How to Build a Personal Finance App in 2023: Process and Cost
Table of contents
- What is a Personal Finance App
- Market Overview
- Key Advantages of Personal Finance Apps
- Personal Finance Apps Types
- Popular Personal Finance Apps in 2023
- Personal Finance App Development Trends
- How to Create a Personal Finance App
- Significant Features to Add to Your Personal Finance App
- How Much Does It Cost to Build a Personal Finance App
- How Magora Can Help with Personal Finance App Development
- FAQ
- Final words
Our daily financial issues move day by day to the digital world, and now, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not necessary to search for a physical bank office; you may solve many problems online via an app on your smartphone. Moreover, personal finance apps can significantly raise the level of financial literacy, as according to the report, only 33% of people are financially literate. The reason lies in the lack of financial education in schools, according to the opinion of 70% of survey participants. People still aren't always aware of accessible financial possibilities. Moreover, rising prices depress economic activity, and people experience more anxiety. How can we stop living paycheck to paycheck, as do 80% of American workers, and change these staggering statistics? Against this background, personal finance app development seems to have a strong demand and benefits. With the help of personal finance apps, people may start managing their money and meet their targets more easily.
What is a Personal Finance App
A personal finance app is a modern digital tool for tracking income, controlling expenses, wise budgeting, planning savings,and, in short, managing all personal financial systems. It can be used for competent management of a family budget as well as individual or business finances. The major benefit of such apps is their convenience, as we all know how tedious keeping track of long lists of expenditures and income can be. A personal finance app enables you to piece together your bank accounts and all information concerning your money flows to finally have a structured representation of your financial situation in general. Moreover, there are also tips or even educational programs on how to streamline expenses and enhance your savings. Personal finance apps can be accessed via smartphones or desktop computers, as they basically use cloud storage in order to provide secure data warehousing and be able to sync information across multiple devices.
Market Overview
Let’s start with traditional numbers and an overview of the finance app market in general. The Financial Services Application market is expected to reach £136.9 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 7.51% during 2022–2027. In the last few years, analytics have observed a steady rise in the fintech industry, including an increase in the number of startups. This situation is attributed to several reasons, including the pandemic aftereffect, increased penetration of mobile devices, and the rise of fintech companies. North America is considered to be the largest market for personal finance apps, with Europe and Asia-Pacific in the second and third places. The market for personal finance applications is forecast to grow in the predicted period of 2023–2028 at a CAGR of 5.7% to reach £1.22 billion by 2026. Such positive indicators make personal finance app development attractive but, at the same time, a very competitive field. With a great many players and ever-new entrants, it is a challenge not to get lost among them and find your niche. Still, there is a need for a good-quality instrument that makes people’s lives easier while providing high security and an engaging experience. Moreover, emerging markets have the capacity for personal finance app development. Let’s jump to the details that may lead your personal finance app development idea to success, and we will also highlight to you how Magora is able to assist during and beyond the development process.
Key Advantages of Personal Finance Apps
Personal finance apps perform a plethora of different tasks and, as a result, give multiple benefits to their users:
1. Convenient financial management anywhere and anytime
It is no longer necessary to go to the bank office every time there is a need to settle an issue. Stay in the know with personal finance app’s accessibility and run the deals just by having your smartphone on hand.
2. Greater financial visibility
When you see the comprehensive cycle of your money flows, you see particular patterns, understand the statistics, and gain insights. All bank accounts and transactions are gathered in one place and performed in the most user-friendly way possible.
3. Improved financial decision-making
If a user is provided with better and more accurate data, he is able to see more possibilities for clever financial moves. Relying on the gathered statistics and analytics makes it easier to navigate when settling financial issues in the online mode.
4. Personalized guidance
One of the bonuses that personal finance apps suggest is an individual plan for financial management. Analyzing the weak points of the things in the current situation, different pieces of advice are available to adjust financial performance in the future.
5. Increased savings
One of the prime factors that improve customers’ chances of succeeding in saving is setting goals and giving gifts for reaching a particular level, ideas for investments, or areas for cutting back. Spending rounding is an automated money transfer to a savings account from every purchase. Personal finance apps have priceless tips on how to “steal” money from yourself and save it for the future.
6. Better security
A good personal finance app should implement the latest technologies that will help provide high-end security measures. Reliable encryption algorithms and other different innovations serve to avoid any type of fraud or theft.
Personal Finance Apps Types
According to the aspect that we select, there are different classifications of personal finance app types. They can vary in relation to their complexity, starting with the apps with basic features—bill reminders, budget-making, and tracking spendings—and ending with apps for advanced purposes such as investment control, pension strategy planning, and dealing with taxes. Before planning personal finance app development, you need to study your target audience and decide what features you really need for your app.
