Thinking about saving and actually doing so are two different things altogether. The recent availability of Money Saving Apps in the system is can help you out.

The apps will help you to build your emergency fund or retirement account, save or invest and round up your spare change.

Benefits of a Money-Saving App

• The best automatic savings and investing apps help you to reach your financial goals at a lower cost.
• They are stress-free and are available at a lower price. Other benefits include:
• They help you save small sums of money without impacting your lifestyle.
• They help you to budget, set and reach multiple money goals
• They help you to earn interest on your savings
• Help to invest automatically and at a lower cost.
• They make saving very easy and convenient. You can simply set it and forget about it.

Best Money Saving Apps for 2022

Let’s look at some of the apps below:

1. Acorns

This is one of the most popular and first micro-investing apps to be introduced in America. The app rounds up purchases made to the credit or debit cards linked to your account and saves or invests your change automatically.

Acorns offer three types of accounts:

Acorns Core: This is free for college students and it allows you to invest in a taxable investment account with a $1 a month fee.

Acorns Later: This account helps you to save for retirement through an Individual Retirement Account. You can start with as little as $5 and the combination of the Core Acorn and Later accounts will cost you $2 every month.

Acorns Spend: This is a checking account and debit card that helps you to spend, earn, invest and save. You can select all three accounts for $3 per month. The Acorns checking account has unlimited free ATM use and no minimum balance or overdraft fees.

Pros

• It is great for college students
• You can start with as low as $5
• It has automatic savings and investing

Is the Acorns App Safe?

Acorns is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) and your investments are protected to the tune of $500,000.

Your deposits are also insured to the tune of $250,000 by the FDIC. They also protect your account using 256-bit encryption.

2. Digit

This app helps you to save using a hands-off approach. When you add your bank account and sign up, the Digit algorithm analyzes your spending and automatically saves money on your behalf several times a week.

An FDIC insured account is where your money is transferred to. The algorithm makes sure you do not miss a bill payment and they will reimburse the fees for up to two instances of overdraft.

Fees: It costs $2.99 every month after a free 30 days trial.

Pros

• It is available on IOS and Android devices
• You can set up multiple savings goals on the app.
• The account earns a 1% annual interest that is paid every 3 months. You can withdraw your funds whenever you want.
• You earn $5 for every friend who signs up using your referral link.
• You can connect with more than 2,500 banks and credit unions in the U.S

Cons

If all you do is save your spare change, then the $2.99 monthly is quite expensive.
Is Digit Safe?

Your funds are kept in an account that is FDIC insures up to $250,000.

3. Weathsimple

This is one of the most popular robo-advisors in the United States, the U.K and Canada. They have more than $3 billion in assets under their care.

They simplify the investment process by automating everything. They are very cheap and use low-cost ETFs which cost much less than traditional mutual funds.

They always ask you questions to determine your risk tolerance and investment goals when you open an account.

An approximate investment portfolio is recommended to you and you can set up automatic deposits.
They have a feature you can turn on or off; which is the “Roundup”.

This allows you to round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest your spare change. They also offer a smart savings account that pays high-interest rates.

Fees: They charge a 0.5% fee on accounts with less than $100k and 0.4% on accounts more than $100k.

Pros

• They give free financial advice
• They offer Halal and socially responsible accounts if you are interested.
• The app is highly rated on both the App Store and Google Play.
• Your investment account requires no manual work on your part.
• The management fee is lower than what is charged by the average mutual fund manager.

Cons

• The app does not offer goal-setting or budgeting functions.

Is Wealthsimple Safe?

Your account is protected by the SIPC up to $500,000 in the U.S ($250,000 for savings). Your funds are insured up to $1 million by CIPF/CDIC in Canada.

4. Chime

Chime is a bank that also doubles as a savings app. You receive a debit card, checking and savings account when you open an account.

Every time you make a transaction through a chime debit card, the app automatically rounds up your purchase to the nearest dollar and saves the change.

You can also automatically transfer 10% of your paycheck into savings Chime users have access to more than 38,000 free ATMs.

Fees: There are no monthly fees with chime however, there is a $2.50 fee when you make a cash withdrawal over the counter or use an ATM outside of the network.

Pros

• They have no banking fee
• They have automatic savings
• You get your paycheck 2 days early
• It is available on IOS and on Android devices

Cons

• The interest paid is a very low 0.01% APY.
• They have no physical location you can walk into.

Is Chime Safe?

Your deposit account with them is FDIC-insured.

5. Qapital

This is an online bank and savings app that helps you save and invest easily using goals.

How it works: You can apply some rules to fund your goal once you set up your account.

Spend Less: this allows you to save the difference whenever you spend less than you have budgeted.

52 Week: Helps to determine how much you set aside every week or the year.

Guilty Pleasure: this save your money anytime you give in to temptation.

Round-Up: Rounds up your purchase to the nearest dollar and saves the difference.

Payday: Saves money anytime you receive a paycheck.

