What is the best money management app to help you track your budget and save more money? Check out my recommendations for the apps below.
As well, read on for money tips to help you manage your income and stay on top of spending.
Best Money Management App
An effective way to keep your finances in check is by using a money management app. There are actually many personal finance apps available in the app store, but not all are the same.
Here are a few of my recommendations.
These money management apps will allow you to track bank, credit card, investment, and loan balances and transactions through a single user interface, as well as create budgets and set financial goals/plans.
Be sure to check these money management apps and select the one that best suits you.
Money Management Tips
There are many different ways to go about money management, I want to share with you one that I have found to be very effective. It’s a system I learned from a very well known millionaire T Harv Eker.
Why Money Management Is Important
It’s so important to manage your money in order to have more. Having a system in place ensures you have enough money for the important things now and for the future in order to enjoy the things you want in life.
Such as a car, holiday, a house or even an investment. Managing your money also will keep you out of debt or help you get out of debt and stop you living from paycheck to pay cheque.
Failing to manage your money will stop you from moving forward financially.
The First Step To Money Management is Keeping Track Of Your Expenditure
It’s a must to be aware and keep track of your incoming and outgoings, this is the first step to money management.
Needless to say, there should be less money leaving your account than what’s coming in.
If this isn’t the case start by looking at expenses to cut down on or increase your income.
Somethings are a necessity e.g bills, rent, while others are not e.g. Netflix. This all depends on your situation and what you want to achieve.
How Can Knowing Your Money Personality Help You Manage Your Money?
Knowing your money personality is key to financial stability.
Understanding how you handle and think about money will help determine your spending habits and how they are affecting your finances.
Which one of the following money personalities can you identify with?
Spender: You love to spend money and you spend to your detriment.
Saver: You save all your money and you rarely ever treat yourself or spend on anything other than expenses, when you do you feel guilty.
Avoider: You avoid having to deal with money at all cost.
None of the above is better than the other, as with all things in life its about balance.
The Jar System For Better Money Management by T Harv Eker.
This method of money management consists of six different bank accounts. You will deposit a percentage of your income each month and only spend from the delegated accounts.
The idea here is not to dip into your other accounts once your allocated amount run out of funds.
The percentages are a guideline so you can adjust these accordingly however try and get your necessities to 55% so that your not spending over half your income on just bills.
- Financial Freedom: 10% – This is an account which you will use this money to invest in stocks, shares, real estate etc. Invest this money to bring you more money.
- Long Term Savings Account: 10% – Use this account to save for big purchases, rainy day fund, unexpected bills or payments
- Education: 10% – Use this account for educational purposes, books, courses, training for personal or career development.
- Necessity: 55% – Use this account to pay your bills and necessities.
- Play: 10% – Use this account to play, have fun and treat yourself guilt-free.
- Give: 5% – It’s always important to give back, maybe to a cause you to feel deeply about or a charity, you decided.
Tips To Manage Your Budget
Now, since we are talking about money management, let’s chat budgeting. Every organized person has a solid way of managing finances.
Before you start budget planning, make sure you have at least an hour to devote to it. You will need to gather some documents such as bank statements and any other financial statements like credit cards, loans and other expenses.
You also need to have all sources of income available so that you know exactly what comes in and when. Once you have this information, you are ready for the nitty-gritty number crunching.
Getting Started With Budgeting
It was once said that “money can’t buy happiness – that’s why we have credit cards.” Perhaps the reason the speaker remains anonymous is the debt that you accrue when you buy your happiness with credit cards.
This is one of the items you will need to list on your budget. Make sure you break it down into your minimum payment and the amount owed on credit cards so that you can work toward paying them off.
Spreadsheets Say It Best
Spreadsheets are simply electronic ledgers that do a lot of computing for household budgets. Start with a ledger or spreadsheet and put your monthly income in one column.
Make sure you are only including regular income, not occasional income from odd jobs. This is what you base your spending on, never basing your spending habits on what you think or hope might be coming in soon.
Next, list your monthly bills one at a time under the income. These will be deducted from your income. Make sure you include every bill you have. Don’t forget annual taxes, insurance, utility bills and other costs that are broken down in chunks.
You can put them in the budget by dividing the yearly amount by 12. This will give you the amount you need to set aside each month in order to make the payment.
Once your necessary bills are listed, go through your bank statement and use your withdrawals at the supermarket to get an idea on how much your family spends on groceries.
List the average amount on your spreadsheet. You also need to do this for gasoline. For most of us it is a necessity in order to get to and from work.
Entertainment Comes Next
Before you even consider entertainment and other variable budget planning expenses, subtract all of your necessities from your income. If you have money left, use this to budget entertainment and miscellaneous expenses. However, you should keep in mind that you need to put money away for emergency savings.
If you are in a deficit, you need to go through your budget and find areas to cut back, like cell phone plans, cable television, shopping for groceries that are less expensive and more.
You may think you are doing fine coasting from paycheck to paycheck. However, one emergency can bring your house of cards tumbling down.
If you sit down and plan your budget so that you know where your money is going your budget will show you what you have to live on instead of finding yourself down and out whatever your personal circumstances.
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