Mashable recently published a list of their favorite financial apps, and we thought we’d do the same. Here are five great applications that help with everything from sticking to your budget to finding the best price on gasoline. Take a look.
Mint.com
Smart money management begins when you sit down and draw a full picture of your monthly income, expenses and debt. Mint.com’s personal finance app is a popular one for helping you do this. Just set up a free account on the Mint website, then download the free app for your smartphone or tablet. You can set up alerts to give you a heads up when you’ve received a large deposit, gone over a specific budget or when you need to pay a bill.
GasBuddy
Is there anything more frustrating than filling up your tank, only to drive down the road and see another station offering fuel for less? GasBuddy is a free smartphone app that helps you avoid this scenario, pointing out the best gas deals near you. The app even has details on gas prices all throughout the U.S. and Canada, so it’s especially handy during long car trips.
Tax Organizer
If you’re one of the growing number of professional freelancers, or you simply find you have a lot of work-related expenses, chances are you closely track your spending for tax purposes. Tax Organizer is an easy-to-use tax application that lets you keep detailed records of your spending. You can even use your phone’s camera to back up your receipts and export information to an Excel or CSV file. The application is free, but there’s a fee of $14.95 a month for the service.
RedLaser
You’ve probably stood in a store’s aisle and wondered if another place across town offered the same products at better prices. The free RedLaser app takes the guesswork — and potential legwork — out of landing the best deal by letting you scan an item’s barcode and see how much it’s going for at other stores and online retailers. All you need is a cell phone with a camera, and the insatiable itch to get the best price around.
What mobile apps do you use to make the most of your money? Have you found any that aren’t on this list?
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Comments
Phillip on December 24, 2011 at 7:21am
I use Mint. Google Shopper is good. Hoping to use Google Wallet with my Ally account soon.
Ally on December 24, 2011 at 8:01am
We’re big fans of Mint over here too, Phillip! Thanks for your comment and suggestions.
Joe t. on February 6, 2012 at 12:30pm
You'd think a virtual bank would be the first one to tackle mobile banking, let alone be the best at it.
Mark on October 12, 2012 at 5:52pm
I looked all over for a link to set up interest rate increase alerts and can find absolutely no links. Help files mention it but nowhere can I find the link to set it up.
Ally on October 12, 2012 at 5:55pm
Mark, we have a rates RSS feed that will provide you with the most recent rates. You can find the RSS feed here: http://www.ally.com/rss/. Let us know if you have any other questions about rates. Thanks!
feYerwerks on January 5, 2013 at 2:50pm
If get an ally account will I be able to use mint.com and have it link to your bank?
Ally on January 7, 2013 at 2:40pm
We’ve heard from many customers that they link their Ally Bank accounts with Mint.com. Please refer to Mint.com’s terms of use for additional details.
Veronica on February 5, 2022 at 9:26am
I've been using TrueBill to track my spending and setting myself budgets for specific things like groceries, eating out, entertainment, ect. You can link all your various accounts like credit cards, paypal, ect, and it tracks them all together. With the paid version($5 a month) they also do a Bucket type thing where they transfer funds from your bank account into a savings space. You can access the funds any time. Now that I've found Ally I'm thinking of just sticking with the free version and using the Buckets on there! I has Simple banking before, but left when they were bought by PNC. Currently using WellsFargo, but they don't have any type of savings buckets and the interest earned even in the savings is pitiful.