Personal Finance iPhone Apps

After reviewing the apps for a months or so, here is my list of the useful personal finance iPhone apps:

1. Mint.com - see what happens to all of your money
2. All your banks such as Chase, which even allows you to take a picture of your check to deposit instead of visiting an actual branch or an atm
3. PayPal - Monitor your account and send money to friends easily
4. Investment accounts such as ShareBuilder to monitor your holdings
5. Zillow.com - useful if you are looking to rent or buy or are just interested in the prices of the houses around your location
6. LoanCalc - See how much sooner you will payoff any loan if you increase your minimum payment
7. Pay Off Debt Lite - See what percentage of your debt you have paid so far since the beginning to motivate you to pay more
8. Credit Card accounts such as Amex to allow yourself to pay your bills from your phone
9. ScoreAdvice - See what you can do with your credit score to improve it
10. Ask Dave - Although I don't always agree with what he says, he does have some good advice, this is an app with clips of his radio show
11. NPR News - the Money Matters radio program releases some great shows on personal finances
12. Local stores such as Walgreen's app to see what's on sale this week
13. Daily deal apps such as Groupon to see the deals of the day
14. News websites such as CNN money to keep up with the current personal finance news
15. Coupon Sherpa - coupons for retail stores near you, although coupons seem to be available for only a few stores
16. GasBuddy - will help you find the cheapest gas near you
17. Kayak - to find the best travel deals
18. Around me deal apps such as AAA Discounts (must have AAA membership) state discounts available using your current location
19. Bar code scanners such as ShopSavvy will help you find the best deal online or in stores
20. Key Ring - if you forget your loyalty card, you can scan the card on your Key Ring app instead
21. Check-in apps like Yelp that allow you to check in to a restaurant or a shop and  receive a discount or a freebie

If you have other personal favorites, let us know in the comments.

Suze Orman Expense Sheet - Budget and Emergency Fund Planner

Another great budgeting tool is on the Suze Orman's website, Suze Orman's Expense Sheet. You enter your emergency fund amount and break down how much you spend each month by category. Then, Suze lets you know what your essential expenses are and based on that how large your 8 months emergency fund should be.

If a budgeting category is off from the national average, the cell will highlight yellow and by hovering over the cell, you can see what the national average is. If you are spending less, that's great. However, if you are spending more than the national average on a category, you should reconsider that expense even if you have an above average income.

At the end of the process that takes 2 minutes, Suze will tell you to beef up your emergency fund if you do not have 8 months of essential expenses. If your emergency fund fits the bill, she'll say that you should aggressively pay down any debt.

NetWorth IQ

There are several ways to track your net worth. The most convenient for me, has thus far been Mint.com because it does everything automatically. However, another way to track your net worth is through NetWorth IQ. Here are it's advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages:

1. You must manually enter all your data
2. All other people's data is manually entered as well and might not be accurate for comparison
3. You must enter your data every month to see the progress

Advantages:

1. You can track your net worth with a graph
2. You can see the percentage change in each category
3. You can make your net worth public so other people can comment on your progress
4. Making your net worth public might motivate you to get that number up
5. You do not need to give out personal login information
6. You can compare your net worth to others your age, or in your occupation, for example
7. You can also compare each category such as student loan debt, credit card debt, or retirement assets to others in your demographic groups

Money in your 20's

Money management skills should be learned as early as possible and the 20's is a great place to start. Here are 10 financial projects you should take on in your 20's:

1. Learn to live on less than you make. Many people who find their first job, go all out with a new wardrobe, a new car, decorations for the new apartment, etc. Control your spending and only spend what you can afford with the money you have. See the Cash Flow blog post to see how you can see your cash flow with ease.
2. Start saving. Use the budget worksheet to see where you are overspending if you are unable to spend 15% of your take home pay. If you have large student loan payments, try to cut down in all areas to free up some space for savings, even if it's $5/month.
3. If your company offers a 401(k) match, start putting in the minimum amount you have to put in to get the full match.
4. Build an emergency fund in a high interest savings account.
5. Maintain a good credit score. Make sure you are never late. Automating your bills is an easy way to make sure of this.
6. Pay down on your student loan or any other debt with any extra funds that you have. If you receive a gift, a tax refund, or a bonus, try to apply it directly to your debt. See the Debt Pay Off Methods to see how you want to tackle your debt. See how even $5 per month extra will make a difference in your debt by using the Bankrate Amortization Calculator.
7. Save for retirement. Starting early is one of the best things you can do. Use a retirement calculator to see how much you should save. Start small if you can't contribute the full amount you are advised and increase your contributions yearly.
8. Designate separate savings accounts for various goals. Retirement should be saved in a 401(k) and an IRA. You should also have separate savings accounts for an emergency fund, grad school, vacation, car, down payment, etc. You can save in each account simultaneously or take it one step at a time and once your emergency fund is full, save for a vacation, once you have enough in that account, you can save for grad school and a car, etc.
9. Get health insurance. One accident can ruin all of your plans. 
10. Earn more money. Ask for a raise at the annual review or find a job that will pay you 15%-20% more and present the offer to the current employer. Be ready to leave for the new job if the offer isn't matched.

Pay Yourself First First, No Really

Every personal finance adviser out there says to pay yourself first. There are websites dedicated to the concept. However, many of us still don't do this simplest thing. For the longest time, I figured I was disciplined enough not to have to do this. However, since I've started a couple of month ago, it has done wonders.

