Below is our list of the seven best money-saving apps for college students and what each is best for. A detailed description of each will follow.

Best Money-Saving Apps for College Students

1. Acorns

Acorns is a micro-savings and micro-investing app. Both are big advantages to college students who want to begin saving and investing money for the future while still in school. You can use the Round-Up feature by connecting your debit and credit cards to the Acorns app.

Each time you make a purchase, the charge to your bank account or credit card will be rounded up to the nearest dollar, with the spare change held until it reaches $5. Once it does, the funds will be transferred into an Acorns robo-advisor account, where you’ll be provided with a fully managed investment portfolio. Money will continue flowing into the account as you spend, building up your portfolio over time.

Acorns also has Acorns Earn. It comes with the Mighty Oak Debit Card, which enables you to earn bonus investments from purchasing at hundreds of top merchants, like Apple, Walmart, and Expedia. Acorns Earn can also help you find part-time and remote jobs to earn extra money. By referring friends to the Acorns app, you can earn a $5 investment for each person who signs up for an account.

• Main features: Micro-savings and micro-investing app, plus the ability to earn extra money
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.7/5 stars; The App Store: 4.7/5 stars
• Fee: $3 per month for Acorns Personal

Read our Acorns Review

2. Rocket Money

Rocket Money offers bill negotiations, which can lower your pay on recurring bills. The free plan comes with this service and budgeting, spending insights, and credit score monitoring. Rocket Money charges between 30% and 60% of the savings on bill negotiations, which means you’ll pay nothing if they don’t save you any money.

You can choose the Premium version, which has a negotiable monthly fee between $4 and $12. This includes canceling unused subscriptions, creating a smart savings account, and accessing financial experts to help you better manage your money.

• Main features: Bill negotiations, subscription management, budgeting, spending, insights, and credit scores.
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.3/5 stars; The App Store: 4.3/5 stars
• Fee: 30%– 60% of savings on bill negotiations; $4 to $12 per month (negotiable) for the Premium plan

Read our Rocket Money Review

3. PocketSmith

PocketSmith has free and premium versions, but since we focus on money-saving apps for college students, we will focus on the free plan. PocketSmith helps you create a customized dashboard that includes all your financial accounts. This will help you better track what’s going on with all accounts in one place. You can enter and categorize transactions from more than 14,000 bags worldwide.

Not only can you track all your transactions, but you can also create up to 12 budgets to help you better manage your finances. PocketSmith also provides budget projections for up to six months. It comes with bill alerts, so you don’t miss a payment deadline and incur a late fee.

• Main features: Budgeting
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 3.4/5 stars; The App Store: 3.4/5 stars
• Fee: Free version available

Read our PocketSmith Review

4. Ibotta

Ibotta is free to download and advertises that you can earn up to 30% cash back on purchases at major retailers, including Home Depot, Best Buy, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Old Navy, and many more big-name merchants. Best of all, you can access the app in any store to take advantage of available offers. Alternatively, you can shop online with the free browser extension for the best deals.

• Main features: Earn cash rewards up to 30% at select retailers
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.5/5 stars; The App Store: 4.8/5 stars
• Fee: Free to download

5. Fiverr

Finding ways to save money as a college student is important, but finding ways to earn more can be equally valuable. Fiverr bills itself as the Freelance Services Marketplace, allowing you to earn money by performing gigs on the platform. Downloading the app to find gigs is free, though Fiverr will receive a small percentage of your earnings from the individual or business hiring you to perform the work.

One of the big advantages of this app is the diversity of services you can provide. Examples include graphics and design, programming and tech, digital marketing, video and animation, writing and translation, music and audio, and more. You can make money with this app if you already have social media and video creation skills. Fiverr even offers participants an opportunity to begin building a business.

• Main features: Earn money using your skills at various gigs
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.6/5 stars; The App Store: 4.9/5 stars
• Fee: Free to download the app

6. Coupons.com

As the name implies, Coupons.com is an app that gives you access to coupons that can be used to purchase various products at various merchants. That may not be earning cash back, but you will get direct savings on purchases you would make anyway that can save you plenty of money.

What’s impressive about this app is that it provides coupons to hundreds of well-known merchants nationwide. That includes all types of merchants, like Staples, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Macy’s, American Eagle, Neiman Marcus, and CVS. They also offer coupons for purchases made through Priceline and other travel services.

• Main features: Coupons savings on purchases
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.4/5 stars; The App Store: 4.3/5 stars
• Fee: Free to download

7. Upside

We ranked Upside at #7 because not all college students have a car, especially if they’re living on campus. If you do, Upside is an app that can help you find gas stations in your area where you can save several cents per gallon through the app. The service claims it can save you up to $0.25 per gallon on gas, up to 45% on restaurants, and up to 30% cash back at grocery stores.

Once you download the app, you can claim a cashback offer at a participating merchant, purchase with a credit or debit card, and have your savings deposited into your bank account or PayPal or sent to you as a gift card.

• Main features: Save on gasoline and other purchases
• Mobile app ratings: Google Play: 4.7/5 stars; The App Store: 4.8/5 stars
• Fee: Free to download

How We Chose the Best Money-Savings Apps for College Students

In compiling this list of the seven best money-saving apps for college students, we looked most closely at three criteria: Main features, mobile app ratings, and fees.

Though we focused on each app’s main feature and delivered to a greater degree than the rest, we also looked at the overall features offered. The more opportunities an app provides students to save, earn, or accumulate funds for savings or investing, the higher the rank we assign it.

Mobile app ratings are highly valued because they indicate users’ satisfaction with the product. We looked at each app’s specific ratings and the number of users who provided an evaluation.

Finally, the app’s fee is important, especially for college students. The cost of the app cannot exceed the value of the money you will save, earn, or have available for savings and investment.

What a College Student can Expect a Money-Saving App to Do

A wide variety of money-saving apps are available for college students. As you can see from this list, each has its specializations and combinations of features.

Before choosing a money-saving app, you must decide what you want it to do. Do you want to provide discounts? Negotiate and reduce bills? Earn extra money? Or save and invest for the future?

It’s unrealistic to expect a single app to provide all those functions. That’s when you need to decide which ones are most important to you and where you expect to achieve the greatest financial benefit.

You should also consider using more than one app if no single app seems to accomplish all you want it to. For example, you can choose an app specializing in cash rewards for spending and another enabling you to accumulate money for savings and investing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Final Thought on Money-Savings Apps for College Students

Though we’ve ranked each of the seven best money-saving apps for college students, it’s up to you to determine which will likely save the most money based on your lifestyle and spending patterns. If you like to shop, you should favor a cash rewards app. If you’re looking to save money for investing, an app like Acorns will be the best at getting the job done. Carefully evaluate the seven apps above and choose the one closest to helping you accomplish your financial goals.

The post 7 Best Money-Saving Apps for College Students in 2024 appeared first on Doughroller.

What is the Wally Budget App?

Wally goes beyond basic budgeting and instead acts as a financial resource. This is perhaps best explained by the service’s mission statement:

“My mission is to help you level up your life. Whether personal or professional, you have goals, and I’m here to help you accomplish them efficiently and excellently. Consider me your assistant, mentor, life coach, and companion.”

Notice the first word in the mission statement is my. Wally functions like a robotic person, referring to itself in the first person. It also refers to a team working in the background to help it do its job.

What exactly is its job? It seems unlimited. If it’s a chore that can be accomplished on the Internet, Wally can help. It’s not designed to provide direct investment or financial advice. Still, much like ChatGPT, its purpose is to enable you to quickly and easily cut through the clutter and access only the specific information you’re looking for on the web. That information will be explained in the next section.

The Wally budgeting app has the following third-party and user ratings:

• Better Business Bureau: Not rated
• Trustpilot: Not rated
• The App Store: 3.2 out of 5 stars based on 31 reviews
• Google Play: 2.1 out of 5 stars based on 177 reviews

How Wally Works

Wally is a fully automated service enabling you to connect with over 15,000 banks in 70 countries. It will automatically track income, spending, pending bills, budgets, and just about everything financial. It can also provide your net worth in any covered currency. Closer to home, it can show you your upcoming bills and notify you when they are due to help you avoid late fees.

The app is AI-powered, enabling you to talk to “WallyGPT.” You’ll be able to get financial information to help you with your finances, especially learning about money and investing.

Wally works on a system called queries. A query represents a unit of work Wally must perform either in answering a question or automating your work. The free version limits you to no more than 51 queries per day, but the premium versions can go as high as 25,000.

For example, you can ask questions like “How much money am I spending on entertainment?” or “How can I build up my emergency fund?” Answers will be provided within seconds. You can even ask Wally questions that will help you gain better insight into more complicated financial topics, like investing, insurance, or loan-versus-credit lines.

Wally won’t recommend specific investments, but it can provide information on some of the top stocks and funds available. It can even help you to find the best deals on car insurance, credit cards, loans, and investment services.

Wally Budget App Features & Benefits

Wally provides the following features, showing that this app does much more than basic budgeting. Exactly which features you can access will depend on your chosen plan (see Pricing below). Please note that some of these features are currently available in beta only.

• Chat with any website. This feature provides a quick summary of an article on the web. It highlights the most important points in the article, and when you ask Wally a specific question about the page, you’ll get an answer. This feature can save you substantial time reading articles and other web-based documents.
• Gmail auto-draft (currently in beta). Wally is rolling out this feature to provide draft responses to your emails. It will even do so using your “voice”.
• Gmail, TikTok, Facebook, and Slack Companions (currently in beta). It helps you compose emails, including sales pitches. Wally will offer suggestions and automatically suggest the required context.
• Gmail, Linked In, and X (Twitter) Companions (currently in beta). Use the ChatGPT writer to assist you in writing posts and responses on all three platforms. If you regularly post on social media, this feature will help you deal with writer’s block.
• Google Insights. Wally will provide answers from Google searches without the need for you to visit multiple web pages to sift for answers.

The Wally app offers plenty of other features. For example, It can summarize PDF, DOC, and PPT files in seconds. Wally also provides YouTube and Vimeo video summaries so you can focus on the highlights of the content it presents.

Much like AI itself, Wally is a work in progress. Expect many more new features in the future.

Wally Mobile App & Security

Wally can be downloaded from The App Store for iOS devices and Google Play for Android devices. It is also available on the web through Chrome.

Transmission is encrypted end-to-end when you sync your financial accounts to the Wally app. The app is also PCI compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant.

Wally does not collect or store your credit card information, username, or password. It cannot make transfers or payments or charge additional charges to your card. In addition, Wally does not share, sell, or rent your data.

Customer Service

To contact Wally, you must use the email hello@wally.me. There is no phone contact offered. Wally is available on major social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Linked In, TikTok, Twitter/X, and YouTube.

Wally Pricing

Wally is free to download either on Google Play or The App Store. If you use the free version, you’ll be limited to no more than 51 queries per day. However, they do offer three premium plans as follows:

If you sign up for an annual plan, you can save 20%. For example, Level Up will be $7.99 monthly, Rocket Boosters will be $15.99 monthly, and Lightspeed will be $31.99 monthly.

Sign-on bonus: None indicated at this time.

How to Sign Up with Wally Budget App

You can sign up for Wally using the desktop edition (Chrome), or through the mobile app with either an iOS or Android device. You’ll need to create a username and password, and once you establish your account, you will begin linking any financial accounts you want to the app.

No credit or debit card will be required unless you sign up for one of the three premium plans.

Wally App Pros and Cons

Pros

• Wally takes advantage of the power of AI to assist you in managing your finances.
• Provides a user-friendly question-and-answer format so you can access the information you seek quickly and easily.
• Links with more than 15,000 financial accounts in 70 countries.
• Though Wally offers three premium plans, you can have unlimited access to the service free of charge if you choose not to use one.

