10 Best Personal Finance Apps in the Philippines 2022 | Money Manager, Monefy, and More

A personal finance app is a software — desktop or mobile application — that you can download on your device that manages your income, expenses, savings, and investments.

In general, most personal finance apps are designed to track your expenses, manage your cash flow, plan a budget, and sync your records across your devices.

It’s useful for everyone, whether you’re a student, an employee, or a business owner who wants to maintain a steady, manageable flow of money.

Personal finance apps are downloadable via Apple Store and Google Playstore. There are free apps, but some premium ones offer a free trial or freemium access to test the features before purchasing monthly subscriptions. While exploring these apps, consider the following:

The User Interface, UI, and User Experience, UX, play a critical role as users navigate the mobile app features. UI focuses on the design and layout, while UX emphasizes the ease of use and interaction. We can go more in-depth with these two concepts as they can cover many areas, but let's simplify these for now.

Look for a screen layout that's simple, uncluttered, and easy to read and understand. Some personal finance apps overwhelm the users, requiring them to take many steps and taps before recording a single entry. That said, there's a lower chance that users will add more entries.

A good UI/UX provides straightforward visual design and content to the users. It only provides the necessary and logical steps to encourage users to consistently keep a record. Upon launching the app, the design and layout should be intuitive enough that even your mother can record an entry in a few taps. 

Check the app if it summarizes your expenses and income at a glance with a visual presentation like a pie chart or bar graph. Other apps show a summary of your daily, weekly, monthly expenses with statistics. These help you check your current financial situation, such as where you spend most of your money on a weekly or monthly basis. 

Some personal finance apps give you a more detailed view of a list or a graph, showing the total amount you spend on food, transportation, groceries, etc. This will help you keep track if you're overspending or not. 

Most personal finance apps show your entries in columns, tables, pie charts, or combinations of these visuals, depending on the app UI/ UX. However, some apps have a steep learning curve because several steps are required to record or compare your entries, or there are many labels, categories, and tags that you need to include.

These personal finance apps also let you categorize your expenses with default labels or create custom ones. Typical expenses include food, transportation, electricity, water, entertainment, apparel, to name a few. Labeling these expenses will help you track your list effectively.

Some personal finance apps support Philippine local banks. For instance, they allow you to integrate your bank account and other financial services like supported credit cards within the app. However, this kind of integration requires premium access, and there are only entirely a few local banks that support this service.

Look for personal finance apps that will help you build good habits on budgeting. Most apps let you set a budget for your expenses, and when you exceed your limit, you'll get notifications. 

Others have intuitive features that when you record your debts, they suggest the amount you need to pay and how long it will take you to finish it. These personal finance apps support notifications and scheduling, allowing you to budget your money for our incoming bills, loans, and mortgages. 

You can schedule a notification so you won't miss the due dates and avoid penalty fees. Premium apps offer joint accounts or allow you to invite your family members. This a great way to stay accountable for expenses and savings. 

The personal finance app must have syncing and backup options so that whatever changes you make, you have copies in the cloud. Some of these apps let you connect your Dropbox and Google Drive, typically if you unlock premium features. 

It would be great if you find a free app that supports this without extra charge. That said, all your files and records are safe and secured. Some personal finance apps support desktop versions for Mac and Windows, which is also useful if you want to get serious with keeping your records on your computer and aside from your smartphone or tablet. 

App developers use different monetization methods to earn money. That said, you will encounter payment options when you use these personal finance apps — free, premium subscriptions, and one-time payment.

There are pros and cons for each monetization model. If you're going to use a free app, you have access to the basic features, but at the same time, you're automatically opting-in for ads that are often intrusive when using it.

Premium apps offer two payment options, such as subscription or one-time payment for a lifetime. With subscriptions, you can choose a weekly, monthly, or annual fee in exchange for the use of advanced or Pro features. 

Some apps offer one-time payment for life with a discount, so you don't have to worry about paying monthly fees that can actually pile up to your expenses. 

All in all, it's best to opt-in for a free trial to see if the app matches your needs and the features you like to use. Frankly, there are free apps with useful features that are enough to keep track of your spending and savings. Therefore, spending on a premium app is optional. 

Now you know what to look for in a personal finance app, feel free to compare the features of these apps below, and find out which one will help you manage your finances.

**Prices may vary depending on the website and their campaign period**

The best time to start saving and budgeting? As early as you can. It is essential that young people learn how to budget properly and save money in their younger years, which will serve as a foundation for future budgeting habits. She also stresses that mindless spending will affect future financial stability. 

In the video above, YouTuber Elena Taber shares her tips on how to save and budget effectively. We provide the gist of the video below. 

Here are some of her tips: 

1. Make a list of all expenses and income. This helps give you a full picture of how much you can spend in a month. It can also help you find things that you do not need to be spending money on - you can then put that money to good use and save it. 
2. Start with the 50/30/20 rule if you're just starting. This means that 50% of your income should go to necessities, 30% on non-essential things that bring you joy, like eating out, entertainment, or self-care, while the last 20% should go to your savings, debt payment, retirement planning, or for your emergency fund. 
3. Try the envelope system. Set a budget for each spending category. This is basically your spending limit for the month for that category. When you strictly stick to the budget, this will be an effective way to keep track of your money and avoid purchasing unnecessary items.
4. Set long-term and short-term goals. This will help give you a clearer picture of what you really want and help give you direction on what you want to achieve in the future. 

Being a good steward of finances takes practice and discipline. While you're at it, you can explore other articles related to personal finance and money transfers. Also, we included a link for affordable smartphones, so you can give yourself a phone upgrade while still sticking to your budget.

If there’s one thing that you can do today that your future self will thank for is - you should start saving money, building emergency funds, and investing early. We hope that our personal finance apps list will help you make better decisions as you visualize where you spend your money.

If you’re only after record-keeping and tracking expense and income, free apps are enough to manage your finances. Contrastingly, if you need a comprehensive tool to manage your multiple accounts, premium apps are available and affordable. 

Author: Maria Krisette Capati

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