4 ways to make the most of pocket change with money apps

By Donovan Thomas

With the student loan debt surpassing $1.6 trillion, some students may be looking for ways to better manage their money. Over the years, a number of apps have popped up to help users budget and manage their money more efficiently. Some are good at helping to save for rainy day, others help to invest in stocks, others help to budget. These make the most of your pocket change to get you in the black. News Oasis reviews some of the most popular budgeting/savings/finance apps.

Bought in 2018 by Goldman Sachs, the Clarity Money app dissects spending habits to help you budget and save. Track your banking, savings and bills through its online dashboard to review your monthly payments and set up a budget. Clarity minds your money to make it easier for users to do so. One nice features it that is tracks recurring expenses and subscriptions that you may have forgotten and offers to help cancel them for you. It allows users to build a budget and track expenses, helps set up investments through Acorns and keep track of credit scores.

Digit

 $2.99/month after 30-day trial

Digit uses a bot to automatically save money in tiny amounts that add up for users – 10 cents here, $10 there. The app analyzes how much you make and how you spend to determine the perfect amount to save in small unobtrusive increments for a “rainy day fund.” Users can also create other savings goals such a pay off a credit card or car loan. The app even offers overdraft protection when your account falls below a predetermined amount by tapping into what has already been saved. And you can set the minimum level so the app doesn’t cause overdrafts.

Mint

Free

Mint is one of the most well-known and comprehensive finance apps. The app is organized into four main categories: bills, spending, budgets, cash flow. Users load all their financial information into the dash more and Mint will help keep track of your money. Unlike other finance apps, Mint offers various tips and recommendations to help users save and invest their money. The app also analyzes and tracks your credit score and transactions for you. 

Acorns 

 Acorns Core $1/month level is free for college students 

Acorns is an app that focuses on mainly on micro-investments, virtually using spare change to start a diversified investment portfolio. The user sets their financial situation and goals and the app recommends various ETF’s that could be a fit for their portfolio. Once a user makes $1 million through the app, they no longer have to pay user fees. Getting to that first million, will likely take a while.

Acorns: Acorns will help invest your money so you can get a better return. Acorns lets you invest with your spare change, simplifying something that’s otherwise fairly intimidating. You can start investing with just a few bucks, and Acorns will do the work for you.

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