Cons

• Since Wally is AI-based, it is somewhat unconventional in the personal finance app space. It may take some getting used to.
• During our review, we could not access the Wally app on The App Store. It indicated only “connecting to Apple Music” (which never happened, either).
• The app has low ratings from iOS and Android users and no ratings from Trustpilot or the Better Business Bureau.
• Does not offer customer service by phone.

Wally Budget App Alternatives

Buxfer

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive budgeting app, check out Buxfer. It offers basic budgeting, forecasting, investment tracking, and retirement planning. If you have foreign accounts or numerous international transactions, you’ll appreciate that Buxfer is available in over 100 currencies and more than 150 countries.

Buxfer is available in three different plans, depending on the level of financial tracking you need. The most basic is the Plus plan at $4.99 or $3.99 monthly if you pay annually. Next up is the Pro plan, at $5.99 per month or $4.99 per month for the annual plan. Finally, the top-of-the-line Prime plan is available for $11.99 per month or $9.99 per month for the annual plan.

Read our Buxfer Review

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

YNAB is one of the most popular budgeting apps in the space. It uses a unique “Four Rule” approach to budgeting. The rules work like this: 1) each dollar in your budget is assigned an expense category, 2) you will anticipate large, occasional expenses, 3) you’ll build flexibility into your budget, and 4) you’ll “age your money”. With the last rule, you’ll gradually move toward paying this month’s bills with last month’s money. That puts an end to the paycheck-to-paycheck conundrum so many are struggling with.

YNAB is available with a monthly fee of $14.99 or an annual payment of $99 (the equivalent of $8.25 per month).

Read our YNAB Review

Empower

Though it offers limited budgeting capabilities, Empower is a financial account aggregator where you can link all your accounts on the free financial dashboard. You can add bank accounts, investment accounts, loans, and credit cards. The dashboard includes valuable financial tools, like Investment Checkups and the Retirement Planner.

Empower also offers the Empower Personal Cash account, which currently pays 4.70% APY on balances up to $5 million with no fees. It also offers investment accounts, managed portfolios, and wealth management services, each with its specific pricing schedule.

Read our Empower Review

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for the Wally Budget App?

Wally is a unique financial app that emphasizes AI. While it’s clear that AI has many advantages regarding personal finance, it is a relatively new endeavor. In addition, this app has many moving parts. If you’re looking for a financial app that focuses primarily on a single function, like budgeting or investing, you may want to look into one of the alternatives listed above.

We also recommend scanning personal reviews on Google Play and The App Store. Those reviews may reveal whether or not you are interested in pursuing this cutting-edge product. Otherwise, you can dive in and poke around for yourself; after all, Wally is free to download and use, so you have nothing to lose.

Wally GPT

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

Wally is the first AI app that can focus on building your financial portfolio. It has three reasonably priced subscription levels with up to 25,000 monthly queries.

4.5

Use AI to Create Your Budget with Wally

The post Wally App Review 2024 – Creating a Budget with AI appeared first on Doughroller.

That’s an important consideration with any budgeting app, not just Buxfer. There are scores of budgeting apps available, but the one that will work best is the one that comes closest to matching your own financial style and personal preferences. Buxfer may prove to be the right budgeting app for you.

What is the Buxfer App?

Based in Santa Clara, California, Buxfer is a comprehensive budgeting app that allows you to aggregate all your financial accounts and create budgets. It also lets you forecast your financial situation and better prepare yourself for the best outcome. The company began operations in 2006, so it’s been around long enough to pass the test of time.

One of the factors that sets Buxter apart from the competition is its international focus. The app is available to users in over 150 countries and has over 100 currencies. Buxfer supports syncing with more than 20,000 financial institutions.

The Buxfer app has the following third-party and user ratings:

• Better Business Bureau: N/A
• Trustpilot: 2.8 out of 5 stars (“Average”) based on ten reviews
• The App Store: 3.4 out of 5 stars based on five reviews
• Google Play: 3.5 out of 5 stars based on 751 reviews

Buxfer App Features & Benefits

Buxfer provides the following features, showing that this app does much more than basic budgeting. Exactly which features you can access will depend on your chosen plan (see Pricing below).

Budgeting

Buxfer uses an envelope budgeting method, enabling you to set aside a fixed amount for sporadic expenses. You can also make flat monthly payments toward variable expenses and regular contributions toward major purchases. The budgeting feature lets you set weekly, monthly, or annual spending limits and receive real-time alerts if you overspend in any category.

Insights

Buxfer provides visual tools to help you understand your finances and where they are going. For example, it provides a timeline to compare income and expenses with the previous period and spot major variations. A “Top Movers” feature also shows spending categories with the largest changes.

Forecasting

This feature estimates future income, spending, and financial account balances based on past spending habits, upcoming transactions, and established budgets.

Investments

Buxfer enables you to include all investment accounts on the dashboard, including brokerage and retirement accounts. It can even provide detailed information, like data on individual investments, periodic performance, and asset allocation analysis.

Retirement Planner

This feature helps you create a financial plan that will allow you to retire comfortably, purchase a house, and prepare for your children’s education. The planner will forecast your net worth over time and incorporate variables like inflation, investment returns, and taxes.

Rules

This is another feature that makes Buxfer unique among the best budgeting apps. The software provided is designed to assist you in managing your finances, but not to take over the job completely. Though the app automatically tags and categorizes expenses, you’re also given the ability to make manual adjustments to fine-tune the process.

Currencies

If your financial profile includes an international mix, Buxfer can track those accounts in local currencies. Even though you can set specific currencies for individual accounts, Buxfer will report your financial totals in your default currency.

Access Control

You can share your Buxfer account with family members and professionals, like your financial advisor or accountant.

Automatic Backups

Your account data is automatically saved to a storage service each night. You can choose popular storage services, like Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, or Dropbox.

Uploading Statements

If your financial institution is unavailable with the Buxfer app, you can update information manually or upload statements directly. Buxfer also allows you to enter historical data from Quicken, MS Money, Mint.com, YNAB, Empower, and similar services.

IOUs

This novel feature lets you track small, informal debts with family and friends. For example, it allows you to account for cash contributed toward meals and entertainment or shared housing expenses.

Mobile App

Buxfer is available for download on The App Store for iPhone (iOS 11.0 or later), iPad (iPadOS 11.0 or later), iPod touch (iOS 11.0 or later), Mac (with macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later), and Apple Vision (vision 1.0 or later). It is also available on Google Play for Android devices.

Security

Buxfer uses high-grade 256-bit encryption to store sensitive information and provide secure communications with your computer. The infrastructure is compliant with industry standards, like PCI and SOC3. The company also provides daily scans and audits from independent security firms, which monitor ports, network vulnerability, and web application vulnerability.

Login information is stored by sync providers Yodlee and SaltEdge, two of the leading providers in the field. While Buxfer can access your financial information, it cannot move money in or out or even between accounts.

Customer Service

Customer service is offered by email only (support@buxfer.com). No phone service is offered.

Pricing

Buxfer offers three different plan levels, each with its monthly fee:

Buxfer does not offer a free trial, but if you upgrade and cancel within the first month, you will get a full refund of the fee you paid. If you sign up for an annual plan, you can cancel the service and be refunded for the unused payment portion.

At this time, Buxfer is not offering a sign-up bonus.

How to Sign Up with the Buxfer App

You can sign up for Buxfer on the company website, Google Play for Android devices, or The App Store for iOS devices.

Whichever method you choose, you will be asked to enter your email and create a password. Alternatively, you can sign up with Google, Facebook, or Apple.

Once you sign up for an account, you can enter your accounts on the dashboard. You can add checking and savings accounts, investments, retirement plans, credit cards, the value of your house, and any cash you have on hand. Once you sync your financial accounts with Buxfer, balances, and activity will update automatically.

You can sign up for Buxfer for free but must choose one of the three plans to continue using the app.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Available in more than 150 countries, including more than 100 currencies.
• It offers three plans, enabling users to select the one that best suits their financial situations.
• Reasonably priced, with plans ranging from $3.99 to $11.99 per month.
• Provides automatic syncing of financial account activity.

Cons

• There is no free trial period.
• Customer contact is by email only, and no phone support is provided.

Buxfer App Alternatives

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

One of the most popular budgeting apps, YNAB uses a unique “Four Rule” approach to budgeting. Loosely, 1) each dollar in your budget is assigned an expense category, 2) you will anticipate large, occasional expenses, 3) you’ll build flexibility into your budget, and 4) you’ll “age your money.”

Number 4 gradually moves you into a position where you pay this month’s bills with last month’s money. In other words, you will be one month ahead of your expenses, ending the paycheck-to-paycheck treadmill. YNAB is available with a monthly fee of $14.99 or an annual payment of $99 (the equivalent of $8.25 per month).

Read our YNAB Review

Empower

Empower is a financial account aggregator that provides a platform for linking all your financial accounts in one place. This includes bank accounts, investment accounts, loans, and credit cards. The financial dashboard is free of charge and provides valuable financial tools, like Investment Checkups and the Retirement Planner.

It also offers Empower Personal Cash, a savings account currently paying 4.70% APY on balances up to $5 million, with no fees. The service also offers investment accounts, managed portfolios, and wealth management services, each with its specific pricing schedule.

Read our Empower Review

EveryDollar

EveryDollar is a budgeting app offered by Dave Ramsey’s Ramsey Solutions. It claims it can save you $395 – “hiding in plain sight”—and cut your monthly budget by 9%. EveryDollar starts by offering you a budget template that you can customize to match your financial situation better. You’ll add your income and expenses (as you spend), then categorize them to ensure you stay on budget.

The free version provides a customizable budget and savings funds. The Premium plan is available for $17.99 per month or $79 per year. It adds direct bank connectivity, a financial roadmap, paycheck planning, goal setting, group financial coaching, and much more.

Read our EveryDollar Review

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for the Buxfer App?

There’s little doubt Buxfer is one of the most comprehensive budgeting apps. It goes beyond basic budgeting and provides financial management assistance. Given the modest pricing structure, Buxfer is worth the money, regardless of your three plans.

That’s both the strength and weakness of this app. Buxfer is a more advanced app than most other budgeting services, which may be more than you seek. For example, the alternatives presented in this review may be more user-friendly than Buxfer, especially if you are all looking for budgeting assistance. But if you want budgeting but also want to move beyond and into financial management, Buxfer can be an excellent choice.

Buxfer

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

Buxfer combines many of the features of other budgeting apps into a low-cost, easy-to-use interface. It’s retirement planner sets the app apart from others.

4.4

Create a Budget with Buxfer

The post Buxfer Review 2024 – The Most Comprehensive Budgeting App appeared first on Doughroller.

It doesn’t promise to make you rich but can give you greater control over your finances. And that’s the first step forward with all things financial.

What is PocketGuard?

PocketGuard is a personal finance information management service designed to help you track your spending, create a budget, and lower expenses. It can also monitor for potentially unwanted and unauthorized charges, such as hidden fees, billing errors, forgotten subscriptions, scams, and fraud.

PocketGuard is an app available for download at the App Store and Google Play. It is available only in the U.S. and Canada, though they plan to expand internationally.

PocketGuard works in five steps:

1. See the big picture. You link your bank accounts, credit cards, investments, and loan accounts to assemble your entire financial life on the app.
2. Be aware of your spending. Transactions are updated and characterized in real-time, allowing you to see where your money goes and how you can save.
3. Know what’s safe to spend. This is the “pocket” part of PocketGuard. It lets you know how much money is left over after you’ve paid all your bills and set some aside for savings.
4. Put your budget on autopilot. The app automatically builds a personalized budget based on your income, expenses, and the goals you create.
5. Discover simple ways to save. The app helps you save money by negotiating lower bills and finding high-interest savings accounts.

PocketGuard has the following third-party and user ratings:

• Better Business Bureau: Not rated
• Trustpilot: 4.3 out of 5 stars (“Excellent”) based on nine reviews
• The App Store: 4.6 out of 5 stars based on 6,900 reviews
• Google Play: 3.6 out of 5 stars based on 2,030 reviews

PocketGuard Features and Benefits

Budgeting

PocketGuard starts the budgeting process by enabling you to connect all your bank accounts, as well as your monthly income and bills, to the app.

