If you’re worried about money, you’re not alone. Many of us, around the world, face financial stress and uncertainties during these difficult times. Whether you are having from job loss, increased debt, unexpected expenses, or a combination of factors, financial worries are one of the most common stress in modern life.
Today we use the smartphone for almost everything. While smartphones can be a distraction, they do serve their purpose. Using certain smartphone apps can help you better manage your finances. A 2016 Google study, has found that people aged 18-64 had an average of 2.5 financial apps installed on their smartphones.
Downloading apps from various financial institutions can help you during a crisis, but only if you have an idea of everything you need. Let’s look at some ideas which can help us financially through a smartphone.
1. Make a Complete List
Start by making a list of monthly, quarterly, and annual invoices and the companies you send payments to. Don’t trust your analog brain to memorize them all. Instead, take a few minutes to review your budget or your bank and credit card statements from the previous year to take stock of regular expenses.
Also list your banks and all your credit cards, even those you don’t use regularly. In a crisis, you may need to access a line of credit that you usually don’t touch, and you’ll want to have that account information handy.
2. Download the applications
Most lenders have added easy-to-access buttons that allow you to apply for backup plans if you’re having trouble paying your bills. This little convenience saves you the trouble of having to search for a customer service number on the company’s website.
By downloading the app, you will also have easy access to your account information. This can be useful if a seizure takes you to the hospital unexpectedly or requires you to evacuate suddenly and you need to contact a lender.
- Bank aggregators: They allow you to check several policies and compare purchases before applying for a loan or insurance policy. So you can see what the different service providers are offering at a glance. These apps also allow you to apply for loans and credit cards and purchase insurance policies right from the app. They also have many useful articles on their blogs that can help you learn more about banking and insurance products and how to use them.
- Investment Apps: Several apps allow you to invest in stocks and mutual funds directly from their apps. While brokerage houses will have their apps for investing in stocks. It allows you to invest in direct mutual funds and is therefore profitable. Investing through these apps is easy because the KYC process is simple and efficient and without paper. In addition, advisory services will be provided which will help you choose the right securities and mutual funds. You can view all your investments in a single dashboard and trade funds directly from the app
3. Use the app’s features to protect your money
If you haven’t set up automatic payments for monthly expenses like your mortgage and cell phone bill, do so before the next disaster. In an emergency, you don’t want to experience trouble just because you forgot what day it is. Bank apps: it’s additionally a decent plan to own apps of the banks you employ on your phone. whereas banks also provide UPI-based wallets, they’re not common. If you’ve got the banking app of your bank on the phone, you’ll be able to use it for mobile banking, checking balances, causation money, requesting a replacement checkbook so on. Banks also allow you to directly invest in FDs, mutual funds and apply for loans through their app.