Best Budgeting Tools for Millennials in 2023

Are you looking for the right budgeting software to save money for the future?

You are in the right spot to find the best budget app that helps to keep track of expenses and invest in the future. Depending on individual circumstances, you may select the best one for your needs.

It’s so true that your financial house should be managed in a correct way- where you take control of your money in terms of expenses and income, pay down your credit card debt or mortgage debt, and achieve financial autonomy.

It’s almost impossible to track your every dollar spending because it will take time to jot down every transaction on Google Sheets. Moreover, you may even forget to cancel the unwanted subscription fee, and it causes you money to spend for nothing.

For this, the alternative way is to use personal bill and budget apps like Rocket Money, which helps users automatically cancel unwanted subscriptions and monitor their budget.

In this post today, you will learn several best budgeting tools (including the free ones ) based on our dedicated research so that you can make an informed decision to choose the right one for you and your family.

Key Takeaways

• Different budget apps have different core functions and features. For this, you should consider the pros and cons of each one in order to choose the right tool based on your needs.
• You Need a Budget- YNAB: track every dollar spent including, including utility bills, transportation, mortgage, phone bill, and other expenses. For this, you will take back control of your money and save your hard-earned cash for the future.
• The Mint Budget App: is especially suitable for those, who don’t have time to track their spending and manage their budget in a good shape.
• Empower, (formerly Personal Capital), is the best budget planner for free that enables users to monitor their spending and create a saving goal. For this, they can manage their money and reach their financial target in the future.
• Google Sheets is one of the best free budget tools that allows users to manually record every transaction on the sheet. If you love the idea of independently jotting down every expense on a monthly budget template Google Sheets, then it is the right one for you.

Several key factors when choosing the best budgeting tool:

When selecting the best budgeting software, there are several factors to consider before choosing the right budget app for you and your family:

• Offer more advanced features: perhaps, this is one of the most important aspects for users to find the right budget app and help them keep track of their financial goals.
• Easy to use: the platform has comprehensive budget applications, where users may find it easy to use and understand in terms of expenses, income, and current net worth.
• Offer an affordable price: it’s essential to find reliable budget software that provides an affordable price so that you will keep your finances in a good shape over the long run.
• Security: your financial data is super essential for achieving your saving goals. Thus, select the one that offers multiple layers of security such as two factors, and full encryption.

1. You Need a Budget Review ( YNAB)

The first one to mention is one of the best budgeting tools based on consumer reviews and experiences. What makes “ You Need a Budget” so unique and different compared to other apps?

The answer is rather than just focusing on the traditional budget calculating, “You Need a Budget” has a lovely app with the name YNAB that allows users to build a budget in accordance with income and expenses.

In particular, the app will track every dollar spent based on living expenses and debt repayments, including utilities, phone bills, eating out, mortgage, etc. For this, they will understand their spending and can work toward their saving goals.

For example, if your short-term goals are saving for an overseas vacation or a new car, the YNAB will help you to manage and keep track of your goals until you achieve them.

In addition, this budgeting software is perfect for individuals and couples who share common objectives and build financial autonomy. In addition, it has two versions to choose from, which are mobile and desktop.

In terms of pricing, YNAB offers two main subscription fees, which are monthly, and yearly plans ( much cheaper if they select the annual bill). Indeed, the platform provides a 34-day free trial period to experience the app.

2. Rocket Money Review

The next best budgeting tool is Rocket Money, formerly Truebill which enables members to create a budget and set their future financial goals. The app will do its super job by monitoring users’ spending habits and calculating the average they spend each month.

The Rocket Money app enables members to take control of their subscriptions by suggesting to cancel some unwanted recurring bills. For this reason, they will take back over their spending and can set financial goals to achieve them.

In addition, the app helps you to find a better deal based on your current bills by negotiating or lowering your recurring bills. For this, you will save your money and time by letting the Rock Money team negotiate and find a better rate for you.

In particular, members must upload or connect to the suppliers so that the platform can assess the current situation and may find a better rate for you.

With the smart saving account, users can set their saving account on autopilot, which means they can select the best time to save, and thus, they will reach their future saving goals much faster.

Indeed, members are entitled to cancel or withdraw money from the smart saving account at any time they want.

3. Mint Review

Mint is another best free budget app that allows users to understand their financial situation by providing information about spending habits, income, and current net worth.

In particular, with the budget tool, the platform will notify or alert you in case you overspend. For this, you will take control of your expenses and reach your financial goals faster.

Importantly, the Mint budget app will do a great job by managing your subscription and bill negotiation. In this case, it will suggest canceling unwanted recurring charges or finding a better rate to save money and time.