You can then set spending categories and savings goals and customize your budget. In the future, you’ll be notified whenever you spend 50% or 75% of your budget or go over it. That feature is designed to prevent you from exceeding your budget and running out of money.

For example, if any of those methods work for you, you can customize your budget by implementing the 50-30-20 rule, zero-based, or envelope method.

Budget categorization

PocketGuard allows you to create unlimited spending categories. You can group expenses by adding #hashtags to make the process automatic. There is even a budget tracker to see exactly where your money is going.

Bill payment tracker

This feature helps you manage subscriptions and pay your bills on time to avoid late fees. It does this by monitoring your bills and subscriptions and providing automatic reminders before each is due. PocketGuard is also capable of automatically negotiating your regular bills to lower them.

Fraud detection

PocketGuard comes with personal anti-fraud detection. It’s an algorithm that detects potential fraud and notifies you so you can contact your bank. You can create your blacklist to prevent repeated fraud attempts from the same sources.

Spending insights

PocketGuard provides visual aids, like pie charts, bar graphs, and merchant pie charts, so you can see exactly where you’re spending – and sometimes overspending – within your budget. As you gain greater insight into your spending habits, you can make adjustments to stay within your budget.

Debt payoff plan

One of the primary goals of adopting a budget is to become debt-free, and PocketGuard can help you reach that goal. It does this by helping you establish a concise debt payoff plan. That means incorporating the payoff within your overall budget strategy. PocketGuard will give you the option of various debt paydown plans, including the avalanche and snowball methods. The app algorithm will calculate the most efficient debt payoff strategy.

Savings goals

PocketGuard uses a question-and-answer format to help you establish savings goals. You can run scenarios where you ask if saving a certain amount of money each month will enable you to reach a savings goal and how long it will take. You’ll then receive the necessary tools to help you reach your goal.

PocketGuard uses the SMART method to help you define and achieve your goals.

In My Pocket

Once you’ve entered your recurring expenses and income items and set your savings goal, this feature uses an algorithm to calculate based on all three inputs. It will then let you know what you have left over each day for spending. In other words, it first commits funds to your necessary expenses and savings and then gives you free access to what’s left over.

In My Pocket uses the following formula to calculate your free cash:

• Income – Bills – Savings Goal – Ongoing Spending = In My Pocket

Calculators

PocketGuard provides a budget calculator and a debt payoff calculator to help you establish your budget and set up a debt payoff plan. With a few steps, you can enter information, such as your estimated income, monthly bills, debt payments, and other financial information, to see the numbers in your budget.

The debt calculator enables you to run various “what if” scenarios to determine how quickly you can pay off a debt by making additional payments or using other strategies.

Lower your bills

PocketGuard partners with BillShark to help you save hundreds of dollars yearly on bill payments. The company claims an 80% success rate, with an average yearly savings exceeding $650. BillShark does this by negotiating with your vendors to lower your bills. This strategy is often recommended on financial blogs, but many people don’t have the experience to do it successfully. BillShark can do it without your participation.

Signing Up for PocketGuard

You can sign up for PocketGuard on the website, The App Store, or Google Play. You’ll first be asked for your email address and then to create a personalized password.

Once you’ve opened your account, you’ll connect your bank accounts, credit cards, and other loan and investment accounts. As is typical with third-party financial management platforms and apps, you must provide your login credentials for each account you add to the app.

PocketGuard Pricing

PocketGuard can be downloaded for free. Although it may once have had a free version, the website does not refer to this, and it is not disclosed on Google Play or The App Store, where it can be downloaded.

PocketGuard Plus is the paid version, available at a monthly subscription rate of $12.99 or an annual subscription of $74.99, the monthly equivalent of $6.25.

Customer Support

Customer contact is available directly through the app or at support@pocketguard.com. Unfortunately, phone support is not an option.

Security

PocketGuard uses a 256-bit secure sockets layer to ensure all information and data transferred remains encrypted. Your login credentials are not stored on PocketGuards servers; they can never change your accounts.

PocketGuard Pros & Cons

Pros

• The ‘In My Pocket’ feature focuses on what you have available for free spending. Knowing that you have some free cash makes sticking to a budget easier.
• The Spending Limits tool will help you to stay within budget, alerting you when you’re close to going over.
• PocketGuard Plus allows you to track cash transactions. This is unique in the budgeting universe, where most competing apps track only what runs through financial institutions.
• Provides an anti-fraud feature to notify you of suspicious activity in your financial accounts.

Cons

• No phone support.
• PocketGuard uses your financial information to generate offers for financial services and products. That means ads and email solicitations.
• Does not support multiple currencies, as many competitors now do. Available only for users in the U.S. and Canada.

PocketGuard Alternatives

Empower

If you want to get serious about managing your money, we recommend Empower. This tool isn’t focused as much on budgeting as it is on building your wealth. With Empower, you can track your money, investments, and net worth all in one place. Be sure to review our list of top money management apps to find the one that best fits your needs.

Empower provides a free financial dashboard where you can enter and track all your financial accounts in one place. It also offers its Retirement Planner and Investment Checkup tools to help you better control your financial future. On a more immediate level, Empower Personal Cash is currently paying 4.70% APY on savings up to $5 million, with no fees. They also offer multiple investment programs, including investment accounts, managed portfolios, and a wealth management service.

Read our Empower Review

YNAB

YNAB is one of the top budgeting apps in the industry. It’s available for a monthly fee of $14.99 or a single annual payment of $99, equivalent to just $8.33 monthly. YNAB uses a simple four-rule budgeting approach that ultimately leads to paying this month’s bills with last month’s money.

That will remove you from the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle and put you on the road to better control and even financial independence.

Read our YNAB Review

Buxfer

One of the major drawbacks of PocketGuard is that it doesn’t support currencies and accounts outside the U.S. and Canada. Buxfer is an excellent alternative if your financial situation does involve international financial activity. The app can accommodate more than 100 currencies in over 150 countries. It also provides forecasting, investment tracking, and retirement planning.

Buxfer has three different plans, each with its features and benefits.

• Plus is the basic plan, available at $4.99 per month or $3.99 per month for the annual plan.
• Pro is the mid-level plan, available at $5.99 per month or $4.99 monthly for the annual plan.
• The top offering is the Prime plan, available at $11.99 per month or $9.99 per month for the annual plan.

Some people prefer to manage their finances the same way they manage their schedules–with a calendar. If this sounds appealing, check out our list of the Best Calendar-based Personal Finance Apps.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for the PocketGuard App?

PocketGuard is a solid budgeting app. If you’ve been short each month and unable to save money, PocketGuard can help you reverse that trend. Remember, before you can hope to attain financial independence, you must first master financial control. PocketGuard is a step in that direction.

PocketGuard Plus is inexpensive as premium budgeting services go, at just $74.99 per year. It adds valuable services, particularly tracking cash income and expenses. Though most people work through financial institutions, debit, and credit cards, some still prefer cash. If you’re one of them and want a budgeting app to help you manage it, PocketGuard Plus is virtually alone in the budgeting software space.

PocketGuard

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

PocketGuard offers a variety of tools to help you get your finances in order. Create budgets, use calculators, and monitor your spending in real time.

4.5

Open an Account with PocketGuard

The post PocketGuard App Review 2024 – Know What’s in Your Pocket at All Times appeared first on Doughroller.

Not only does it offer basic budgeting and goal setting, but it also provides investment tracking and projections. That will help you to develop a plan to reach short-term, medium-term, and long-term savings goals, helping you to build the financial future that’s been eluding you up to this point.

What is Monarch Money?

Monarch Money is a budgeting app launched in 2018 and based in Walnut, California. It is a financial aggregator where you can include all your financial accounts on the dashboard. From there, you will have a high-altitude view of the big picture in your finances. It also allows you to set goals and provides a framework for reaching them.

Monarch Money does delve into investments, unlike many budgeting apps that stop establishing savings goals. It allows you to link your investment accounts to the platform. The accounts will then be analyzed, enabling you better to balance your asset allocations and project future account valuations. In that way, Monarch Money goes beyond budgeting and into overall financial management.

Monarch Money is a fee-based budgeting app that allows users to add unlimited household members to their accounts. This feature is important to get the entire family on board with your financial plans.

Monarch Money has the following third-party and user ratings:

• Better Business Bureau: Not rated
• Trustpilot: 3.3 out of 5 stars (“Average”) based on two reviews
• The App Store: 4.8 out of 5 stars based on 10,200 reviews
• Google Play: 4.7 out of 5 stars based on 1,680 reviews

Monarch Money Features & Benefits

When you sign up with Monarch Money, you’ll enjoy the following features and benefits:

Budgeting

The app provides fully customizable monthly and annual budgets. The app can track, categorize, and forecast future spending by syncing all your bank accounts on the platform. You can use this capability to develop a budget and track your progress as you advance.

Recurring

With this feature, all your recurring bills and subscriptions will appear in a single calendar. That will give you a heads-up on approaching bill deadlines to be better prepared and avoid late fees. Monarch Money uses a calendar method to provide a visual representation. You’ll also be notified three days in advance of upcoming charges.

Reports

Track your spending to identify trends and make improvements. You can also identify where you’re spending the most and track your savings rate.

Dashboard

Monarch Money offers a customizable dashboard where you can link all your financial accounts. You can also create customized widgets to drag and drop into the dashboard. You can even turn off the widgets’ function if it is unnecessary.

Goals

Monarch Money allows you to set and track goals for your money. For example, you can allocate your savings toward multiple goals, like an emergency fund, retirement, paying off your mortgage, or covering an upcoming major expense. You can even assign specific accounts to each goal. There is no limit on the number of goals you can create with the app.

Transactions

Monarch Money allows you to search through your transactions easily. You can save receipt images or attachments, add notes, or reclassify a transaction into a different category. You can filter your transactions by specific criteria, like merchants, dates, and accounts. The app can split transactions into multiple categories if needed.

Investments

You can track all your investments in one place, chart and view them, and adjust your asset allocation.

Net Worth

You can track your net worth by syncing your financial accounts to Monarch Money. There’s even a provision to track the value of your home through Zillow Zestimates to give a full picture of your financial situation.

Calculators

Monarch Money offers four different calculators for mortgages, debt paydown, retirement, and overall financial health.

The Financial Health calculator may be the most interesting. By answering eight questions, the app will determine your overall financial situation. Your situation can be classified as vulnerable, coping, or healthy. When you complete the questions, you’ll receive a profile analyzing your situation and assigning a score between zero and 100. It offers a way to quantify your household’s financial condition.

Collaboration

Once you have a plan, you can invite unlimited “collaborators” within your household at no extra cost. Each family member will have access to all features on the platform.

Mobile App

Monarch Money is available for iOS devices on The App Store, including iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (all requiring iOS 14.0 or later), and Android devices on Google Play.

Security

Monarch Money offers multi-factor authentication to minimize the likelihood of unintended third parties gaining access to your account. Monarch starts by collecting only the minimum amount of financial data necessary to make a feature work. They employ industry-leading security practices to protect your data and the transfer of information. Monarch does not sell your data to other companies to make money.

Monarch does not store your username and password and has only read-only access. That means they cannot access or remove the money in your accounts. Connection with financial accounts is done through Plaid and Finicity, similar to bank practices. Those providers maintain access control, publish a SOC 2 Type 2 report, and implement API traffic control. They also employ one of the strongest bug bounty programs in the industry.

Customer Service

You can contact Monarch Money by email, and your question will be answered in the order it is received. Unfortunately, the app does not offer live phone support.

Monarch Money Pricing

Monarch Money can be downloaded for free. It offers Monarch Premium, a single plan with a monthly fee of $14.99, or $99.99 if paid annually ($8.33 per month equivalent). The plan has a seven-day free trial.

Monarch Money offers Referral Rewards. They’ll pay $14.99 when you refer someone who signs up for the service.

