you hope to accomplish, pick a budgeting system that works for you. We like the simplicity of this plan. Over the long term, someone who follows these guidelines will have manageable debt, room to indulge occasionally, and savings to pay irregular or unexpected expenses and retire comfortably.

Find out how this budgeting approach applies to your money. Savings and debt repayment. Track your monthly spending trends to break down your needs and wants. Minimum loan payments. Anything beyond the minimum goes into the savings and debt repayment category. Child care or other expenses you need so you can work. You may find a better cell phone plan , an opportunity to refinance your mortgage or less expensive car insurance.

That leaves you more to work with elsewhere. Separating wants from needs can be difficult. In general, though, needs are essential for you to live and work.

Typical wants include dinners out, gifts, travel and entertainment. Are restorative spa visits including tips for a massage a want or a need? How about organic groceries? Zero-based budgeting the first YNAB rule sounds strict at first, but when you combine it with the second and third rules, you get a flexible and realistic budget that prevents you from being caught off guard.

You can set six different types of goals with YNAB, two for spending, two for savings, and two for paying off your credit card debt. You build these goals into your budget, and YNAB keeps track of your progress. If you nerd out on data, YNAB gives you the ability to run both macro- and micro-level reports on your finances. You can analyze data based on categories, timeframe, and different accounts.

You can also run reports on your net worth and income vs. YNAB is known for stellar customer support via email. And they also offer over free, live, online workshops that will help you use the software and manage your money. This is a cool feature — with a free Zapier account, you can connect over 1, different apps to your YNAB account for an even more personalized experience.

You can try it out with a day free trial, and students get YNAB for free for the first year. There is also a referral program that gives you a free month of YNAB for every friend or family member who subscribes through your unique referral link. There is a bit of a learning curve with YNAB, so you have to be willing to put in the work. Personal Capital makes my list of best budgeting tools because it has a strong focus on net worth and investment tracking, plus retirement management and analysis tools.

These features help you focus on long-term financial planning. Like I said, Personal Capital focuses on long-term financial planning — retirement, most importantly. These features help you play out different scenarios that will affect your goals and save money on your investments. But its budgeting tool does more of a cash flow analysis — showing you how much money is coming in and out of your accounts. You can let Personal Capital organize transactions into pre-made categories, or you can label and categorize transactions yourself.

You can run reports for each linked account, adjust the time frame, or look into specific categories. You can play around with what-if scenarios, like having a baby or buying a house, to see how it may impact your projected retirement age and savings.

This helps you invest your money in a way that prioritizes your specific financial goals. If you have a k , you can connect your account to Personal Capital, and you can use the Fee Analyzer to see different scenarios where you adjust your contributions, employer match, and make assumptions about fees.

Paying too much in fees? Personal Capital will help you research low-cost alternatives, like ETFs and index funds instead of mutual funds, which cost more in management fees. You can use the fee analyzer on more than one k. The reality is that many retirement accounts have hidden fees, and this feature alone can save you thousands of dollars as you plan for retirement.

The features I just told you about are all available on Personal Capital for free. Mint has been around since , has over 15 million users, is owned by Intuit creators of TurboTax , and is one of the most well-known and best budgeting tools available. Your financial life is multi-faceted, and being able to see everything in one place allows you to see how everything fits together. You can connect your checking, savings, credit cards, student loans , mortgage, auto loans, retirement savings, and brokerage accounts.

Mint categories your transactions into predefined categories, and you can edit some of them and create subcategories. If you like to organize your transactions in a specific way, or if Mint miscategorizes them, you can edit them after the fact. Mint memorizes your changes so transactions land in the right spot in the future. Mint will create a budget for you based on how you spend, but you can edit your budget and get alerts if you go over budget.