5 Apps to Help Keep Your 2014 Financial Goals

We all make new year’s resolutions with good intentions. But come February, many of them have fallen to the wayside.

Whether your goal is to increase your savings account by 20% or lose 20 pounds, it can be hard to stay motivated throughout the year. Luckily, there are apps out there that will help keep us inspired and hold us accountable to help reach our financial goals.

Here’s a look at five financial apps that will help you keep your money resolutions this year.

1. goalGETTER

Setting realistic goals and being held accountable are key components to reaching financial goals and goalGetter helps your do both. With the free app, you input your savings amount and then select different goals, whether it’s to buy a new car or pay off credit card debt. Once you input the finances required for the goal, the app will track your savings to see how far you are from meeting your goals.

2. Mint

In order to save more and reduce your debt, you have to know where your money is going at all times, and that’s where the Mint app comes in. Brought to you from the developers of the popular Mint website, this app automatically categorizes your transactions, making it easy to track your money as you spend it.

The app also lets you chart and graph your spending, get bill reminders and alerts and provides personal finances tips and advice. Since all of your accounts are stored in the app, the app is password protected so even if you lost your phone, there’s an extra layer of protection.

3. LearnVest

We could all use a little professional advice when it comes to achieving our money goals, and LearnVest’s app provides access to personalized financial advice during a free 15-minute call with a planning expert. The app, which has been downloaded more than 250,000 times, also connects all your financial accounts, shows you real-time spending figures and lets you set and view your financial goals on the go. The company says the app is encrypted with bank-level security to help keep information safe.

4. Personal Capital

If your financial resolution is stay on top of your investments, check out the Personal Capital app. It tracks your investments by account, asset class and individual security. At a quick glance you’ll know how your investments are performing and how they compare to major indices. The app also shows the diversification of your investments along with the exact percentage of each asset class.  Need an investment checkup? The app can do that by showing you how much you stand to gain with your current investments and how to make any changes.

5. SavedPlus

Saving becomes a lot easier when it’s automatic. The concept behind SavedPlus is simple: Choose a percentage you want to save and every time you buy something, a percentage of it will go directly into savings.  Let’s say you chose to save 10% and made a $75 purchase, that means $7.50 will be moved into your savings account. The company claims customers save an average of $205 a month and $2,500 a year. SavedPlus works with more than 3,500 U.S. banks--eliminating your excuse not to save.