Sign-on bonus: None indicated at this time.

How to Sign Up with Monarch Money

You can download the app from the website for your home computer or on either Google Play or The App Store for your mobile device. When you click to sign up, you’ll enter your email address and then create a password.

You can then connect your financial accounts to the app by connecting them with the app or entering them manually. For extra security, you can activate multi-factor authentication.

Monarch Money provides a multistep guided program for setting up. For example, you will be directed to add accounts, customize categories, create goals, and plan how to reach those goals.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Create budgets and set multiple spending goals.
• Tracks investments and offers retirement projections.
• Provides continuous network tracking.
• Can be shared with an unlimited number of users within your household.
• Pays $14.99 for each referral who signs up for the app.
• There are no ads on the app.

Cons:

• Monarch Money does not offer a free version, as some competing budgeting apps do.
• No phone service for customer service.

Monarch Money Alternatives

YNAB (You Need A Budget)

If your primary financial concern is budget development, YNAB is one of the best apps you can sign up for. Using four simple rules helps you implement and follow a budget. The rules are:

1. Each dollar in your budget is assigned an expense category.
2. You will anticipate significant, occasional expenses.
3. You’ll build flexibility into your budget.
4. You’ll age your money.

#4 allows you to pay this month’s bills using money accumulated from the previous month, ending the paycheck-to-paycheck cycle that traps many consumers.

YNAB is available with a monthly fee of $14.99 or an annual payment of $99 (the equivalent of $8.33 per month).

Read our YNAB Review

Empower

If you are looking for an app that includes all your financial accounts in one place, Empower lets you do that for free on its financial dashboard. You can list bank accounts, investment accounts, credit cards, loans, and other accounts there. It provides a high-altitude look at your entire financial picture and offers valuable financial tools, like Investment Checkups and the Retirement Planner. It’s all free of charge.

If you’re looking for investment help, Empower also has you covered. That starts with the Empower Personal Cash account, currently paying 4.70% APY on balances up to $5 million with no fees. From there, Empower also offers premium investment accounts, managed portfolios, and wealth management services. This flexible platform gives you access to just about any level of service you need.

Read our Empower Review

Wally GPT

If you’re looking for a truly cutting-edge budgeting app that doesn’t stop at budgeting, Wally GPT is worth investigating. It’s an AI-powered personal finance app designed to help you improve nearly every area of your financial life. As an AI-driven app, Wally streamlines Internet searches. Using a question-and-answer format, you can ask Wally about loans, credit cards, budgeting, investing, etc. Wally will pull the most relevant information from the Internet, saving you many hours of research.

Wally doesn’t provide direct personal finance or investment advice, but it gets you to the places that can help you make your own decisions. It lets you get summaries of websites, web pages, and YouTube videos. Wally can also be used with Gmail and popular social media, enabling you to auto-respond to messages and even help you design emails and social media posts.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for Monarch Money?

Budgeting is not a discipline that comes easily to many people, even though it’s necessary if you want to improve your financial life. An app like Monarch Money can be just the service you need to finally get serious about creating a budget. It provides the framework, the goals, and the tools to help you reach them.

Yes, you will pay a fee for this service. However, paying approximately $100 annually to improve your finances and save thousands each year is potentially worth it.

Monarch Money

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

Monarch Money is an inexpensive app that allows you to create a budget to track your expenses, set limits, and monitor your investments.

4.5

Create a Budget with Monarch Money

The post Monarch Money Review 2024 – An App That Makes Budgeting Easy appeared first on Doughroller.

But what if you don’t have the money to deposit into a savings account to create the credit builder? That’s where Self (formerly Self Lender) comes into the picture. They’re a different kind of credit builder program. Instead of making a security deposit, they set up a loan program in which the payments go into a certificate of deposit.

Not only do you build or bump your credit rating, but you’ll also have a fully funded certificate of deposit at the end of the program. Our Self review will detail how to sign up for a credit building loan, the costs, and the real expectations for your credit score.

What is Self?

Self helps customers build their credit. The company was founded in 2014 and is based in Austin, Texas. Self has set up and serviced credit builder accounts for almost a decade and boasts of having more than 4.6 million consumers signed up (as of August 2023).

It works very differently from other credit builder-type programs because it doesn’t require you to put up any security deposit. In a real way, it works by setting up a loan that you effectively pay to yourself. After making the payments, the original loan amount is returned to you.

The company is offering its program to consumers in all 50 states. The service is available for individuals looking to build their credit, not those looking to build business credit.

How Self Works

Unlike typical credit builder loans, where you must make a security deposit–usually into a savings account–Self sets you up to fund a certificate of deposit (CD). The CD has a term of 24 months. You can choose the amount of money for the CD from among four different amounts.

The CD is held in your name at one of the four banks below and cannot be withdrawn until the loan is paid in full.

1. Lead Bank
2. Sunrise Banks, N.A.
3. SouthState Bank, N.A.
4. First Century Bank, N.A.

You will make monthly payments, gradually building toward the final CD balance. At the end of the loan/CD term, the CD is available for withdrawal (minus interest and fees). In the meantime, all three major credit bureaus receive reports on your payment history.

You will make monthly payments ranging from $25 to $150. The CD will be yours once the loan is paid, minus interest and fees. And hopefully, if you’ve made all of your payments on time, you may see an increase in your credit.

Self Dashboard

Users manage the entire process from the Self dashboard. You can make monthly payments, track your credit history, and even monitor your “Savings Progress”. This is the approximate value of your account if you were to close it out on any given day.

The Savings Progress formula works as follows:

• CD Principal (no interest),
• minus the remaining loan principal,
• minus loan interest accrued to date,
• minus outstanding fees (if applicable),
• minus a CD early withdrawal fee, if terminated early

Of course, this formula is purely theoretical, since you cannot withdraw the funds from the CD early so it simply tracks where you are in the journey.

CD Withdrawal

Once the CD matures, you can pay the funds out minus interest and fees. You typically receive them within 10 to 14 business days after your request.

One major negative with the program is that you cannot temporarily suspend your account. Since it is a credit-builder account, if you cannot make a payment, it will be reported late to the credit bureaus. Late payments are reported if they are more than 30 days past due.

However, the Self credit builder program enables you to accomplish two important goals:

• Build (or elevate) your credit rating with all three credit bureaus
• Build savings in the CD

Self Features and Benefits

Income Requirement

Self does not have an income requirement to open an account.

Credit Eligibility

You will not be denied a credit-builder account if you have either poor or no credit. Eligibility for a Self credit builder account is determined through the ChexSystems database of past retail banking history. Self’s bank partners use ChexSystems to determine your eligibility. This system functions as a credit report monitoring your history of banking relationships.

Credit Score

In general, Self reports that establishing a FICO score will take at least six months of on-time payments. They also caution that a credit score may drop slightly upon taking the credit builder loan if you already have a credit score since it will represent a new and unproven obligation.

Self reports customers with a good-standing credit-builder account have experienced an average credit score increase of 49 points within the first 12 months. They also report subprime customers experience a credit score increase of 20 to 25 points over the life of the loan.

Your credit score will be available on the Self dashboard.

Making Monthly Payments

You link your bank account to your Self account, and you can either make one-time payments each month or set up automatic payments.

Account Beneficiary

When you open a credit-builder account with Self, you can designate a beneficiary for any funds paid.

Early Repayment

You are free to pay back your credit builder account at any time. There are no extra fees or penalties for doing so. Once you do, you will receive the proceeds of the CD, plus accrued interest. However, the bank holding the CD will charge an early withdrawal penalty.

Self recommends against early repayment since the primary purpose of the credit builder program is to build or upgrade your credit score. That should happen when the full payment term is complete.

Self Blog and Referral Program

The site offers a blog that deals with credit and personal finance topics, like budgeting, credit cards, debt, financial health, student loans, auto loans, mortgages, and more.

If you refer a friend, you’ll earn $10 when they complete their first successful credit builder account payment.

Why Self Works Better than a Secured Card, Cosigned Loan, or Prepaid Card

Some people who have either bad credit or no credit rely on other types of cards to build credit. One is a secured credit card. This type of arrangement will do the same thing Self will do, reporting monthly payments to all three credit bureaus. In the meantime, you could use the secured card the same way you would a regular credit card.

The disadvantage of a secured card is that you have to fund a savings account as security. If you don’t have the cash, you won’t be able to get the card. And you won’t have access to those funds until either your credit line is paid, or the bank releases the security lien on the account.

The one advantage a secured card has over a Self account is that the card can be used as a credit card. But you’ll also pay interest on that card, and it can be higher than the APR charged on the various Self plans.

Another way to build credit is by getting a loan with a co-signer. This will result in a lower interest rate and better terms. But if you don’t have a cosigner with good credit willing to cosign for you, this obviously won’t work. In addition, if you make any late payments or default on the loan, it will affect your cosigner’s credit, and he or she will then be responsible for paying the remaining balance of the loan. That could ruin an otherwise good friendship or even a family relationship.

Finally, some people with no credit or bad credit try to get by with prepaid cards. While these can function like credit cards, they don’t help to build your credit history. Also, much like secured cards, you can’t spend any more than the amount you add to the card.

Self Loan Terms and Pricing

When signing up for Self, you’ll have four different loan amounts to choose from. The term is always 24 months (Self previously had a 12-month term, but that has been removed), and the monthly payment ranges from $25 to $150.

You can see from the image above, the total cost to you will go up the higher up the ladder you go. While not guaranteed, you can expect to see a stronger increase in your credit score the larger the loan you take.

• Activation fee: $9
• Late payments: You have a 15-day grace period on monthly payments. After the grace period, the late fee equals 5% of the scheduled monthly payment.

How to Open a Self-Account

The application process takes less than five minutes.

To open an account with Self, you’ll need the following:

• A bank account, debit card, or prepaid card
• Email address
• Phone number
• Social Security number
• Be a valid permanent U.S. resident with a U.S. physical address
• Be at least 18 years of age

Self recommends beginning the process with a linked bank account for monthly electronic payments. If you use a debit card, there will be a convenience fee of $0.30, plus 2.99% of the payment amount, so avoid that at all costs.

Self Pros and Cons

Pros

• Paying on time may increase to your credit
• Allows you a sneaky way to start saving money (by tucking it away into a CD)
• Ability to choose between four different loan amounts

Cons

• Cannot withdraw your money until the loan is paid in full
• You do not get to keep the interest earned on the CD

Self Alternatives

I believe the two products compete very well with the idea of the Self credit-building loan.

The first is the Capital One Platinum Secured Credit Card. This card has no annual fee and an interest rate of . Your credit limit will depend on your security deposit, but you’ll be considered for an unsecured line of credit after six straight months of on-time payments.

If you always pay down your balance and use your secured card responsibly, you’ll likely end up paying less (possibly no fees) than you would using Self. However, there’s a terrible temptation to spend more when using a credit card, so you have to be careful.

The Extra Card is another alternative that works like a secured credit card but is a debit card. Users sign up and connect their bank account and then are given “spending power” based on the amount of money they have available. When you buy something, Extra pays for it and then withdraws the money from your account the next business day.

At the end of the month, the Extra Card will add up all of your purchases and then report those transactions to the three major credit bureaus as credit transactions. Because it’s a debit card, there is no interest rate but an annual fee. And users can also choose to earn rewards for all purchases.

• Credit Building annual fee – $149
• Credit Building + Rewards annual fee – $199

The Extra Debit Card is issued by Evolve Bank & Trust or Patriot Bank N.A. (Member FDIC), pursuant to a license by Mastercard International. Loans provided by Lead Bank. Extra is responsible for credit reporting and reports on time and late payments, which may impact a credit bureau’s determination of your credit score. Rewards points only available with rewards plan.

Should You Sign Up with Self if You Want to Build Credit?

Self is an excellent credit builder plan for someone who doesn’t have enough cash to acquire a secured credit card.

