Saving money and budgeting used to be a complicated process of spreadsheets and adding up receipts, hoping you hadn’t made a mistake somewhere along the line. These days, money-saving apps make keeping track of your expenses as easy as falling out of a tree.
But with so many savings apps out there, it can be hard to decide which ones to use, so here are our recommendations on the best money saving apps for Australians.
Pocketbook/MoneyBrilliant
Pocketbook and Money Brilliant are two of the best budget apps available today, but they have a few key differences. Firstly, Pocketbook is Australian made and completely free. MoneyBrilliant is only free for 30 days, after which you have to pay a monthly subscription for it.
However, you might consider this monthly subscription worthwhile as MoneyBrilliant tracks ALL your accounts, including investment portfolios and superannuation. It also offers suggestions on possible tax-deductible expenses based on your occupation.
Features these apps share:
- Sync to Australian bank accounts with your permission
- Automatic categorisation for transactions
- Bank level security and encryption
Other similar apps to check out are TrackMySpend and Goodbudget
Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
The ATO app is ideal for individual taxpayers, self-managed superfund trustees and small business owners. This free money app is essentially a personal tax return guide in the palm of your hand. Access ATO’s online services, lodge and track your income tax return, and access a variety of tax-related calculators and other tools.
Key features include:
- Record and manage work expenses
- Record deductions and upload them to your tax return
- Calculate deductions on salary and wage payments
- Set reminders for important tax dates
- Check the financial health of your business
A good app to use with this is Expensify, which makes it easy to track time and mileage to help with calculating tax deductions by scanning receipts and storing the info in a CSV file for you.
3 Best Money Saving Apps Click To TweetRaiz Invest
Previously called Acorns Australia, Raiz Invest is an app that offers a new way to grow your savings. All it does is round up the total to the nearest dollar every time you swipe your card. Those few cents are invested in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) according to one of five optimised portfolios you choose from.
There are fees involved, and you need to pay tax on your capital gains. But this app turns your phone into a piggy bank that fills itself!
Key features include:
- Links to your bank account
- Doesn’t require a minimum balance
- A variety of options on how deposits are made
- Get notifications on unusual activity
Each of these money saving apps has been designed with the sole purpose of taking the hard work out of saving money and sticking to a budget, and they have hundreds if not thousands of positive reviews showing that they do it well. But as with anything related to money, there are dozens of scammers and fake apps out there. So please use only the official iOS or Google Play stores to download any of these!
