If you've
been following the news this summer, you've probably seen some pretty amazing
stories about technology and money coming together. On a single day,
Amazon announced an online-only "Black Friday" in July event, called
"Prime Day," Apple announced a direct person-to-person payment system
for your phone, and Mastercard outdid both by announcing a new program that
uses selfies as a security feature. Between Apple Pay, Square, Google
Wallet, PayPal, Uber and AirBNB, we can't go a month without mobile technology
changing a major aspect of personal finances.
But
change can be scary for many of us. After all, 15 years ago you wouldn't
have considered connecting your cellphone to your financial institution, yet we
now feel comfortable using an Apple Watch to connect through Bluetooth to an
iPhone that connects through a coffee shop WiFi, leaving countless security
holes between us and our credit union's server. With that in mind, if
we're going to be using selfies to make transactions soon, maybe we should take
a moment and find out what we can do now.
Here are
some frequently asked questions about managing money on a smartphone:
What's
the best app for budgeting?
For most
of the jobs you want to do, one app is as good as another. If you want to
make a to-do list, there are hundreds of apps for that. If you want a
game, there are thousands. With budgeting, there aren't as many, and
that's because two apps are far and away the best. Money Manager, by Geezio, is a
free service that lives within the Pen Air online banking app that gives you a clear and updated budget. It's easy to
use and it helps you to create a budget, identify where all of your money goes each month, set spending targets, and identify ways to cut back on spending while saving more. It'll also help you to track your upcoming bills and incoming cash, and create and track your personal goals! You Need a
Budget (or YNAB) is a more colorful and user-friendly app, but it costs $60 for
the software after a free trial.
Question:
Do I really need a budgeting app?
Both are
great solutions, but you can also stick to your old spreadsheet. As
Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Dropbox all compete for your cloud
storage money, the software to sync cloud-stored data has come along quickly.
All you need to do is move your budget spreadsheet over to Google Docs or
a similar online service and you can adjust your budget on the go. Couple this with our great app to easily reconcile your
budget the same way you always have.
Question:
I can't get rid of the stock app on my phone. Should I just use
that for monitoring my investments?
You don't
have to use it just because it's there. You probably found a better option
for your email client (such as Gmail, Missives, or Dispatch) and your to-do
list app (like Trello, Evernote, or Todoist). You can also find a much better
app for investing than the one that came with your phone. Personal
Capital is an app from the former CEO of Intuit, and it is one of the best free
investment dashboard apps you'll find. Its service is designed for the
"aspiring wealthy," and exchanges a free investment monitoring
service for targeted advertisements for its paid investment advice.
Sources:
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