为Excel 电子表格(Excel spreadsheet)预算中的公式而苦恼的日子一去不复返
了。现在是 2019 年，是时候把钱花在你的应用程序所在的地方了。在这里，您将了解三个财务应用程序，您可以利用这些应用程序来控制费用跟踪(expense tracking)、预算或两者兼而有之：
但首先，您可能想知道为什么这些应用程序有用，以及是什么让它们在今天比传统方法更适用。
为什么要数字化
根据ABA Banking Journal，三分之二(two-thirds)的美国人(Americans)更喜欢数字银行渠道而不是传统渠道（例如，银行分行、ATM(ATMs)）。在我们的数字时代，跟踪账单和收据等现金和纸质记录(cash and paper records)对现代消费者来说可能感觉不那么自然，而且负担更大。
如果您打算使用信用卡(credit card)在亚马逊(Amazon)甚至街对面的实体店(neighborhood store)购买商品
；如果您要通过您的银行服务提供商(banking provider)的网络(s web)或移动应用程序设置自动账单支付
，那么使用数字工具预算和跟踪费用是否有意义？
确实如此！并且有几个免费和基于订阅的应用程序可以将
预算和费用跟踪任务(budgeting and expense tracking tasks)的知识和手动工作编入代码，以便您轻松完成它们 - 包括Clarity、EveryDollar 和 Mint(EveryDollar and Mint)。
但与今天的任何数字化服务产品一样，在选择用于管理财务的技术时，您应该考虑一些事项，因为每个应用程序都有自己的优势和劣势。让我们看看我们正在讨论的每个应用程序带来了什么。
清晰度 – 适用于 Web 和移动设备
Provider: Goldman Sachs
Cost: Free
也许您已经很好地掌握了您的日常开支是多少；您每月承诺一个标准的储蓄金额；您知道在下一份薪水之前不要花费超过一定数量的收入，以确保您为意外做好准备。
按照所有标准，您可能不需要(need )预算。您需要的是一种跟踪费用的方法。这就是像Clarity这样的应用程序的用武之地。
Clarity于 2018 年被高盛(Goldman Sachs)收购，
为您提供一种在一个地方管理多个银行账户、账单和其他交易的先进方式，为您提供一个单一的管理平台，您可以通过该管理平台查看您的财务历史，以及在何处以及如何查看您的资金在进出您的账户时一直在流动。这是它提供的清晰度：
- 您的财务状况概览，包括现金、信用债务和投资(credit debt and investments)
- 这几天你花了多少钱
- 最近的收入流
- 您在高盛的Marcus账户中节省了多少钱
- 多少天才能拿到钱
- 每月预算（不可调整；更多概览可帮助您提前计划）
- 一项互动功能，可探索您在何处以及如何花钱(spending money)
- 图表(Graphs and charts)以可视化您的财务数据
- 经常性费用可帮助您了解资金的去向
- 取消您支付的订阅或服务的能力
- 免费信用评分(credit score)！（总是一个不错的额外）
- 您所有关联信用卡的概览
如果不是所有这些功能，您可以深入挖掘大部分功能，以更详细地了解您的财务状况并进行认真的费用跟踪(expense tracking)。
拥有如此多的特性和功能，Clarity
需要一些时间和精力(time and effort)来理解应用程序提供的信息。但是，与从多个来源手动收集所有这些信息相比，它大大减少了所需的时间。
这一切都很棒。那么，有什么缺点呢？
就好像 Clarity 的强项是它的弱点：信息过载(information overload)。虽然Clarity 仪表板(Clarity dashboard)很全面，但需要接受很多内容，这需要一些时间来适应。
由于多个图表和图形中显示的信息量或包含在多个小部件中的信息量都集中在一个地方，因此您不可避免地最终会关注仪表板的三个或四个特定部分而忽略其余部分。
Clarity似乎出现的另一个不幸问题是您的银行帐户(bank account)和应用程序之间的信息流延迟。总体而言，它在跟踪财务状况和显示正确的现金流方面做得不错，但在某些情况下， Clarity(Clarity)需要几天时间才能与您的银行账户(bank account)同步。
如果你不直接跟踪你的银行账户，这可能会让你相信你的钱比你实际的钱多或少。
尽管有这些小警告，但Clarity提供了很多选项来让您将注意力集中在费用跟踪中。如果您将该应用程序视为一种费用跟踪工具，以增强而不是与之协调财务管理，那么对于没有时间或关心进入杂草或预算过于细致的普通人来说，好处是巨大的。
EveryDollar – 适用于网络和移动设备
Provider: Ramsey Solutions
Cost: Basic - Free; Plus - $10.75/month / $129/year
你(Are)是购物狂吗？您是否难以保持井井有条？也许这些特征中的一个或两个都使得难以每月支付账单和购买必需品。仅仅跟踪费用不会让你保持一致。你需要一些东西来指导你的行动：预算。
再说一次，也许你已经尝试过了。“这行不通。我不能坚持下去，”你说。你不是一个人。盖洛普(Gallup)民意调查发现，只有三分之一的美国人(Americans)保留长期预算。
