There are many money apps out there that can help you manage your finances. If you are someone who struggles with their money at the end of the month, you are likely finding ways to earn money and spend less. However, that is easier said than done.
Thanks to modern tech, managing finances through your phone is much easier. You no longer need to write down your bills and expenses on a piece of paper. Money management is made easier thanks to these apps. One of those apps is Plum which is a free app to use however, they do offer paid subscriptions to access more features. Let’s take a look at Plum, a money management app that can get you on track with your finances.
What Is Plum?
Plum is a money management app that makes saving and investing much easier. It is one of the most popular apps for managing finances and it is easy to understand why. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages of Plum.
Advantages Of Using Plum
There are many advantages to the Plum app and very few disadvantages. That is why it makes it one of the best on the market.
Easy For Beginners To Investing
Firstly, for those who wish to invest but don’t have much knowledge of investing, Plum makes this easier. All you need to do is put your money into an investment portfolio. Plum allows you to pick which investment portfolio as well as show you how risky that portfolio is. For example, Real Estate is a shallow risk whereas investing in Tech is high risk. Depending on your financial goals, you can decide how much you want to invest in either of these portfolios.
Low Fees
Many people are under the assumption that when you invest with these apps, they have high fees. Plum doesn’t charge you very high fees, making your investment worth even more. However, when you invest with a stockbroker, they can charge very high fees. Even when you use an investment app, they can charge high fees on transactions and profit.
Easier To Create Different Pots
Another positive about using Plum is that you can create several different pots. It allows you to create a savings pot. Additionally, you can create even more pots and use their splitter. The splitter will put your money into different pots as soon as it enters your plum account. You could have a pot to pay off your overdraft, your holiday, your house deposit or even get yourself some new tech. No matter what your pots are used for, you can create multiple and have access to it whenever you want. If you wish to earn interest on these pots, then you can, however, you would have to wait 3-5 working days once you have withdrawn your money.
Offers a Great Selection
Another positive to Plum is that you can use their app to create an investment pot for your pension or an ISA that can be put towards a house deposit. Plus, they offer you an SIPP account which means a self-invested personal pension.
Keeps Up With Modern Technology
Last but not least, Plum uses AI that can help predict your spending habits. AI is very technical and can work out what you spend a lot of money on. As it analyses your expenditure each week, it will work out how much money to put away. Again, this money can be put into your savings or investment account.
Other Personal Finance Apps To Use
There are numerous personal finance apps which you can use to help manage your finances and invest/save your money. All of them have their pros and cons so it all depends on your personal needs. Let’s take a look at some of the other budgeting apps which you can use to help keep your money on track.
Money Hub
This is another great money management app and it costs as little as £1.49 per month to access all the features available. If you wish to try the app out first without paying a dime then you can. Money Hub is great for connecting all of your current, savings, credit and investment accounts. If you have any cash lying around then you can also enter this into your app to help you have a true understanding of how much money you have.
Koody
Another very affordable money management app, Koody is simple to use and offers complete control of your money and expenditure to help with those financial emergencies. You don’t need to link any of your bank accounts or enter any sensitive information. So you don’t have to worry about sharing too much information.
One of the benefits of Koody is that you can see an overview of your monthly spending. It will also give you gentle reminders of your upcoming bills and expenses. If you wish to set daily spending limits then you can.
Emma
Emma is another great app for money management and investing. You can see your monthly subscriptions as well as cancel them if you no longer need them. Plus, you can connect all of your bank accounts to Emma if you wish to see them in one place. Another positive to Emma is that it makes investing easy, whether that is cryptocurrency or the stock market.
Emma will allow you to sync your budgets to when you get paid. It will also provide you with reports on whether you are on track with your financial goals or whether you need to stop spending as much. This is something we all need when it comes to budgeting and spending less on the items that we don’t necessarily need.
Final Opinions: Is Plum a Good All-Round App?
We all know that there is more to personal finance than just spending, saving and investing. Paying off debt is also something many of us have to do. However, Plum isn’t capable of helping pay off debt directly. Additionally, it can cause further debt through their borrowing features. This isn’t just a problem with Plum, this is an issue with many money management apps.
If you want to deal with your debts, the best method is to speak with a professional financial debt advisor instead of using these money management apps. You will be provided with expert advice which will help you understand how to pay off your debt. There are many different debt payment methods available as well. DRO, admin order, breathing space and many more. A debt advisor will be able to advise you on what you should do to pay off your debts.