Paying yourself first is as simple as setting up a new savings account (if you don't have one yet) and setting up automatic transfers of at least 15% of your take home pay. It sounds so simple, but paying yourself first lets you see the money that you have left over.

Since I am saving for a couple of things right now, I have one slush fund for the 15% savings and then I distribute from there to other savings accounts based on what I feel I want to accomplish first.

This 15% is the starting point for my savings. I also contribute 4% of gross pay to a 401K and I always end up transferring more out of my checking and into my savings. However, keeping the funds separate and having the automatic savings plan of at least 15% going into my slush fund, helps keep me on track.

ChexSystems Annual Free Report

Everyone knows to check their credit report annually to see if there are any errors that need to be cleaned up. Also important, is the 'bank credit report' or the ChexSystems Annual Free Report. Click on the link to take you directly to the website where, every year, you may get your report for free. Check that report to see if there is anything negative and if there is, if the negative information is accurate.

If it is not accurate or, for example, that overdraft fee listed on there has long been paid, then contact the report banking institution to have that information removed. If you have negative information reported on ChexSystems, you may be denied a bank account in the future.

And, remember that just because your banking activity does not get reported to your credit report that computes your FICO score, it is still being reported and can negatively impact you in the future.

Checking Accounts - PerkStreet

I'm in the market for a new checking account. Looking at what's available locally is discouraging even when i live in a place with the largest concentration of banks. Citi and Chase still seem like the top choices due to ATM availability. However, their free checking accounts do not earn any significant interest and their debit cards are not even 1 point to a dollar. In addition to the low rewards, they have restrictions for free accounts such as direct deposit or a minimum balance.

A better checking account is one that can be found online. The one that came out on top for me is PerkStreet.

The Good:

• 1% cash back on all purchases
• 2% cash back on all purchases if your account balance is over $5,000
• free ATMs in places such as Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid
• refund of up to $10 per month for non-network ATMs
• easily transfer funds from any bank account online 
• monthly specials where you can receive up to 5% cash back - info should be on Facebook and Twitter
• online account that gives you checks

The Bad:

• limit of $1,500 transfer for a bank account per 30 days (if you want to deposit more you can through an ATM or by mail)
• if you want a refund for non-network ATMs you must email, fax, or mail the receipts from the ATMs that charged you
• apparently PerkStreet does not separate the rewards you earn per transaction, making rewards hard to track

As you can see, 'the good' outweighs 'the bad.'

Financial Goals

The whole point of learning and keeping up with your finances is to attain our financial goals. What are your financial goals.

Here are some examples of goals:

1. Save X amount in an emergency fund
2. Save X amount of months of expenses/salary in an emergency fund
3. Save X amount for retirement this year
4. Save X% of each paycheck for retirement this year
5. Max out your IRA
6. Pay down my student loan in X amount of years
7. Pay double the minimum on my debt
8. Save for a vacation
9. Save for graduate school
10. Save for a down payment
11. Buy a car with cash

What are you saving/hoping for?  Whatever it is, my favorite tool to keep an easy track of your savings and goals is to open up a high yielding savings account (see my earlier post where to find one), and set up a goal in Mint (see an earlier post about this website as well). You can set up multiple goals as long as you have a different account for each goal and keep track of your progress. Mint will tell you if you are on track, behind, or ahead on your goals and the amount of time it will take you to reach them.

Upromise

Upromise started off just for Sallie Mae Student Loan customers to reduce their loan amounts. The way it works is: if you ever shop online on sites such as eBay, Travelocity, OfficeDepot, etc., then you can earn a percentage of your purchases. By searching for a retailer you want to shop at through the Upromise site, and clicking on the link to redirect you to your retailer, you earn a percentage of each purchase into your Upromise account.

In the past, you were only able to deposit those funds against your student loans. However, now you may also receive a check or deposit it into your Sallie Mae Bank account. If you deposit it into the Sallie Mae bank account (currently earning 1.25% interest), you are also eligible to receive 10% of your Upromise earnings at the end of the year as a bonus.

There are many ways to earn money in your Upromise amount. In addition to earning a percentages of your purchases online, you may also earn extra Upromise cash by using a registered credit card at participating restaurants. You could also join e-Rewards and redeem the money you earn by filling out surveys for Upromise cash. Many companies also award a dollar amount for joining or trying their services. For example, ServiceMagic pays $4 for getting a quote for any services you may need around the house.

Therefore, Upromise is a great deal. If you shop online anyway, you should sign up and get your friends and relatives to sign up and add you as the beneficiary.

High Interest Savings Accounts

Where should you keep your emergency fund?

You should always look for a high interest savings account to keep your savings. Now, the highest interest banks out there with no restrictions are AmEx with 1.3% interest rate and SFGI Direct with 1.4% interest rate. This is a great way to earn at least some money on your funds. Also, since the banks are online, it will take you time to draw on the balance and will, hopefully, prevent you from spending the money you should be saving.


AMEX Bank
SFGI Direct

Some savings accounts that have restrictions such as the requirement to use the debit card at least 10 times per month and have a direct deposit into the account pay as much as 4.5% interest rate.


To check for current highest rates, go to:

Deposit Accounts
High interest accounts with requirements

My Bank Tracker
No fine print savings accounts