And even though there is an activation fee and an APR, you’ll have ownership of the fully funded CD at the end of the 24-month loan/CD term. Meanwhile, all three major credit bureaus–Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax–receive your payment reports, building or improving your credit score.

In a real way, Self helps you build your credit rating and savings. And since those are two financial situations that often accompany each other, Self will enable you to control both simultaneously.

The major drawback with Self is that once you start the program, you don’t have an option to withdraw–unless you can pay off the loan fully. Otherwise, you’ll need to continue making monthly payments until the plan is complete in 24 months.

Self Credit Builder Loan

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Credit Requirement

Customer Support

Fees

Mobile App

Summary

With Self, you can choose which term and amount you want to use to create your loan and it’s low-fee platform will allow you to build your credit without breaking the bank.

4.6

Increase Your Credit Score with Self

Self Disclosure: Sample loans: $25/mo, 24 mos, $9 admin fee, 15.92% APR; $35/mo, 24 mos, $9 admin fee, 15.97% APR; $48/mo, 24 mos, $9 admin fee, 15.72% APR; $150/mo, 24 mos, $9 admin fee, 15.88% APR. See self.inc/pricing

Lead Bank. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender Sunrise Banks, N.A. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender SouthState Bank, N.A. Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender First Century Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender The Self Visa® Credit Card is issued by Lead Bank, Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender or SouthState Bank, N.A., Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.

The post Self Review 2024 – A Low-Cost Way of Building Credit appeared first on Doughroller.

If you’re trying to follow the Dave Ramsey style of zero-based budgeting, EveryDollar may be the budgeting app you need. This tool says you can create a budget in less than 10 minutes, and it’s free to use. Here’s the scoop on what EveryDollar offers and why it might be the budgeting tool you’ve been looking for.

How Does EveryDollar Work?

If you’ve ever heard the basics of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University plan, you know that budgeting is about giving “every dollar a job.” That’s what this app, which Ramsey’s company designed, aims to do.

With EveryDollar, you’ll start by entering your monthly income. Then EveryDollar gives you a customizable template for budgeting your monthly expenses, and you can add the categories that make sense for your spending plan. You’ll enter your expenses as you spend, categorize them, and make sure you stay under budget or see where you go above budget.

EveryDollar also features some dashboard-style views so you can get an at-a-glance look at your overall spending and each budget category.

EveryDollar Pricing

The basic version of this app is free. That said, it requires you to input your transactions manually which can be an extreme hassle if you’re someone who spends a lot of money on everyday purchases.

Sometimes, though, this can be a good thing if you’re getting started with budgeting. Something is empowering and awakening about entering all of your spending as you do it. It can help you see how much money you’re spending before you overspend.

If you want to import transactions directly from your bank account, you’ll have to pay for EveryDollar Premium. You can sign up for a 14-day free trial, but after that, the service costs $79 per year or $17.99 per month if you want to pay month to month (Ramsey is banking on you seeing the value in an annual subscription).

EveryDollar Features and Benefits

EveryDollar features a simple-to-use interface and a budget you can customize. It also has apps available for Apple and Android, so you can enter expenses from everywhere. That makes it a good option for a combined budgeting app with your spouse or partner, too. You can each use the app to enter expenses as you spend money.

EveryDollar can also sync to your bank account and automatically import your transactions from your bank or credit card statements. This additional option also comes with priority support.

Signing Up

Getting started with EveryDollar is as easy as giving them your email address and password to create an account. Then you can start creating your budget.

However, if you want to sync to your bank account, you’ll need to sign up for the free trial and then connect the app to your bank account. You log into your bank account through the app so that EveryDollar can pull in your transactions.

Getting started with your actual budget could take a bit longer. EveryDollar says you can create a budget in ten minutes. And you probably can if you have a pretty simple, streamlined budget. But if you have a more complex budget, it could take longer to create your budget. But that’s really about how well you know your income and expenses and how many budget categories you’re likely to set up.

Synchronization

If you sign up for EveryDollar Plus, your app will sync with your bank account and pull transactions in real time. Then you can log in to categorize your transactions as you go.

Regardless of which version you use, though, your budget and inputs will always be synced across your laptop/desktop and your phone or multiple phones. Again, it’s a great option to use if you want to budget along with someone else since you can both install the apps and enter your spending in real time.

Security

As with many budgeting apps, EveryDollar uses data encryption techniques and has a multi-factor authentication system in place. It also has a data center where individuals are on site all the time to ensure the physical security of the data stored on EveryDollar’s servers.

Mobile Accessibility

EveryDollar has an app available for both Android and Apple. These apps are intuitive and easy to use, and you can do everything on the app that you can do on your laptop or desktop. The apps sync to the desktop/laptop version, as well, so you have access to your spending data from anywhere.

• Download the App for Apple
• Download the App for Android

Customer Support

EveryDollar has online customer support available and an FAQ section that tackles everyday questions. During normal business hours, you can ask a chatbot your question and if you’re not satisfied with the response, you can request an agent.

You also can submit a ticket at any time and the typical response time is 48 business hours. Unfortunately, EveryDollar does not offer phone support.

EveryDollar Pros and Cons

Pros

• Zero-based budgeting — If you’ve been out of control of your money, a true zero-based budget that gives every dollar in your budget a job is a great way to get back on track. Since it operates off of this principle, EveryDollar is a great way to go.
• Flexible budget — Some budgeting apps come with preset categories that may or may not make sense to you. With EveryDollar, you can create the exact categories that make sense to you.
• Mobile app — These days, having a mobile app on your budgeting tool is almost essential. You can manage your entire budget from your phone.
• Good interface — EveryDollar is easy to use and intuitive, and it has a nice-looking interface. I love having a snapshot of my budgets and overall spending, as well, and theirs is very nice.

Cons

• Pay for syncing to bank — To sync the app to your bank account, you have to pay $99 per year, which is fairly expensive.
• No investment tracking — EveryDollar is specifically for budgeting and doesn’t include access to investment tracking or other advanced tools that some other budgeting apps offer.
• Zero-based budgeting — This is both a pro and a con. Zero-based budgeting is great if you have a steady paycheck each month. But it’s a tougher model if you have a variable income, and EveryDollar isn’t set up well to deal with that.

EveryDollar Alternatives

There are a lot of high-quality budget apps that you may want to try other than EveryDollar. My personal two favorites are Rocket Money and YNAB.

Rocket Money

Rocket Money is a budgeting app that does everything extremely well. From setting up your budgets and receiving automated alerts to intuitive suggestions on how to improve and lower your everyday bills, Rockey Money is the budgeting app I’m currently using.

The cost for Rocket money is FREE if you use a limited set of features. If however, you’d like to know where you can reduce your subscription costs and have Rocket Money help do that for you, the monthly fee is between $4 and $12. Rocket Money offers the “pay what you want” model for your monthly charge but unlike some other brands that offer this model, they’ve set the floor at $4 (not $0).

Read our Rocket Money Review

YNAB

YNAB is similar to EveryDollar in that it uses the zero-based budgeting method to keep your finances in check. YNAB has created a system that follows “four rules” and if your budget can comply, chances are you’ll come out of using YNAB with a much healthier financial profile.

1. Give Every Dollar a Job
2. Embrace Your True Expenses
3. Roll With the Punches
4. Age Your Money

YNAB offers a 34-day free trial so creating an account and setting up your initial budget is risk-free. After the trial expires, the ongoing cost is $99 annually or $8.25 per month.

Read our YNAB Review

EveryDollar Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for EveryDollar?

If you’re relatively new to the world of budgeting and want a simple, straightforward budgeting tool, EveryDollar is a great option. If you’re brand new to tracking your spending at all, it can be a great way to start with the free app where you have to manually enter your transactions. That takes more time, but it also puts you in closer touch with what you’re spending regularly.

EveryDollar is a basic, un-flashy budgeting tool, but it gives you the ability to budget flexibly and is very simple and easy to use. If you want a tool without extra bells and whistles but that gives you nice dashboards and mobile access, this is a great option to try.

EveryDollar

Michael Pruser

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

EveryDollar is perfect for beginners who aren’t looking to spend money each month to create a simple budget that can help them improve their finances.

3.9

Create A Budget with EveryDollar

The post EveryDollar Budget App Review 2024 – Does Dave Ramsey Do It Right? appeared first on Doughroller.

The apps to make money listed below generally won’t make you rich any time soon. But many can give you ways to earn just a bit of extra cash. Check them out if you want to earn a little money on the side, often for little to no actual work.

Summary of the Best Money-Making Apps

Yes, there are 30 money-earning apps on this list, but not all of them will be a good fit. Here’s a list of ten that most people will be able to benefit from in different ways:

The 30 Best Money-Making Apps for 2024

1. Capital One Shopping

One of the best savings (and money-making) apps is Capital One Shopping. This shopping app can help you make money by finding better deals and rewarding you.

The first is by helping you save money on the products you buy every day. A penny saved is earned, so saving money on a purchase you would make anyway is just as good as making money.

Capital One Shopping has a database of websites that sell products and showcase their prices. Once you install the app on your browser, Capital One Shopping can automatically comparison shop for the product you’re interested in. You can also use the phone app to scan barcodes of products in stores and find local retailers selling the same thing for a better price.

The other way Capital One Shopping can help is by giving you rewards when you shop. When you shop, you’ll get reward points you can redeem for gift cards to popular websites.

Read our Capital One Shopping Review

2. Robinhood (Up to $200 Bonus)

Robinhood is an investing app offering you the opportunity to buy stocks with a $0 trading cost. The beauty of the app is you can invest in partial shares of stock, so if you only have $20 to invest, you can still own part of Google!

The bonus of Robinhood is when you sign up (which is free), you’ll be awarded a free share of stock. This share of stock can range in value anywhere between $5 and $200 (the value of the stock is likely on the low end, but you’ve got a shot for a good one).

3. Swagbucks ($10 Bonus)

We’ve written before about Swagbucks as a way to earn side money. You can make this even easier now by using Swagbucks as an app instead of just on your computer. As with many other apps featured here, this one will notify you when you’re eligible to take surveys or complete other paid tasks.

Read our Swagbucks Review

4. MyPoints ($5 Bonus)

MyPoints is a popular rewards site established in 1996 that offers users the ability to accumulate virtual points in different ways to exchange them for prizes or cash. You can later redeem your points for Amazon gift cards or over 75 other retail and restaurant partners.

5. Worthy Bonds

Worthy Bonds earns a fixed rate of return of 5%, and the cost of the bond is only $10. Buy as many bonds as you’d like and watch as you accrue interest weekly. Bonds have a 36-month term but can be cashed out at any time, without penalty.

6. Public

Public is a social investing app that can build your financial literacy with your friends. Public offers fractional shares of thousands of public companies and ETFs, allowing you to build a portfolio no matter your budget.

Since Public is a social experience, they offer many ways for members to earn free slices of stock (valued up to $10) for referring their friends. Like other apps, each Public member gets a unique share link. Public also makes it possible to share your trades outside the app (even to Instagram stories!), and when you do, and friends join and are approved, you can earn free stock.

You can also earn free stock by inviting friends to chat groups. Once they join and are approved, you’ll also earn free stock for that. The more friends you bring in, the more slices you earn.

7. Acorns ($20 Bonus)

Acorns is a terrific investing and savings app offering $20 after signing up. Acorns can help you track your daily finances, save for the future, and plan an investment strategy that fits your risk profile.

Read our Acorns Review

8. Earny

If you use credit cards or retailer apps, chances are some of the items you buy are subject to price protection policies. This means if the price drops within a certain amount of time of your purchase, you get a refund. Earny hooks up with your credit cards to automatically search for price drops and subsequent refunds. The app takes 25% of the refunds it gets you. But it’s still free money.

Read our Earny Review

9. Rakuten

This cash-back app lets you search for rewards, coupons, and promo codes. If you’re a frequent mobile shopper, installing Rakuten can help you save. The app also gives you push notifications about new deals and sales.

