Top 10 Finance Apps: The Ultimate Guide to Personal Finance

Managing the entire spectrum of personal finance can be a full-time job in itself. From budgeting and protecting your credit profile to investing and growing your net wealth; things could get difficult, especially without trusted financial advice. Fortunately, the fintech industry has grown in a way that both educates individuals and offers affordable gateways for new investors to jump into. Here are 10 finance apps that could improve your financial stature from day one.

1. Curve

Curve was designed to save you money in ways you might not have heard of before. Their app allows you to convert your debit and credit cards into a single Curve cash card without having to change your bank accounts. With it, you can switch transactions as old as 30 days from one card to another as needed. The refund amount will then be returned to the previously used card within a few days, freeing up cash without affecting your credit score.

With the Curve Flex feature, you can break down nearly any payment made within the last 12 months into installments of 3, 6, 9, or 12 months with interest rates starting at 9 percent and upfront terms and conditions.

If you like to shop online, Curve makes it possible to earn up to 20 percent cashback on purchases made from their growing list of global brands including Nike, Marks & Spencer, Steam, Amazon, Apple, and H&M. You can also say goodbye to ATM fees and avoid poor exchange rates on purchases made while on vacation. All of this is possible while you easily keep track of your spending in one place.

Download the Curve app today.

2. Honey

Honey is one of the best ways to save time on looking for online shopping coupons. With over 30,000 stores in its roster, this free web browser extension is used by over 17 million people all over the world and can be installed in just a few clicks! Once installed, it will automatically scour the Internet for working coupon codes when you shop online and apply the one with the biggest savings to your cart.

Honey can help you save you some extra bucks when you spend online, whether you're ordering pizza, booking travel tickets, or buying gadgets. Moreover, you can add items that you want to Honey's Droplist and get notified the moment it detects a price drop.

Honey members save $126 on average every year with an average discount of 17.9 percent. It has a 4.8 rating out of 5 based on 167,930 reviews.

Check out Honey's browser extension today.

3. Swagbucks

How about making money during your free time by reviewing apps or sharing your feedback about products? Many global brands rely on consumer insights to improve their products and services before they launch. This is where you can come in for some great cash rewards.

Swagbucks, a 4.3-rated platform on TrustPilot, can be looked upon as a fun side gig in your spare time. They claim that most members can earn $50 - $200 a month, whereas many power users earn up to 5 figures! The California-based firm pays out over 10,000 gift cards or PayPal cash deposits on a daily basis.

Since its inception in 2008, Swagbucks has paid its users over $90 millions in cash rewards and gift cards for completing online surveys, testing apps, playing games, browsing the Internet, and other fun activities. For each task completed, you can earn Swagbucks (SB) points, where 100 SB is equivalent to $1. In addition, you can save money through cashback from shopping at over 7,000 online stores.

Sign up for free today.

4. myFICO

Your credit report details your loan accounts, credit limits, age of credit, repayment and loan history, number of times you have applied for loans, credit utilisation, and a credit score based on these factors. If you have a poor credit score, it can be really hard to secure loans, mortgages, credit cards, and even insurance policies at feasible monthly premiums.

Creditors typically report your credit card or loan repayments to credit bureaus who assign a credit score from 300 to 850. This is generally based on the globally accepted FICO scoring model. FICO claims that over 90 percent of lenders check credit scores to determine loan eligibility. In a nutshell, the higher your credit score is, the more creditworthy you will look in the eyes of lenders.

By regularly checking your credit report, you can stay on top of your credit health and even identify any loan accounts or enquiries that you don't recognise. In this digital world where identity and data theft is a major concern, checking your credit score could reveal any misuse of sensitive documents by impersonators claiming credit products in your name. If you spot one, you can then report it to credit bureaus and your creditors for resolution and correction.

The myFICO platform offers updated credit reports from three major credit bureaus - Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax - alongside identity monitoring and restoration services. They scan countless databases and public records to immediately alert you of any suspicious entries in your credit report. You might also be covered up to $1 million by their identity theft insurance underwritten by the American Bankers Insurance Company of Florida.

Check out myFICO's membership offers starting at $19.95 a month.

