3 On Your Side: Personal Finance Management Apps
By Jim Donovan
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Staying within a budget can be time consuming, a headache and a chore that many people struggle to handle. But 3 On Your Side Consumer Reporter Jim Donovan shows a way you can pay bills and balance accounts, and it's as easy as texting your friends.
Ashley Bona graduated from college with $70,000 in student loans and no clue on how to manage them. She says, "My college loans were a little bit out of control when I graduated and I didn't have a realistic grasp on them."
But she found a way to fix that, using mobile apps that break her spending down into categories and alert her to overspending. According to Bona, "I set a budget whether it be monthly or weekly of how much I want to spend on each category. It will send me weekly alerts if I'm going over, if I have room to spare in my budget and it helps me keep track of where my money's going."
And others are using personal financial management apps too. Marla Oliver says, "You can touch it, everything pops up, I use the mint app, it's good for budgeting." While Ziomarah Nichols says, "I'm a college student right now, so I have to budget."
The apps pull data daily from your banks, credit cards or even your 401k's. Some feature graphs and charts highlighting what bills need to be paid, where you spent that last $50, and how your savings is coming along.
The apps are found through sites like www.mint.com, www.personalcapital.com, www.learnvest.com, and www.betterhaves.com.
Julie Conroy with Aite Group Financial Services says, "It takes a lot of the headache out for consumers and gives you that good picture of what your money looks like without the tedious effort associated with balancing your checkbook and comparing all of your statements from all of your different online applications."
Some apps can help you avoid overdraft and late fees. Others may alert you of opportunities to pay down a balance quicker. Mark Schwanhausser is a Director at Javelin Strategy & Research. He says, "There are a lot of different things that you can get out of this. The question is what is it that you want? What are your greatest needs and then just go out there and find the app for it."
Bona is happy with her results. She has only one regret. She says, "I wish I would have discovered these apps when I was in college and running around spending all my money."
By the way, to avoid being scammed, be sure download the apps directly from the financial management website rather than an app store.
