Utilizing the Best Personal Finance Apps and Tech to Manage Your Finances

Jessica Quindlen: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Sound Cents Podcast. I'm Jessica Quindlen. Today we're discussing all things tech and personal finance. I have with us Bree Shellito, our Senior Manager of Community Impact. Hello Bree.

Bree Shellito: Hey Jess.

Jessica Quindlen: And Laura Straub, our Community Education Lead. Hi Laura.

Laura Straub: Hey.

Jessica Quindlen: Awesome. So, let's dive right in. How has technology transformed personal finance recently and why is it so important for individuals to embrace these changes?

Laura Straub: Yeah, first and foremost, just the accessibility and the convenience of it. You can have it right there on your phone.

Who doesn't have their phone on them nowadays, right? So, you don't necessarily have to go into a branch to do some financial things such as deposits, checking your balance. There’s so much that you can do nowadays through an app on your phone. So quick and easy and then also just real time information.

So, you're getting that right then and there. Like I said, you just log in right away. It's clear and up-to-date information of your financial statuses. [00:01:00] So you know how much is in your bank account when you go to swipe that card at the restaurant. Make sure you have enough for that date night. You know, it's always embarrassing if your card doesn't come up, right?

Whatever the case may be of why you need to check your balance, it's just right there. Super quick and easy. And then also just the security and fraud protection nowadays has beefed up so much. So, you can feel a little bit more reliable with it that there are security measures in place for these.

And then you can customize and personalize so many things when it comes to anything financial with apps, which we'll dive into here a little bit.

Bree Shellito: Yeah, Laura, you mentioned the fraud and especially when it comes to that, if you are someone that's still using a check register, it's not that we're frowning upon that, but if you're just checking your statement once a month as it's mailed to you, you're going to miss out on some potential fraud that's coming through your account and getting on top of it before it really gets away.

Because often what they'll do is do just a small micro transaction to see if the accounts open, if it's valid, and then that's when they [00:02:00] really get started. So, by the time you get that statement in the mail, it's often pretty late in actually getting ahead of that fraud.

Jessica Quindlen: Budgeting is of course a very important aspect of personal finance. We've talked about it on many an episode.

Bree Shellito: We love budgets.

Jessica Quindlen: We love budgeting. Yes, it's fantastic. So how can we leverage some of these apps? What are some top apps and how can listeners really effectively utilize them consistently to be tracking their expenses and savings and actually budgeting?

Bree Shellito: Yeah, apps are great. And certainly, if you have something down and it works for you, keep doing that by all means. Don't switch it up if you really don't want to and you want to keep doing the spreadsheets or whatever really works. But if that doesn't work, like it doesn't for the majority of people who don't have a budget, check out one of these apps because within some of these apps, you have the ability to bring all of your accounts into one place.

Certainly, there's a security concern from some folks for that, but trust that they are secure because a lot of times you can't actually transact in those apps.

Another great part about these tools is that you can [00:03:00] aggregate all of your accounts in one place. So, if you're somebody who uses a checking account and a debit card and a credit card, sometimes it can be difficult to track your budgets across those various websites and logins. So, if you aggregate it all together under one in these personal financial management tools, the ability to budget truly budget where you can see everything all in one place is super helpful. Because if you're trying to budget in six different logins, it's not going to be as accurate.

So, some of the favorite ones, definitely check with your own institution within your online banking they may have one, but the other ones that we love are Mint, Personal Capital, EveryDollar. There's several online. If you search personal financial management tools, find one that you think looks attractive. That way, you're going to continue to use it. If you're a mobile user, find one that seems to be mobile-friendly. Most of these are, but definitely check with your own financial institution.

The less heavy lifting that you have to do, the better. But another really cool thing about these apps [00:04:00] is that it often transacts and pulls the transactions that you use based on the vendor itself.

Let’s use a gas station for example. They've gotten so smart that if you use a transaction for less than $10, it doesn't classify it as gas, it classifies it as food because it thinks that you've gone in to maybe get a snack because a lot of times you aren't putting less than $10, especially when it's coming up to $5 a gallon of gas in your car.

So, it just is that much more accurate. Most of them, if you choose something to do, let's say you typically go to a big box store and buy a certain thing, pet food, whatever it may be, you can choose for future transactions to come up as that. So they're really smart. It definitely makes budgeting a whole lot easier, nearly completely hands off.

And for most folks, that's just going to make it that much easier.

Laura Straub: Absolutely. And with a lot of them, you can kind of personalize it too. So, like you were saying with those budgets, you can say you want to track the food versus grocery versus dining out. You can separate those out [00:05:00] in these apps too, which is so helpful.

Bree Shellito: Yeah. And like Laura said, you can dive deep and have kind of those micro budgets. And the other really cool thing - and we find that with financial coaching this is super helpful - you can just have it take a look at your past three months and create a budget for you, which sometimes it's extremely eye opening because you’re like, “Oh, do I want my fast-food budget to be 600 a month? No, I do not.” So sometimes it's just an eye opener on how you've been spending your money over the last quarter, but then from there can kind of get it under control.

