I delayed discovering the many apps that are designed to make a person’s life easier or at least more enjoyable.  I love having my music at my fingertips and I like being able to access my work email when I’m not in the office.  However, there is a set of apps that I cannot live without.

For years I dealt with budgeting like everyone else.  I used a check register and would subtract what I spent from the total.  If I wanted to make a deposit I had to drive to the bank and fill out a deposit slip and wait several days for the check to clear. Budgeting became a total nightmare and something that I loathed to do. What I love the most about banking on my cell phone is it’s perfect for busy professionals if the only time you can manage your money is while you’re on the go.  Here are three types of financial management applications that can help you in managing your money on the go.

1. Mobile Banking App.

I have never been happier to install an app on my cell phone than the app for my personal bank.  Whether you bank at Wells Fargo or Bank of America chances are you bank has an app available for use.  For me, it’s essential that I can do three different tasks on the go or  when I’m out running errands.

• Checking my primary account balance.
• Transferring money
• Checking my savings account balance.

Mobile banking apps offer other services as well but the three I listed are the most important to me.  Depending on your financial management needs you might find other mobile services more important.  However if you want to take your financial game to another level, LearnVest Daily might be for you.

2.  Budgeting

I cannot say enough good things about LearnVest Daily.  The company boasts and impressive website completely catalogued with articles upon articles about managing your finances. The website covers the first time budgeter all the way through to the super savvy financial genius.  LearnVest offers a variety of services besides the free budgeting tool.  The cost of their financial services truly depends on how much you want to be in control of your money and how little you know about budgeting.  What I like about this company:

• If you fill out an online form stating your financial goals and spending habits, A LearnVest Certified Financial Planner will call you to discuss your plan options.  The company has an affordable array of financial services starting at $89.00 for three months of continued email support and one phone call with a financial planner.
• LearnVest recently released an app for IPhone users and it has been a major success.  The app can easily navigate through your budget, assess where you have funds available and alert you if you’re in danger of over spending.
• You can set up an area where you can create a savings goal.  Not of the savings account variety but the kind of goal that will help you save for a trip or whatever splurge you want to reward yourself with for meeting your budget every month.
• Finally, even if you don’t own and IPhone the website is formatted in a way that will allow a user to access their account information from a smart phone.

Also with LearnVest, the app treats you as if you’re a first time user and that helps immensely with getting your accounts set up.  Not to mention they offer a PIN code option to keep anyone from accessing your personal financial information.  If you are not interested in purchasing a financial plan through LearnVest , keep in mind that you can sign up for the online budgeting for free. If you don’t want to receive daily emails about their educational content, be sure to indicate this when you initially sign up.

3.  Shopping

Now that you can effectively manage your money you can sign up for Google Wallet to spend your well earned spare cash.  Google Wallet is a simple way for you to shop more conveniently online or in a store. Google Wallet has the following features:

• Credit card information remains private and is secured through layers of password protection
• Any retailer that carries an NFC checkout terminal will allow you to “tap” your phone on said terminal and the Google app will send your payment information to the retailer.
• You can simplify your online shopping by creating one Google Wallet account, then login and shop from your phone or computer.  No need to reenter credit card information or create multiple shopping accounts.
• I’m desperately afraid of a dystopic Google society where Google will always know what we want, what we need and whether or not we can afford it in less than 0.0003 seconds.

I am kidding about that last point. Maybe. But that’s another post all together.

Having control over finances has become an important task for many people. Mobile banking allows us to do this in real time and on the go. What are your favorite financial management apps?