(WXYZ) — Three in 5 Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and only one in four has a financial plan according to research from bank and brokerage firm, Charles Schwab.
Getting a financial advisor is one way to solve that problem, but in the digital age you may no longer need one.
Financial expert Joe Saul Sehy says now you can get your finances in order, stay on a budget, and save for both short and long term, all by using free digital apps on your smartphone.
For help paying down debt, Sehy likes Your Destiny app, which analyzes debt from your credit cards, student loans, and vehicles. It then prioritizes the smartest and most affordable way to pay it off.
Clarity Money is another crowd pleaser. The app allows you to condense all of your accounts onto one dashboard, plan budgets and set reminders on things like dining and clothing.
But one of Saul Sehy’s personal favorites? The app Tip Yourself. It allows you to securely transfer money from your checking account to a separate account that acts as a tip jar.
You can tip yourself for something you might not otherwise do, so the thought is that you pay yourself for doing good things, whether is a 4-mile run or reading a book. Every time you tip yourself, it goes into a separate account that you can mark as savings for something you want down the line.
Saul Sehy uses it to save for vacation.
"I love the fact that my runs are helping me get through vacation, without coming home, without any credit card debt ," Sehy said.
When you’re ready to retrieve the funds, simply have them transferred back over to you.
With privacy and security a main concern, the one question you want to ask yourself when downloading digital apps, however, is whether the app has bank level security. These three apps do, which means you can operate on them with the same risk that you would have banking at your local corner bank.
Find more info on apps here:
Your Desitny App
www.yourdestinyapp.com
Clarity Money
www.claritymoney.com
Tip Yourself
www.tipyourself.com