Jessica Quindlen: I love that. That's fantastic. All right. So, going back to privacy and security and all those things, of course, incredibly crucial when it comes to our finances and technology, what are some steps that our listeners can take to ensure that they're protecting themselves with their financial information when using online apps?

Laura Straub: Yes. Yeah. So glad you asked this. So making sure you have a strong password for that account in itself.

Bree Shellito: Even a pass phrase. They're saying right now, Laura. Like I love pumpkin spice. Something as a full phrase,

Jessica Quindlen: Are we learning something about you? [00:06:00]

Bree Shellito: I do love pumpkin spice, indeed. It is the season.

Laura Straub: Exactly. Using those strong, unique passwords and you don't want it to be the same password for everything. Make sure your accounts have different passwords. I cannot stress that enough. And then on your phone or even your computer, enabling the two-factor authentication is a great resource as well to make it even that much harder to get into these accounts.

And then making sure your mobile device is secure. So again, having those passwords on your phone at the lock screen is really helpful. That way, you know, Joe Smough can't just grab your phone and get into your financial bank account right there on your phone.

Bree Shellito: It's not just finances. There's a lot in these mobile devices.

Laura Straub: Yes. Make sure your phone is locked and secured just from that aspect. And then just regularly monitor those accounts. So making sure they're accurate, information is pulling up, have it email you if an unknown device is opening up this app somewhere else.[00:07:00] All of those steps just making sure you're checking on those.

And then when it comes to Wi-Fi networks, just having it set to connect to any Wi-Fi is not the greatest advice out there. So having it connect to a secured Wi-Fi will be so much better knowing what Wi-Fi you're connecting to is helpful. So turn that off unless you're at home, absolutely keep your Wi-Fi on because it's your home network.

Bree Shellito: And certainly, keep your home Wi-Fi secure. So many folks think maybe they're being a good neighbor and letting other people use that, but thieves are, they're looking for unsecured Wi-Fi, trying to connect to those and see who else is browsing. They're getting pretty smart.

Laura Straub: Absolutely. Yeah. And having those passwords on those Wi-Fi networks. So helpful. And then consider some identity theft protection. So, at Ent Credit Union, we have Ent Protect. It helps with that identity theft monitoring. So, check in with your financial institution, see if they have anything like that.

There's a lot outside of financial institutions too. So do [00:08:00] your research see if that might be an opportunity for you to protect yourself even further, so you do kind of have a third party also looking out for you,

Bree Shellito: Especially if you're not somebody that monitors that frequently, making sure you're checking on those.

Can I go back to something you said, Laura? Because you mentioned an email alert. Alerts are great. And I know that we get a lot of different alerts on our phone, but especially when it comes to your finances, there's different alerts that you can set up to where if it's over a certain dollar amount. So maybe you want to get texts every single time you have spent over $50 and that sounds like it's kind of annoying, but it's going to come through.

If something comes through and some people set up alerts, especially if it's a credit card you don't use often, I certainly would recommend even setting up for every single transaction, just knowing your usage, knowing what you need to set up and those alerts can definitely get ahead of it.

Laura Straub: Absolutely.

Jessica Quindlen: Fantastic. I love all of that. So, bouncing back again, how do our listeners find the right app to suit their goals?

Bree Shellito: Yeah. They definitely all have their [00:09:00] niche. So, depending on what you're looking for Mint and some of these, they're all going to have a heavy focus on budgeting for sure.

But certain ones like Personal Capital, that one kind of has more of a niche for investments. So, it definitely has more tools to monitor investments and see what those are looking like. For each of you, you know, I mentioned, just jokingly, kind of the attractiveness of it, but if it's an app that you don't like or you don't think that you're going to use and it's not going to be even fun to interact with, maybe don't use that.

But the one that Ent has inside of our online banking, we call it Money Insight, that one has bubble budgets, which I've always thought are just adorable. So for me, it's easier to keep up if I know it's something that I'm going to like to look at and check out.

Make sure that it's an app that works for your needs and your financial goals. Some of them do have light versions and some of them do have fees. Depending on what you're looking at, I definitely would recommend trying out at least the light version before you jump right into the fees even if there are different tools within it. Make sure it fits within your goals and then just knowing what your [00:10:00] needs are, you really want to monitor your budget or you wanted to monitor investments, whatever it may be, and then find the one that works for you and integrates well with the financial tools that you have.

I mentioned in the beginning, checking with your own financial institution, that way you don't have to actually input all of your information. It'll do that automatically. You'll still probably have to bring in different credit cards and whatever else you're adding, but making it easy on yourself and not adding a bunch more apps that you don't think you're going to access.

Laura Straub: Yeah and reading the reviews and ratings online too can help you see what those different unique features are too when you're looking for those apps.