Read our Rakuten Review

10. Google Opinion Rewards

Google Opinion Rewards is yet another survey app that lets you get surveys about once a week. With this app, you get rewards you can use in the Google App Store. The surveys are generally pretty short and can include things like rating different ads.

11. KashKick

Kashkick is a website more focused on playing games and also lets you earn money by watching videos. When you play games on your mobile device and achieve milestones, you earn cash. You can then transfer the cash to your PayPal account.

12. iPoll

iPoll gives you alerts when you qualify to take a paid survey. You can set up your profile ahead of time and then get notifications for surveys for which you qualify. You can also do product reviews, be a secret shopper, or test ads. You’ll get rewards, which you can redeem at iPolls online store.

13. Sweatcoin

Sweatcoin turns your step counter into cash. It tracks your activity and then rewards you with a sweat coin. You can’t turn the digital currency into cash. But you can spend it in the in-app store on goods and services or donate them to charity as cash. It’s an easy way to earn just by walking around.

14. Foap

If you’re constantly snapping photos on your smartphone, Foap could help you make money. You can sell your photos to brands and individuals around the world. You can sell photos you already have in an online portfolio. Or you can go on specific missions to sell photos to brands like Bank of America or Pepsi. Foap lets you cash out your earnings through PayPal.

15. Mercari

Turn your spring cleaning into cash with Mercari. This app-based shop lets you sell everything from toys to clothes. Your listings are free. You just pay a 10% fee when your sale is complete. This is also a great place to buy used merchandise online.

16. Mobee

Want to become a secret shopper? Mobee lets you do it easily. Download the app and then use the map to pick a business. You can complete missions at a variety of retailers and restaurants. You’ll get points for each mission, which you can redeem for gift cards or swag.

17. Offer Up

Offer Up is an excellent way to sell unwanted stuff with ease. Just download the app and then sell pretty much anything. This app is made for local sales of larger items like furniture, but you can also find baby and kid stuff, clothes, electronics, and more.

18. Task Rabbit

If you’re interested in earning money by completing basic tasks and running errands locally, check out Task Rabbit. You can earn money for completing these things for your neighbors and then cash out your money. It could be a good side gig.

19. Ibotta

Use Ibotta when shopping to save with cash-back rebates or earn points for buying your favorite brands. You can also earn by linking your store loyalty cards to the app or sending your receipts to the app after you shop. You can cash in your cash back through PayPal, Venmo, or in the form of gift cards.

Related: Best Game Apps That Pay Real Money

20. Bookscouter

This book app lets you find retail pricing for used books and textbooks. Just use your phone’s camera to snap a picture of the book’s ISBN, and you’ll see what it’s worth online. You can even use the app to create a shipping label for the books you send to Bookscouter. This is a great app if you want to declutter some books, cash in on your used college textbooks, or shop for potentially valuable used books at garage sales and thrift stores.

21. Snapwire

Snapwire is another app that lets you make money from your smartphone photos. This gamified photo-selling app gives you points and lets you level up as you provide businesses with photos. You can use the app to create a portfolio and share photos with whomever you want. You can also get notifications about requests you might be able to fulfill.

22. Decluttr

Decluttr lets you sell specific items that you might have lying around the house. It focuses on CDs, DVDs, and games. You can use the app to snap a picture of the item and get an instant offer for the price. You can ship the items to Decluttr for free and get your money by direct deposit the next day.

23. Checkout 51

Checkout 51 is both a couponing and a cash-back app. It lets you search for and save coupons before you go grocery shopping. Then you can use the app to earn cash back when you purchase your favorite brands.

24. Lyft

As with Uber, Lyft drivers have to apply, and Lyft’s criteria are a bit more stringent. But, still, you can install this app to give rides as you go about your day, which can be an easy way to earn a bit of money on the side.

25. Gigwalk

Gigwalk is geared towards those who want to make a few bucks, but you could also become a full-time Gigwalker. You can use the app’s built-in map feature to find gigs near you. Gigs can include putting together furniture, walking the dog, or running basic errands. Pay and frequency of gigs depend on where you live.

26. Surveys On the Go

Surveys On the Go is another survey app that lets you set up your profile and then take surveys for which you get paid. It lets you rate shopping experiences and products or even review movies or TV shows. You’ll get your first dollar right away when you download the app.

27. Upwork

This is the replacement for the older eLance website. Upwork lets you find gigs similar to the other gig apps mentioned here. But for the most part, these gigs will take place online. You can find work as a virtual assistant, a writer, or a web developer. And you can set up the app to get notifications of job openings and more.

28. Letgo

Do you have more clutter to get rid of? Try Letgo. The app uses image recognition and artificial intelligence to title and categorize items as you list them. You can sell even large items to buyers nearby.

29. Field Agent

With Field Agent, you can get notifications about missions in your area. Your goal is to help companies better serve their customers. You can do this by visiting local stores, shopping for specific products, or taking photos. You can also answer questions or take surveys. You’ll earn cash, which you can receive via direct deposit or Dwolla.

30. Uber

You’ll have to work slightly harder to earn money with this app. Uber driving could be a full-time job if you work it hard enough. For many, though, it’s just a side gig. Consider signing up to drive and then just turning the app on as you go about your day. You might be able to pick up a ride on your way to work or school, for instance, for just a bit of extra money.

How to Make Money with Apps

There are plenty of ways to make money with apps, with some having a more automated process than others. To start, you’ll need to decide which app you want to use and how you want to earn money.

• Cashback – Many cashback portals or shopping browser extensions help you save money on purchases you’ll already make, earning you cash back towards gift cards or straight-up cash.
• Small tasks – Many of these apps allow you to earn money doing small tasks that take a few minutes, such as filling out surveys, watching videos, and even playing online games. Most you can even do while multitasking.
• Larger tasks – Apps like these allow you to set up a profile and advertise your services or choose from a list of gigs you want to get paid for.
• Investing – You can earn money from the amount you invest, which is a pretty passive way to earn money. It doesn’t require a lot of money to start.

Afterward, you simply need to sign up for an account and read through what you need to do to get started. While it might sound a bit boring, reading through their terms and conditions helps know things like how you’ll get paid.

How to Choose the Best App for You

Choosing the best app for you may take some trial and error. First, begin by thinking about how much time you have to devote to the app. For instance, if you’d rather have a more passive option of earning money, perhaps Robinhood, Public, or Capital One Shopping is your best bet, as you don’t have to do much to start getting money from your efforts.

If you have some time to devote and think it might be fun, signing up for an app like Swagbucks or Field Agent allows you to earn up to a few hundred dollars a month without too much effort.

However, if you’re looking to earn more money, going with apps where you can post gigs like UpWork or TaskRabbit is your best bet. That, or invest a larger sum of money in an investment app and let the magic of compound interest work for you.

Scams to Avoid

Sadly, there are scammers out there who will try to pry your hard-earned money from your hands. Remember, if any apps or people are contacting you that require you to pay or spend money for you to earn rewards, run far away. Yes, investing apps will need you to invest money, but you don’t need to pay anything to access your cash. If you’re unsure whether an app is legit, it’s better to be safe than sorry and not sign up for it.

How We Chose the Best Money-Making Apps

We looked through hundreds of apps, evaluating factors such as ease of use, reward thresholds, types of activities, and how long it might take for you to complete tasks. The ones we picked were ultimately the easiest to use, offered great customer support, and helped you earn rewards in exchange for a reasonable amount of time and effort.

Final Thought on the Best Money-Making Apps

There are many ways to make money, and using apps to help you do so can be a smart idea. After all, many of the options on our list are free and don’t require you to spend a lot of time to start receiving perks. Give some of them a chance, and hopefully, you’ll earn a bit of income in no time.

The post The 30 Best Money-Making Apps of 2024 appeared first on Doughroller.

Simplifi offers four different plan levels so you can choose the one that best fits your financial profile. Each is available at a surprisingly low monthly fee.

What is Simplifi?

Simplifi is designed to do exactly what the name implies, to simplify your financial life. It does this by aggregating all your financial accounts – savings and checking accounts, credit cards, loans, and investment accounts – on the same platform. This will give you a high-altitude view of your finances, as well as the ability to track income and spending, reduce expenses, and increase funds flowing into savings.

The service also provides real-time alerts, projected cash flows, and insightful reports to help you make better decisions with your money. While Simplifi offers only the above services, Quicken also offers their Deluxe, Premier, and Business & Personal plans to provide more assistance with investments, retirement, running your small business, and even managing rental properties.

With all the services provided by Simplifi and the Quicken family, the company charges surprisingly low monthly fees for the four plans they offer. Each also comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to test out the app before making it a permanent part of your financial repertoire.

Simplifi, which is included in the Quicken profile, has a Better Business Bureau rating of F on a scale of A+ to F. It also has 4.0 out of five stars from more than 2,100 iOS users on The App Store, and 2.8 out of five stars from more than 1,300 Android users on Google Play.

Simplifi Features & Benefits

Simplifi offers financial capabilities that are as comprehensive as you need them to be, though the number of features you’ll have access to will depend on the specific plan you select.

Simplifi Spending Plan

Simplifi enables you to choose different budget plans. It starts by analyzing your income and expenses, then it generates a personalized spending plan. You can choose the budgeting plan that will be used – 50-30-20, zero-based budgeting, envelope budgeting, and more.

The Spending Plan will automatically calculate how much you have left to spend each day of the month. You’ll have the ability to add any planned spending, such as holidays and vacations. You can even exclude spending categories you don’t want included in your budget. Finally, you can add savings goals to your budget.

You can use the app to reduce or pay off your debts. This can be done by determining which debts you want to pay off, setting a timeline, and making the necessary adjustments to your budget.

The app can be used to reach savings goals, including building a safety net, by setting automatic transfers into savings after finding areas in your budget where you can reduce expenses.

Investment management

This capability is available only with Quicken Premier and Quicken Business & Personal. You’ll be able to assemble all your investment accounts on the app, find new investment opportunities, track your progress, and more. Either plan comes with access to Morningstar’s Portfolio X-ray tool, helping you to analyze mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Armed with that information, you’ll be able to make better and more informed investment choices.

Calculators

Along with your subscription to Simplifi you’ll also have access to valuable calculators. They include a budget calculator, 401(k) calculator, retirement calculator, and even a vacation calculator.

The Simplifi Retirement Calculator.

Other Quicken Plans

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive financial app, Quicken offers Quicken Deluxe, Quicken Premier, and Quicken Business & Personal.

• Quicken Deluxe provides more detailed financial tools than you can get with Simplifi. It’s designed to help you manage and reduce debt, build a secure retirement, create multiple budgets, and make tax filing easier.
• Quicken Premier offers the same features and benefits of Quicken Deluxe but also includes best-in-class investing tools, built-in tax reports, reconciliation tools, and the ability to track and pay bills through Quicken. However, be aware that Premier is designed for personal finances, not for rental properties or your business. In addition, your year-end tax information can be exported either to TurboTax or to your accountant.

For retirement purposes, Premier offers its Lifetime Planner, as well as a comprehensive view of your entire investment portfolio. You’ll also have access to Morningstar’s Portfolio X-ray tool, enabling you to better evaluate holdings in ETFs and mutual funds.

• Quicken Business & Personal is Quicken’s most comprehensive plan, featuring all benefits available in both the Deluxe and Premier plans, plus business and rental activities. It’s designed to help you manage your business, as well as rental properties, alongside your finances. It will help you keep your financial documents organized, prepare financial statements for your business, and optimize your situation for income tax preparation.

On the business side, it can provide profit and loss and cash flow statements, balance sheets, and even reports for Schedules C and E for your income tax return. If you have rental properties it can help you to manage tenants, process payments, pay expenses, maintain lease terms, and keep track of tenant deposits.

Perhaps best of all, Quicken Business & Personal automatically separates your finances from your business finances.

Other Simplifi Features

Availability: Can be downloaded free of charge at The App Store for iOS devices (13.4 and higher), and at Google Play for Android devices.

