Finance Apps for Students to Budget Like a Pro

As a college student, I often wonder how to handle my finances effectively. Budgeting is often a challenging task for most students, involving a lot of trial and error. Managing expenses such as tuition fees, loan repayments, and unexpected costs can be difficult. However, with a well-planned budget, staying on top of these financial responsibilities is undoubtedly achievable.

It may surprise you, but your smartphone can handle your tedious budgeting responsibilities. There is no longer a need to manually record all your expenses, as apps can effortlessly track your income and expenditures without wasting your valuable time.

Managing your finances in college is often more complicated than it sounds. With various expenses like textbooks, meal plans, supplies, and commuting, all on a tight budget and little guidance, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Developing habits of saving, investing, and budgeting early on can help you achieve financial flexibility. Creating an emergency fund will enable you to cover unexpected costs like car repairs or broken laptops. Starting to invest at a young age allows you to avoid keeping too much money in cash and enjoy the long-term benefits of compound interest. To assist those beginning their financial journey, we have compiled a list of the best money apps every college student should have. These apps are user-friendly yet highly effective in managing your cash, allowing you to dip your toe into money management and build a stronger foundation for your future.

Plum is a mobile application designed to help you manage your finances effectively. By evaluating your income and expenses, the app provides a comprehensive overview of your financial situation. Additionally, you can make deposits to ensure sufficient funds are saved for activities that bring you joy, such as traveling. You can balance traveling and studying simultaneously if you have a reliable paper writing service to handle your academic tasks, such as “write essays for me” and an app that monitors your finances. Therefore, consider using Plum to enhance your savings.

Pricing: Free.

Mint offers a convenient solution if you have multiple financial accounts and want an easier way to keep track of them. It allows you to connect your checking account, savings account, credit cards, investment accounts, and retirement accounts all in one app. You can prevent missed bill payments or overdrawing your account by staying updated on your finances. However, if you don’t regularly check these accounts, the hassle of resetting a forgotten password can be more than you bargained for. With Mint, you don’t have to remember multiple passwords anymore. Simply sign into the app, and you’ll have a comprehensive view of all your balances.

Mint offers a quick and easy way to budget. The application connects with your financial accounts, allowing you to view your credit cards, subscriptions, investments, and loans in one location. What sets Mint apart from others?

• It’s an all-in-one solution.
• You will receive prompts when you are nearing the end of your monthly budget or have upcoming bills to pay.
• The application offers choices that help save money.

Pricing: Free.

If you have difficulty keeping track of your expenses, you should immediately download EveryDollar. This app simplifies student budgeting by monitoring your expenses, due dates, and account balances.

You can adapt your budget according to your preferences by analyzing your expenses for each category. By establishing priorities, you can ensure that you allocate sufficient funds to enjoy binge-watching your favorite series, save money for significant purchases, and even seek online assistance for essay writing. Personalizing your budget is crucial since it is a personal matter. EveryDollar provides tailored payment plans to enable you to indulge in your interests and simultaneously begin saving.

Pricing: A 14-day free trial is available, and the Premium Plan begins at $59.99 for 3 months.

Achieving financial goals becomes more feasible with Wally, an app designed to secure personal finances management. What are the benefits of utilizing Wally?

• You can establish a budget for different categories, such as groceries, entertainment, and more, with the ability to set limits for each flexible budget timeframe.
• Wally offers valuable information on your performance, allowing you to track your cash flow in real time and make adjustments to improve your habits.
• As you utilize your financial calendar and store documents such as bills and receipts with Wally, you enhance your level of organization.
• Wally endorses the idea of joint accounts, which enable you to utilize them in collaboration with your significant other, buddy, or housemate.

Pricing options include a free version or upgrade to Wally Premium For Life for $74.99.

Looking to improve your financial stability? A budget is essential. YNAB is designed to assist you in organizing your finances. It introduces a distinctive four-step approach that enables you to take charge of your earnings and expenses. It educates you on how to:

• Spend money with confidence;
• Embrace your actual expenses;
• Address overspending;
• Always make sure to spend less money than what you earn.

Pricing: You can enjoy a free trial for 34 days, and if you decide to continue, the Premium Plan will cost you $14.99 per month.

This application is created to manage shared expenses. Whether you live in an apartment with a roommate, split bills with friends, or require assistance in managing your family’s finances, Splitwise is the ideal solution you have been searching for. It alleviates all the pressure and simplifies the process of sharing expenses. With this app, you can conveniently handle your shared expenses wherever you are, ensuring you never forget to repay your friends or receive payment. A premium version of the app is also available, offering advanced functionalities such as currency conversion, receipt scanning, charts, and more.

Price: The basic version of Splitwise is available for free. However, you can subscribe to Splitwise Pro at $3 per month if you prefer additional features.

If you frequently spend more than you should, PocketGuard could be your ideal budgeting application. With this app, you can link all your bank accounts and cards, allocate money for essentials, monitor your expenses, and even put aside some savings.

The app is straightforward to use and takes care of most tasks on your behalf, which makes it the perfect choice for students. With its easy-to-understand pie chart, you can view all your expenses in one location, helping you identify where most of your budget goes. Moreover, the app lets you customize your chart by adding personalized categories and hashtags. Additionally, PocketGuard’s Autosave feature enables you to establish savings objectives and have money transferred automatically into your savings account. Are there any other disadvantages to using PocketGuard?

• Using the In My Pocket feature, you can evaluate your earnings, expenditures, and savings to calculate the amount used for day-to-day purchases.
• The tracking function of the app enables you to secure improved agreements on your cable, mobile phone, and other expenses.
• The application lets you assess if a pricey purchase is within your financial means.
• The algorithms of the app assist in pinpointing areas where you can cut expenses.
• choose to subscribe to PocketGuard Plus for $7.99 per month or $34.99 per year, while the basic version of PocketGuard is free.

Purchase for $79.99 is made only once in a lifetime.

Budgeting may seem daunting, but it is simply a plan for how you will allocate your money each month. By understanding your income, you can effectively manage your spending. There are various methods to create a budget, but beginners who need a mobile solution should consider using the Goodbudget app. This app is similar to the envelope budgeting method, where you label envelopes for different spending categories and allocate a specific amount of money to each. Once you use up all the money in an envelope, you must wait until your next paycheck or month to replenish it. Goodbudget uses this concept digitally, allowing you to label virtual envelopes for school supplies, gas, fun money, and food. You distribute your paycheck among these envelopes and can only spend the allocated amount in each. Overspending will cause the envelope to turn red, indicating that you have exceeded your budget. Unlike other budgeting apps, Goodbudget does not connect to your bank accounts, requiring you to input your transactions and create digital envelopes manually. The app offers 20 free or unlimited envelopes for $7 per month or $60 per year. For more information, refer to our list of the best budgeting apps.

Pricing: It is free to use. However, an option called Goodbudget Plus can be purchased for $7 per month or $60 per year.

Everyone desires the advantages of improved spending habits, readiness for unforeseen situations, and reduced financial anxieties. Who wouldn’t want to experience these perks from a successful budget? Refer to our article for motivation to adopt digital budgeting techniques and discover the ideal app for organizing your finances.

Although not suitable for everyone, it is indisputable that adhering to sound financial practices is crucial for establishing a solid economic base, particularly during the college years. It is essential to recognize that personal finance is unique to each individual, whether they prefer utilizing an app that automatically synchronizes their banking data or manually creating their budget. Thankfully, there is a suitable approach available for nearly everyone.