The right budgeting app can turn managing your money from a chore to an enjoyable one. Monarch Money With an intuitive system to help you track your expenses, create budgets, and even monitor your investments, this app might suit your needs.
Below, CNBC Select reviews Monarch Money’s features, pricing, and whether it’s right for you.
Monarch
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Fee
$8.33/month (billed $99.99 annually), $14.99/month (billed monthly)
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Notable Features
Net worth tracker, investment portfolio tracking, goal setting & progress tracking, budget & expense tracking
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Categorize your expenses
Yes, but the user can change it
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Linking to an account
Yes, this includes bank accounts, credit cards, IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans
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availability
Available on both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android), as well as a web version
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Security Features
According to Monarch, it leverages industry-leading security practices. Website
- It includes an easy-to-navigate money tracking dashboard with a net worth tracker and investment portfolio tracking and breakdown.
- Easily sync your bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts
- Allows users to easily create and prioritize key goals
- Users can add collaborators (such as financial advisors and partners) for free
- Track recurring expenses
- Not available for free
- The recommendations in the “Advice” tab are a bit general
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Like other fintech platforms, Monarch Money Before you sign up for the app and purchase a yearly subscription, there are some pros and cons to consider.
Strong Points
- The dashboard is very easy to navigate and setting up your account is simple.
- Like many other budgeting apps on the market, Monarch Money lets you connect your bank accounts, investment accounts, and credit cards so that every time you log in, your dashboard automatically updates to reflect your transactions, balances, and net worth.
- The dashboard shows you your monthly recurring expenses so you can easily identify subscriptions, memberships, and other recurring payments.
- The dashboard also includes a net worth tracker, a monthly progress tracker for income and expenses, a portfolio and cash flow investment tracker, and expense and income reports.
Cons
- Monarch Money costs $99.99 billed annually ($8.33 per month, or $14.99 billed monthly), which may be too much to pay for a budgeting app.
Monarch Money gives you a bird’s-eye view of where your money is going by syncing information from your bank, credit cards, and investment accounts. Users can also connect their student loans, other debts, and assets (including cryptocurrency, real estate, and vehicles). You can create a monthly budget and monitor transactions and recurring expenses. You can also use the app to track your net worth over time and monitor your investment portfolio activity.
Some of Monarch Money’s useful features include:
- Personalized and prioritized goals: You can create a list of custom goals (such as “down payment on a house” or “trip to Paris”) and assign a financial account to each one. Monarch will then provide simple recommendations to help you reach your goals based on the amount you set for each goal, the balance of your linked accounts, and other factors. While the app’s advice is helpful, for more complex goals like saving for retirement, we recommend working with a financial advisor.
- Zero-Based Budgeting: In terms of budgeting, Monarch Money allows for a zero-based budgeting approach. WainabIt tells users exactly how much money they have left to spend each month, but doesn’t force them to give a role to all of it.
Monarch Money’s comprehensive dashboard (and subscription fee) is perfect for anyone who wants to see their financial situation at a glance and actually use the app to make decisions about what to do with their money.
$8.33/month or $99.99/year (billed annually)
$14.99/month (billed monthly)
Monarch Money offers a 7-day free trial.
You can register Monarch Money Follow the instructions to enter your name, email address, and other information via the website or by downloading the app, available on Google Play and the App Store.
Monarch Money is a powerful budgeting and expense tracking platform, but it’s not the right choice for everyone.
If you don’t want to pay for a budgeting app Empower is another platform that can sync with your online account to track your transactions and monitor your investments. Unlike Monarch Money, however, Empower is free to use unless you add on the investment management service, in which case you’ll pay 0.89% of your portfolio (for accounts under $1 million).
Empower
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Fee
The app is free, but users can add investment management services for 0.89% of their funds (for accounts under $1 million).
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Notable Features
A budgeting app and investment tool that tracks both expenses and assets
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Categorize your expenses
Yes, but the user can change it
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Linking to an account
Yes, this includes bank accounts, credit cards, IRAs, 401(k)s, mortgages and loans
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availability
Available on both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android)
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Security Features
Data encryption, fraud prevention, and strong user authentication
- Free to use
- Includes a money tracking dashboard, net worth tracker and investment portfolio breakdown
- Offers free investment tools such as retirement planners and investment checkers
- Sync your bank accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts
- The Currency blog provides financial planning tips
- Security features include data encryption, fraud prevention, and strong user authentication.
- Budgeting features aren’t as comprehensive as other apps
- Investment management services are costly
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If you’re looking for a budgeting app that takes a different approach to managing your money, Good Budget It’s worth a look. It effectively brings to life a cash envelope system. Your first 20 envelopes are free, but unlimited envelopes cost $70 per year. At this price point, Goodbudget is a bit more affordable than Monarch Money, but the approach to budgeting is quite different.
Good Budget
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Fee
Free for a total of 20 envelopes. Unlimited envelopes cost $10/month (or $80/year)
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Notable Features
Allow couples to use a digital envelope system for budgeting and help couples keep track of their debts
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Categorize your expenses
Yes, but the app does not sync with bank accounts, so users must enter transactions manually.
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Linking to an account
No, users must manually enter purchases and transactions
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availability
It’s available on both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android), and there’s also a version for laptops.
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Security Features
Your information is protected using bank-grade 256-bit SSL
- Free version of the app
- Helps couples manage their money together and track expenses and debts
- Ability to share budgets with partners
- Digital envelopes help couples save for big goals that matter to them
- Available Money Management Courses and Resources
- It is not possible to connect a bank account, so users must enter transactions manually
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CNBC Select’s mission is to provide our readers with quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice to help them make informed decisions about their money. Every personal finance article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge. Budgeting product. While CNBC Select earns commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties and pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.
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Editor’s note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are solely those of the Select editorial staff and have not been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any third party.