但是使用EveryDollar 之(EveryDollar)(EveryDollar)类的应用程序，可以简化预算，甚至使您感到愉快，无论您信不信由您，这可以让您成为 33% 左右努力计划财务的美国人。(Americans)很快(Soon)，你就会改掉超支的坏习惯，看着你的储蓄增长。
EveryDollar 非常适合任何不熟悉预算的人，但对于需要详细信息的Excel专业人士来说，它也是一个很好的工具。(Excel)它提供了一个模板化的预算，该预算足够智能，可以记住经常性费用并为您每月输入它们，并根据输入值计算储蓄、投资和债务的增加或减少。此外，您可以调整模板以包含更多尚未默认的独特预算项目。
从本质上讲，EveryDollar采用 Excel 的方程式和单元格，并将它们置于一个任何人都易于理解的现代界面后面。该应用程序的美妙之处在于您只需点击并输入数据即可。
从预算功能(budgeting feature)开始，EveryDollar的优点在于它不仅仅是一个工具——它还是一个知识库(knowledge base)。EveryDollar由金融大师(finance guru)Dave Ramsey 的同名公司Ramsey Solutions开发，体现了 Ramsey 在财务规划和预算(planning and budgeting)
方面多年经验的所有最佳实践
。
在应用程序的Baby Steps 部分(Baby Steps section)下，
EveryDollar提供了您可以遵循的可视化分阶段目标之旅，从Baby Step 1紧急基金(Emergency Fund)开始，到Baby Step 7建立财富和捐赠结束。
同样，该应用程序足够智能，可以根据它从您的预算中处理的内容来跟踪您在此旅程中的位置。
也就是说，一旦您在Baby Step 1中达到应急基金(emergency fund)的储蓄目标，EveryDollar将自动将您转到Baby Step 2，使用(Debt Using)债务雪球(Debt Snowball)还清(Pay Off)所有债务。此外，每个步骤都包含一些提示，以使您的财务状况更加轻松。
深入了解EveryDollar
不仅仅是预算和知识库(knowledge base)的想法，第三个功能提供了工具来帮助您找到当地的保险、税务服务、退休和投资以及买卖房屋的供应商。
EveryDollar的优点在于先进但直观的预算功能(budget feature)，它作为知识库(knowledge base)的巨大优势可以引导您实现财务安全，而不仅仅是让您自己解决问题。那么，有什么缺点呢？
如果你想要的话，像费用跟踪这样简单的事情最终会让你付出额外的代价。只是(Just)为了连接您的银行账户和信用卡，以及获得支持，每月将花费您 10.75 美元，或每年 129 美元，而不是因为您免费获得Clarity的费用跟踪的(Clarity)深度和广度(depth and breadth)。
再说一次，如果您不想保留两个应用程序（一个用于费用跟踪(expense tracking)，一个用于预算编制）并且希望将所有内容集中在一个非常智能且易于使用的应用程序中，那么使用EveryDollar将您的会员资格提升到 Plus可能是值得
的了解应用程序。
Mint – 适用于网络和移动设备
Provider: Intuit
Cost: Free
当您深入研究数字化财务管理的实践时，您很快就会明白，当涉及到您对工具提供的稳健性或缺乏稳健性的舒适程度时，大部分流程是一个偏好问题。(lack thereof)
但是，如果您正在寻找终极的一体化应用程序(everything-in-one app)来管理您的预算和费用跟踪(budget and expense tracking)，那么可能很难找到任何与Mint(M)竞争的(i)东西(nt)(Mint)。
Mint
以自己的风格提供Clarity 和 EveryDollar 所做的一切，从费用跟踪到预算编制再到(everything Clarity and EveryDollar)信用检查(credit check)。在您的概览仪表板(overview dashboard)中，您可以很好地显示：
但与Clarity一样，这里有很多东西需要挖掘。不同的是，一旦您开始挖掘， Mint就会更加强大。总的来说，Mint比我们在这里介绍的其他两个应用程序要详细得多，但Intuit的制造商也意识到那些没有时间深入研究和理解这种细节水平并更喜欢更高水平的人看一些方向。
以下是Mint(Mint)
提供的一些功能示例：
交易(Transactions)
交易工具非常棒，因为它模拟了您在银行应用程序(banking app)中看到的内容，这意味着您不必担心习惯不同的布局或(layout or process)滚动费用的过程。这里的一个独特功能是能够标记（即标记）交易以将它们分组到类别中，从而使它们更容易从更高级别查找和分析。
票据(Bills)
Mint为您提供每月到期的账单以及可用现金、可用信用和已付款的简单概览。一个独特的功能是一个计费周期日历(billing cycle calendar)，它允许您单击日期以查看账单是否/何时到期，以及添加您希望在特定日期被通知支付的账单。
预算(Budgets)
虽然Mint的预算工具很先进，但 EveryDollar 似乎更容易移动和管理。这可能是Mint需要改进的地方。该功能没有什么(s nothing)太复杂的地方，但管理事物的布局和过程(layout and process)并不像他们想象的那么直观。
目标(Goals)
这是一个可与EveryDollar(EveryDollar)的
Baby Steps相媲美的有趣工具，但可能更强大。区别在于内容。与
