The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice. See Lexington Law’s editorial disclosure for more information.
A typical high school education doesn’t include classes on crucial life skills such as balancing accounts, understanding credit cards and loans, keeping track of earnings or paying bills on time. Yet, all of these are essential skills for maintaining financial health, as well as building and managing credit.
Luckily, we live in a time where technology gives us easy access to personal finance tools that can fill our knowledge gaps. The right set of tools can help automate your finances and set you on the right track. To help you get started, we have a guide to the four types of personal finance tools you need most—and why.
You can make all the money in the world, but if you don’t know how to budget, you won’t be able to get very far. Spending money you don’t have and using credit cards or loans to stay afloat is one of the fastest routes to credit trouble.
Budgeting is crucial for so many reasons. It can help you figure out how much you have coming in versus going out, identify areas of overspending and decide how much you can realistically save.
Some of the most popular online budgeting tools are:
Note that many of these tools come in both desktop and mobile app forms, so you can access and bring your budget with you wherever you go.
The best part about these budgeting tools is that everything is automated. You no longer have to create a budget on paper or spreadsheet and then update it manually. Instead, you link your accounts once, set your goals and budgets and the app does all the work for you. The app will tell you when your subscription prices have increased or when you’ve been hit with a late fee and even show how your investments are tracking for your retirement goal. Your entire financial overview can be accessed with just the touch of a button.
Nowadays, it’s basically guaranteed that your financial institution has online and mobile banking tools. While it’s easy to forget about these tools and only log in when you want to move money around, there are a lot of other ways your bank or credit union’s app can help you.
For example, here are three things you might be able to benefit from through your bank or credit union’s online and mobile banking tools:
Investing is crucial to preparing for retirement and making the most of your money. Thanks to inflation, keeping your savings in a regular savings account actually means you lose money each year. To make your money work for you, it’s best to invest it and hope to see long-term gains in the market.
There are apps and sites that make it easier for people to invest. Some of the most popular apps are:
There’s a common misconception that you need a lot of money to start investing. That’s simply not true, and many of these online investing platforms are trying to help people get started, no matter how much they have to put aside. And, the sooner you put money into the market, the sooner you can benefit from compound interest.
Managing your credit is a critical part of maintaining your personal finance. Your credit report and credit score can dictate whether or not you get approved for products (credit cards, auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, etc.) and with what interest rate and loan terms. Additionally, your credit can even impact your job and rental applications.
It’s important that you keep up to date with your credit. If you do so, you’ll know what your lenders will see when you apply for new credit, and you can address sudden unexplained drops in your credit score quickly.
Luckily, there are services, such as bank institutions for example, that will let you check your credit score for free. Lexington Law Firm can also provide you with a free credit score during an initial credit consultation offered to consumers interested in the service. And, if you don’t have the time to commit to monitoring and managing your credit, Lexington Law Firm can help you with that as well.
Personal finance can feel challenging and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to. Review your financial situation to decide where you could use a boost, and then check out some of the tools we’ve suggested here to see if they can help you. If you take advantage of these resources, you just might turn into a bit of a personal finance expert yourself.
Note: Articles have only been reviewed by the indicated attorney, not written by them. The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, reviewers, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective agents or employers.
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