Account security: Quicken protects user information by using 256-bit encryption to securely transmit data from your financial institutions into the app. Other security measures include integrity checks, firewall-protected servers, the option to password-protect your data files, and passwords issued by your financial institutions that must be entered each time the app accesses those accounts.

Customer service: Available by chat and community support, seven days per week, 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Pacific time. Indirect phone support is available. You will need to enter your phone number and choose “Call Me” from the Help Center widget. If a representative is unavailable, or if it’s outside business hours, you can leave a voicemail and a representative will get back to you as soon as possible.

Simplifi Pricing

Quicken has the following price levels for each of the four plans it offers:

1. Simplifi: per month (was $3.99 per month).
2. Quicken Deluxe: $4.97 per month (was $5.99 per month).
3. Quicken Premier: $5.99 per month (was $7.99 a month).
4. Quicken Business & Personal: $6.59 per month (was $10.99 per month)

All plans are available with a risk-free 30-day trial.

Simplifi Pros & Cons

Pros

• Comprehensive financial dashboard where you can aggregate all your savings, investment, spending, and debt-related accounts in one place.
• Offers four different plans, each designed for a specific financial profile, and at reasonable monthly payments.
• Because all plans offered charge monthly fees, there are no ads to distract the user experience.
• Simplifi is provided by Quicken, which is one of the best-known and well-established financial product providers in the industry.
• 30-day money-back guarantee on all four plans.

Cons

• Does not offer a free version as some of its competitors do.
• Phone contact is based on a call-back arrangement; there is no direct phone access to customer service.
• Better Business Bureau rating of F.

Simplifi Alternatives

If Simplifi isn’t the right financial app for you, consider one of the following alternatives:

Rocket Money

Rocket Money is one of the most comprehensive financial apps available. Part of the Rocket family that includes Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Money offers a Visa credit card with unique cash-back rewards. If you are looking to purchase a home, you can earn 5% rewards which can be applied toward the down payment – up to $10,000 – as long as the mortgage will be taken through Rocket Mortgage.

If you already have a loan with Rocket Mortgage, you can earn 2% cash back, which will be applied toward the payoff of your mortgage. Rocket Money also offers budgeting, bill negotiation, subscription cancellation, and other services.

Read our Rocket Money Review

YNAB

YNAB is an excellent choice if you are primarily concerned with budgeting. The company claims the average user saves $600 in just the first two months, and $6,000 in the first year. YNAB accomplishes this by changing your attitude toward money.

That includes a four-step process, in which you become highly intentional about how you spend money. It emphasizes preparation, flexibility, and moving your finances to where you are one month ahead of your budget. YNAB is offered at $14.99 per month, or $99 if paid annually. Either payment plan comes with a 34-day free trial.

Read our YNAB Review

Empower

Empower is a better choice if you’re looking for a financial app that also adds investing to the mix. At the core, Empower is a free financial aggregator where you can link all your financial accounts in one place.

They offer investment-related tools, such as their Retirement Planner and Investment Checkups. With various fee structures, they also offer self-directed investment accounts, managed portfolios, IRAs, and wealth management. You can also take advantage of the Empower Personal Cash account currently paying 4.70% APY on FDIC-insured balances up to $5 million, with no fees and unlimited transfers.

Read our Empower Review

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should You Sign Up for Simplifi?

If you’re looking to improve your finances, whether that’s simply implementing a budget or paying off debt, and/or building savings, Simplifi can be the best you’ll spend in any given month. If you’re also looking to get help with managing your investments, you can take advantage of Quicken Premier. And if you have a small business or rental property, Quicken Business & Personal can handle every corner of your financial world.

If you’ve been struggling to get your finances under control and to create a better future for you and your family, Simplifi offers an excellent program. It may not be free to use, but at per month, it comes attractively close.

Simplifi

Kevin Mercandante

Features

Mobile App

Pricing and Fees

Account Integration

Security and Customer Service

Summary

Simplifi is a low-cost budgeting app that offers consumers everything they need to create a budget, receive alerts, track spending, and improve their finances.

4.5

Create A Budget with Simplifi

The post Simplifi Review 2024 – The Quality of Quicken at a Lower Cost appeared first on Doughroller.

Here, we’ll look at six tax preparation software companies: TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTax USA, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and Cash App Taxes. While these aren’t the only names on the market, they’re some of the most well-known. Any of these options could be a good fit for you, depending on your needs and how much assistance you’ll need to safely get through filing your taxes.

Overview of the Best Tax Software

The Best Tax Software

1. TurboTax

TurboTax is one of the most popular online tax preparation options, but it can also get pricey. It offers three service options: DIY, Assisted with live expert advice, and Full Service which offers complete tax preparation.

You’ll find great features and a slick, easy-to-use interface. If you’re nervous about missing something when filing your taxes online, TurboTax may be the software for you. TurboTax walks you through the process step-by-step and offers access to video tutorials and an online community of other users if you have questions.

If you prefer live expert advice with the Assisted option, you follow the same path as the DIY preparation, but you have access to a live professional at any time. TurboTax Full Service provides you with a licensed professional who does your taxes for you.

TurboTax Features

• Auto-fill your W-2 information when you upload a picture of your W-2 form. This can save you some time. Depending on who you work for, just your personal and employer information may be enough to pull your W-2 information into your tax filing automatically.
• A mobile app, that lets you file your taxes on the go or even if you don’t have a home computer.
• Tax assistance from a live tax expert is available with the Assisted and Full Service options.
• Audit Support, which is free for basic answers to questions if you’re audited at any point after filing your taxes. You can also choose to pay for additional audit support called TurboTax Audit Defense, which would then give you access to a professional who would take care of most of the proceedings in case of an audit.

TurboTax Pros

• Plenty of options to file
• Provides a simple walkthrough if you decide to do your taxes yourself
• You can start with the cheapest option and easily upgrade as you go if necessary
• Excellent customer service

TurboTax Cons

• Pricing is higher than competitors
• No option for face-to-face assistance

TurboTax Cost

How much TurboTax charges depends on how complicated your return is and how much access to a tax professional you want to have. The plans are DIY, Assisted, and Full Service. The free plan is for simple tax returns only.

DIY offers no tax help while Assisted allows you to speak with a tax pro and ask questions about your taxes. Full Service means that a TurboTax tax expert will do your taxes for you.

• DIY: $0 – $89
• Assisted: $0 – $169
• Full Service: $169 – $359

TurboTax Is Best For Easy Filing

TurboTax is excellent for anyone who wants to do their taxes. If you qualify for the free filing, it’s a no-brainer. You can always upgrade to the Assisted option if you feel more comfortable having immediate access to a specialist for help.

Read our TurboTax Review

2. H&R Block

With H&R Block, you can drag and drop last year’s return into the program, and you’re ready to prepare your taxes. They offer various options for taxpayers, including investors, business owners, or taxpayers looking to maximize deductions. 

H&R Block Features

• You can add online live assistance and screen sharing to any plan starting at $70.
• In-person assistance is available at H&R Block locations.
• The free plan is open to more people including students or anyone with a 1040 and Schedules 1 and 3.
• You can receive your refund on Spruce, a mobile banking app from H&R Block, that comes with a debit card.
• A mobile app is available. You can file your taxes right from your phone.
• The free version allows you to file in more than one state for no additional cost.
• Has a version specifically for expats. So if you are living overseas this might be the best tax software for you.

H&R Block Pros

• It’s easy to import last year’s tax return if you used another service
• Plenty of affordable options

H&R Block Cons

• No phone or live chat support if you use the free version
• There are a lot of add-ons that for many people are necessary, making the cost higher
• Your online professional won’t necessarily be a licensed CPA

H&R Block Cost

H&R Block offers four pricing tiers:

• Free version for simple tax returns – $0 for federal and $0 for each state return
• Deluxe for those that don’t qualify for the free version – $35 and $37 for each state return
• Premium for investors and real estate owners –  $60 and $37 for each state return
• Self-employed for anyone who owns their own business or freelancers – $85 and $37 for each state return
• Plans with tax assistance start at $89.

Expat plans are as follows:

• DIY returns start at $99 plus $49 per FBAR, $99 per state return
• Advisor-assisted plans start at $199 plus $99 per FBAR, $125 per state return

H&R Block is Best For Experienced Filers 

H&R Block is TurboTax’s largest competitor, but it’s not as user-friendly as TurboTax. If you don’t need the simplified walkthrough that TurboTax offers, H&R Block is a good option, and the pricing tiers are more affordable.

H&R Block is a trustworthy name if you want to have your taxes done in person, but its software is also a good option. It’s still not quite as intuitive as TurboTax, but it’s getting there. It also offers the option to get live tax help while you’re filing your taxes at home.

Read Our H&R Block Review

3. FreeTaxUSA

FreeTaxUSA is extremely affordable for all tax situations and only charges $7.99 for the Deluxe plan with live chat assistance if you have questions. The Deluxe version handles tax forms that most software doesn’t handle until you pay for the premium or self-employed version. This includes Schedule C for self-employment, Schedule E for rental real estate, and Schedule D for capital gains.

You can also get access to a tax pro for $39.99.

FreeTaxUSA Features

• Free tech support via email, or if you pay for the deluxe version via chat.
• Support for most tax forms, even with the free basic version.
• An accuracy guarantee that will pay interest and penalties assessed by the IRS due to a calculation error in their software.
• Cheaper than average state returns

FreeTaxUSA Pros

• The Deluxe plan comes with valuable live chat support for a low price tag.
• The Pro Support option is also affordable for the ability to talk with a CPA/EA.

FreeTaxUSA Cons

• Face-to-face support is not available.
• There’s no mobile app.

FreeTaxUSA Cost

FreeTaxUSA has three price points. All plans cover the same tax situations but the Deluxe version adds a few extra features such as tax assistance and unlimited amendments. The Pro Support plan gives you access to call a CPA/EA if you have any questions.

• Free: $0 for federal and $14.99 for each state return
• Deluxe: $7.99 for federal and $14.99 for each state return
• Pro Support: $39.99 for federal and $14.99 for each state return

FreeTaxUSA – Best for Low-Cost Filing with Live Chat Support

The Deluxe plan is only $7.99 and offers live chat with a tax specialist if you need help along the way. If you need personalized tax advice, you can pay $39.99 for Pro Support.

Read Our FreeTaxUSA Review

4. TaxAct

TaxAct doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as its competitors but it also has a good interface and can help you find deductions to save money. The program offers many great features and lower prices than TurboTax and H&R Block.

TaxAct’s process isn’t quite as guided and foolproof as TurboTax. But if you know which income and deductions you’re going to file, it’s easy to use. It may not be as fancy as the others, but it gets the job done and leaves more money in your pocket. 

TaxAct Features:

• You can pay an additional cost of $39.99 to file with an expert for live support.
• Offers pro tips throughout the process to help you make the most of filing your taxes.
• Provides personalized advice for next year’s taxes to make it easier for you.
• Mobile App available for Android users and on the Apple Store in some regions.
• TaxAct inspects returns for incomplete information, errors, and additional savings opportunities.
• Offers Audit Defense for an additional fee.

TaxAct Pros

• You can import last year’s taxes even from other programs
• Has a ‘double-check’ feature that ensures you didn’t miss anything

TaxAct Cons

• The free plan is very limited and students with student loans don’t qualify
• It doesn’t offer step-by-step guidance like its competitors

TaxAct Cost

TaxAct has four plans depending on how complex your taxes are.

• Free – Only for taxpayers with the simplest tax returns – $0 for federal and $39.99 for each state return
• Deluxe – For most other taxpayers with itemized deductions – $24.99 for federal and $44.99 for each state return
• Premier – For stock and real estate investors – $34.99 for federal and $44.99 for each state return
• Self-Employed – For freelancers, contractors, and business owners – $64.99 for federal and $44.99 for each state return

TaxAct – Best for Several Affordable Options with Expert Assistance

TaxAct can be great software if you’re sure of how to file your taxes and don’t need a lot of help. If you do need extra support, it offers expert assistance for a reasonable cost.

