The convenience of technology

I remember the excitement I felt when I had started my first year at high school in Zimbabwe and the school I went to made an announcement that we could use calculators in our mathematics classes. Gone were the days where we would spend time trying to solve mathematical problems on paper. Fast forward a few years, we have smart phones that pretty much do everything apart from cooking!

The evolution of technology has made some mundane tasks a lot easier than they would have been before, for example, tracking and analysing expenses. With the introduction of open banking it is now possible to view of all your bank accounts in one place, you can use budgeting apps that can be linked to your bank accounts to provide real time updates and analysis.

The application I like to use is from one of the big high street banks in the UK. It provides spending analysis in graph format. I can analyse and compare month on month or year on year. I can also have a view of changes in the amount spent between different expense categories. This is a great function because I can easily see any anomalies or overspending. In order for it to be fully functional, all purchases and bill payments have should be made from the same account. You can check if your banking app provides this functionality. 

Above is an example of the analysis and some of the categories expenses are grouped into by the app.

Tracking expenses is an important part of good financial management as you need to be aware of actual spend. It also helps you see any overspend which can be stopped ie a double payment on the same bill etc. Using an app on my phone is a great way to track expenses as I can do it on the go and it is convenient and easy to use. It doesn’t remove the need for a budget as I still have to plan my finances however, the evolution of technology is making it easier to manage finances. It’s just a matter of finding out which way works best for you.