Getting the Personal Financial Management Tools You Need

Financial management tools almost seem like they’re built for the people who don’t really need them, especially if you’re in a traditionally under-serviced group. That’s because most of the indicators of risk used by traditional lending institutions wind up coming back around to whether you’ve got cash reserves and other assets to cover your debts when you take out credit. That doesn’t help people with a regular income and short-term needs because of unexpected expenses, even if it does make sense from an investor’s perspective. Luckily, with the advent of digital financial management tools and services, there are options to the traditional infrastructure that serve the needs of people who are traditionally left out of the conversation, whether it’s because their needs don’t fit traditional banking or credit.

New Digital Tools for Saving and Investing

Saving and investing is harder now than it has been for generations because of the decline in employer-sponsored retirement benefits as the economy has pivoted to favor the self-employed in many sectors. This has created a new demand for personal financial management tools that allow people whose status as small entrepreneurs to access the tools they would normally be able to get from an employer, from retirement savings and investments to FSAs and other methods of saving for healthcare expenses. If you’re not supported by these tools now, you should check into what you can do with apps from your insurance provider and third-party services designed to support your financial planning and provision of benefits to yourself.

Meeting the Cash Advance Needs of Diverse Populations

Of course, credit is the area where underserved communities have the most difficulty accessing resources, and the online marketplace has moved to provide there, too. From apps that help you round up and save when you buy things online and in person to those that can give you an advance against your next payday by confirming your time card, a variety of new tools have come out to help people who are working in circumstances that make traditional short-term loans difficult to obtain for a variety of reasons. This is in large part due to the influence of entrepreneurs like Don Gayhardt who realized the impact digital platforms could have on the provision of services to underserved populations. Now, thanks to those groundbreaking initial entrepreneurs in the field, there are more and more options everyday for people across all economic brackets and backgrounds to access the financial management tools that suit them.

Planning for Your Own Future and Needs

If you’re looking at how you can use your mobile device to empower your financial planning, the key is too ask yourself what do you need now? Is it access to short-term cash advances? A ledger system to track your cash flow? Investment tools? If you hone in on the needs you have now and look for the best solution instead of trying to find a one-size-fits all financial management resource, you’ll have a much easier time putting together the tools you need to effectively manage your finances, because each of them will be the best one for the job, instead of just being the one that came with some of your other tools.