Money is one of the foremost considerations for many retirees. For some, it’s stretching a pension to make ends meet, for others, it’s eliminating debt to live free from financial burden in later life. And for more financially fortunate retirees, it’s managing money to cover expenses, and save for holidays or purchases of which you’ve dreamed all your working life. Whatever your situation, keeping track of your spending is paramount to ensuring a comfortable retirement.
Creating a budget is the best way to take control of your finances. There are many budgeting and personal finance apps that can make it easy for you to do just that.
Best paid budgeting apps
Okay, so you’re reading this article to see how you can save money, but sometimes, spending a little can actually save you a lot. And these apps might just be worth the outlay.
HomeBudget with Sync (from $6.50)
With an intuitive design interface, HomeBudget is easy to set up. It syncs your budget with the cloud, which is great for couples that want to stay on the same ledger.
Spendbook is a manual budgeting app with a clean design and a claim that it makes budgeting a more ‘enjoyable experience’. The only thing that’s missing is a sync option between devices.
Best free budgeting apps
The following apps are free, and if one of them suits your budgeting purpose, then you’re one step ahead from the red to the black.
The simplicity of this app is what makes it really appealing. Wally tracks your income and expenses and uses that information to calculate your monthly savings. There’s no need to create a detailed budget either – as Wally focuses solely on the nuts and bolts of spending versus saving versus income.
This app not only automates your entire budget, but also alerts you to when an unauthorised charge occurs on any of your accounts or credit cards. This makes it great for those worried about credit card fraud and other scams. The interface and layout is intuitive and enjoyable, and its aim is to create a truly automated budgeting system.
Dollarbird gives users total control over their finances by allowing them to create a budget and enter expenses manually. The design is light, bright and easy to use. This is the ideal app for a single person who is trying to stick to a budget.
There are also many finance apps available that aren’t just focused on budgeting. Mint is a powerful finance-management app that literally creates your budget for you, although you still have the option to create your own. Mint is great for providing a general overview of what your money is doing – from the ability to pay bills from a central point to managing retirement accounts, assets and investments, and keeping track of your net worth by monitoring the balances of your accounts. You can even use Mint to check your credit rating.
Do you know of any good budgeting apps? Do you have any budget tips for our members? Why not share them?