EveryDollar不同，Mint 的功能提供了几个计算器来帮助您确定如何完成还清信用卡债务(credit card debt)、为紧急情况储蓄、购买新车等等。
查看您的财务趋势(View
Your Financial Trends)
您可以在此处生成图表以可视化您的财务状况。与Clarity不同，您在支出、收入、净收入、资产、债务和净资产方面有更多自定义选项，这可以帮助您更好地了解所有内容。如果听起来很多，请不要担心，Mint提供了一些图表建议尝试，因为知道不是每个人都有时间分析 50 种不同的视觉效果。
保存方法(Ways to
Save)
这是Mint(Mint)提供的另一个有趣的工具(fun tool) ，让您能够浏览其他金融产品——信用卡、支票和储蓄账户、401k 展期、IRA(IRAs)等等——看看在哪里可以获得最好的收益。这只是Mint试图帮助您在财务方面更聪明的另一种方式。
但请记住，要像Mint一样聪明，
可以让您拥有自己的财务状况，您必须愿意花时间和精力。
结论
Clarity是免费的，它为您提供它认为普通人需要简化费用跟踪(expense tracking)过程的信息。这需要一些时间来适应和一些关注，但它可以通过集中定位所有现金流来增强您的财务管理。
EveryDollar采用Excel 预算(Excel budget)的功能并将它们打包到一个直观而智能的界面中，隐藏了协调预算所需的大部分细致工作。但是，如果您想要费用跟踪，则必须为此付费。
Mint将最好的预算和费用跟踪(budgeting and expense tracking)结合在一起，以提供
广度和深度(breadth and depth)的洞察力，以帮助处于每个阶段的人们了解他们的财务状况。如果您真的想要整个包裹并且不想花一分钱，Mint就是梦想成(dream come)真。但是，如果您不每周花几天时间深入研究它提供的一切，您就不能期望从中获得太多价值。
决定哪个应用程序适合您归结为偏好并了解您需要什么级别的指导来帮助您保持正轨。
像Clarity这样高级别的应用程序可能只会告诉你你已经知道的东西，或者像Mint这样的应用程序可能会让你不知所措。我们的建议是卷起袖子，亲自尝试每个应用程序。一旦找到合适的位置，您就可以开始在数字时代更智能地管理资金。(money smarter)
The Best Budgeting and Expense Tracking Apps in 2019
The days of аgonizing over equations in your
Excel sprеadsheet budget аre over. It’s 2019, and it’s time to put yоur money
where your app is. Here, you’ll learn about threе financial apps you can
leverage to get your expense tracking, budgeting or both under control:
But first, maybe you’re wondering why these
apps are useful and what makes them more applicable today than traditional
methods.
Why Go Digital
According to ABA Banking Journal, two-thirds of Americans prefer digital banking channels to traditional channels (e.g., bank branches, ATMs). In our digital age, keeping track of cash and paper records like bills and receipts is probably feels less natural and more burdensome to modern consumers.
If you’re going to use your credit card to
purchase goods on Amazon or even from the brick-and-mortar neighborhood store
down the street; if you’re going set up automatic bill payments through your
banking provider’s web or mobile app–doesn’t it make sense to also budget and
track expenses with a digital tool?
It does! And there are several free and
subscription-based apps available that codify the knowledge and manual work of
budgeting and expense tracking tasks so you can accomplish them with
ease–including Clarity, EveryDollar and Mint.
But as with any digitized service offering
