Budgeting is now governed by technology. Traditionally, we used to enter every little expense and attach paper receipts, but not anymore. Now, budgeting apps have many benefits, including direct integration with your bank accounts, the ability to categorize spending without your help, and even providing notifications when you are close to your spending limits. Now, budgeting tools include charts and graphs showing where one has spent money.
Types of Budgeting Apps and Tools
There are mobile personal finance apps and business finance applications. While personal finance apps offer daily expense-tracking capabilities, and business finance, as its name suggests, covers expenses, invoices, and a company's cash flow. Both types of apps have unique features but share a common goal: to ease the budgeting process as much as possible.
Top Budgeting Apps for Individuals
When it comes to personal finance, several budgeting apps stand out from the crowd for individuals to manage their expenses, accounts and credits:
Mint
Mint is well known for managing expenses, setting budgets, and tracking credit scores in one place. It’s free and could not be easier to use.
YNAB (You Need a Budget)
This app is about using every dollar you have for something constructive. It is specific for people who have decided to manage their money personally and get out of the paycheck cycle.
PocketGuard
If you want something more fundamental that lets you know how much you have remaining to spend, PocketGuard will be perfect for you. It aligns with the bank accounts and instantly tells you how much is available to pay after all the expenses have been incurred.
Personal Capital
This is not just an application for tracking expenses and creating a budget; Personal Capital also aids investing. Anyone wishing to accumulate personal wealth can use Personal Capital to observe shifts in his or her net assets regularly.
Popular Budgeting Tools for Businesses
Businesses also can benefit when budgets are cut back by using technology. Some popular budgeting tools for business includes:
QuickBooks
QuickBooks is a broadly based package for small to medium-sized companies. It covers areas such as invoicing, payroll, and expenses, making the monitoring of company finances more manageable.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is perhaps ideal for freelancers and independent services that operate on an invoice basis. It also has time-tracking functionality, making it suitable for billing clients through hourly rates.
Expensify
A perfect fit for companies whose employees often utilize business trips, Expensify makes expense management as easy as scanning receipts. The second feature is that expenses are classified at once, minimizing the chance of mistakes when registered.
Xero
Xero is a great solution for business owners who want easy-to-use software to manage their accounting, payroll, and stock.
The Future of Budgeting Apps and Tools
With technological advancements constantly emerging, budgeting apps will also undergo improvements. In the future, even more AI-integrated options, like predictive spending habits, are foreseen. More apps will also have social components, where users can share goals with friends and family for additional motivation.
