Help for budget-averse college students
Going to college and living independently can sometimes bring out the worst in the way our kids manage money.
Think concert tickets, late-night pizza orders, overdosing on cellphone minutes and shopping sprees as a reward for surviving a stressful week. Any or all of the above can wreak havoc on your son or daughter's bank account.
That's when budgeting, or a spending program, if you will, can come to the rescue.
There are an overwhelming number of choices when it comes to online tools and apps, and they provide varying levels of budget help.
Some budgeting tools provide a good experience on a laptop, but not all offer a smooth option on the mobile device that fits in your pocket.
I still like starting out young adults with the old-school pencil and paper method to track their spending. It takes maybe an hour or so during the week to jot down where every dollar was spent.
Input the data on the income and outflow sides of the ledger and think about the numbers — that's it.
“Even doing that little (or much) would go a long way toward better financial health for many,” said Susan Beacham, a financial education expert and the chief executive of Money Savvy Generation. “Start simple, and see where that takes you first.”
But if you want to try a more sophisticated approach, here are a few online budgeting tools.
YNAB. This stands for You Need A Budget, and it was created by a couple of college students in 2004.
The budgeting program is based on four rules: Decide what you want your money to do before you spend it; break up larger, less frequent expenses into monthly bills; change your budget as necessary; and only spend money that is at least 30 days' old.
The tool was recently the top budgeting software pick of the product testers at Wirecutter, a New York Times company. The testers researched more than 50 budgeting tools.
YNAB offers a 34-day free test run, though Wirecutter says that's now being extended to three months. After that, the cost is $6.99 a month.
What do you get for the service? Bank and credit card syncing, debt down-payment assistance, goal tracking, and other help.
Here's what the Wirecutter testers had to say: YNAB's “guided setup helps you create an effective budget and (it) helps you stick to it more than anything else we tried.”
Mint. This budgeting tool has been around for a long time. Mint is free, and like many programs, it allows you to link your bank accounts and credit cards to keep track of your expenses. You can add categories to your budget and monitor it with notifications when bills are due.
Digit. The Digit app connects to your bank accounts and uses an algorithm to alert you to how much you can afford to save, given your spending habits. The app shifts money from your checking account to your savings every few days. If Digit doesn't think you can afford to move anything to savings, it won't.
Digit is free for 30 days, then it's $2.99 per month.
EveryDollar. This free site is financial planning guru Dave Ramsey's budgeting tool.
EveryDollar preaches simplicity, taking about 10 minutes to create your budget. The site also comes with email support. If you want more, consider EveryDollar Plus, which costs $99 a year and gives you the option to speak to a real person for money management questions.
Wally. Users describe this as a barebones budgeting app for people who just want a quick look at how much they have to spend overall and where every dollar is going.
Questions, comments, column ideas? Send an email to sbrosen1030@gmail.com.