If we take into account the tasks and goals the app is going to complete, so there are several distinct categories:
Budgeting apps that allow you to create and control a budget on the basis of information about your income and expenses.
Investment apps are helpful to handle investment issues, keep abreast of the latest news in stock and bond markets, and receive AI analytics advice.
Banking apps link bank accounts, giving access to balances and transactions. Clients can also pay bills there.
Credit score apps enable us to evaluate and improve a client's credit rating and provide a credit report.
Expense tracking apps can help you systematize your spending by categories or other filters. With the help of tracking apps, customers can easily analyze their spending habits and stop letting money slip through their fingers.
Tax preparation apps are like an accountant in your pocket that prepares and files taxes online. No special knowledge is needed, as these apps are intuitive and guide you through the whole documentation process.
Popular Personal Finance Apps in 2023
The following three companies are household names and have a broad audience due to their availability, usability, and wide range of valuable functions. Let’s look a bit closer at each one.
Mint
Free iOS and Android app that has also paid upgrade options. Mint synchronizes with bank accounts and lets you control and monitor your money flows as well as your credit score. Visual experiences, categorization, and personal advice give customers insights on how to effectively save money. There is also a section devoted to investment issues.
Personal Capital
It is a customer service to help people prepare for retirement, create capital investing strategies, and track multiple bank accounts. Personal Capital is a free finance tool that is a middle ground between fully automated guidance and an old-fashioned personal capital management system. However, the app has paid options that include, for example, human financial advisors’ recommendations.
Acorns
The Acorns app rounds up purchases and transfers money for subsequent investments. The process occurs without the user's intervention. They can simply choose the level of risk they are willing to tolerate and the final point they want to reach, so the app could suggest diversified portfolio variants. There is a fee of £2,4/month or family subscription for £4/month.
Personal Finance App Development Trends
New trends can bring a wide range of possibilities and attract new customers to your industry and, in particular, to your business. It should not be neglected to implementat the latest technologies, as they can boost working processes or even be a game-changing solution. Take a close-up of some notable ones.
AI and machine learning
It is hard to find a sphere where AI hasn’t been implemented yet. Still, AI and machine learning have great potential to improve the financial sector, especially personal finance apps. People nowadays value personalization, and AI can help with that. Analyzing huge amounts of data, AI is able to find patterns quickly and build on them to make recommendations.
Blockchain technology
Blockchain technology is known for its transparent and secure process of transactions. It reduces the chances of being deceived by fraudsters and gives you more control over your financial data.
Gamification
Personal finance apps are aimed at reaching goals that users have set. In order to motivate them, there are elements of gamification in some apps. Such techniques dilute boring calculations with fun. Rewards help clients save money more easily.
How to Create a Personal Finance App
Every app development project is unique, but they all have some common basic steps to follow. This guideline will help you structure the development process and not miss a thing.
1. Define your goals
First of all, you can’t get to the place if you don’t know where you are going. Reach an understanding of your goals and objectives before diving into the development process. Determine the problem that your app will solve and what needs it will meet.
2. Carry out market research
Prepare a market survey to highlight your target audience’s demand and study your competitors. Find out what functionality is popular among existing personal finance apps and what gaps exist in the market that your app can fill. At Magora, we prefer to start the development process with a discovery phase where all details such as market research, competitor analysis, and the target audience’s needs are worked through.
3. Choose a development platform
Decide what platform your app will operate on: iOS or Android,or maybe both. There is one more option as a web app that works through a browser independently on the platform. Also consider whether you will create a native app or a hybrid app.
4. Create a wireframe and MVP
Magora has acquired enough experience over many years of work to offer you the creation of an MVP or a product prototype first. It is a perfect variant to visualize the layout and functionality, experience the product with its core features, and get real users’ feedback. Moreover, that will keep your money safe.
5. Code your app
At this stage, programmers choose a programming language, frameworks—in a word, a suitable tech stack—and start building the backend and frontend of your app. Choose a trustworthy app development company to feel at ease.
6. Test your app
Test your app thoroughly to identify and fix any bugs or issues. You may conduct beta testing with a few users to get reviews and strengthen the app's operation.
7. Launch your app
Once you feel sure of your app's functionality, usability, and stability in operation, launch it in the app stores. Marketing is a very important part now. Promote your app through social media, digital advertising, and other channels to draw the attention of a larger number of users.
