Apps

4 Apps That Make “Adulting” Easy

Despite the seamless connectivity and conveniences our digital world affords, things can quickly get complicated based on the plethora of tools we have at our disposal. And Millennials, despite growing up with technology, often experience paralysis when it comes to taking care of everyday life needs. To cut through the noise, here are four tried-and-true apps to make every area of life simpler — from secure messaging and password protection to meal planning, budgeting, investing, and more.

IMAGE: PEXELS

Meal Planning – Yummly

Resisting the urge to eat out is difficult these days. Tons of cuisines and interesting fusion concepts abound. Cooking also takes time and energy, which we are often short on at the end of the day. Falling into this routine certainly carries a costly price tag, though. That’s where meal-planning apps like Yummly save the day.

Yummly allows users to search from over 2 million recipes based on filters ranging from ‘no-bake’ and ‘diet and allergy’ to ‘kid-friendly’ and ‘quick and easy.’ It goes a step further by making smart shopping lists, displaying step-by-step video tutorials, and most importantly, a scheduler, so you know when it’s time to start cooking!

Smart Budgeting – Clarity Money

Navigating our financial world is murkier than ever. Even the most prudent of us throw money away each month on things we don’t need. Any ole budgeting tool can show us this, but that would require sifting through our monthly transactions one line at a time. If only there were a way to have technology do the heavy lifting by cutting out the fat for us.

This is precisely what makes Clarity Money one of the best budgeting apps around. Using the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), Clarity Money analyzes your spending patterns to deliver personalized insights that help you optimize and save money.

Have a gym membership you’re barely using or a latte habit you refuse to acknowledge the trust cost of? Clarity Money will alert you of the things you’re spending your money on each month—just like a personal financial manager would, except, you know, for free.

Automated Investing – M1 Finance

Millennials might be delaying major life events like buying a home, getting married, and having kids because of exorbitant student loans and the widespread gig economy. However, that’s no excuse for setting something aside for the future. Traditional investing options are looking less and less attractive with automated investing tools like M1 finance.

Unlike traditional brokerages and financial advisors, M1 manages money without trading fees or commissions, but the real benefit is the ability to buy fractional shares of companies. Don’t have enough money to buy a share of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock?

Yeah, me neither. But with M1, you can still own the multinational conglomerate and anything else you want by creating custom pies of individual stocks and funds, or choosing from nearly 100 expert pies based on your goals and risk tolerance.

Password Management – 1Password

The only app that costs money on this list, 1password is worth every penny of its $2.99/month price tag, and then some. Why? A 2015 analysis found that the average internet user has at least 90 online accounts, a number that will only increase. However, compromising on security (i.e., reusing the same password) is not the answer.

Plenty of free password management apps exist, but 1password tops them all with its easy-to-use interface, ability to keep personal and business information separate as well as offering both browser extension and desktop app options.

They also provide an emergency kit (which you can save on an encrypted USB drive) in case you forget your secret key. Do you have experience with any of these apps? What other tools do you recommend to simplify the day to day? Let us know in the comments!

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