When contemplating the pandemic-stricken economy, the idea of growing your finances may seem impossible. However, technology can help you improve and supplement your budgeting and financial strategies to cultivate your finances no matter your situation.
Technology has advanced the ability to gain insights, build a business, and connect with customers in all kinds of ways. These innovations, paired with simplicity and ease of user-accessible applications on a mobile phone, have revolutionized how anyone can go about financial planning.
Here, we explore five technologies you can use to harness your finances to their greatest potential. From mobile banking to artificial intelligence analytics, the programs you use can make all the difference. Here’s what you should know.
1. Mobile Banking
According to a 2018 survey by Morning Consult, 7 in 10 Americans were using mobile banking to manage their finances at least once a month. As smartphone banking solutions become more accessible, this number will only increase due to the convenience and lack of contact mobile banking offers the management of your assets.
The benefits of mobile banking are many. Here are just a few:
- Remote check depositing
- Opening, closing, and managing accounts
- Reporting fraud and freezing accounts
- Balance reports and spending notifications
Anyone can more fluidly plan a budget with the ability to see balances in real-time and manage payments. Mobile banking can even offer comprehensive credit reports, which can be key for anyone trying to recover from bankruptcy or other financial challenges.
2. Investment Apps
The convenience of mobile technology has made investing possible for a new host of players. Investment applications bring financial planning the kind of convenience and accessibility of ordering food, for example. This can be key in managing your nest eggs amidst the busyness of life.
Offering everything from easy stock trading to retirement planning, investment apps are a technology that can help you own your finances. Popular platforms include:
- Merrill Edge
- ETRADE
- TD Ameritrade
- SoFi Active Investing
- Robinhood
Each of these applications can help you manage a portfolio—some through stock trading insights, some through lending and investment guidance. For no money down, you can set up an account and begin analyzing the best ways to invest your finances for future success. In this manner, investing has become democratized and accessible for those of any financial situation, enabling success through technology.
3. Budgeting Apps
Alongside investment apps, mobile applications for budgeting and tracking budgets can help anyone—no matter their age or station—grow their finances. This is especially important for any young adult starting college, when financial tips and budgeting information can make a big difference in reducing the impacts of student debt.
Budgeting apps help create balance, allowing you to overestimate your expenses and underestimate your income to create a winning financial strategy. Some helpful apps include:
- Albert
- Mint
- PocketGuard
- Prism
- Wally
Each of these applications comes with useful budgeting features. Some offer budgeting tips and even useful bill pay assistance to help make creating and sticking to a budget a seamless process. Budgeting apps are among the many applications that can make your life better, in this case by offering the freedom and success that comes from smart financial planning.
4. Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are emerging as viable ways of managing one’s finances. These systems operate on databases known as blockchains to offer highly secured and immutable storage of financial data. For the average user, this lends convenience and financial mobility to transactions.
Operating on decentralized networks perfect for the global economy, cryptocurrencies bring accessibility and security to digital finances. This stands to be an equalizing force in providing trade and credit-building opportunities for the bankless, especially in regions in which access to traditional financial institutions is limited.
For your finances, cryptocurrencies can offer benefits like:
- Feeless transactions
- Instant payments
- Fraud prevention and protection
- Investment growth
- Stability outside national currencies
No one can ascertain the direct stability of any currency. As a decentralized system, cryptocurrencies can operate outside of political and economic shifts, maintaining an additional level of financial safety that could help you grow your finances despite political events and currency devaluation.
5. Artificial Intelligence
The use of AI applications in budgeting can be a saving grace for many. Artificial intelligence data analytics and machine learning offer insights that the average consumer may be hard-pressed to calculate on their own. AI provides budgeting tips and recommendations that can help grow your finances.
AI can even offer data security beyond traditional techniques. With the help of technology that can predict and model fraud instances and check access attempts against this model, everyone’s financial data can be better protected. This is essential in building your finances for future security.
Among these vital innovations, AI also offers financial planners:
- Notifications of sales and deals
- Insights into cheaper products and buying patterns
- Forecasting of spending patterns
- Budget modeling and reporting
- Risk analysis and prevention
These technological tools make for easier, simpler management of financial situations, lending the average user insights for success. With all these added benefits, AI will likely be the future of budgeting and investment.
Conclusion
Many technologies have emerged as useful tools for growing one’s finances—no matter their situation. Here, we’ve detailed only five. Through financial management made possible on a smartphone to artificial intelligence processes, it is easier than ever to achieve financial growth. All it takes is comprehensive budgeting and insights, improved by these accessible technical innovations.