As seniors enter retirement or financial situations change, there are resources available to help manage budgets, track spending, and plan for expenses. According to the Survey of Consumer Finances, 60% of people aged 65 or older have some debt, including medical, credit card, and housing debt. With senior debt rising and technology growing, it is advantageous to use online budgeting tools and apps to save more, spend less, avoid financial despair and enjoy retirement.
Get Your Finances on Track with These Apps and Online Tools
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BudgetSimple
BudgetSimple is a free, easy-to-use budgeting tool that will help keep track of spending and offer ways to cut unnecessary expenses. This site provides valuable, actionable, non-biased personal finance software to anyone in need of financial planning assistance. Once users enter their financial information, the BudgetSimple tool will create a budget planner. This planner helps identify their good and bad spending habits to help them achieve their savings goals. This website offers bank-level security and guarantees saving money. To further help users become financially secure, the BudgetSimple website includes an educational blog, which reviews basic finance concepts, questions, and concerns. The blog posts include information that allows consumers to broaden their understanding of money so they can take action to secure their future.
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Age Well Planner
The National Council on Aging (NCOA) created the Age Well Planner to provide information, resources, and referrals for income, benefits, Medicare, health, and wellness. This site offers budget calculations to plan for retirement spending and find ways to cut spending. The Age Well Planner also suggests government resources to those that may qualify. Since some people choose to go back to work after retirement, this website has resources available to help develop skills and find employment. The NCOA’s Age Well Planner varies from other financial sites by addressing health and wellness concerns as an essential aspect of retirement and provides resources related to healthy eating, home safety, assistance programs, and more.
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Budgetpulse
BudgetPulse is a free online budgeting tool designed to offer simplicity and functionality so that users can efficiently take control of their finances. BudgetPulse does not link bank account information, so users face no risk of identity theft. This personal software allows users to visualize their cash flow and expenses through easy-to-understand graphs and charts. These visuals deliver monthly spending and saving progress to improve financial management. To help users achieve their financial goals, BudgetPulse has a “Contribute to Friend” feature on the website to share financial goals and progress. Here, family and friends can donate to a user’s fundraiser.
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SilverBills
SilverBills is a bill management service designed to ease the worry of forgetting to pay bills on time. A monthly membership costs $99 per month for a SilverBills account manager to receive, review, store, and ensure that bills are paid on time on the client’s behalf. SilverBills provides members with monthly statements and instant alerts of all charges. This service offers state-of-the-art security by storing client data in IBM’s Hyper Protect Database within a virtual private network, which is also surrounded by a network of firewalls. Additionally, two-factor authentication is required for client and staff logins, and every transaction is reviewed by algorithms, auditors, and the assigned account manager.
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AARP Now App
The American Association of Retired Persons launched the AARP Now mobile app in 2017, which features the latest news, nearby events, local deals, membership benefits, and timely reminders. AARP members can earn rewards and access their digital membership card in the app anytime. In the “My AARP” section of the app, members can join, register, renew, and manage their AARP membership easily and quickly. Even though this app does not offer financial planning assistance, it does provide ample saving opportunities within a member’s community.
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Mint App
Mint is a budget tracker and planning app to help users manage their finances. This app allows users to link all bank accounts to one place. Users can add credit cards, investments, bank accounts, and bills to their portfolio, and the Mint app will track spending to help create budgets. Once users have set their budgets, the app will alert users if they surpass their designated spending limits. Another feature of the Mint app is that users can set reminders and pay bills from the app, so they never miss a payment. The app also includes charts to break down spending habits into categories such as gas, restaurants, groceries, entertainment, bills, etc. When users can visually see where they spend the most money, they can also recognize which categories to cut down on to begin saving money to reach their budgets.
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PocketGuard App
Pocketguard is a personal finance app that simplifies budgets by connecting users’ checking, credit, and savings accounts. This app shows how much money is available for everyday spending by factoring in budgeted funds, savings goals, and subtracting upcoming bills from the user’s income. This app automatically categorizes expenses, but users can also create custom categories with set spending limits.
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Prism App
Prism is a personal bill management app that automatically tracks users’ bills and sends them due date reminders. This app also shows account balances, monthly expenses, and payment history. Similar to the Mint app, users can schedule payments and pay their bills from the Prism app. Users can see a list of their upcoming bills and set reminders to the in-app calendar. This app offers functionality and convenience to users by tracking all bills in a simple app, rather than logging on to multiple websites to pay bills one at a time.
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Personal Capital App
Personal Capital helps users track their earnings and losses on various investment accounts, uncover hidden fees, and plan for retirement. This app features an investment checkup tool. This allows users to see investment performances, compare current allocation to target allocation, minimize risks, and maximize earnings to meet financial goals. Users also have access to award-winning financial tools, such as the retirement planner and financial advisors, at reasonable prices.
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Bank Apps
Today, most banks have an app that allows customers to save time and avoid going into the bank branch or making customer service calls. Bank apps typically allow customers to check their account balances, see their credit scores, transfer money, update account information, and more.
Let us know in the comments below - What is your favorite personal finance app?