Effectively managing money is one of the hardest things that many people struggle with. With things like credit, loans, and more, it can be easy to lose track of how much money you actually have and wind up spending more than you should have. But luckily, thanks to technology, there are now simple ways to keep track of your money and stay on top of your spending, saving, investing and more.
To show you how this can be done, here are three ways technology can help you better manage your money.
Easy Access To All Your Financial Information
Before smartphones, most people had to either keep track of their available funds by hand, get in touch with someone at their bank to find out their balance, or just go about their lives not knowing entirely how much money they had to their name. But now that almost every financial institution has an app for its members, it’s easier than ever to complete almost all possible banking tasks.
According to Wesley Fenlon, a contributor to How Stuff Works, most banks will allow you to do things like pay your bills, check your balances, transfer money, and lots more all from the app that you’ve installed on your phone. So if you’ve had trouble keeping track of your money in the past, make sure you currently have your bank’s app downloaded to your mobile device.
Savings Apps
For a lot of people, it can be very challenging to save money. Whether this is because they don’t make enough money to cover their bills, their spending is out of control, or some other circumstance, what most people really need is a way to make saving seamless.
One of the best ways to do this, aside from moving money into a savings account each month, is to use apps that are meant to save you money on everyday purchases. According to Lewis R. Humphries, a contributor to Investopedia.com, there are lots of apps available that will not only give you coupon codes for things that you’re buying online, but they will also give you cash back simply by using their extension with your browser. If you don’t already have one of these installed, consider looking one up that will work best with your spending habits.
Simplify Investing
In the past, investing seemed like something that only the wealthy or educated could do. But today, technology has made it easy for anyone to invest with even the smallest amount of money.
Stacy Rapacon, a contributor to the U.S. News and World Report, shares that there are software and apps available that can automatically invest the change from your purchases for you as well as allowing you to make small investments on your own for only a few dollars. So if investing is something you’ve wanted to try but have been intimidated by in the past, now’s the perfect time to use technology to your advantage.
If you’re ready to take control of your finances, consider using the technology mentioned above to help you do it.