Best Money Apps For Boosting Your Finances
Being a student and being flush with money rarely come hand in hand. Life as a university student is about learning to budget and becoming more financially independent.
As a postgraduate, you may have become more accustomed to budgeting and learning how to balance the books, but most people will still find they have little wriggle room when it comes to their finances.
Equally, as a postgrad you’re likely to dedicate more and more time to your study, meaning you possibly have less free time for part-time work to help supplement your income.
Managing your finances does require some time and effort but thankfully there are lots of useful apps out there that can make your life a little easier. Here are some of our favourites:
To help you budget: Emma
Emma is a budgeting app that analyses your current account usage and categorises your spending to give you clear breakdowns of where your money is going. One area where this can be really useful is with subscriptions. Most of us pay for multiple TV, music and other general subscription services so being able to monitor these and understand whether you’re getting value for money makes a big difference.
To keep track of group spending: Splitwise
Opportunities to socialise in large groups have been few and far between in recent times but Splitwise is a great app to have for occasions where you do need to keep track of group spending. It allows you to record what everyone spends and it will then calculate a final bill for each individual. It’s ideal if you’re out for the evening with friends or away on a short break as part of a bigger group.
To give your savings a boost: Chip
There will be many of you who might scoff at the thought of actually saving money while being a student, but if you can squirrel away just a few pounds on a regular basis you’ll be amazed at how quickly it can add up. Chip uses AI technology to calculate how much you can ‘afford’ to save based on your spending habits and automatically switches that money into a savings account for you. However, you do have the option to say ‘no’ before it switches across. Be aware that it does come with a fee of £1.50 every 28 days, so check you are earning more in interest than you are paying out.
To start your investment journey: Wombat
If you’re thinking of saving for the long term and want to start investing some of your money then Wombat is a great place to start. You can begin with as little as £10 and there are no monthly fees until you invest more than £1,000, when you will be charged £1 a month. The fees charged to invest in different funds are also lower than many other providers, so it offers investors good value for money. It’s also rather unique in that you can choose to invest in funds that are packaged as themes such as ‘The Gamer’, ‘The Blockchain’ or ‘The AI’. There is also an automated savings feature to help you get in the habit of regularly investing your money.
To improve your credit score: Clearscore
Thinking about building a strong credit profile may not be front of mind right for you now, but ignoring your credit score altogether could cause a problem for you further down the line. The better your score the greater chance you have of being approved for credit, whether that’s a mortgage, personal loan or credit card. Clearscore is a good app to keep an eye on your credit score and track whether it’s going up or down and how to improve it.
To cut down your bills: Snoop
Snoop is designed to help you cut down your outgoings and pinpoint where you could be saving money. Linked to your bank accounts it will monitor your expenditure and notify you if you could be saving on things like household bills and whether there are discounts or deals available in shops where you regularly spend money. Shopping around to save money on energy or broadband costs can take time but Snoop can simplify the process and do much of the heavy lifting for you.
Now you know what some of our favourite money apps are, why not check out our list of 11 apps that all students shouldn’t live without.