With AI gaining so much attention these days, you may be wondering how you can use it to optimize your financial life. We looked at personal finance apps that use AI to help you achieve different goals, and found the best ones to help you invest, budget, manage your subscriptions, and even save on travel.
Some of our selected products use AI to learn your spending habits and organize transactions on your behalf. Some use AI algorithms to examine data and suggest actions to help achieve specific goals. (Read below to learn more about our methodology).
Explore checking and savings options built to grow your money even more.
Offers in this section come from affiliate partners and are selected based on a combination of engagement, product relevance, compensation, and consistent availability.
The best AI-powered apps to manage and grow your money
Perfect for investment
improvement
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Minimum deposit amount and balance
Minimum deposit and balance requirements may vary depending on the investment vehicle you choose. For example, Betterment does not require customers to maintain a minimum investment account balance, but the minimum amount for ACH deposits is $10. Premium investments require a minimum balance of $100,000.
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Fee
Fees may vary depending on investment vehicle selected, account balance, etc. Click here for more information.
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investment vehicle
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investment options
Stocks, bonds, ETFs, cash
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educational resources
Betterment offers retirement benefits and other educational materials
Terms and conditions apply. Not applicable to crypto asset portfolios.
Strong Points
- No transaction fees or remittance fees
- Perfect for automatic investing
- Customize your portfolio to fit your financial goals, schedule, and risk tolerance.
- Users can assign specific investment objectives (short-term and long-term) to each portfolio and invest using different strategies (less risk and more risk).
- Set up your account quickly and easily
- You can sync your external retirement accounts with your Betterment retirement goals so all your accounts are in one place. Premium plan users have unlimited access to financial advisors (otherwise, a one-time advisor consultation costs $299 to $399)
- Advanced features such as automatic rebalancing, tax saving strategies, and socially responsible investing
Cons
- The base price of the investment account is $4 per month. Once your regular monthly deposits total $250 or your Betterment account balance reaches a total of $20,000, you will automatically switch to an annual price of 0.25% of your investment account balance.
- Premium plan requires a minimum balance of $100,000
Who is this for? In fact, CNBC Select ranked Betterment as one of the best robo-advisors for beginners, thanks to the platform’s algorithms that automatically rebalance your portfolio as your needs and goals change. The platform also offers features such as loss recovery to help you save on taxes. Here, the platform automatically sells your loss-making positions and helps you offset your tax liability.
Outstanding advantages: Betterment has no minimum balance requirements and annual account fees are as low as 0.25% of the fund balance for balances between $20,000 and $1 million, and $4 per month for balances between $0 and $20,000.
Perfect for budgeting
I need a budget (YNAB)
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Fee
34-day free trial, then $109/year ($9.08/month) or $14.99/month (12 months free for college students with proof of enrollment)
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Distinctive features
Instead of using traditional budget buckets, users allocate every dollar they earn to something (known as a “zero-based budgeting system” where there are no unspent dollars). Every dollar has a “work” assigned to it, whether it’s used for bills, savings, investments, etc.
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Categorize your expenses
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Link to account
Yes, bank card and credit card
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availability
Available on both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android)
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Security features
Encrypted data, certified data centers, third-party audits, and more
Strong Points
- We offer a 34-day free trial and 12 months free for college students
- Designed to help you get out of debt
- The YNAB website claims that the average user can save $600 in the first two months and $6,000 in the first year
- Sync with your bank account or credit card
- Users can set goals and customize spending categories
- We offer educational resources like budget advice and free live workshops
- personal customer support
- Security features include encrypted data, certified data centers, third-party auditing, and more.
Cons
- Price is $109 per year or $14.99 per month
- Customer reviews point out that it takes a long time to set up compared to other apps
Who is this for? YNAB is known as a platform that promotes zero-based budgeting methods. With zero-based budgeting, you end up using all of your income wisely by allocating all of your money to work instead of just guessing where to spend it. The platform uses machine learning to read your spending patterns and automatically categorize your transactions, but it also helps you identify areas where you need to make changes to reach your goals.