One of the core features of the Mint budget app is the budget categories, which means users can rename or recategorize their spending in order to better understand how much expenses are in a specific category.

The Mint budget app is especially suitable for those, who don’t have time to track their spending and manage their budget in a good shape. Users need to connect their bank accounts and credit cards in order that the app will do its great job to help them save money.

4. PocketGuard Review

PocketGuard is one of the best budgeting tools that enable you to stay on top of your personal financial goals by monitoring your current spending habits and helping you to pay off your debt faster.

The core function of this app is to track and manage your money based on spending habits and then it will make a comparison with the previous month if you overspend.

This best free budget app also keeps an eye on your account balance by alerting users if they spend more than 70% of their budget for the month. Hence, users can take control of their spending and keep their budget on track to achieve financial goals.

In terms of setting up, it would take you around 5 mins to sign up and get started with this budget app right away. In particular, PockerGuard will calculate your overall budget based on the money you spend and earn at the end of a period or a month.

Most importantly, if you link your savings account with the app, then it will do the job by constantly reminding you to deposit into your account once you have received your payment.

Not only PocketGuard budgeting software helps you manage your budget, but it also assists you to find a better deal to lower your current recurrent payments and thus, you can save more money for the future.

For example, PocketGuard will find and suggest a better deal on your monthly bills, which you will end up paying less and saving money.

5. Empower (Formerly Personal Capital) Review

Empower, (formerly Personal Capital), offers a free budget planner tool for members to take control of their money by helping them to manage their income and expenses effectively.

In particular, the app provides detail of their monthly spending, including utilities, phone bills, eating-out expenses, groceries, etc. They will understand how much money they spend each month and can set a saving goal to achieve in the future.

In addition, you don’t need to pay any fee to set up an account with Empower. It allows you to access the app’s free money-tracking dashboard, where you are free to use some useful features to manage and track your money.

Besides the free budget tool, users also have the opportunity to access other top features from Empower, which they may not be able to find in other apps, like calculating your financial situation, saving plan, retirement plan, and investment ( including Robo advisers).

For example, the free net worth calculating tool will help users to understand their current financial situation before they can plan for any saving goals in the future. Members need to link their bank account, investments, and other assets in order to understand their current net worth.

Based on the Trustpilot review, Empower, Personal Capital has overall exceeded customer satisfaction based on product features. At the time of writing, the platform received around 70% ( out of 702 customers) of customer reviews as excellent.

One of the platform objectives is to focus on investments and wealth management, which means the expert team will give their users professional suggestions and advice solutions such as investment advice, asset allocation ( equities, bonds, cash), and other different investment vehicles.

6. Google Sheets- Best free budgeting tools

Google Sheets is the best free budgeting tool for individuals and couples, who want to track and manage their spending in order that they can create an effective budget ad achieve toward a financial goal based on expenses and income.

As you may not be aware, Google Sheets allow members to use its cross-range of budgeting templates from third-party software providers so that they can select the right monthly budget template based on their needs.

As long as you have a Gmail account, then it’s completely free to use as you just use your Gmail account to access the Google Sheets. And, if you don’t mind manually recording every transaction on the sheet it is the right budget tool for you and your family.

In addition, you can use smartphones to access Google Sheets and select one of the budgeting templates available in order to make a budget for long-term goals.

Final Thoughts on Best budgeting tools

Congratulations! You have come to the end of this article. Without any doubt, you definitely know different best budget apps with different core functionalities and features.

For this, you will be able to choose the right one to suit your personal needs and expectations to reach your saving goals in the near future.

Here is the list of best budgeting tools we conclude as follows:

1. You Need a Budget: Best for individuals and couples, who are willing to share common objectives and build financial autonomy.

2. Rocket Money: Best for managing their current bills, canceling unwanted subscriptions, and creating budget goals to achieve in the future. This is an all-in-one budget tool as it also helps check user net worth, budget, and credit score.

3. Mint: Best for understanding their spending, and current cash balance. In addition, the Mint budget app also helps users to monitor and suggests them to cancel unwanted recurring charges to save their time and money.

4.PocketGuard: This best free budget app help to users take back control of their spending habits and manage their budget in the correct order.

5. Empower, formerly Personal Capital: specializes in wealth management, in which you can use the platform’s financial tools to manage your personal finance ( saving plan, retirement plan) and invest for the future. Indeed, Empower offers the best budget planner tool for users who want to take control of their spending and achieve their saving goals in the future.

6. Google Sheets– One of the best free budgeting tools for individuals- members can use the Google Sheets budgeting template to create a budget.

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Originally published: https://jns-millennial.com/