Set and forget: You select how much you want to send to your savings on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Freelancer: Saves a percentage of the deposits in your account

Apple Health: When you run, take a walk, work out or take a number of steps a day, you get paid.
They also offer a spending account that functions as a checking account that is linked to your debit card.

The account also uses pre-built-in portfolios composed of ETFs.

Fees: They have three membership plans which are:

• Qapital Basic -$3 a month
• Qapital Complete-$6 a month
• Qapital Master- $12 a month.
• There is a free 30-day trial period for payment to begin.

Pros

They make it very easy to save

Con

The interest rate is a measly 0.1%

Is Qapital Safe?

The funds are FDIC-insured up to a sum of $250,000.

6. Empower

It is a mobile bank that offers a very high-interest savings rate, a free personal assistant that helps you stay on top of your money and a cashback on debit purchases.

Benefits of Empower

• Easy budgeting app with alerts, reports and trackers
• They have access to 25,000 free ATMs
• There are no monthly fees
• They have up to 2% cashback on your $1000 debit spending
• They’ve got automatic savings with high interest currently at 2.15% to 4.30% APY.

Is Empower Safe?

Your funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 and they also use 256-bit encryption to secure your account.

7. Clarity Money

This app can help you cancel unwanted subscriptions, access your free credit score and track your spending.

Your savings are kept in online savings account from Marcus by Goldman Sachs.

The accounts earn a 2.25% APY and it is also FDIC insured. The app is available on both Android and IOS devices.

Fees: It is free to use.

8. Bank of America – Keep the Change

You can use the Keep The Change Program to boost your savings when you bank with the Bank of America.

When you make a purchase with your debit card, they round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the change from your debit to your savings.

Fees: There are no fees

Pros

• Integrated into your regular banking
• Available on the Google Play store and the App Store.
• They have automated savings

Cons

You need to have a checking and savings account with Bank of America to use the app.

9. Stash Invest

This app automates your whole investment process. You simply have to connect your bank account; choose how much you want to invest whether on a weekly or monthly basis and the app does the rest.

With as little as $5 you can invest in stocks and ETFs using fractional shares.

Fees: You pay $1 a month for the Stash Invest and custodial accounts. You pay a fee of $2 a month with the retirement accounts (Traditional IRA and Roth IRA).

Pros

• It is good for beginners who want to learn about investing
• They have multiple investment options
• They have automated investing
• They are available on Android and IOS devices

Cons

If you’re not investing regularly, the monthly fee can add up.

Is Stash Safe?

Your funds are SIPC insured up to $500,000 and are kept in the custody of Apex Clearing Corporation.

10. Bonus- Moka

This is the Canadian version of the Acorns app. The app automatically rounds up your purchases and invest them in a professionally managed low-cost ETF investment portfolio immediately after you sign up and link your bank account.

You can use multipliers to increase your contributions and reach your money goals faster.
The app allows you to set multiple financial goals.

Fees: It cost $3 per month.

Pros

• They have free withdrawals
• You earn cashback from your favourite brands
• They also have socially responsible portfolios.

Cons

If you save just a little stipend every month, the monthly fee becomes very hefty.

Is Moka Safe?

Your funds are insured by the CIPF for up to $1 million. They also use 256-bit encryption to secure your data.

Closing Remarks

Savings App will help you grow your finances and increase your net worth without little effort on your part.

Luckily, we now have apps that can help you create a budget and monitor your spending habits, so you can be wiser and smarter with money.

A good budgeting app can help you decide on whether to pay your bills with money leftover or pay for basic needs such as power, food and rent from your savings.

This article intends to inform you of the best budgeting apps to use in 2022.

What is a Budget App?

This is a smartphone application that records and monitors your spending and aids you to create a budget plan for your expenses. They exist so you can keep track of what you spend on and where you spend it.

They also alert you when you have gone over your limit for a particular category.

It is a very convenient way of tracking your spending, without having to always look at your bank account or keep a separate record of your expenses.

Both smartphones and desktop computers can use budgeting apps. Most of them offer free services while some have paid premium plans which offer more advanced planning and saving characteristics such as bank account transfers, credit score checks, among many more.

How Do Budget Apps Work?

They mostly work by linking directly to your bank and credit card accounts. Every purchase is logged in the app and played in a category such as transportation, utilities, food, rent among many others.

Though you can create your own customized categories, they’ve got some pre-defined categories that transactions are automatically sorted into.

The apps take into account your spending habits and help you create a plan to save more. For instance, when your expenditure on food for a month is too much, the app gives you tips on how to minimize food expenses while putting more into saving.

Some apps allow you to set alerts for reaching certain limits for the month,

et’s you want to spend $60 a month on food. You can set your app to push an alert when you are about to exceed that limit.

Budgeting apps basically offer a free and automatic way of monitoring your spending habits. Budget apps can be used by a couple or multiple people who share bills as well as one individual.

What to Look Out for in a Budgeting App

Below is a list of the characteristics a budgeting app should have:

Budgeting tool: A good budgeting app should have a budgeting tool that enables you to set up a monthly budget for spending.