Jessica Quindlen: Fantastic. I just want to ask, do either of you use any apps? Are you, I am an Excel girl. I'll fully own that.

Laura Straub: Yeah. Me too. I do use the one here at Ent cause, you know, I'm an Ent employee, so gotta check it out. But beyond that, yeah, I love my little spreadsheets. But it works for me, so I didn't want to change it up when I have a system that's working for myself.

Bree Shellito: I also use Money Insight. It [00:11:00] helps me a lot, definitely being able to pull together and I myself am more of a credit card user, so I use the card and then pay it off each month.

But like I said, you can't transact, so I still have to log into some of those and some of the apps are better than others. But for me, it's really just keeping an eye on those bubble budgets and making sure that everything looks like it should. And I use a lot of alerts. Alerts are definitely things I use, especially for those cards that I don't use as frequently.

Jessica Quindlen: Fantastic. I love that. And we'll be sure to link Money Insights in our show notes. All right. So what are some red flags that listeners should be looking out for when using financial apps, you know, to make sure that their information is being protected?

Laura Straub: Yeah. Looking at the app permissions is a big one.

What is it that the app is requiring you to connect with? What's it using on your phone? Things like that. It shouldn't utilize a camera, for instance. Maybe looking to see why is it doing it? Is it for taking a picture of the receipt? Okay. Makes sense. Looking and determining, okay, why is it needing to [00:12:00] connect to this information or not is a big one. That way you're keeping the other things on your phone secure as well.

And then looking for red flags - poor user reviews, inadequate security features.

Bree Shellito: Yeah, Laura, you mentioned two-factor authentication earlier and that's so key because often what that means is that there's not just the password, but there's something else. Something else that allows you to text to your phone. That's on so many apps and I know sometimes it seems irritating, but it's super useful.

Laura Straub: Absolutely. And checking on those user reviews too, to make sure that those security features are there, that people are liking the app. And then again, just making sure that you're not getting a bunch of phishing attempts through those apps.

It’s not sending you those spam emails, things like that. And then making sure, if you do get a suspicious looking email, that seems like it's coming from a financial institution or from your budgeting app, whatever, that instead of [00:13:00] clicking on any of those links in there.

Bree Shellito: Don't click on any links.

Laura Straub: Don't click on them. You close your email app and you go into whatever account that it's coming from and you log in there. Check it out. Make sure everything's looking legit and whatever message, it'll be in the app if it's real.

Bree Shellito: Can I share something too, Laura? Because you mentioned on the apps, sometimes what they're asking permission to use. And I know that sometimes folks are like, “Oh, I don't know how to tell.” When you're getting into an app and it's asking for permission, you mentioned the camera, which on a finance app, if it has anything where you can take a picture of a check to deposit it, it's going to need that.

What it likely isn't going to need is access to your microphone, access to your existing photos. So as those pop-ups come up, I know it's easy to just allow, allow, allow. A lot of times it still lets you use the app, but you're not allowing it to access that information. And that goes for more than just finance apps.

Question why the jewel game on your phone needs your microphone and your camera. If [00:14:00] there's no reason for that, don't grant it access to that. Because especially if it's not a well-known app or one that has good reviews, there's a chance that's an app that they put in the store that looks cute just to get information on other things.

So just be smart about it. Don't speed through it. Don't just click okay, okay, okay. Find out what it wants from you, find out what it wants access to on your device.

Laura Straub: Yeah and going back and looking at your apps that you already have, so maybe you, you were like, “Ooh, I did click allow, allow, allow.” Just go back. It's in your settings within your app. If you have questions about it, go into whatever phone service you have, they'll help you out.

Bree Shellito: That's a good tip for all listeners. Pull up your settings right now and see what your apps have access to.

Laura Straub: Absolutely. And do that regularly. Cause sometimes, yeah, you just click a button and you're like, “oops.” But yeah, just making sure you're, you're staying safe when it comes to phone calls too. Putting your phone number on the National Do Not Call Registry list is so helpful to you. You limit a lot of those spam calls. And then checking why are they calling me?

[00:15:00] Say, “I'm going to call you back,” and call them back on the phone number that you know is that financial institution or whatever it may be. So that way, you're talking to a representative at that company versus them calling you because there are so many ways to spoof those phone numbers.

Doing a little due diligence, have the little question mark in your brain of “why?”

Bree Shellito: Quick reminder Ent will never call you and ask for your personal information. So, if it's ever calling from Ent or texting from Ent, that's not us.

Laura Straub: Yes. So, do your due diligence when it comes to protecting your information out there.

Jessica Quindlen: Well, that brings us to the end of our show. Laura, Bree, thank you so much for being here. It was great to have you.

Bree Shellito: Thank you for having us.

Laura Straub: Yes. Thank you.

Jessica Quindlen: Thank you for listening to Sound Cents from Ent Credit Union. Be sure to follow our podcast as well as rate and review us. I'm Jessica Quindlen. I will see you next week, same time, same place.