today, there are some things you should consider when choosing the technology
you use to manage your finances, because each app has its own strengths and
weaknesses. Let’s look at what each of the apps we’re discussing brings to the
table.
Clarity – For Web and Mobile
Provider: Goldman Sachs
Cost: Free
Maybe you already have a good grasp of what your regular expenses are; you commit a standard amount to savings each month; you know not to spend over a certain amount of your income before your next paycheck, ensuring you’re prepared for the unexpected.
By all standards, you may not need a budget. What you do need is a way to track your expenses. Here’s where an app like Clarity comes in.
Acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2018, Clarity
offers you an advanced way to manage your multiple bank accounts, bills and
other transactions in one place, giving you a single pane of glass through
which you can view your financial history as well as see where and how your
money is moving as it enters and leaves your accounts. Here’s the kind of clarity
it provides:
- An overview of your financial status, including cash, credit debt and investments
- How much you’ve spent in the last few days
- Recent income flow
- How much you have saved in your Marcus account from Goldman Sachs
- How many days until you get paid
- A monthly budget (unadjustable; more of an overview to help you plan ahead)
- An interactive feature to explore where and how you’re spending money
- Graphs and charts to visualize your financial data
- Recurring expenses to help you understand where your money is going
- The ability to cancel subscriptions or services you pay for
- Free credit score! (Always a nice extra)
- An overview of all your linked credit cards
You can dig deeper into most if not all these
features to get a more detailed perspective of your finances and do some
serious expense tracking.
With so many features and functions, Clarity
will require some time and effort to understand the information the app
provides. But when compared with gathering all this information manually from
across multiple sources, it greatly reduces the time required.
That’s all great. So, what’s the downside?
It’s almost as if Clarity’s strength is its weakness: information overload. While the Clarity dashboard is thorough, it can be a lot to take in, which takes some getting used to.
