Managing our personal finances is almost a second job. Planning monthly expenses, managing bill payments, setting financial goals, reviewing investments, receiving payment reminders, the list goes on. All of this is easier to manage when well-designed technology is available.
1. Online Bank Services
As of 2010, almost 80 percent of U.S. households are using some form of online banking services. They have become standard in almost all banks and credit unions. If you are only using a single bank for all your finances, the online services are free and powerful tools.
Most online banking tools include options for paying bills, moving funds between accounts, and receiving alerts regarding account balances. It is hard to beat the convenience of accessing your accounts wherever the Internet is available. But some of the features banks offer vary from bank to bank, and most don’t offer a full range of tools for managing all your financial obligations.
Software alternatives might be needed to handle everything on your agenda. But if you only have a single account and don’t have too many investments and savings plans to manage, online banking services may prove to be sufficient.
However, there is other technology that can give you the best of both worlds–greater money managing capabilities with the convenience of online banking services.
2. Quicken
Quicken software has been available since 1984 and has used that time to adjust to the market trends and keep up with demands of users throughout the years. For managing multiple checking and saving accounts, credit card bills, and online transactions, which is practically everything that deals with money entering or leaving your coffers, this software is remarkably practical. It also has features that will aid you in planning.
Use Quicken to plan a budget, set financial goals toward retirement, pay your bills, or set aside money for special projects, such as Christmas, a swimming pool, or a new car. Quicken Premier can even help you track and manage investments, as well as help you make stock market decisions. To find additional information to help you make important financial decisions, Fisher Investment’s MarketMinder iTunes app lets you know the financial news you need to know
3. Depositing Checks with Smartphones
It may be hard to believe, but paper checks are still used in the U.S. economy. Even though credit and debit cards are doing the best, they just haven’t been able to kill off paper checks completely. With that in mind, yes, there’s an app for that. More and more banks and credit unions have the technology that allows users to take a picture of the front and back of a check and submit a digital copy of it, effectively cashing and depositing the check.
This is a growing technology, and it is catching on quickly. PayPal now has an app that allows you to deposit money using similar technology.
Technology tends to make mundane tasks quicker, easier, and to some extent, more fun than in the past. It appears, that helping people handle money, will continue to increase.
