While it’s fairly straightforward to manage personal finances, things can get tricky if someone shares financial responsibilities with a partner, roommate(s), or other family members. When living with someone else, tracking incomes and expenses, setting budgets, and paying bills on time requires a team effort. Thankfully, plenty of tools help organize shared finances efficiently. Platforms like Albert, YNAB, and Goodbudget allow multiple users to log in, track expenses, and set long-term financial goals together.
Albert
Albert is a complete money management app with features like shared budgeting, customization, joint spending tracking, real-time alerts, fraud monitoring and protection, and investing. With this tool, users get access to a team of financial experts around the clock who offer advice as well as answers to financial queries. On the Albert app, users can start investing with as little as $1, creating space for wealth building. What’s more, the app automatically negotiates certain bills, helping users save more.
You Need A Budget (YNAB)
A zero-based budgeting application, YNAB lets couples enjoy complete control over every aspect of their finances. Real-time syncing, one of its key features, provides up-to-date information to both users. One can also benefit from goal tracking and debt payoff tools. Furthermore, couples who need help building their financial knowledge and improving their budgeting skills can access educational resources, such as workshops and tutorials.
YNAB offers a free 34-day trial, after which it is priced at $14.99 per month or $109 per year. College students may be able to find coupons to use this app free for one whole year.
Goodbudget
Those who want to take a more traditional approach to shared budgeting must check out Goodbudget. The app lets users create virtual envelopes to allocate money for different spending categories. This budget syncs between partners, making it easier to track expenses. Moreover, it creates financial reports that showcase spending patterns, which allow users to be more cognizant of their expenses. That being said, the app does lack automatic transaction syncing—these must be entered manually or imported via a file.
Goodbudget offers access to a few features for free. To unlock its full potential, couples will have to spend $10 per month or $80 per year for a premium subscription. A subscription might be worthwhile for couples who need help tracking finances.
Honeydue
Honeydue is one of those apps specifically designed for managing finances as a couple. Both partners can track and split their expenses, sync their bank accounts, set alerts for specific transactions, discuss transactions on the app, and control what information to share.
With this app, users get a comprehensive view of their finances without logging into multiple accounts. It also allows users to coordinate their bill payments, reducing the risk of double transactions. Furthermore, Honeydue offers a joint bank account with desirable features, such as free ATM success, a debit card, and no monthly fees. Features like these make it one of the most effective tools for tracking shared household expenses.
Mint
For a super simple approach to money management and shared budgeting, Mint may just be the answer. This application offers access to a ton of features, such as budget creation, expense tracking, bill payment reminders, credit score monitoring, and even investment tracking and portfolio performance. All of these features make Mint a great all-in-one financial tool for joint money management with a rather user-friendly interface.
Splitwise
Often, expenses need to be split among individuals within a group. Instead of sitting down with a pen and paper (or a spreadsheet) to break down these expenses, one can use finance apps for splitting bills. Splitwise allows users to add various expenses and then automatically calculates who owes what (and to whom!). It also has a “simplify” feature that reduces the number of transactions to be made to settle bills.
While the basic version of this shared expense tracker can be accessed for free, it only allows users to input a limited number of transactions. For complete access, a premium subscription will be required.
TimelyBills
If managing multiple bills and tracking due dates feels like a struggle, one can simplify these tasks using TimelyBills. This application not only allows users to track all their bills in one place but also sends regular reminders so they never miss payments. What’s more, it can be synced across multiple devices, allowing couples, groups, families, and roommates to keep tabs on their shared payment history.
EveryDollar
Based on Dave Ramsey’s financial planning process, EveryDollar is another app for managing shared finances. This app helps users create budgets, set up savings funds, set bill due dates, split transactions, sync bank accounts, track real-time transactions, generate custom income and spending reports, track financial goals, and do much more.
With EveryDollar, users can assign their money to specific categories to keep track of every last dollar in their accounts! While users gain access to shared tracking features with the free version of the app as well, a premium subscription will be required for advanced features. This can cost $17.99 per month or $79.99 per year.