Due to the amount of information displayed in several charts and graphs or contained in several widgets–all in one place–it’s inevitable you’ll end up homing in on three or four specific sections of the dashboard and neglecting the rest.
Another unfortunate issue that seems to occur with Clarity is the delay in information streaming between your bank accounts and the app. Overall, it does a decent job keeping track of finances and displaying the correct cash flows, but there have been cases where it takes a couple days for Clarity to be in sync with your bank account.
If you aren’t keeping track of your bank accounts directly, this could lead you to believe you have more or less money than you actually do.
Despite these small caveats, Clarity provides
plenty of options for where to focus your attention in expense tracking. If you
treat the app as an expense tracking tool to enhance rather than coordinate
financial management with, the benefits are great for the average person who doesn’t have time
or care to get into the weeds or be overly meticulous with budgeting.
EveryDollar – For Web and Mobile
Provider: Ramsey Solutions
Cost: Basic - Free; Plus - $10.75/month / $129/year
Are you a shopaholic? Do you struggle staying
organized? Maybe one, or both, of these traits is making it difficult to pay
bills and purchase necessities on a month-to-month basis. Just tracking
expenses won’t keep you in line. You need something to direct your actions: a
budget.
Then again, maybe you’ve already tried this. “It doesn’t work. I can’t stick to it,” you say. You’re not alone. A Gallup poll found only one in three Americans keep a long-term budget.
But with an app like EveryDollar, budgeting can be simplified, even made enjoyable believe it or not, which can put you in that 33 or so percent of Americans who diligently plan their finances. Soon enough, you’ll be kicking bad habits of overspending and be watching your savings grow.
EveryDollar is perfect for anyone new to
budgeting, but it’s also a great tool for the Excel pros who want details. It
provides a templated budget that’s smart enough to remember recurring expenses
and input them for you each month, plus calculate increases or decreases in
savings, investments and debt based on input values. Additionally, you can
tweak the template to include more unique budget items that aren’t already
defaults.
Essentially, EveryDollar takes Excel’s
equations and cells and puts them behind a modern interface that’s easy for
anyone to understand. The beauty of the app is all you have to do is point and
click and enter data inputs.
Moving on from the budgeting feature, what’s
nice about EveryDollar is it’s more than tool–it’s a knowledge base. Developed
by finance guru Dave Ramsey’s namesake company, Ramsey Solutions, EveryDollar
embodies all the best practice from Ramsey’s years of experience in financial
planning and budgeting.
Under the Baby Steps section of the app,
EveryDollar provides a visual, phased journey of goals you can follow, starting
with Baby Step 1, Emergency Fund, and ending with Baby Step 7, Build Wealth and
Give.
Again, the app is smart enough to keep track of where you are on this journey based on what it processes from your budget.
That is, once you reach the savings goal for an emergency fund in Baby Step 1, EveryDollar will automatically move you forward to Baby Step 2, Pay Off All Debt Using the Debt Snowball. Additionally, there are tips included for each step to make your journey towards financial well-being a little easier.
Moving deeper into this idea that EveryDollar
is more than just a budget and also a knowledge base, a third feature offers
tools to help you find local providers for insurance, tax services, retirement
and investing, and buying and selling a home.
What’s great about EveryDollar is the advanced
but intuitive budget feature with the huge plus of being a knowledge base that
guides you towards financial security, rather than just leaving you to figure
things out on your own. So, what’s the downside?
Something as simple as expense tracking ends up costing you extra if you want it. Just to connect your bank accounts and credit cards, as well as receive support, will cost you $10.75 a month, or $129 a year, and not for the depth and breadth of expense tracking you get with Clarity for free.
Then again, boosting your membership to Plus
with EveryDollar could be worth it if you’d rather not keep two apps–one for
expense tracking, one for budgeting–and would prefer to keep everything
centrally located in one very smart and easy-to-understand app.
