People often feel trapped in the cycle of living paycheck-to-paycheck to the point where they believe making and saving money isn’t an option for them. It’s a frustrating place to be, and it’s not uncommon.
The median savings account balance for people under 35 years old is $1,580, and $5,000 for those aged between 35 and 44. A separate survey from GoBankingRates showed 57 percent of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings account. 39 percent of 8,000 respondents said they had no money saved at all.
The recommendation is that when you’re in your 20s, you should try to save 25 percent of your gross pay, and by age 30 you should have the equivalent of your annual salary saved. By the time you hit 40, you should aim for three times your annual salary saved.
While it’s no surprise people who earn less have less saved, there are still ways to increase the amount of money you have in savings. It requires taking a hard, honest look at what you’re earning versus what you’re spending which is key to finding places to cut costs whenever possible. Sometimes using a financial app or another form of technology can provide the visibility needed to really start cutting those costs and saving more.
Mint
Mint is one of the most popular expense tracking apps available. Mint brings all your financial information together in one place, which makes it easy to understand and see where you can make positive changes.
Mint users can link everything including their cash, checking accounts, savings, investments, and retirement accounts. They can link their bills, see their spending broken down by category, and even create budgets and goals to see how well they’re doing along the way.
The Mint app is free and can connect to nearly any financial institution in the U.S.
Clarity money
Clarity Money is another free app and is often ranked as a favorite among users. The Clarity app is based on financial transparency. It shows users what they’re spending and alerts them when they’re overspending.
Clarity Money Savings lets users create a goal and work towards it. Clarity Money also helps people cancel unwanted subscriptions that might be taking money they can put to better use.
Acorns
Acorns is a leading app in terms of helping people start small with investing and ultimately grow their wealth.
Acorns does cost money to use. It costs $1 a month when you use the original Acorns app. It’s $2 a month to use Acorns and Acorns Later, which is a retirement savings platform. It’s $3 a month to use Acorns, Acorns Later and Acorns Spend. Acorns Spend is a checking account.
Acorns is based on the idea of micro-investing. It takes small amounts of money—spare change from transactions, then rounds up and invests that difference. Users can add to their investments if they’d like.
Also, there’s a feature called Found Money which provides more automatic investing opportunities when users shop with partner brands.
If you’re interested in investing apps, check out our Stash vs. Acorns vs. Betterment vs. Robinhood comparison article.
Qapital
The Qapital app lets users input their goals for saving money and track how well they’re doing along the way. Features let users automate their savings using something called Rules. For example, a user could designate one day of the week every week where they automatically save for a specific goal. The app will set that money aside based on the rule.
Qapital isn’t just a savings app. It’s a full banking platform, so when users sign up for an account, they get a Qapital Visa Card, the banking app, eChecks and they earn interest on all their accounts.
The Qapital app is completely free.
YNAB
Finally, the YNAB app is a great option. YNAB stands for “You Need a Budget.” The app aims to help people get out of debt and stop living paycheck-to-paycheck. On average, new users save $600 in the first two months after they start with YNAB. They save more than $6,000 after the first year.
Features include bank syncing, real-time financial data access and goal tracking. This app also includes a debt paydown tool, and detailed, visual spending reports that measure progress and show areas where users can improve.
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