Read Our TaxAct Review

5. TaxSlayer

TaxSlayer offers lower prices but at a cost–there’s less support throughout the process. If you’re confident in your ability to file your taxes, you might find TaxSlayer good enough for you. If you’re a freelancer or self-employed, you’ll also find TaxSlayer’s Self-Employed version is one of the most affordable options on this list.

TaxSlayer Features:

• Phone and email support is available for the free version.
• Offers the most affordable option for self-employed individuals out of the competitors in this list.
• Active duty military can file for free.
• Free email, chat, and phone support if you have technical problems with the software.
• Only offers audit support on the Premium edition.
• Ask a tax professional questions about the Premium and Self-Employed plans.
• Access to the Classic edition of TaxSlayer for free for military members and active-duty military families, state fees still apply.

Pros

• Its free version works for students
• Lower cost than most competitors
• The free version includes a free state tax return

Cons

• More complicated to follow if you are not confident in filing your taxes
• It will require more work since uploading or importing documents is not available with the free version

TaxSlayer Prices:

TaxSlayer has four plans. Free and Classic do not offer any tax assistance from a live tax expert. Premium and Self-Employed both offer unlimited tax support from a tax expert.

• Simply Free for simple tax returns including students – $0 for federal and one free state return
• Classic works for anyone except the self-employed – $34.95 for federal and $39.95 for each state return
• Premium works for any situation except self-employed and includes live chat, skip-the-line phone support, and email support – $54.95 for federal and $39.95 for each state return
• Self-employed is for anyone who owns their own business or for freelancers – $64.95 for federal and $39.95 for each state return

TaxSlayer – Best for Military and Self-Employed 

If you know what you’re doing, TaxSlayer is the best option for active-duty military since it’s free and for self-employed individuals since it’s affordable. You’ll pay lower fees than competing tax preparation software companies and get what you need to file your taxes on time.

Read our TaxSlayer Review

6. Cash App Taxes

Cash App Taxes, formerly Credit Karma tax, is a 100% free tax software platform. It’s best for people with basic tax returns, but it can be used by those who itemize their deductions or are self-employed. It doesn’t come with any tax assistance, not even for an additional fee. However, it does offer audit defense for free.

Cash App Features:

• No paid tiers. Everyone files taxes for free.
• The mobile app is available for filing taxes.
• Audit defense included. This includes not only the ability to ask questions but they will also represent you to the IRS.
• No tax assistance from a tax professional.
• Tech support is email only.

Pros

• It doesn’t cost anything for anyone
• Provides free audit defense
• Easy to use – most people file in a short time
• Access to your refund up to six days faster if you deposit it in the Cash App

Cons

• Doesn’t work for all tax situations (most complex situations)
• Less support than other programs provide
• You’ll need to download the Cash App first and then file on your phone or computer

Cash App Taxes Price

Cash App has a pretty straightforward pricing structure. It’s free.

Cash App Taxes – Best for Free Filing

If you’re somewhat comfortable filing your taxes and don’t have any highly unique circumstances, Cash App Taxes can be an excellent option for you, and it’s completely free!

Read Our Cash App Taxes Review

Which Tax Software Is Best?

If your tax filing situation is relatively basic, any of these options could work for you –especially the free versions. However, some have features that might win out over competitors, including:

• TurboTax’s superior guide: TurboTax is known as one of the most user-friendly options on the market, as it will guide you through every step of the process so you don’t miss anything. It also bookmarks where you leave off if you file your taxes in several sessions.
• H&R Blocks’s in-person option: H&R Block is the only company on this list that offers actual in-person advice.
• TaxAct and TaxSlayer’s balance of pricing and guidance: TaxAct seems to offer more guidance than the other cheaper options on the market, so if you’re willing to pay slightly more for this extra guidance, it’s a great option. TaxSlayer offers tax assistance for relatively cheap.
• FreeTaxUSA’s and Cash App Taxes’ pricing: These are the cheapest options on the market. Check each one for the tax forms you need before you decide which super-cheap option to choose.

There’s quite a bit to consider when deciding which tax software to use, especially if you’ve never used one to file your taxes before.

Again, if you’re a DIY tax pro – meaning you’ve successfully filed your taxes before and don’t mind the process – any of these choices are worth considering. If you’re new to the DIY route, investing in an option that is user-friendly and offers solid customer support and guidance is probably your best bet.

What Is the Cost of Tax Software?

Based on the pricing information we have obtained for this review from the six tax software programs included, the cost can range from $0 to $399.

However, this doesn’t mean that free or low-cost tax software will be the best choice for you. Higher-priced software covers a much wider variety of tax situations. For example, the highest-priced plans can cover situations like self-employment and rental real estate. In some cases, the final cost may be higher than the stated cost, which is only a base price. In the case of both TurboTax and H&R Block, you’ll have the option to turn the tax-preparation job over to professional tax preparers for an additional fee. You may also pay extra for a specific audit defense package.

Cost is always an important factor in evaluating tax software, but only to the degree that the software in question will adequately enable you to prepare your returns.

Free Tax Software

If you have a simple tax situation, with just W-2 income and the standard deduction, then you can choose any tax software you want as they all offer free tax prep for simple returns. Note that FreeTax USA charges $14.99 for each state return and TaxAct charges $39.99 – $44.99. However, if you have a simple return and need to file in multiple states consider H&R Block since it allows you to file more than one state return for free.

If you have a more complicated tax return to file but feel confident in your ability to DIY your return then consider Cash App or FreeTax USA. Both offer free (or low-cost) returns for more complicated taxes. FreeTax USA offers access to a tax professional for just $39.99. It’s not free, but it’s still hard to beat.

Other Ways to File for Free

1. IRS Tax Volunteers VITA and TCE 

VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) and TCE (Tax Counseling for the Elderly) are reliable and trusted sources for preparing tax returns. All VITA/TCE volunteers must take and pass tax law training that meets IRS guidelines. To use the program, though, you must meet specific eligibility requirements.

Eligibility Requirements

• Earn $60,000 or less per year
• Have a documented disability
• Don’t speak English as your first language
• Be over 60 years old 

Pros

• Free access to qualified tax help
• Helps you understand your tax rights

Cons

• Only certain people are eligible
• The software isn’t operated by the IRS (although they manage it)

Unique Features

• You get 100% free tax help
• You can file your taxes and just ask for their guidance if you prefer
• You can e-file for free

Cost

The software is entirely free.

VITA and TCE – Best for the Elderly and Low-Income Filers

You must meet the eligibility requirements to use the program, which means you must be elderly or have a low income to qualify. 

2. IRS Free File

The IRS Free File offers a couple of options to file your taxes for free. To qualify, you must make less than $73,000 a year for guided tax preparation online. For free fillable forms online, though, you can use the software no matter your income.

Pros 

• It’s free
• There’s no income limit to access the fillable forms

Cons

• You must be able to file your taxes without help if you make more than the income limit
• Doesn’t provide error checking

Unique Features

• You get access to all tax forms for free
• There are line-by-line instructions available
• You’ll receive confirmation when the IRS accepts your form

Cost

It’s free for everyone.

IRS Free File – Best for the Thrifty Filer

If you’re comfortable filing your taxes and don’t need any support, you could file your taxes free, saving yourself money.

Best Tax Software for Investors

Investors tend to have more complicated tax returns, especially if you’ve sold investments during the year. This means that you likely need to pay for tax software to prepare your taxes.

If you are comfortable filing without any tax assistance from an expert then aim for the cheapest version that will suit your needs, such as FreeTax USA. However, taxes where you have real estate investments or you, have sold stocks during the year, either at a gain or a loss are complicated and it’s normal to have questions along the way.

Here are the plan levels for investors:

TurboTax – DIY without assistance it’s $0 to $89 for federal and $0 – $39 for state (depending on if you qualify for a free federal return). With tax assistance, it is $0 – $169 for federal and $0 – $49 for each state.

H&R Block – Premium without assistance is $60 for federal and $37 for each state return. It doesn’t say what their plans for investors will cost with assistance, but it starts at $89 for federal with state returns being an additional fee.

FreeTax USA – The free edition covers all tax situations, including investing income or losses, for $0 for federal and $14.99 for each state return. If you want to add tax assistance with a tax pro it will cost $39.99.

TaxAct – Premier with assistance is $74.98 for federal and $44.99 for each state return.

TaxSlayer – Classic without assistance is $34.95 for federal and $39.95 for each state return. Tax assistance comes with the Premium plan for $54.95 for the federal and $39.95 for the state.

Cash App Taxes– Free for both federal and state, but does not offer any tax advice.

What Is Tax Software?

Tax software is an online, automated tax preparation application. Each program has different features. Some walk you through step by step, while others leave you on your own but offer the option to pay for live support. The best tax software for you helps you file your taxes with confidence and with the guarantee you need for peace of mind, including audit defense if you’re concerned about an audit.

In a best-case scenario, a simple return can be completed in as little as a few minutes, while a more complicated one may be done within no more than two hours.

The major advantage of tax software is the ability to prepare your income tax returns – both federal and state – without paying the higher cost of a live tax preparer.

How to Choose the Best Tax Software for You

Look at the features of each tax program to decide which is the best tax software for you. Each program has different features and different pricing.

Think about your tax situation, what forms you’ll file, and what level of support you need. If you don’t need a lot of support, you can choose a less expensive option. If you need more help, though, there are plenty of programs that offer one-on-one support or at least a thorough walkthrough to help you file your taxes correctly.

Never look simply at the cost of tax software. Yes, price matters, but what’s equally important is the ability of the specific software to accommodate your personal tax situation.

For example, the lower-cost plans and providers are generally designed for people with relatively simple tax situations. If you’re a straight W-2 employee with employer-paid healthcare, a simple retirement plan, and planning to take the standard deduction, you don’t need much. The most basic version of any of these tax software options would likely work for you.

Or you may have W-2 income, interest and dividends, a relatively modest amount of capital gains, itemized deductions, and deductions and credits specific to dependent children. Virtually any medium-level tax software should be able to accommodate this tax profile.

But if you are an investor who trades frequently, or engages in more complicated investment ventures, or if you’re self-employed or own rental property, you’ll need to look at the more advanced software.

You may also want to look at the long-term benefits, like audit security if your audit risk is high or file storage if you plan to use the same tax software year after year.

As a general rule, TurboTax and H&R Block are best suited to complex tax situations. This is not only because they can accommodate more tax profiles, but also because they are strong on support. This can extend to preparing your income taxes directly should you decide the job is beyond your time or knowledge constraints, as well as offering a comprehensive defense in the event of an audit.

Finally, in choosing the right tax software for you, carefully evaluate your understanding of federal income taxes. Most tax software is user-friendly and can help you prepare your return. Even if you have no previous experience with tax preparation, it is important to know your limits.

Should I Hire a Tax Professional? 

While tax software is designed for the majority of people, it won’t be the right solution for everyone. If you have a complex situation, own a small business, or don’t know the first thing about filing taxes, it’s best to hire a tax professional. 

If there are any aspects of your tax situation that you do not understand, you may be better served by working directly with a paid tax preparer, including a certified public accountant (CPA) if necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Final Thoughts on the Best Tax Software

The sophistication of tax software is increasing with each year. Tax software can now do nearly all the functions of a live tax preparer and do it for a lot less money. Even if you’ve never prepared your taxes before, you’ll almost certainly be able to do the job now using the right tax software.

You don’t need to know anything about taxes, the software can walk you through the whole process. You won’t even need to check your numbers – the software can also do that for you. And if you’re missing any information, the software can let you know.

If you’re tired of paying a live tax preparer to do your taxes, let this year be the one you start doing the job yourself. Do it once and you’ll find out just how easy it is. And once you do, you may never go back to a live tax preparer again.

The post The Best Tax Software for 2024 – (Tax Year 2023) appeared first on Doughroller.