New to Financial Literacy? There’s an App For That

For young people, particularly in high school or college, the ins and outs of managing money may be somewhat foreign. Most public schools don’t offer courses in personal finance anymore, and in college, such courses are electives at best. However, financial literacy is crucial to survival in the modern world. Young people especially need to develop skills like budgeting, paying bills on time, and regular savings if they want to reach financial stability and be prepared to apply for loans and credit cards. Luckily for these technology natives, there are several smartphone apps that can help build and nurture these skills.

Better Money Habits by Bank of America and Khan Academy. Millennials love nothing more than a YouTube tutorial. This video series walks viewers through the the basics of bank accounts, budgeting, balancing checkbooks, etc, which are all crucial pieces of knowledge for any person.

Left to Spend: A beautiful minimalist app, Left to Spend visualizes your budget into committed money, bills, and, as the name suggests, what’s left to spend. For visual learners, this app beautifully displays, in bar graphs, where your money is going and the remainder you can spend at your discretion. This is an especially useful app for college students who are just learning about budgeting their money.  

LearnVest: With this app, a financial planner is always at your fingertips. LearnVest is an all-in-one location for calculating your net worth, planning for long-term goals, suggesting insurance plans, and offering news and practical advice for your financial prosperity.  

Prosper Daily: Formerly BillGuard, this app analyzes your spending, calculates your credit score, and stores all of the data from all your cards and accounts into one place to help you see where your money goes and how your activities contribute to your scores and goals. With more young students opening credit card accounts these days, this app can be incredibly valuable, allowing users to maintain their credit early on, in order to prevent themselves from winding up in any unnecessary debt.
With tangible apps like these, young people can get a handle early on how to manage their money wisely and plan for their futures.