People talk about having their head in the clouds, well, how about having your money in the clouds? To be more precise, it’s putting your money in the cloud. Hey, cloud computing is a big thing today; all the cool kids are doing it!
When it comes to money, it’s important to set up and maintain a realistic budget, so that you always know where the money’s going. As it so happens, there’s a wealth of budgeting apps out there that are supposed to make life easier for the average cost-conscious user. So, should you give them a try? What exactly are budget apps good for, anyway?
Money in the cloud actually means more money in your pocket
To Budget And Track Your Spending In Real-Time
Ever spend a day shopping and running errands, only to check your bank balance online when you get home and see what a horrendously huge bite has just been taken out of your checking account? There are budget apps out there that help you easily keep track of your expenditures. Life can use a few less nasty surprises, don’t you think?
For Viewing All Of Your Accounts In One Place
In keeping with the above example, let’s say you end up using your bank card, a major credit card, three store credit cards, and even your PayPal because hey, why not? There are financial integration apps out there that combine all of your financial information into one easy to reach central point. Call it one-stop accountability. In fact, some apps even allow you to combine this with spending tracking.
For Comparison Shopping
Is there anything more annoying than buying something, coming home pleased with yourself, logging on, and immediately finding the same product for substantially less? Comparison shopping apps allow you to make immediate in-store price comparisons.
For Finding Coupons
Yes, much to the surprise of absolutely no one, there are coupon apps out there. Coupon apps help you find, collect, and use money-saving coupons, and that’s good news for your budget.
For Keeping Your Tank Full Without Emptying Your Wallet
At the time of this writing, gas in the USA is screamingly cheap. So, let’s have a show of hands: does anyone really think this will last forever? Yeah, didn’t think so. There are gas price apps out there to help you find the cheapest gas per gallon, based on your geographical location. This may not be such a big deal at this exact moment, but inevitably it will attract a lot more attention once the price of oil eventually climbs again.
Hey! What About Security Concerns?
There are no absolutely one hundred percent security measures that you can take in order to foil hackers. Add to this the recent news stories of hackers accessing certain celebrities’ personal files on cloud storage, and concerns justifiably are raised.
There are steps that you can take to mitigate the risk. Make sure your password is tough to figure out, and change it every so often. Be certain that whatever apps you get are coming from official app stores, or at the very least, the official website of the company.
As far as non-user security is concerned, most storage services and wireless carriers employ encryption. For added peace of mind, check the app’s URL in the address bar; if there’s an “https” in place of “http”, that means the form uses a secure HTTP.
With an increasing amount of computing being handled in the cloud, it’s inevitable that most of our everyday data will wind up there. The above-mentioned apps, in conjunction with data gathered from the cloud, can mean significant budget success without excessive security concerns. If you’re looking for some good ones to get you started, check out “3 Apps That Can Help You Maintain a Lavish Lifestyle on an Average Budget”.