Financial matters are crucial to everyone no matter the age bracket you fall on
It is one thing to have lots of money, and it is another to have financial discipline.
Every one of us needs assistance in making expenses.
We sometimes go a little overboard and fail to recognize the difference between our wants and needs.
Blue Shore suggests that “the savings created from good planning can prove beneficial in difficult times” and that is why financial planning is crucial.
We have different desires that require money spent for us to be happy.
Addictions and certain habits that chop our money and yet we do not plan on cutting them off our beautiful lives.
There is a lot of enticing things in life that make us spend carelessly on what we should not.
Mint financial and budget tracker
Mint.com is a software application and website whose sole purpose is to get details of all your financial accounts to help track your cash flow.
Imagine having alerts on your notification bar to let you know that:
- You need to clear certain bills and not miss a payment. (This one is good especially for those paying for cable TV and keep forgetting to make renewals)
- Your expenditure has gone overboard.
- You have spent on what you did not budget for.
- You are going to strain your budget.
- You have achieved your financial goal
- You have failed to attain your timely financial objective.
How it works:
Mint helps its users create budgets and track their financial conditions.
All you have to do is to download the application via Google Play or Apple store and install it, following the prompts.
It allows you to follow and track your transactions on all your accounts at once.
Perhaps users and third parties have questioned the security of using Mint and attaching their account details to it.
It is noted that all data-infused by a user remains known only to the user.
According to the street, Mint has taken a lot of measures like hiring hackers every quarterly to test the system.
See here for more hacks Mint is taking to ensure the safety of their users.
On the other hand, users are advised to keep changing their passwords more often and avoid sharing them with any other parties.
There are other applications with similarities to Mint.
Only you can have a preference and choose the one that makes your use comfortable.
These include Personal Capital, YNAB and Banktivity.
M-Pesa
M-pesa is a mobile application of Kenyan origin.
Its uniqueness lies in the fact that you have to own a Safaricom handset sim card to be able to access it.
What ranks M-Pesa higher than the other mobile money applications is that Mpesa was the first of its kind, a prototype to the rest.
Also, M-Pesa is versatile and acceptable worldwide as it is compatible with many international financial applications.
It was designed to meet the financial needs of those that are not attached to any banks.
M-pesa is now used as a medium of transactions saving people the burden and danger of carrying ATM cards everywhere you go.
M-Pesa is an equally safer mode of keeping money in fear of fraudsters withdrawing it like they would with your ATM card.
We can now shop with M-Pesa, clear all bills, transfer money worldwide and even store money safely. It is for the many functions of M-Pesa that people prefer it to bank transactions.
I must admit banks id borrow ideas like mobile bank agents and so many more from the one Mpesa.
Equity bank is an example of a financial institution that has started the use of sim cards to conduct transactions.
How it works:
M stands for mobile and “pesa” is a Swahili word to mean money. You need to have purchased a valid Safaricom line to support your M-Pesa.
You MUST have a valid identification card or passport for international citizens for you to own a Safaricom sim or carry out any transaction on M-Pesa.
Your M-Pesa is set up with a 4 digit pin that is unique to you and is used to make all transactions.
In case of mistake transactions or fraud, money can be bounced back to your account at a small fee.
Also, network providers can track down and stop block transactions associated with your sim card in case you have reported your phone stolen.
M Shwari
M Shwari is a sister to M-Pesa and birthed from its existence. Instead, this is derived from the common Swahili phrase, “mambo yako shwari” meaning everything is okay and calm.
Mshwari works approximately the same as any other regular bank in terms of handling money.
The only difference is that you do not need any paperwork to activate your M Shwari account.
How it works:
- M Shwari account can be opened, providing you have an active M-Pesa account.
- You can transfer money from your M-Pesa to Mshwari for savings and vice versa for withdrawal or transaction purposes. This is the kind of bank account we needed, no long queues, no extra charges, and no unnecessary paperwork. This means that semi-illiterate people and illiterate ones too can take part in building the nation by banking with Mshwari as no paperwork is involved.
- On top of that. M Shwari offers mobile loan services with a minimum equivalent of a dollar in Kenya shillings.
- Saving with M Shwari is not only comfortable, but also you can earn interest of about 6.65% annually.
- You do not need a minimum balance charge with M Shwari.
- Transferring money from your Mpesa to Mshwari and vice versa is completely free and
- It is important to note that you can have an M-Pesa account and not own Mshwari. M Shwari is a process to be registered a new after you own an M-Pesa account and an overall Safaricom sim card. Visit this page to learn more about M Shwari.
For those who do not know where to start investing, M Shwari is a good option. In investment, one has to carry discipline and risk tolerance.
I would recommend students to take advantage of M Shwari for their early savings and investments.
Paypal
Paypal is a web application that promotes safe online money transfer from one source to another without disclosing account details of the parties involved.
Paypal is an online visa or Mastercard. It is safe to use most online saving you the danger of attaching your bank account details to an online platform in fear of hackers and fraudsters.
It is preferred for online purchases, Amazon and eBay being the most used platforms and also favour transactions made through PayPal.
How it works:
- You need to log on, open an account on it and attach your account details, be it debit or credit cards. Both are acceptable with Paypal.
- When making transactions through Paypal, the debtor needs to approve details and attach them to his Paypal. The creditor will then receive a transaction to his Paypal. He is therefore supposed to go ahead and approve the details while they reflect on his bank account.
- For money to reflect from your PayPal to your account, it takes about 24 hours.
When there is a transaction to make, simply choose the Paypal option. Hereafter, the Paypal interface will appear for you to log on and confirm the suggested payments.
Do not forget that Paypal transactions have to happen between parties who must already have a Paypal account.
Zenka
Are you having a financial crisis and need a helping hand? Look no further than this.
Since you visited our website, you must know that Zenka finance is a Kenyan-based mobile money-lending application.
Amidst high competition, Zenka has emerged at lightning speed due to its favourable features of:
- the first loan up to 61 days being free to new clients,
- loan extension period,
- no registration fee needed
- no interest fee charged,
- no commission charged
How it works:
You will need to download the Zenka application from Google Play or Apple store.
Register your details in the app.
Be sure to own a valid identification card and a running Mpesa account to facilitate your credit and debit transactions.
Follow the necessary prompts, answer a few questions posed and fill in the required details. This takes a maximum of 5 minutes.
Apply and be patient as verification takes place. Once verified, you will receive the requested loan in your M-Pesa account.
You can go ahead and solve your financial difficulties.
Bear in mind, of course, that default in paying your loan might lead you to be blacklisted by the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB).
This will stop you from accessing any kind of loans or financial assistance, not until you are cleared.
How to avoid being blacklisted? Check here.
(8 votes, average: 3.88 out of 5)
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