With great power comes great responsibility – we have the power to spend money without touching it. I little wave here, a transfer there.
With that power we can’t forget our great responsibility – we need to keep track of where our money is going!
Why? – Cause Mum says so!
So here are some apps that can help…
It doesn’t matter what kind of spender you are:
Maybe you’re a:
“Just keep spending, and hope the money doesn’t run out before next pay”
OR if you are a:
“Check out my spreadsheets, I know exactly what we’re spending!” ….(“but I spend a couple of hours a week tracking it”)
These apps will help…
Before I start – there are two different types of money apps on the market:
Ones with BANK FEEDS: Apps that you can connect to your bank(s) and receive all of your transactions!
Ones WITHOUT BANK FEEDS: No talky talky to your banky banky!
The app you chose, may not be on this list – however please ensure you get one WITH bank feeds!
TOP 5 APPS (with bank feeds):
5.Your own bank’s
Yep that’s right, you might already have this functionality without needing any extra apps – all the big banks have ‘cash management’ as part of their online banking.
Who’s it for: People who only have one bank account, looking for basic functionality like ‘money in, money out’. You don’t want too many features/options, you just want to see high level where you money is going.
Pros: You already have it! And its free. You can literally go check right now, what you’ve been spending your money on… or maybe you don’t want to look.
Cons: They are low in features, if you have different bank accounts (most couples do, and many people operate across multiple banks these days). The categorisation isn’t great, and some of them do silly things like count ‘transfers’ in your expenses – so it messes with your numbers. No ‘Net worth’ and you can’t add in other assets (like cars & homes).
Cost: Free… ish…. Dealing with banks is never free!
4. Moneysoft
Money Soft is good – but I’d have to say ‘its ALMOST there’, this app as client and financial advisor in mind – but its just missing a few ticks (and for the price, it shouldn’t miss any).
Who’s it for: If you have multiple bank accounts across multiple banks, you want to add super, and a few other assets.
Pros: If your financial adviser uses this app, you can give them access.
Cons: You have to manually add assets (inc value) of properties etc. High cost for what you get. I found Moneysoft’s cashflow just didn’t work for me. It seemed like it was counting transfers as transactions. Within the app, looking at a summary, and then a particular month, amounts didn’t seem to line up – maybe it was me and I needed tech support!
Cost: $7.98pm for the basic, $19.95pm for advanced
3. PocketBook
Pocketbook is a great place to start for anyone looking to get data from multiple banks, and you don’t want to spend any money! They app is constantly being updated, so little things you might not like, may be fixed sooner than you think.
Who’s it for: If you have multiple bank accounts across multiple banks and don’t want to pay for your money tracking app!
Pros: Has an area to add your bills etc. Oh and did I mention its free?
Cons: Its missing advanced features if you’re looking to get a handle on your entire net worth. Just the major banks at the moment. You can’t include super/properties etc (in the version I looked at).
Cost: FREE!
2. Moneybrilliant
Money Brilliant is ALMOST brilliant. By far the best for automatically categorising your transactions. When I first used MoneyBrilliant I was used to reconciling ever transaction myself – whereas with MoneyBrilliant only maybe 2-5% of transactions will need to be re-categorized.
Who’s it for: If you aren’t going to try our number one pick – Start here!
Pros: The cashflow (money in / out) is just more accurate than other apps. I also loved the ‘Bills’ feature, where you can go through your transactions and tell it which transactions are bills. It can then give you warnings, or you can just visually see what bills are coming up when
Cons: I find the user interface a little clunky at times, and things aren’t always found where you’d think they’d be. Also if Bills come in at different times, alters can get mixed up. Again, its missing the ‘entire net worth’ so can’t be used for wholistic financial planning.
Cost: Free, however there is a $9.99pm option which gives some good features around Tax, Bills, Net worth etc.
1. MyProsperity
MyProsperity is more of a household/ financial planning app than just a stand alone ‘money app’. That being said it is only available via a financial advisor at this stage.
The reason why it has our number one stop is – it does everything the others do, and so much more.
Pros: Some of the key features we like:
Net worth: Track and connect EVERYTHING. Bank accounts, sure they all do this, but MyProsperity will read you Super, will read the value of your home from RealEstate.com.au, the value of your car from CarSales.com.au, it will take your mortgages, your loans, your SMSF accounts.
Team: You can add team members to your account. Financial Advisor of course, but also a bookkeep or accountant, and export directly to them. You can add your partner, so even though you might be head of the finances, they can get a great visualisation of where that family is at.
For many people, and app of this quality can eliminate those pesky spreadsheets (and better yet – the time you spend using them).
Cons: You do need to see a financial advisor to get this app which doesn’t suit everyone. That been said a good advisor will be able to help you handle all this new information you have, and to use it to increase your net worth each year!
Cost: $15pm (although a number of advisors will give it to you for free)
