Financial Apps Help Keep Spending in Check

Joshua Levinson was about to splurge on some exercise equipment, but a personal finance app on his smartphone gave him a friendly reminder: He'd just recently dropped $150 for Valentine's Day.

"When I looked at that, I was like 'OK, this has been an expensive week,'" said the 22-year-old college student in Tallahassee, Florida.

That notification, flashed by the Mint Personal Finance app, prompted Levinson to hold off on the $40 purchase. He credits the app, which he's been using for about a year and a half, with helping him become more aware of where his money goes. He estimates it saves him from $50 to $100 a month.

Keeping tabs on your spending is essential to getting your finances under control, but this can be a tedious process. As a result, many people don't do it. A smartphone or tablet can help you see where your dollars are going, as a first step toward making a change.

Apps for budgeting, expense tracking, paying down debt and other personal financial uses abound these days on Apple's App Store on iTunes or on Google's Play Store. Many bank accounts also now come with apps that let you see your balance, deposit checks by taking a photo and view your transactions.

You'll want to try out a few to find out which one is the best fit for your needs. Some require users to enter spending data themselves, while others can siphon those details automatically from your checking and credit card accounts, but require you to divulge information to access your accounts online.

What's important is to have something that you will stick with and that's generally simple.

Tracking Accounts & Spending

One of the most-downloaded personal-finance apps is Mint Personal Finance, from Intuit.

Mint requires little daily input from users. The app will automatically pull 90-days of transactions from bank...