Outstanding advantages: YNAB provides resources such as live workshops, podcasts, guides, blog posts, and more for users who want to learn more about improving their financial lives.
Perfect for managing subscriptions
rocket money
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Fee
The basic plan is free. Rocket Money Premium costs between $7 and $14 per month and comes with a 7-day free trial. The cost of bill negotiation services ranges from 35% to 60% of the first year’s savings if the negotiation is successful.
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Distinctive features
Easily cancel unnecessary subscriptions, track your spending and credit score, automate your savings, and get help to reduce your bills. Rocket Money Premium includes additional services such as net worth tracking, credit reporting, and subscription cancellation concierge services
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safety
Rocket Money accesses transaction data via encrypted tokens, uses the Plaid API to ensure user credentials are never stored, provides bank-grade 256-bit encryption, and hosts servers on Amazon Web Services.
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availability
Available online in both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android).
Strong Points
- Easily view and cancel unwanted subscriptions
- Free version available
- A+ from the Better Business Bureau
Cons
- Non-refundable bill negotiation fees can be up to 60% of discount amount
- Premium price varies
Who is this for? Rocket Money uses machine learning to identify recurring transactions and subscriptions and help you consider whether to cancel them. Although the Platform may automatically cancel some subscriptions on your behalf, you may need to manually cancel some subscriptions and memberships on the Platform. Still, the simple act of helping you find all your subscriptions can go a long way in getting your finances on the right track.
Outstanding advantages: This platform offers more than just subscription tracking and cancellation. Users can take advantage of a concierge service that tracks credit scores, negotiates lower bills, and even budgeting tools that track spending and net worth over time.
Great for travel savings
hopper
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Fee
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Distinctive features
Automatically track the price of your desired flight tickets, receive notifications about potential price increases and decreases, book flights and hotels through the platform, and receive offers and discounts on your travels.
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availability
Available online in both the App Store (for iOS) and Google Play (for Android).
Strong Points
- Free to use
- Helps users find flight and hotel deals
- Users can track flight ticket prices and predict the ideal time to purchase a flight ticket.
- The price freeze feature allows users to “hold” a flight at the current price until they decide whether they really want to buy it.
Cons
- When you book through a third-party platform, some ticket and hotel coverage may not be available to you as if you booked directly with the airline or hotel.
Who is this for? Hopper uses machine learning to save money on flight and hotel bookings by predicting when flight prices will be more or less expensive. Users can receive notifications about price increases and decreases and can “freeze” their tickets at the current price while they decide whether to purchase. The platform also offers flash sales during the holidays. Because Hopper is booked through a third-party app, airlines may charge additional fees for seat selection, meals, cancellations, itinerary changes, additional baggage, etc. These charges are not included in the total amount you pay with Hopper.
Outstanding advantages: The platform is free, but there is an option to add chips to help support Hopper’s features.
Clarification: This article has been changed to clarify the technology behind Betterment’s automation features. It uses algorithms and large-scale mathematical models to manage your portfolio with human oversight.
FAQ
Can I invest my money using AI?
Yes, you can use AI to invest your money. In fact, many investment platforms are already using AI and machine learning to help users make smart investments that align with their goals.
How can you use AI to manage your money?
AI can be used in many ways to manage your money, including categorizing your daily expenses, making recommendations based on your goals, and making future predictions about your money.
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Why trust CNBC Select?
our methodology
To decide which AI-powered app is best for you, CNBC Select analyzed more than a dozen services. We’ve narrowed down the rankings to best for investing, best for budgeting, best for subscription management, and best for travel savings.
We considered factors such as:
- Pricing
- Features
- Utilization of AI
- Resources/guidance/materials provided
- Ease of use
- Customer reviews, if applicable
Check out CNBC Select’s in-depth coverage. credit card, banking industry and money,follow me TikTok, facebook, Instagram and Twitter To stay up to date.
Editor’s note: Opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are solely those of Select editorial staff and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any third party.