Mint – For Web and Mobile
Provider: Intuit
Cost: Free
As you delve into the practice of digitally managing finances, you’ll quickly come to understand much of the process is a matter of preference when it comes to how comfortable you are with the robustness, or lack thereof, a tool offers.
But if you’re looking for the ultimate everything-in-one app to manage your budget and expense tracking, it might be difficult to find anything competitive to Mint.
Mint offers everything Clarity and EveryDollar
do in its own flavor, from expense tracking to budgeting to a credit check. In
your overview dashboard, you get a nice display of:
- Accounts
- Bills
- Credit score
- Create budgets
- Goals
- Financial trends
- Investments
- Ways to save
But as with Clarity, there’s a lot to dig into
here. What’s different is Mint is more robust once you start digging. In
general, Mint is insanely more detailed than the two other apps we’ve covered
here, but its makers at Intuit are also conscious of the people who don’t have
time to dig into and understand that level of detail and prefer a higher level
view with some direction.
Here are some examples of features Mint
offers:
Transactions
The transactions tool is fantastic, as it
emulates what you would see in a banking app, which means you don’t have to
worry about getting used to a different layout or process of scrolling through
expenses. A unique feature here is the ability to tag (i.e., label)
transactions to group them into categories, making them easier to find and
analyze from a higher level.
Bills
Mint gives you a simple overview of bills due
each month as well as cash available, credit available, and payments you’ve
made. A unique feature is a billing cycle calendar that allows you click on dates
to see if/when bills are due as well as add bills you want to be notified of to
pay on specific dates.
Budgets
While Mint’s budgeting tool is advanced,
EveryDollar’s seems easier to move through and manage. This could be an area
for Mint to improve upon. There’s nothing too complex about the feature, but
the layout and process for managing things aren’t as intuitive as they could
be.
Goals
This is a fun tool comparable to EveryDollar’s
Baby Steps, but perhaps even more robust. The difference is in content. Unlike
EveryDollar, Mint’s feature offers several calculators to help you determine
how to accomplish paying off credit card debt, saving for an emergency, buying
a new car and much, much more.
View
Your Financial Trends
This is where you can generate graphs to
visualize your finances. Unlike Clarity, you have more options for
customization across spending, income, net income, assets, debts and net worth,
which can help you build a better understanding of everything. If it sounds
like a lot, don’t worry, Mint offers suggestions for graphs to try, knowing not
everyone is going to have time to analyze 50 different visuals.
Ways to
Save
Here’s another fun tool Mint offers, giving
you the ability to browse other financial products–credit cards, checking and
saving accounts, 401k rollovers, IRAs and more–to see where you can get the
best bang for your buck. It’s just one more way Mint tries to help you be
smarter with your finances.
But keep in mind, to be as smart as Mint
allows you to be with your finances, you have to be willing to spare the time
and effort.
Conclusion
Clarity is free and gives you the information it believes the average person
needs to ease the process of expense tracking. It takes some getting used to
and some attention, but it can enhance your financial management by centrally
locating all your cash flows.
EveryDollar takes the capabilities of an Excel budget and packages them into an
intuitive and smart interface that hides most of the meticulous work required
to coordinate a budget. But if you want expense tracking, you’ll have to pay
for it.
Mint bundles together the best of budgeting and expense tracking to offer a
breadth and depth of insight to help people at every stage of understanding
their finances. If you truly want the entire package and don’t want to pay a
dime, Mint is a dream come true. But you can’t expect to get much value from it
if you’re not spending a few days a week delving into everything it
offers.
Deciding which app is right for you comes down to preference and understanding what level of guidance you need to help you stay on track.
An app as high-level as Clarity might just tell you what you already know, or an app like Mint might just overwhelm you. Our recommendation is to roll up your sleeves and try each app for yourself. Once you find your fit, you’ll be ready to start managing money smarter in the digital age.
