Digital wallets are widely used, and more than half of Americans use digital wallets to conduct transactions.1 You can tap your smartphone on a POS system and check out, making conducting transactions easy and convenient. If you’re trying to track your expenses, digital wallets simplify that process, so you don’t have to overthink managing your finances. Take advantage of your digital wallet and learn how it can help you track expenses.
What are other ways you can use your digital wallet?
A digital wallet is a payment tool that holds financial accounts, applications, and services to conduct transactions. Credit cards, debit cards, peer to peer (P2P) payment services, and other financial applications are all stored in a digital wallet. Simply add your card or banking information to your digital wallet of choice. In short, it stores financial accounts on your phone, so you can conduct online and in-person transactions without a physical wallet. Digital wallets are great tools to manage your spending, , and reliably process transactions with ease.
Western Union’s application allows you to send money, pay bills, check exchange rates, or start a transfer. Transfers are fast, reliable, and can be completed from the convenience of your smartphone.
Ways to use your digital wallet for tracking expenses
Digital wallets make tracking expenses simpler. Here are different ways this fintech method can help you track your expenses:
1. Check your account statements
With a digital wallet, all your accounts are on your phone. Your account statements are easily accessible and are essential tools to monitor your expenses. Account statements are delivered monthly providing a snapshot of your expenses. By reviewing account statements regularly, you can evaluate your spending patterns. Are there places or vendors with reoccurring expenses? Are there any spending categories that comprise the bulk of your expenses? Having awareness of your spending habits can help you budget better and track fixed and variable expenses.
2. Tag your transactions
P2P apps are useful for splitting bills and sending money to friends and family. On some apps, you can add notes and tags to your transactions. Tags make it easy to categorize payments. You can mark a transaction as “food expenses” or even an emoji you feel is appropriate. When you want to review transactions, you can search the phrase or emoji you set to tag transaction categories.
3. Set spending limits and alerts
If you are concerned about overspending, setting spending limits and alerts is a great way to hold yourself accountable to budgeting goals. Financial applications and accounts in your digital wallet have access to this feature. You can set spending alerts when the account drops below a specified threshold. Alerts help avoid overspending and overdrafts. Spending limits are also available on certain accounts. This is helpful for credit cards. You can avoid overspending and feasibly payback what you owe.
4. Use a digital budget tracker
Digital budget tracker apps can be integrated into your digital wallet to access your financial accounts for expense monitoring. Apps can categorize your spending, notice trends, and utilize features to effectively budget within your spending habits. There’s no need to rely on a spreadsheet or paper to track your expenses. Instead, your budgeting apps are easily accessible in one place to de-stress the budgeting process.
Keep expense tracking simple by fully utilizing your digital wallet. All your accounts, debit cards, credit cards, and applications are in one place. So, you can track your expenses with ease. And if you need to digitally send money to your friends and family, Western Union can help.
You can go online or download the Western Union app to send and receive money reliably and conveniently. You can also visit an agent location if you prefer to handle transactions in person.
