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SMART MONEY: BEST APPS FOR SAVING AND INVESTING

We do everything on our phones, including managing our money. Whether you need to send your BFF $20 for happy hour or want to start building an investment portfolio – we’ve got you covered. Here’s a quick intro to all our favorite money apps. Happy saving!

Peace + love,
​Mila

Cash App – Heard about the Cash app thanks to the guys over at our fave podcast, Pod Save America. Send cash and get cash; it’s very simple. Bonus – this personalized cash (Visa) card. I need one!

Qapital – The Qapital app is the best way to make joint savings-type events happen. Let’s say you and your friends want to start saving for a big gift (maybe for a wedding or birthday) – you all download the app and start saving together! My husband and I love using this for vacations and big purchases as well because it keeps us more accountable on individual goals than just adding to our larger general savings fund. To make saving easier, you can track progress and set up automatic round-ups or recurring deposits.

Acorns – With their “Round-Up” feature (like Bank of America’s “Keep the Change” option), the Acorns app is investing made easy. The idea behind this feature is that you don’t need a huge lump sum to start investing, but your spare change can add up. To get started, you answer a couple questions about your current financial situation and goals, then the app recommends a portfolio for you. There are five investment options and they range from Conservative to Aggressive. Only downside for me is the fee, but so far it’s been fun to see my portfolio grow!

Robin Hood – If you’ve ever wanted to pretend to be on the floor of the NYSE, the Robin Hood app is for you. Unlike my Acorns portfolio (comprised of EFTs), I can buy and sell stocks of individual companies. I’m just learning about this stuff, but it’s fun to invest in companies that I’m familiar with and believe in or stores that I actually shop with on a regular basis. The major downside to this app is that it does make buying stocks super easy (a couple clicks and a swipe up) so it’s up to the user to do their due diligence about each stock being purchased.

Mint – the Mint app is a great tool for money management as it consolidates all your finances into one dashboard. You can track accounts ranging from checking and credit to investment to monthly bills. My husband and I use this to track our joint finances since we have accounts all over the place. And if you need help setting up a budget, Mint can help with that, too.

Some other apps that get good reviews are Betterment, Learnvest, Ellevest, and Stash.

Disclosure – These investment accounts are all for fun and are in addition to our regular savings and retirement accounts. For a more robust and detailed breakdown of some of these apps, check out this helpful Policy Genius article.

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