Are you feeling stuck when it comes to money management? Maybe you aren’t even sure where to start. Well you’ve come to the right place. Here’s an overview of my absolute favourite (and free!) money management apps for Canadians.
Tracking Money: Mint
The first step you can take to being in control of your finances is tracking where your money is going. Once you know where you’re spending your money, you can decide whether or not your spending aligns with your values and your financial goals or if you need to make some serious changes.
Mint is an awesome money management app produced by Intuit where you can easily tracking your spending. All you need to do is link up your bank accounts. From there, every transaction will be viewable on your Mint dashboard and you can see visually where you spend your money each month. Mint also offers a free budgeting tool where you can set your goals for the month. Finally, you can link up your investment accounts to see your full financial report!
No-fee Chequing Account: Tangerine and Simplii
Two of my favourite money management apps are the no-fee chequing accounts offered by Tangerine and Simplii. These accounts offer unlimited free transactions and Interac e-Transfers® and basically anything you could ever want with a chequing account for free! There are tons of no-fee chequing accounts available in Canada, but I find these two banks offer the best of the best.
P.S. If you were wondering if I seriously have two chequing accounts, the answer is yes! I love having two chequing accounts, one for bills and one for spending. You’ll never have to stress about having enough to pay the bills because it will be already out of sight, out of mind in another account.
High Interest Savings Account: EQ Bank
My go-to high interest savings account is EQ Bank.
EQ Bank allows you to open up to 4 accounts under your main account so you can name each savings account as for a different purpose. For instance, I have an Emergency Fund, a Travel Fund, etc! EQ Bank has a great website and mobile app that is easy to use and super visually pleasing.
Most banks market “high interest savings account” but only offer interest rates of 0.05%. EQ Bank’s high interest savings account truly offers high interest with their current interest rate of 1.25%. That’s one of the highest in the country. If you’re Canadian and you’re not yet banking with EQ Bank, what are you waiting for?
Investing Account: Questrade and Wealthsimple
If you’re just starting out and are unsure of the who, what, when, where and why of investing, consider starting with a roboadvisor like Wealthsimple. All you have to do is sign up, fill out a survey and put money into your account. Wealthsimple will handle the rest of the investing process for you and is definitely somewhere you can keep your money growing all the way to retirement.
I recently switched to Questrade as it is the top discount brokerage in Canada for DIY investors. With Questrade I’m able to buy and sell my own investments. Both Wealthsimple and Questrade are CIPF members so you can invest knowing your account is secure. The lower fees mean more money for you in the long run!
P.S. Questrade also offers a roboadvisor service called Questwealth Portfolios that is quickly coming up to par with similar returns to Wealthsimple.
Taxes: TurboTax
Turbotax is the best money management app helping Canadians to file their tax returns. Turbotax was also produced by Intuit, the same company that produced Mint (my favourite spending tracker app!). Turbotax can link up to your government account and download all the tax slips it needs to properly calculate your return. You can sometimes file your tax return in minutes, without having to pay any hefty fees.
If you have a very complicated tax return, TurboTax might not be the right fit for you. However, if your tax return is quite simple and straight forward, I would suggest giving it a try next year and see if it’s right for you.
Credit Score and Report: Borrowell
Borrowell was the first company in Canada to offer Equifax credit scores for free! Borrowell is definitely the best money management app to check your credit score and credit report. You can also sign up to receive an email update weekly! Another great service they offer is the Credit Coach™ tab, which goes into more detail about your score and how you try to increase it.
The easiest way to build a high credit score is using a credit card for small purchases and making sure to pay it off every single month. Remember, you don’t have to go into debt to build an amazing credit score.
Investment Portfolio Analysis and Rebalancing: Passiv
Passiv has got to be one of my favourite money management apps on the list.
When you sign up with Passiv, you can link your investment account and track the performance of your investments. On the website, there’s a “Reporting” tab where you can see how much you’ve contributed, your investment growth and rate return, dividend history and more! You can also set up your portfolio’s asset allocation and Passiv will send you an email when it’s time to rebalance. Plus, they’ll tell you exactly what to buy to get back to your chosen allocation based on how much cash you have in the investment account. It’s truly incredible!
In case you needed more convincing, Passiv has an awesome portfolio visualizer tool where you can look even more closely at the performance of your investments and compare them to other investment models.
If you’re a DIY investor and you’re not yet using Passiv, I seriously hope you sign up and give it a try!
Investment Calculator: NerdWallet Compound Interest Calculator
Last but not least on the list of the top 8 money management apps, we have the wonderful compound interest calculator! I know this is not really an app but it truly deserves to be on this list of money management tools. I have used this tool so much (probably too much!) over the past few years to predict how my investment portfolio will grow in the next coming years.
Another great calculator that NerdWallet offers to help you plan your investment contributions for retirement is this retirement calculator. Enter your current age, your income, how much you contribute monthly to your retirement accounts and your preferred retirement age to see if you’re on right track to retirement.
Disclaimer: I am not a certified financial planner or investment advisor. The ideas posted on this website are my own opinions on how I manage my personal finances. The content is specifically for educational and informational purposes and is not considered professional financial advice. This post may also contain affiliate links but I would never share any service or product that I would not personally use myself.
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