A new academic year is approaching and the current living situation could add pressure to manage expenses efficiently. The rising cost of education and living expenses can be overwhelming to most families.
Learning financial literacy is a vital skill that every student and parent should learn. Fortunately, technology offers a variety of solutions with different apps that teach budgeting, track spending, and offer discount vouchers.
Gearing up for the new school year does not have to be stressful. Whether you're looking to strengthen your financial skills or just want to discover the wonder of budgeting, here are some apps to help you covered:
Rakuten
Rakuten is a cashback app that allows users to gain rewards as they shop on the platform. The app is partnered with a variety of stores that offer back-to-school essentials. Users can earn a significant amount of savings when they use the app to shop.
The service is also user-friendly as it allows users to shop through the app or install a browser extension. The accumulated cashback is automatically applied upon checkout.
YNAB
YNAB stands for "You Need A Budget" and is a budgeting app that assists users in managing their money. This particular service is a good starting point to teach students how to budget their allowance for the first time.
It provides early financial literacy to anyone, teaching users to budget, save, and plan for future expenses. It is also customizable, allowing users to add their goals or expected expenses that they need to save up for.
Credit Karma
When Mint announced its shutdown, its parent company Intuit told its users that Credit Karma is the best alternative that they could recommend. The app bears similar Mint-style features such as linked accounts, cash flow, net worth, and list of transactions.
It is also an advanced app for people who want to monitor their credit. There are also personalized recommendations to promote responsible credit use among its users.
Goodbudget
Enveloping is a traditional and manual strategy of budgeting that has been used by people for a long time. Goodbudget provides a digital experience of enveloping by allowing its users to allocate money to different categories like groceries, allowances, and more.
Both parents and students can share their financial management through the app. This promotes transparency and teamwork if budgeting with the family. It also provides a clear overview of where each penny is being spent, allowing the user to adjust their budget if needed.
UNiDays
UNiDays is a student-centered discount app that provides exclusive deals to students. They could access products like tech, clothing, and school supplies through the app for a lower price.
Popular brands like Apple, Microsoft, ASOS, and more are partnered with the platform. This ensures that all the deals and products offered are legitimate despite their reduced prices.
Essential software in school like Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Cloud are also included in the deals, helping the students to gain subscriptions at a lower price.
