5 Best Free Money Apps for Young Professionals

By Dave Holcomb

Making financial decisions can be overwhelming for anyone. It can be especially challenging for young professionals just beginning a life of financial independence.

But in 2021, it doesn’t have to be hard to get started. You can begin learning about personal finance with a variety of free apps you can download to your smartphone or tablet.

In this article, I’ll recommend the five best apps I’ve found for young professionals to use to help make smart financial decisions.

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Best Free Money Apps for Young Professionals in 2021

For this article, I focused on apps that will help in five important areas: budgeting, banking, credit monitoring, job searching and investing.

I consulted with our finance writers on Team Clark. They’ve researched these apps extensively. Also, to be considered for my list, each app must be free to use and have a combined Android and iOS rating of at least 9.0.

Here are what I found to be the five best free money apps for young professionals.

Budgeting: Mint

Money expert Clark Howard strongly advocates spending less than you make. This is a lot easier to do if you create a budget.

Mint not only helps you create a budget, it can bring together a full overview of your finances.

According to money expert Clark Howard, Mint is an excellent app for budgeting.

The personal finance app is owned by Intuit, the company behind TurboTax and QuickBooks. While Mint is completely free to use, you will have to put up with a number of ads.

To get started after downloading the app, you’ll have to enter your email address, phone number and create a password for the account. Then you can begin linking your bank and credit card accounts to categorize transactions, set financial goals, develop a budget, track investments, check your credit score and more.

For more information on Mint, check out Team Clark's full guide to the app.

Also good: Personal Capital and You Need a Budget (YNAB).

Banking: Chime

Putting your hard-earned money in the right place is vital to avoiding unnecessary fees and earning the most interest. The best banks for fewer fees and more interest are online.

Chime provides fee-free online banking services. With Chime, you can get a checking account (which it calls a “spending” account), a savings account with a competitive interest rate, a debit card and a free ATM network.

I asked Clark.com banking expert Christopher Smith for his recommendation for an app that would best serve young professionals.

"Chime offers the most well-received app among the online-only 'banks,' although it's technically a financial services company.

"If you're 21, you're a digital native and aren't going to miss having access to a physical branch. Plus, your financial life probably is simple enough that you won't need to sit with a banker for something like a home loan application."

To open an account, download the app and then click on the “Apply Now” button. You will have to provide basic information (name, address, email address, etc.).

With a Chime Spending Account, you don’t get a checkbook. But you do get a Visa debit card with access to more than 38,000 ATM locations throughout the United States.

With a Chime Spending Account, you can add money through direct deposits, transfers from other banks, mobile check deposits and cash deposits at more than 90,000 retail locations. A Chime Spending Account also allows you to set up automatic payments for monthly bills.

A Chime Spending Account works with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. It offers free transactions and free person-to-person transfers too.

Chime savings accounts pay 0.50% in annual interest as of June 2021.

For more on Chime, check out Team Clark's Pros and Cons Chime Review. Also read Team Clark's complete guide to the best online banks in 2021.

Also good: Ally Bank.

Credit Monitoring: Credit Karma

Credit scores have a huge impact on your life. They’re a determining factor in whether a lender is willing to approve you for a credit card, car loan or mortgage – and what rate you’ll pay.

Credit Karma provides free access to credit scores from TransUnion and Equifax, two of the three major credit bureaus.

It also provides educational resources on many financial topics including what a good credit score is and ways to improve your credit score.

Clark really likes Credit Karma:

Credit Karma is owned by Intuit. It’s free to use but does have ads.

After downloading the app, you will need to enter your name, an email address and create a new password. Next, you’ll be required to share your mailing address, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security Number. Credit Karma requests this information so it can access your credit reports.

In addition to credit monitoring, the app suggests credit cards based on your credit score and the likelihood you’ll will be approved. You can also get quotes for auto insurance as well as loans. (Note that Credit Karma’s website says, “We do get paid through our partners if you get a product through one of our recommendations.”)

For more information on Credit Karma, check out Team Clark's full guide to the app.

Also good: Credit Sesame.

Job Searching: Indeed

Before you create a budget and open a bank account, of course you need some money!

Indeed is a search engine for job hunting. Not only can you search for jobs, you can also create and store a resume, read ratings of companies and even communicate with potential employers.

Clark.com job search platform expert Dallas Cox told me she recommends Indeed.

"Indeed is basically the full package when it comes to finding and applying for jobs. Plus, the app is simple and highly rated, so that tells me the user experience is probably pretty good for most of the mobile features."

Indeed is free to use. The app makes its money from sponsored job postings.  It costs you nothing to search and apply for jobs.

After downloading the app, you can begin searching for jobs without creating an account. But creating an account lets you follow companies, save a resume and communicate with potential employers.

Signing up is easy. You’ll just need to provide an email address and create a password.

You can find full-time, part-time, contract, freelance and internship opportunities on the app. You can also follow companies to get their latest job openings and corporate updates.

For more information on Indeed, check out Team Clark's full guide to the app.

Also good: Glassdoor, LinkedIn, FlexJobs and Upwork.

Investing: Fidelity

Before becoming an investor, Clark recommends becoming a saver. (One important savings account you could open is an emergency fund.)

Once you've got a good savings cushion, you can invest some of your money to prepare for the future. Job #1: retirement. Clark supports widely diversified investing with a long-term focus.

Fidelity Investments is a great place to get started. In his review, Christopher Smith wrote that Fidelity provides the best investor education in the industry.

And in his article, 6 Best Stock Trading and Investment Apps of 2021, Christopher Smith called Fidelity the "best overall."

"It's easy to look at how many of the best stock trading apps offer $0 commissions and assume they're all equal on price. But you'd be hard-pressed to find a self-directed investment platform with better overall rates than Fidelity."

In addition to regular investment accounts, Fidelity also offers retirement accounts, a cash management account and a 529 college savings account.

Team Clark also recommends Fidelity's credit card because it offers 2% cash back on every purchase, and there's no annual fee. You can even arrange to have the money you receive in cash back automatically sent to your Fidelity investment account.

For more information on Fidelity, check out Team Clark's full guide to the app.

Also good: Vanguard and Schwab.

Final Thoughts

Don’t be overwhelmed with personal finance. It takes most people a while to become confident with financial decisions.

Mint, Chime, Credit Karma, Indeed and Fidelity will help you get started.

For further help, you can reach out to Clark's Consumer Action Center. The center can help with specific questions, and it's completely free.

More from Clark.com

[ This article was originally published on Clark.com ]

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