Apps to Actually Help Millennials Save Money

On February 17, 2015

Categories: Saving Tips

Millennials aren’t doing a great job saving.apps for saving money millenials
According to Federal Reserve data, about half of Americans have not saved a single dime for retirement. And in a recent survey, only 68 percent of Americans said they’re spending less money than they make.
According to Moody’s, the Millennial generation has a savings rate of negative 2 percent.
The first place you might think to go to help you save is your bank. But there are some innovative apps out there outside of the traditional brick and mortar banks that have some new ideas on how to make saving easy. These apps use technology to create you a unique savings account to help you save in general or for a specific goal like a wedding or a down payment.
This app takes the approach that it can pay closer attention to your money than you can, so it looks at what you spend, when you get your paycheck and when your bills are do and when it thinks you have enough to save it makes an automatic transfer from your checking account to a new Digit savings account. So it sort of steals your money without you asking it to and puts it into a savings account.
Cost:
It is completely free to use but the way they make money is by keeping any interest your money makes.
This app helps you save by rounding up purchases. If you spend $3.49 on something Acorns rounds it up to $4.00 and then .51 goes into your Acorns account. Your Acorns account is not a traditional savings account but a diversified investment account. You can set how you want your money invested in general terms, the default is Moderate.
Cost:
Acorns charges $1/month for accounts with a balance of less than $5,000. When you get over $5,000 the fee structure changes to .25%/year.
Smarty Pig is a savings account with a twist to help you save. In order to open an account, you HAVE to set a goal and home improvement is an option under the finance category. To complete your account set up you also need to set up automatic transfers and make an initial deposit. They offer some other options to boost your savings like signing up for their credit card to get more.
Cost: Free, savings account rate is 1% APY
Are there other apps that you use to help you save? Have you used any of these apps, tell us what you think in the comments!
Note: To get started with any of these options, remember that they are going to ask for a lot of sensitive information from you because you are opening a bank account. So they are going to require social security number, checking account, Acorns needs your credit card number etc.