8. Update and improve your app
Monitor user feedback and do updates and refinements to your app every once in a while. This will help you maintain customers’ loyalty and your reputation.
9. Provide customer support
Provide customer support to help users with any issues or questions they may face. This will help you build trust with your customers and improve their experience.
Take into account that personal finance app development is a complex and time-consuming process. It requires expertise in software development nuances. You may need to hire a professional app development company to make your dream app a reality.
Significant Features to Add to Your Personal Finance App
Depending on your idea and the purpose of your future finance app, there might be a kaleidoscope of different functions and possibilities that your app will give to its users. We give you a list of vital features that are in high demand on the market now and make apps the most comfortable to use and enhance their productivity.
Security Measures
Firstly, all personal data and transaction information must be under lock and key. Two-factor authentication, biometric access, and real-time alerts are among the top priorities to secure sensitive information. Otherwise, reputational risks are too high.
AI-based features
In order to improve app efficiency, make analytical-prognostic reports, and be online 24/7 with customers, it is a good idea to implement AI algorithms. It is a trend that has taken over the world, and rightly so. Processing huge amounts of data, AI is a great help in statistics, security detection, and app personalization.
Bank account integration
Bank account integration strongly simplifies life as all information is automatically loaded and presented in one single space, giving a comprehensive and structured overview. Live monitoring of all your financial resources allows you to stay up-to-date with news and make timely decisions.
Push notifications
Push notifications and alerts are one of the most substantial features in personal finance apps. It allows you to trace transactions, notify if something suspicious has been detected, or if there is a bill to be paid. It is a sign of care for customers and a reminder that your app is always there to help.
Goal setting
You can use gamification in your app or other methods to drive people’s desire to reach their goals and increase savings. People can learn new spending habits with daily reminders of the final goal and progress path.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Personal Finance App
The total cost of personal finance app development is a crucial issue that may be a cause for concern, as sometimes the expenses rocket to enormous sums that can be frightening. But let’s understand the pricing mechanism and the points where it is possible to cut costs by altering different factors of the development process.
The first factor is the complexity of your app. How many features are you going to add? Will it be a simple functionality such as budget tracking or something more complex like bill payments? Every detail matters. We advise you not to run after too many coins and instead focus on the core structure and make it perfect. A choice of an app development company can also change the situation a lot. You may consider hiring freelancers, a professional software development company, or creating your own in-house team. Every case has its pros and cons, as well as implying a different app development cost. If you choose to outsource your project, what country will you prefer? Hourly rates vary significantly around the globe. For example, the highest prices are in North America and one of the lowest in India, £120 and £24 respectively. Time differences or intercultural communication misunderstanding are the correlated possible issues. Visual design with customization is a significant expenditure line. At Magora we offer ongoing maintenance upon completion of the development process–our warranty period is 6 months. Afterwards, we are always open for further cooperation.
How Magora Can Help with Personal Finance App Development
The financial industry is a field where we can fully demonstrate our expertise, as finances always require the exact fulfillment of accurate calculations, top-quality estimations, evaluation, and trend construction. You can judge our proficiency in software development for financial institutions by the previous multiple projects of the bespoke software we have created throughout our 13 years of work. Among them is Prognostore, a financial analysis app that helps to remain aware of all aspects of doing business. Hedge Funds is a tool for convenient and illustrative analytics and statistics of hedge fund data. Finally, Abacuspay is a platform to enable the processing of card payments for small businesses and traders. More information about us may be obtained just by contacting us. We are always ready to discuss your business needs and your ideas, provide a cost estimation plan, and share our insights.
FAQ
Do I need to hire a professional development team to create a personal finance app?
We strongly recommend hiring a professional software development company, as specialized skills and expertise in the finance domain play a great role and directly influence your app’s success.
How long does it take to develop a personal finance app?
It depends on the complexity of the app and the functionality you choose. Simple apps can be ready within 3–4 months; others need up to 12 months.
How can I ensure the security of my users' financial data?
In order to provide the highest level of security and protect vulnerable data, it's crucial to add such features as two-factor authentication, data encryption, and regular security audits. Note that every country has additional data privacy regulations that you must comply with.
Final words
Usually people have complicated relationships with money; that is why it becomes a broad field of potential for businesses. A personal finance app can make things better by gradually enhancing people’s financial literacy. It can be a guide that will turn all financial issues from the level of “number-crunching headache” into an understandable form with automated processes. However, all people have different money pain points, which is why it is vital to correctly determine the audience of your app and their needs. Magora is happy to create an app that will provide real value to its users and share our creativity and experience with you so that you can reap the benefits of the app’s development.
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Director of Operations and Business Development
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