With the world in what seems to be a perpetual financial crisis these past few years, it's tough to know where you, as an individual, actually stand with your money, unless you have some help. And I'm not talking about shoeboxes full of receipts. Thankfully, a wealth of financial apps on the market, most of them free, gives you plenty of options for learning how to be more responsible with your personal finances. Whether you're trying to handle your own income and expenses, managing an entire household, or running a small business, there's a program that can help get your finances in order.
Some of the most popular and well-known personal finance apps work on the premise that better money management comes through centralization and visibility. If you can see, at a glance and in one place, where all your accounts and spending habits stand, you'll be better equipped to make better decisions to stay within your budget. Mint.com is a prime example, because, in a sense, it does for your finances what Facebook does for your social life.
A valid concern about using a personal finance app is security. Frankly, most of the name brand apps we recommend are probably as secure as carrying a credit card in your wallet. Typically, personal finance websites and programs use 128-bit bank level, or 256-bit military-level encryption, and are verified by TRUSTe, VeriSign, and MacAfee. Is there a risk? Sure. Should it prevent you from actually using these apps? No. Is it possible that the payoff of getting your head around the realities of how much money you actually have greater than the risk of fraud? Absolutely. Set a strong password, and put your fears aside.
Mobile apps typically let you set an additional PIN on the app itself. You can also remotely deactivate most personal finance account from an online admin portal.
If you've never used an online tax preparation tool before, we have a great recommendation for a service that you'll want to read up on now in advance of your 2012 filing. Here are some of our favorite programs, Web apps, and mobile apps for managing your finances.
FEATURED IN THIS ROUNDUP
Adaptu Wallet iPhone App
Free
%displayPrice% at %seller%Entry-level to semi-experienced budgeting enthusiasts should consider using the Adaptu Wallet iPhone app\ for their personal finance needs. Adaptu packs some features that make it more like a virtual wallet than just a ledger of your accounts. You can track your loyal programs, create spending forecasts, and store photos of business cards, insurance cards, or anything else you usually stuff into your billfold. Adaptu is free of advertisements (yay), but the company behind the app says it may start charging for advanced features sometime this year (boo). Read the full review ??
Pageonce
Free to $4.99 per month
%displayPrice% at %seller%We love the Pageonce iPhone app (as well as its apps for Android, iPad, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry) because it's the only mobile app from which you can perform transactions (you'll need the $4.99 Gold version for that function). If you don't like automatic bill pay and need to keep a closer eye on exactly when your money goes to service providers, Pageonce is the app for you. It also has the best interface of all the personal finance mobile apps we've seen, placing key account balances in thumbnails that appear on the home screen. Unfortunately, it lacks PayPal support, so it didn't paint an accurate picture of my net worth. Balance updates aren't as fast as Mint.com or Adaptu, sometimes taking two days to reflect a bill payment or transaction. If you pick up the mobile app, you'll want to explore the full website version of Pageonce, too, to make sure you're using all the features available. Read the full review ??
Doxo
Free
%displayPrice% at %seller%Managing your own money is one thing, but taking charge of household expenses is another matter. Doxo is a relatively new website and service that lets you manage household payments, connect with utility and service providers, and backup important family documents while you're at it. Think of Doxo as an online filing cabinet, where you can view all your e-statements at once. No more logging into ten different sites?your electric and gas providers, cable providers, credit card, video streaming service, etc.?just to know where all the household bills stand. You can even connect to healthcare providers to see medical statements, too. Doxo is off to a strong start in an interesting and still developing category that blends household financial management with personal data management (we call them "online family organizers"), and it's well worth signing up for if your real filing cabinet is in shambles. Read the full review ??
Source: http://www.ecoustics.com/pcmag/articles/2407617
wimbledon ray allen Savages Home Run Derby 2012 San Diego fireworks steve nash july 4th
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.