Keeping track of your finances and working toward your goals can be challenging, but technology can make these areas more feasible and efficient. There are many mobile and web apps available that can help you automate your finances, measure progress and get clear insights into what you need to do to improve.
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You still might need to do some work yourself, such as inputting your information into the apps to set things up initially, but from there, you can often increase your financial clarity and overall position with minimal effort.
YNAB, formally You Need a Budget, is one of the best budgeting apps because it reframes the traditional approach to budgeting in a way that often makes it easier to stick to your budget and reach long-term savings goals.
Rather than starting with a monthly income and seeing how your expenses eat away at that each month, hoping you end up with more than zero, YNAB uses a zero-based budgeting approach. That means that you work only with the money currently in your linked accounts — not future paychecks — and assign every dollar “a job.” For instance, some money in your account is earmarked for next month’s credit card payments, some is earmarked for rent, some for entertainment, and so on.
You do need to set some things up manually initially, but from there, you can set up a lot of automations like auto-assign, which disperses your new funds (budgeting-wise) based on the categories you’ve set up. The app can also learn to categorize your spending.
There’s a bit of a learning curve overall, but once you get the hang of it, you can more clearly plan how you want to spend your money and put money toward future savings goals. Also, this app isn’t free; the annual plan starts at $109. However, YNAB users save an average of $6,000 per year, according to the company. So if it gets you to commit to your budget, that can be worth the cost.
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Another good budgeting tool that also gives you a more comprehensive view of your finances is Empower.
After some initial setup, this app can pull in all of your financial information such as credit cards, investment accounts and the Zillow estimated value of your home to automatically calculate your net worth on essentially a real-time basis. You can also track areas like your spending, though it’s not necessarily as strong of a budgeting app as YNAB, depending on your perspective.
Keeping track of your finances and working toward your goals can be challenging, but technology can make these areas more feasible and efficient. There are many mobile and web apps available that can help you automate your finances, measure progress and get clear insights into what you need to do to improve.
Learn More: 13 Banks With Immediate Sign-Up Bonuses and No Direct Deposit Required
Find Out: The 5 Car Brands Named the Least Reliable of 2025
You still might need to do some work yourself, such as inputting your information into the apps to set things up initially, but from there, you can often increase your financial clarity and overall position with minimal effort.
YNAB, formally You Need a Budget, is one of the best budgeting apps because it reframes the traditional approach to budgeting in a way that often makes it easier to stick to your budget and reach long-term savings goals.
Rather than starting with a monthly income and seeing how your expenses eat away at that each month, hoping you end up with more than zero, YNAB uses a zero-based budgeting approach. That means that you work only with the money currently in your linked accounts — not future paychecks — and assign every dollar “a job.” For instance, some money in your account is earmarked for next month’s credit card payments, some is earmarked for rent, some for entertainment, and so on.
You do need to set some things up manually initially, but from there, you can set up a lot of automations like auto-assign, which disperses your new funds (budgeting-wise) based on the categories you’ve set up. The app can also learn to categorize your spending.
There’s a bit of a learning curve overall, but once you get the hang of it, you can more clearly plan how you want to spend your money and put money toward future savings goals. Also, this app isn’t free; the annual plan starts at $109. However, YNAB users save an average of $6,000 per year, according to the company. So if it gets you to commit to your budget, that can be worth the cost.
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Another good budgeting tool that also gives you a more comprehensive view of your finances is Empower.
After some initial setup, this app can pull in all of your financial information such as credit cards, investment accounts and the Zillow estimated value of your home to automatically calculate your net worth on essentially a real-time basis. You can also track areas like your spending, though it’s not necessarily as strong of a budgeting app as YNAB, depending on your perspective.
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