Top 5 Personal Finance Apps: All Free And Available On iOS And Android

One of the key tricks to staying on top of personal finance is being aware of precisely how much money is coming in and how much and where money is going out.

In this technological age, personal finance apps have come to the rescue, replacing paper and pencil budgets with personalized charts and cash envelopes with virtual spending pockets.

Below is a compilation of five of the top recommended personal finance apps, as publicized by the likes of Zacks, Investopedia and US News. Each of these apps is available for download on iOS and Android platforms and is either free or has a free level available.

Related Link: Tight For Cash? Avoid Payday Loans With These 3 Alternatives

Mint Personal Finance

Mint integrates multiple accounts (including bank, credit, loan and retirement accounts) into one place, provides trending information and can document budgeting plans.

• Positives: Suggests banks with higher savings rates, credit cards with lower interest rates, provides graphics and saving alternatives (illustrates how much more could be saved by increasing monthly payments, for example), provides free credit score, allows manual input of cash transactions.
• Negatives: Must be set up from computer, "read only" system for mobile app.
• Cost: Free
• Platform: iOS, Android

In Their Own Words: "Because Mint knows what's going on with your money, we can help you find savings along the way. We analyze thousands of checking, savings, credit card, brokerage, CD and IRA rollover offers – them make recommendations that will save you the most based on you lifestyle and goals."

BillGuard

BillGuard pulls all your credit/debit transactions and sends you alerts of potential fraudulent charges. It also alerts you if a retailer experiences a data breach and if you shopped at that merchant during the breach period.

• Positives: Can flag and dispute charges through the app. Evaluates your spending habits and finds relevant coupons.
• Negatives: Is best used in tandem with another app because it only focuses on transactions and threats vs. being a comprehensive personal finance aide.
• Cost: Free
• Platform: iOS, Android

In Their Own Words: "The world's #1 transaction monitoring app. Suspicious charge alerts and new data breach alerts. Don't recognize a charge? Get details on the merchant, with community-edited information. Unfair charge? Get your money back with just a couple taps. Over $60 million in wrongful charges found."

Related Link: 3 Tips For A Year-End Tax Checkup

Personal Capital

Personal Capital tracks investments by account or asset class, and allows you to compare your portfolio to major indices. The app offers investment checkups and 401(k) and mutual-fund fee calculators.

• Positives: Offers a unique view for investors, while still providing information on basic personal finance.
• Negatives: While it is a top-notch security function, the app is a "read-only service" and does not allow for funds to be moved within the app.
• Cost: Free
• Platform: iOS, Android

In Their Own Words: "Bring Wall Street to your street. In today's financial markets, how can you tell if you're keeping up for falling behind? See your entire portfolio, boiled-down to one number: your You Index. Tracking performance has never been easier."

Better Haves

Better Haves is an app designed for couples as an accountability spending and budgeting system. Virtual envelopes are filled with money and as spending occurs, it keeps expenses organized and easily tracked.

• Positives: The app has the ability for multiple people to view the same information from different devices. Provides real time updates. The envelope system sends reminders to both users when envelops are getting low and spending in that area needs to be more closely monitored.
• Negatives: Still fairly new and has a few minor kinks that need to be tweaked. Involves a lot of interaction with the app.
• Cost: Free
• Platform: iOS, Android

In Their Own Words: "Save and then fill an envelope for each expense category. Take money from envelopes as you spend it. Once an envelope is empty, everyone stops spending in that category. Adjust your budget and save more during your next refill."

Related Link: Step 1 Of Budgeting: Taking An Inventory Of Your Expenses

Shoeboxed

Unlike the previously mentioned apps, Shoeboxed provides a way to easily keep up with cash spending in addition to credit/debit card spending. Based on pictures of your receipts, Shoeboxed collects and organizes spending habits.

• Positives: Creates shareable expense reports, broad range of import and export methods including pictures, email, and scanning.
• Negatives: Not updated in real time. Because everything is verified as accurate by a Shoebox team member, each receipt can take up to an hour to become live in the app.
• Cost: The app offers different levels of involvement, and therefore different cost options. DIY: Free; Lite: $9.95/month after free trial; Classic: $29.95/month after free trial; Business: $49.95/month after free trial; Executive: $99.95/month after free trial.
• Platform: iOS, Android

In Their Own Words: "Shoeboxed does all of the scanning and data extraction work for you, saving you valuable hours […] Shoeboxed provides you with a single, secure location for all of the important financial documents in your life. Everything in Shoeboxed is organized, categorized, fully searchable and available from anywhere in the world, giving you maximum peace of mind 24/7 should disaster ever strike."