Expense tracking: The app should be able to track and classify your expense.

Alerts: You should always look for apps that let you customize alerts when you hit a certain spending limit.

Credit check: A budgeting app that can check your credit score is a sure bet. This is not a common feature.

Resources and Community: Some apps have libraries of resources on financial planning or communities where you can be advised and get saving tips as well.

10 Best Budgeting Apps to Use

Let’s take a look at some of the best budgeting and personal finance apps available:

Mint

This is the most popular budgeting app in the U.S at the moment. Mint had over 10 million users in the year 2020 and has over the years grown rapidly over the past few years.

Due to Mints excellent auto-categorization features, real-time spending tracking and intuitive interface, it has been a standard for the budgeting apps fraternity for a while now.

Mint is one of the best budgeting apps to have on your smartphone.

You Need a Budget

Popularly known as YNAB, You Need a Budget takes a different approach to budgeting and saving.
It uses AI algorithms based on your income to build your budget.

This budget app model is geared towards those who want a high-level view of their finances.
YNAB has apps for both smartphones and desktops. It also allows couples to share financial information.

YNAB has a debt payoff and goal tracking feature to encourage specified patterns of saving and spending.

PocketGuard

This app also uses an AI algorithm to track your expenses and help you regulate your spending.
It has a free version that allows for expense tracking and categorization.

It also has a premium paid version as well for $34.99 a year; this gives you more fine-grained control over your transaction, data exporting functionality and custom categories.

You will get access to a large library of educational resources to teach you how to better handle your finances no matter the version you are subscribed to.

They have top-notch security protocols such as a 4-digit Pin, 256-bit encryption, fingerprint scan and a face ID.

Zeta

This app is designed specifically for couples with or without joint finances. It has options for all types of arrangements such as living together, engaged, married, new parents among many others.

The main function helps you to sync various accounts and monitor all the data in one place.
Zeta recently launched a joint no-fee banking account that gives you direct deposits, contactless payment options, digital checkers, ATM withdrawals and bill payment options.

It’s almost like a banking app with an added budgeting app added. Zeta offers in-product suggestions for financial products and services.

Goodbudget

This app works on what we call an envelope system. You can categorize your income into specific envelopes and the app would keep a record of how much is left in each envelope.

It can be used by couples and family members as well since you can sync multiple accounts together.

The only exception is that Goodbudget does not sync your bank information. You would have to do that manually yourself.

Goodbudget app has a plus version which costs $6 every month and $50 per year but the base version is free.

The plus version allows for unlimited envelopes and up to 5 synced devices on the same account.

Personal Capital

It is basically an investment management tool with a free budgeting service attached to the main investment functionality.

You manage your finances through Robo-advisors with access to human financial managers and keep track of your spending and budgeting with Personal Capital.

It also has a sync functionality where you could link your checking account, credit card accounts and investment accounts such as ITA and many more.

They also have a net-worth calculator and portfolio breakdown tool which helps ensure that you are getting the most of your investments.

If you are into investments, then Personal Capital is the choice for you.

Wally

Wally lacks a lot of features as compared to other budgeting apps. The main thing it does is track and categorize purchases. It also gives you snapshots of your remaining budget to curb overspending.

It is completely free to use and there is both an android and apple version.

Wally has support for every kind of foreign currency. It is a great choice for people who live outside the U.S or have a lot of money in different currencies apart from the U.S. Dollar.

Simplifi

You know simplifi is going to be a great and well-functioning product because it was created by the company that makes Quicken.

It has a feature that allows you to make a completely personalized spending plan and also get real-time updates on how much you have left in your budget.

You can also monitor your bills and monthly subscriptions through Simplifi.

You can set up your own watchlists which alert you about your limits.

Simplifi costs $2.99 a month when you’re billed and $3.99 a month when you are billed on a monthly basis after a 30-day free trial period.

Simple

Simple is actually an online bank account that has some built-in budgeting functionalities. It can replace your old account and help you manage your money and plan your budget all from the same platform.

It is a much easier choice than trying to match up things between budgeting apps and separate bank accounts.

Simple tracks your spending and helps you to set goals for saving.

It has a useful “Safe to spend” feature that informs you if spending will keep you on track or derail your savings plan.

Mvelopes

This app places emphasis on live support. Each of their three plans has live support attached to it.
You get access to a personal financial trainer when you are on the Plus version; which is worth $19 a month or the Complete version; which is worth $59 a month.

Mvelopes helps you track your spending, create envelopes for spending categories and get interactive reports about your spending habits.

It offers a lot more options than others apps but it is not free.

Are Budget Apps Safe?

Budget apps do not actually have control over your bank account so they’re safe. If someone got in your budgeting app, he or she would not be able to redraw funds from your account or anything of the sort.

Most budgeting apps have several security features such as two-factor authentication to prevent any authorized access to your account and also 128-bit encryptions.

Budget App FAQs

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