Personal Finance Management & Robo Advisory apps need of the hour

Not just the pandemic, the stock markets too have caused a lot of stress to investors in India. People have lost their jobs or had to agree for a salary cut. I have come across millennials who are unable to manage their finances in during this crisis.

India has a few Personal Finance Management (PFM) apps but they all show you reports, but they don’t give you ‘actionable reports‘.

Most of us believe we are in control of our finances, we know how much liabilities we have. Sadly, the truth is otherwise.

PFM apps are not popular in India, rather unheard. The pandemic is a wake-up call for each and every one of us. The lockdown imposed due to COVID-19 is a new and unforgettable experience for corporates and individuals. Never before has the entire country, or even the world lived thru so much financial uncertainty.

I met a few who are finding it difficult to take decisions on their finances. People who were earning well but not managing their finances are feeling lost within a few weeks of the lockdown. This is a bad situation.

PFM Apps – What It Offers You

A good PFM app would help you with the following,

1. Analyze your income and expenses. Warn you when you go beyond your means in spending. An actionable report should tell you which particular category needs your attention.
2. Spend Path: Get a weekly snapshot of your month-to-date spending
3. Monitor Recurring Charges: Has the recurring charges of any vendor changed?
4. Credit Card Points: Advice on how the credit card reward points could be redeemed before they expire (which is usually the case)
5. Receive personalized and proactive insights
6. Get notified of important credit score changes
7. Get notified if your balance is trending towards a low figure so you can take action
8. Duplicate charge monitor: Show duplicate charges on your credit cards
9. Forecast my balance
10. Show my scheduled payments
11. Show me my unpaid and paid bills for this month
12. Advice on where the money in savings & current accounts can be invested to get better returns
13. Show which subscriptions I am subscribing to. We tend to remember these services only on receiving renewal notifications.
14. It should go a level deep and show you which category is consuming most of your income
15. Many had to take a salary cut (he doesn’t need to worry) during COVID-19 period, how should you adjust your expenses? Which categories need our attention?
16. Investors in Mutual Funds had a scare after the Franklin Templeton fiasco in India. Did you apportion too much in risky funds? A good robo advisor would have warned you if your portfolio wasn’t reasonably well balanced.
17. The amount contributed to your Provident Fund by an employer has reduced during COVID-19 (12% to 10%). What impact does it have on you?

PFM Aps, Wealth Management Apps

India has a few PFM apps and Robo-advisors but the data gathering is a challenge for these apps. There is too much friction for these apps in acquiring your financial data.

Pure PFM Apps in India

• ChintaMoney – Save money by intelligent spending
• MoneyView MoneyManager
• monefy.me: Personal finance application that makes money management easy
• Monito
• Perfios Money Manager
• Finart – Manage your Credit Card expenses, bills & monthly budget
• IndMoney
• Walnut – builds your bank statement from SMS

Wealth Management, Robo Advisory Apps in India

• Cubewealth offers an free wealth coach plan your perfect portfolio
• ETMoney – Android only app
• Finbingo
• Finpeg
• Groww – Insights on mutual funds, stocks, & everything from the personal finance world
• Paytm Money
• IndMoney
• Indwealth
• Kuvera
• Tarrakki helps you invest your money across various asset classes based on your financial goals

PFM Apps Using Account Aggregator Framework

COVID19 will be speeding up digitization in India. I do hope all such apps will start using the Account Aggregator Framework to acquire your data.

Account Aggregator (AA) is the construct/framework that addresses the above pain points and provides a digital platform for easy sharing and consumption of data from various entities with user consent.

Two of my bank accounts are no longer getting updated in the PFM app I use because the banks have updated the design of their website. The app is unable to scrape data from my bank account. Account aggregator ecosystem solves this problem.

With account aggregators, users don’t have to share their login credentials, give access to your Inbox to extract bank statements or manually upload PDF documents.

Conclusion

These difficult days are not ending anytime soon. It is very important to use good digital tools to manage your finances. Even if you have a financial planner/wealth manager, you need to have an “independent platform” to advise you on your investments.

• Fixing the Visa application process with Consent Managers
• Use Cases For Account Aggregator Framework