Manage your finances by tapping into one of these five apps

Introduction

Mobile devices have made managing personal finances a lot\r\neasier. Not only has mobile banking become prevalent, but there are also\r\ncountless apps that can help you to manage your finances. This article examines\r\nfive such apps.

Note: This gallery is also available as an article.

Toshl Finance

Toshl Finance is\r\na fairly simple app that can help you manage your income and expenses and track\r\nyour spending over time. The app reports on income vs. expenses for various\r\ntimeframes: yesterday, last month, etc.

Toshl Finance

A couple of things about this app are really helpful. For\r\nstarters, you can configure it to remind you to enter your data for the day.\r\nFor instance, you might choose to be reminded every night at 7:00. Another nice\r\nfeature is automatic currency conversion based on the latest exchange rates\r\n—very handy for those who travel.

Toshl Finance is available for iOS, Android, Symbian, and\r\nWindows Phone.

Money Lover

Money Lover is\r\nsimilar to Toshl Finance, but has a few key differences. Unlike Toshl Finance,\r\nMoney Lover doesn’t provide reminders or currency conversion. Even so, I\r\nactually like Money Lover a little bit better for two reasons.

Money Lover

First, Money Lover has an option to be cloud enabled, making\r\nit possible to access your data on multiple devices. Second, Money Lover lets\r\nyou categorize your income and expenses so that you can easily see where you\r\nare making the most money and where you are spending the most money. For\r\nexample, you can categorize an expense as food, entertainment, or travel.

Money Lover is available on iOS, Android, and\r\nWindows Phone.

Prism (formerly Mobilligy)

Prism is a free bill-paying\r\napp for your mobile device. Even though most banks seem to offer online bill\r\npay, there is something to be said for having a dedicated app. For one thing,\r\nthe app is specifically formatted for mobile devices. My bank’s bill pay\r\nfeature is nearly unusable on a mobile device because of the screen layout. Prism,\r\non the other hand, uses a clean interface that is specifically formatted for\r\nmobile device use.

Prism (formerly Mobilligy)

I also like the fact\r\nthat Prism is available on a variety of platforms, thereby ensuring a\r\nconsistent experience across devices.

It’s available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone,\r\nWindows 8, and Kindle Fire.

TaxCaster

The software isn’t as comprehensive as a full-blown tax preparation application, but it still does a good job of providing an\r\nestimate. The software just asks you a few basic questions and then provides\r\nthe results. You can also use the software as an easy way of experimenting with\r\nvarious what-if scenarios.

Presently, only the 2013 version of the software is\r\navailable because the 2014 tax year has not ended yet. Even so, the 2013\r\nsoftware provides an idea of what to expect from the 2014 version.

TaxCaster is available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Bankrate Mortgage App

Lots of mortgage calculators are available on the Internet,\r\nbut the Bankrate Mortgage App (Figure E) is one of the best. There are a couple of really nice things\r\nabout this app. For starters, most mortgage apps are geared solely toward those\r\nwho are buying a house (which probably isn’t something you do every day). The\r\nBankrate Mortgage App, however, also provides a refinance calculator so that\r\nyou can tell whether it’s in your best interest to refinance your home.