Budget app: the basics
One of the best ways to help ensure that you’re maintaining good financial health is to set a budget. It sounds too simple to be true — but truthfully, a good budget is one of the best tools in your arsenal for building your financial literacy, helping you establish goals and work towards them.
Having a clear picture of your income versus your expenses can help you ensure that you’re not overspending. More than that, it can also help you set yourself up for future financial success — once you’ve got a clear picture of where your money is going, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about where you should be spending, where you can cut back, and how you can save.
We understand you may have been burned by budgets before. Many people’s first experience with a budget is a retroactive one — they sit down with a wealth of paperwork and a calculator and attempt to make it all fit into a spreadsheet. It’s a nightmare that makes many abandon it at the first gate.
There’s good news though — with a budgeting app, you can avoid the calculator cringe and save yourself a huge amount of work. So let’s take a closer look at what sort of a toolset a good budgeting app should include, to make your life as easy as possible.
Getting the most out of your budget app
The spreadsheet is dead. You’ve got a powerful smartphone in your pocket, so this is your chance to put it to good use. Whether you’re after a budget app for iOS or a budget app for Android in Australia, there are a plethora of options available. But they’re not all created equally.
Your budgeting app needs to be able to tell you where your cash is going, and when. But it should also be able to do that in a straightforward, simple fashion. There’s no point in having an app so complex or unintuitive that you can’t be bothered to use it! So here are some key features that you should look for before you smash that download button.
- Easy-to-use interface
- Ability to connect your bank accounts so you can track expenses and get rich insights on your spending
- Break your income into specific categories
- Surface information about bills and when payments are made
- Able to export data to a spreadsheet (useful for when you go see your accountant)
- Simple and intuitive dashboards and insights for at-a-glance reference
- Ability to understand and track your net worth
- Provides insights on any recurring subscriptions you may have
The best free budget app in Australia
If you’re still unsure which budgeting app is right for you, then we have a suggestion. Here at Humaniti, we think we’ve got the best free budgeting app in Australia. With a huge range of features that make it easy for you to create a budget that matches your needs, secure connections and an intuitive interface, it’s the ideal budgeting app for your needs. So why not sign up today and start setting yourself up for financial freedom?
Of course, there are many other budgeting apps to choose from and you need to pick the one that’s right for you. With the recent Pocketbook closure, we see Humaniti as a great alternative to Pocketbook.
Here are some frequently asked questions about Humaiti.
How do I download the Humaniti budget app?
Whether you’re looking for a budget app for iOS or Android, Humaniti has you covered. Available on both the App Store and the Google Play Store, simply download the app from your phone’s App Center and follow the sign-up process. Once you’ve created an account, you will be prompted to connect your financial accounts so that you can power up your financial dashboard and get personalised insights on your spending. When you securely link your accounts, you’ll be able to enjoy a 360° view of your finances.
Is the Humaniti app free?
Humaniti is the best free budget app in Australia that also allows you to make some extra money. Our mission is to help you build a brighter financial future. We help you to improve your financial wellbeing and achieve your savings goals. What’s more, we also allow you to earn money by participating in surveys. We partner with businesses and charities who want to pay you for your opinions. Simply answer our optional surveys, and earn real cash rewards. We’ll deposit rewards into your preferred bank account when you submit a withdrawal. If you’d like, you can also choose to donate survey earnings to charity.
Is the Humaniti app secure?
To be the best free budget app in Australia, we need to ensure that the privacy and security of your personal and financial data is our number one priority at all times. That remains our focus, and to ensure your information is 100% secure, we employ state-of-the-art encryption technology and work with leading financial services and security partners to ensure the security of your accounts and data. When you connect your accounts, we do not store your bank login details. Information is synced to the app in a read-only manner, so that you can see all your accounts in one place, and build a clearer picture of your net worth and financial position. We undergo security audits on a regular basis. Our staff are also Humaniti app users, so we require the same assurances that you do that our accounts are also safe and secure.
Does the app offer financial advice?
Humaniti empowers you to take control of your spending with a variety of simple, easy-to-use tools that help you understand where your money is going. However, we do not offer financial advice. Information and insights presented should not be considered as financial advice. Rather, dashboards and information presented can be used to help you manage your personal finances, expenses, and for budget planning. It’s up to you to interpret the information and consider what is important to achieve your financial goals. If you need financial advice, you should seek the services of a licensed financial advisor.
Can I link my bank account to the app?
Yes, you can. Securely link your accounts from more than 200 financial Institutions — including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac — and enjoy detailed summaries of your net worth, cashflow, spending and insights on how your superannuation compares to others.
When you connect your financial accounts, read-only account connection is established in a highly secure manner via our financial service partners, illion and Basiq. Both partners are leaders in the financial services industry.
By using the Humaniti budget app on your iOS or Android device, you will also be able to monitor your finances on the go from the convenience of the app.