Top 3 Budgeting Apps in Canada

Without a budget, it’s easy to spend more money than you make. If you aren’t monitoring your income and expenses, you can quickly lose track of your hard-earned cash. This can result in getting to the end of your money before the end of the month. A budget is a plan for your money. By creating a budget, you become more aware of your money and more conscious of how you spend it. If you’re not sure how to make a budget, there are a wide variety of budgeting apps available to guide you through the process. These apps can help you track and monitor your spending and set short and long-term financial goals.

Top Budgeting Apps in Canada

If you’re ready to take control of your money, consider using a budgeting app. By automating the process, these apps make it easier and faster to track and analyze your spending. You don’t need to know how to use Excel or spend time manually entering data.  Unfortunately, they only offer free use for a limited time and then you have to pay monthly or yearly, but it is worth it if they keep your finances organized. Here are some of the top-rated budgeting apps in Canada:

1. YNAB (You Need a Budget)

This app uses a zero-based budget strategy in which every dollar you make is assigned to an expense, debt payment, or savings category. With this app, you can build a budget, track your transactions, and set and track your financial goals. The YNAB app features a loan payoff simulation that calculates when your loan will be paid, and a loan calculator to determine how much interest and time you’ll save with each dollar you put towards your debt. If you want to get fancy, you can create graphs and charts to visualize your progress and watch your money grow. YNAB offers a 34-day free trial. After that, you’ll have to decide if you want to pay for the service. The cost is $9.08 USD per month, or $109 USD if you pay annually.

2. Monarch

With this app, you can create a budget, track your spending, and set long-term savings goals. If you invest, Monarch has a feature that tracks and analyzes your portfolio’s performance and allocation. The Monarch app can also detect recurring bills and subscriptions and reminds you about them before you’re billed. This prevents you from forgetting about subscriptions and spending unnecessarily. You can try Monarch free for seven days and then you’ll have to pay $8.33 USD per month or $99.99 USD for an annual subscription.

3. Pocket Guard

Pocket Guard offers budgeting, transaction management, and financial goal-setting tools. You can use the app to analyze your net worth and to keep an eye on your financial situation. If you’re trying to eliminate debt, Pocket Guard guides you in choosing a debt repayment strategy and then prioritizes your debt payments based on your choice. The Pocket Guard app also provides a debt payoff schedule, so you can see exactly how many payments are left until you’re debt-free. If you want to accelerate debt payment, the app can help you optimize your budget. You can try Pocket Guard for free for seven days, then it’s $6.25 USD per month or $74.99 USD per year.

Other Budgeting Methods:

In addition to budgeting apps, there are different methods you can apply to track and manage your money. Some examples include:

Pen and paper

If you’d like a hard copy of your budget, you can use a pen and paper. We offer a weekly budget planner that you can print off or download as an Excel file – And it’s Free!

Envelope system

With this strategy, you put a specific amount of money into envelopes. Each envelope represents a budget category, such as groceries or gas. When you empty an envelope, you have no more money to spend on that category. If you have money left over in any of your envelopes at the end of the month, you can roll it into the next month, use it to spend on another category, or put it into savings. You can use the envelope system with physical cash and envelopes, or there are apps that apply this strategy electronically.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

Another option is to ask a large language model like ChatGPT to create a budget for you. You can input your income and expenses and ChatGPT can calculate how much money is left over. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing detailed financial information, you can be more general. You can also ask ChatGPT for ideas on how to achieve specific financial goals, such as paying off debt or saving for retirement. Know that ChatGPT does make mistakes and shouldn’t be your only source for financial advice. It’s important to double-check calculations and if you need serious debt help, consider speaking to a financial professional such as a Licensed Insolvency Trustee.

How to Create a Budget and Set Savings Goals

If you want to understand how to create a budget, take a look at the following steps:

1. Calculate your income. Review your pay stubs and bank statements to determine your income. This includes your salary or wages, tips, and extra cash from your side hustle. If your income fluctuates between months, base your lowest pay.
2. Calculate your expenses. There are two types of expenses – fixed and variable. Your fixed expenses are the ones that stay the same from month to month, like your rent or mortgage, utilities, and car payments. Your variable expenses are ones that fluctuate. For instance, how much you spend on eating out, entertainment, or subscription services. You need to calculate both types to figure out how much money you spend each month, on average.
3. Determine your balance. Subtract your expenses from your income to determine if you’re spending within your limits, or going over budget. If your expenses are higher than your income, you’ll need to make some adjustments. You can either try to reduce your variable expenses, increase your income, or both.
4. Set financial goals. How do you want to spend your money? First, you have to cover your fixed expenses. If there’s money left over, you need to decide how much you want to spend on your financial goals. For example, if you’d like to start an emergency fund, assign a certain dollar amount to this budget item.
5. Track your spending. Once you’ve created a budget, track your spending to ensure you stick to it. If your financial situation changes, you can update your budget accordingly.

Need Debt Help? Speak to a Licensed Insolvency Trustee

A budgeting app is a good tool to help you track your income and expenses so you can start to take control of your money. If you’re dealing with a mountain of debt, you might need more than a budget. A Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) is a debt professional who can assess your finances and help you come up with a plan to get out of debt. Trustees are the only professionals in Canada who can offer all of the debt relief solutions, including Bankruptcy and Consumer Proposals. For debt help, call us at 1-888-371-8900, or fill in our online contact form. You don’t have to deal with financial problems alone, we can help.