Track Your Spending Habits with a Smartphone App

Track Your Spending Habits with a Smartphone App

Mobile apps are changing the way people monitor, plan, and control their spending habits. There are many, many different financial apps out there, all of them free or available for a small price. These tools can help you do everything from tracking your spending to managing your investment portfolio. At Resource One Credit Union, we dedicate ourselves to helping our members invest in their future and grow their wealth. A membership with us helps those things happen naturally, thanks to strong dividend rates and other member benefits. However, we also recognize the growing popularity of mobile apps in the financial planning space, and have even developed our own credit union smartphone apps to help our members succeed with their money management goals.

Introducing the MobiMoney App

One of the top credit union membership benefits we offer at Resource One is the MobiMoney app. This application is available to our debit card users and allows them to control their cards via the app. If you lose your card, you can use the app to turn it off (or to switch it back on, once you’ve located the missing card). You get instant transaction alerts, so you know immediately if someone is trying to use your card (or your card number) without your consent or knowledge. You can even set spending rules or limits based on amount, location, or merchant type. Best of all, the MobiMoney app is completely free to download and use for Resource One members.

Perhaps you are someone who tends to fall victim to impulse purchases, or maybe you are going on a vacation and are trying to practice moderation with your spending. In situations such as these, apps like MobiMoney and the controls they give you can help a lot to curb spending. Our members love having this tool at their fingertips, and we believe you will too.

Other Mobile Money Apps to Try

Tracking and limiting your debit card spending is a good first step toward better money management and more savings discipline. If you like the MobiMoney app, though, know there are many other finance apps out there that might help you discover different ways to save money and establish smart savings habits. Here are a few of the most popular money apps out there right now. (Note: these applications are not affiliated with Resource One Credit Union.)

• Mint: Perhaps the most popular money app there is, Mint is a multifunctional application that is especially helpful for establishing and maintaining a budget. Customize your monthly budget by creating different categories of spending (food, car expenses, entertainment, etc.) and then track and categorize expenses as you go. You can link Mint to your bank account, credit card, or debit card, so that it is pulling in transaction information automatically. Having all this information in one place is helpful for spotting areas where you could improve your spending habits—especially since Mint analyzes everything and offers up tailored insights.
• Personal Capital: Personal Capital has a lot of similar budgeting tools to Mint, but the core selling point of the app is its investment management side. From stocks to retirement accounts like a 401(k) or an IRA, Personal Capital makes it easy to track investment performance and see how your portfolio fits in with the rest of your financial equation. You can even manage your portfolio directly within the app, rather than monitoring all those accounts or holdings separately.
• YNAB: Where Mint and Personal Capital are mainly about tracking what your money is doing, the YNAB app (“YNAB” is short for “You Need a Budget”) takes a different tactic. This app projects your earnings and then assigns a job for each and every dollar. Some dollars get spent on monthly expenses. Others get saved for future goals, both short-term (such as paying the electric bill at the end of the month) or long-term (a big family vacation you want to take next summer). By encouraging more financial goal-setting, YNAB helps users avoid many of the most common budgeting mistakes.

Whether you are using credit union smartphone apps or tools like the ones listed above, there is no doubt that your smartphone can help you learn more about your spending and be more informed about your financial habits. To learn more about the MobiMoney app, or to find out how Resource One Credit Union can help you discover different ways to save money, contact us today!