Nobody enjoys keeping track of their finances but it’s just something that responsible adults actually need to do if they’re going to continue the freedom of having their own place, eating ice cream for breakfast, staying up as late as they want – or, conversely, going to bed as early as they like.
Toshl Finance was founded in 2010 by Miha Hribar and Matic Bitenc, two guys from Slovenia who wanted to know where their finances stood. It’s a finance app that helps users keep an eye on what they are spending, and where they are spending it.
We all know how cumbersome it can be to pour over receipts and figure out where your paycheck has gone, and although there are a whole bunch of blogs and articles online about how to better look after your money, who has the time for all of that? Toshl is here to make the whole process much more bearable.
How the app works
The app, available on Android and iOS, helps you keep track of where every penny is going through a handy little graph where you’ll find the biggest culprits. It also gives a summary of your spending by month or year. All of which is customisable in the app.
In addition to this, it can be programmed to remind you about upcoming bill payments.
Toshl Finance will also look at trends based on past earnings, your spending habits, and make personalized planning for you for the next month, or the upcoming year.
And, perhaps the most important in terms of user longevity, Toshl wants you to have fun! The app is littered with little Toshl monsters that, apart from looking hilarious, will be with you every step of the way towards better finances, making the serious task of budgeting feel a bit more lighthearted.
The notification section allows you to dictate how often Toshl will ‘gently’ remind you to enter expenses each day, should you need it – or it can be turned off if you like. On top of this, there are also options to enable or disable notifications on your budgeting, due expenses and incomes, and other hints such as how to better balance your books or advice for keeping within budget whilst traveling.
Additional tools and tricks
In August of this year, Toshl added its Medici update to the premium features whereby users are given even more tools to track their spending. Any expenses or incomes that users make with their credit cards or bank accounts can now be automatically imported, categorized, and tagged within the app.
There is also the option to set a spending limit, which is especially useful if, like me, you have that bit of trouble not treating yourself every month. When you are approaching your previously set limit, Toshl will notify you with a warning, helping you decide to put down that fancy pair of trainers and save it for a time when your bank account isn’t too depleted.
Users can upgrade to Toshl Pro or Toshl Medici on the app. Toshl Pro costs either $2.99/month, $19.99/year, or $59.99 for 3 years. Currently, there is a 44% discount for the year or more, and if you upgrade to 3 years, you get a free t-shirt!
Though paying for a service to help you budget your money may seem a bit counter-intuitive, many of the best features are available to free users, and when you think about it, $2.99 does seem a small price to pay for the peace of mind a well-budgeted provides.