5. MoneyGram UK

While countless remittance services have gained popularity overnight, only a few are able to offer competitive foreign exchange rates and low transfer fees without transaction waiting periods when sending money from the UK to over 200 countries. One of them is MoneyGram UK.

So far, this money transfer app has helped millions of people send money from the UK. Users can send a maximum of £7,600.00 per online transfer and up to £7,600.00 every 30 calendar days.

MoneyGram UK has an intuitive interface where you can create an account with your basic details, link a payment method, enter the receiver's details followed by the amount to be sent before confirming the transaction.

Before initiating the transaction using your credit or debit card or directly from your bank account, you can also check the associated fees and current exchange rate first by clicking on the Estimate Fees tab. The status of your transactions can be tracked via the Track & Receive tool on their homepage. .

Download the MoneyGram app today.

6. Aikido Finance

Any form of investing comes with associated risks depending on the asset class or mix of asset classes in your portfolio. Since the stock market is more volatile now compared to the pre-pandemic days, investors and financial advisors are devising new strategies to grow steadily or at least avoid financial pitfalls during market recessions.

Evolving financial resources and trading apps with new features have since attracted millions of new and seasoned investors. However, these new developments are far from matching the investing strategies used by top hedge funds which are often limited to institutional investors.

Top asset management companies employ quantitative investing strategies to increase trading accuracy, reduce market research time, and lower portfolio risks. These strategies analyse market trends using mathematical models based on complex algorithms. Nearly 80 percent of hedge fund managers think institutional investors will adopt quantitative strategies in the time to come.

It can be hard for the average investor to transition to quantitative investing, though. After all, the development of these advanced strategies require tons of money and a team of data science finance experts and top coders.

Aikido Finance is an online platform designed to democratise this space by offering quantitative investing strategies for free, which you can then integrate with your stock broker or crypto exchange.

When you sign up for their basic membership, you can choose a strategy that aligns with your current goals and financial stature, and manually use them in your existing portfolio. If you want to experience hands-off investing, you can sign up for their premium membership at $9.99 a month. The automated investing feature will create a portfolio for you. You can also stay on top of market trends and make careful trades using their customisable stock screener, portfolio analytics tools, and indicators.

Aikido Finance was founded by four computer scientists in 2018 with the goal to help its users become systematic, strategic, and structured investors. Over 3,800 users have chosen Aikido Finance and cumulatively invested $1.7 million with the help of their new-age quantitative strategies.

Check out quant strategies for free today.

7. BlackBull Markets

The first step to investing in stocks and commodities is to select and open a brokerage account; an important step where you cannot go wrong. Even if you are a seasoned stock trader, you could lose your hard-earned profits to high/hidden fees. You could also miss out on opportunities to seamlessly place trades due to a high system load or delay in resolution from customer support. In the worst case scenario, you could lose access to your assets if the broker has sub-standard security measures in place or gets compromised.

An award-winning New Zealand-based true ECN (Electronic Communication Network) broker called Blackbull Markets covers all of the touchpoints needed in safety, security, and speed. Here, you can choose from a wide range of tradable assets trusted by tens of thousands of investors in over 180 countries.

After signing up for a commission-free Standard account with a nominal deposit, you can start trading on over 23,000 financial instruments like share, forex, and commodities on their Meta Trader 4 (MT4) platform. This feature-rich trading platform is used by plenty of retail foreign exchange traders worldwide.

Blackbull Markets goes a step further to lower fees and prevent failed trade executions with the help of their proprietary aggregation system software following straight through processing protocol (STP). Furthermore, multiple Equinix servers are dedicated solely for operation and backup processes. This prevents any lags between Blackbull traders and global markets.

With their dedicated support team and account managers, you can also expect quick resolution to any doubts you may have 24/6 via email, live chat, or phone.

Sign up on Blackbull Markets today.

8. HardAssets Alliance

As stocks, mutual funds, and many exchange-traded funds (ETFs) began to tumble at the onset of the pandemic, the value of gold rose proportionately to reach a record-high. This is because gold is immune to market fluctuations primarily due to its limited quantity and universal demand. While gold can considerably offset losses incurred from stocks or ETFs, the high exchangeable asset offers a hedge against rising inflation, too.

HardAsset Alliance (HAA) in New York has opened a gateway for investors to buy insured precious metals, including gold, which you can store in their state-of-the-art vaults or have shipped to your doorstep. The firm has partnered with global storage facilities in New York, Zurich, London, and Singapore that are operated by security leaders such as Brinks, Malca-Amit, and Loomis. Investors benefit from knowing that their assets are insured against theft, misplacements, and during transits in addition to frequent audits and 24-hour surveillance.

HAA is trusted by more than 30,000 investors and manages assets worth more than $2.5 billion. Creating an account is very similar to opening a brokerage account. You simply have to sign up with your basic details and a digital copy of your ID proof. Once verified, you may fund your account and enjoy lightning-fast order executions during market hours.

HAA charges a transaction fee that depends on the size of your purchase order. This fee will go towards online platform maintenance, insuring assets, and administrative costs. If you choose to store your gold in their vaults, an additional storage fee is placed starting from 0.7 percent annually for assets up to $100,000. This is further reduced to 0.5 percent if net asset holdings exceed $1 million.

You can also choose to invest in a variety of other precious metals like silver and platinum for portfolio diversification.

Fortify your investment portfolio today.

9. Crypto.com

Investing in cryptocurrency comes with risks that financial experts and advisors still do not fully understand. Although highly prone to market manipulation and known for its massive value swings, investors, enthusiasts, and financial institutions still haven't backed away from investing some of their money in this asset class.

Many people also enter the crypto space expecting to make a quick buck after gauging market sentiment, but this is an extremely unreliable way to go about it. Unfortunately, a lot of people fail to see the investing lessons that the wild cryptocurrency journey might be trying to teach.

It stands to reason that actually investing in cryptocurrency would be the best way to understand value investing, which is to invest in assets for long-term gains rather than for short-term profits.

The underlying reason why cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, has repeatedly surpassed resistance barriers and reached record prices is tied to its purpose: creating a decentralised ecosystem where the flow of money can be tracked on the blockchain-based public ledger without compromising the details of its users. Furthermore, transactions on the blockchain are almost instantaneous and work beyond the restrictions of banking systems.

To begin investing in cryptocurrency, you have to create an account on a cryptocurrency exchange, where you will get a digital wallet to store your investments. The online wallet is protected by a private key that is only available to you and the exchange. This key must be kept confidential at all costs. This also means that the safety of your assets will rest on your chosen crypto exchange. As such, it would be vital to do proper research on several exchanges before investing in crypto.

With more than 50 million users, Crypto.com is the fastest growing crypto exchange out there. It is also one of the very few exchanges that protect its userbase with several layers of security: SOC2 Type 1 Compliance, PCI:DSS 3.2.1 Level 1 compliance, and Singapore Data Protection Trust Mark.

The app ensures secure trading and storage of over 250 crypto assets, which can be swiftly purchased at true costs using 20 fiat currencies (USD, Euro, etc.). You may use bank transfers, credit cards, or debit cards to buy crypto on this platform. Conversely, you may opt in for their metal Visa card to earn up to five percent cashback on all applicable purchases.

Create an account today.

10. Allianz Assistance

After the world came to a grinding halt in 2020, travelling has no longer been the same. There are now newly-introduced safety protocols in place at hotels and airports coupled with unforeseen flight cancellations and sudden lockdowns due to localised outbreaks. Because of this, it would be best to always be prepared for any kind of eventualities.

Allianz Assistance offers a wide range of travel insurance policies to suit travellers of all kinds. Their list of comprehensive coverage comes with different levels of services and add-ons extending to medical expenses, delays, lost/stolen luggage, trip cancellations costs, and personal liability. Since travelling involves a lot of time and money, Allianz Assistance's travel insurance policies were designed to protect your investment.

It doesn't matter if you are travelling solo, heading to the Alps with your family, or jetting off on a last-minute business meeting, Allianz Assistance has a policy that will suit your travel needs. The kind of insurance that you get depends on many factors such as the country you are travelling to, the duration of your trip, the activities you have planned, your age, the amount of people you are travelling with, and your general health. So make sure you buy the one that protects you and your loved ones from the time you book to the minute your return home.

Get your quote today.