In theory, saving money is a simple enough proposition: Put money away in an account and don’t touch it. But in reality, of course, it’s never that simple — 69% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings.

One of the best motivations to save money? It’s when you’re not just saving because you’re “supposed to,” but rather because you have a specific savings goal in mind.

According to a study [1] by Harvard Business School, people who create goals are ten times more successful than those without them. And 83% of people who set financial goals feel better [2] after one year.

There’s no shortage of apps out there designed around saving money. But, again: Saving money isn’t always just about saving money, it’s about saving for a specific reason. So when you’re saving toward a specific future goal, it can be both helpful and motivating to use an app specifically designed around that goal.

Our team rounded up these 10 financial apps, each of which can help you save money with a specific purpose, goal, or strategy. 

The 10 best apps for saving toward a financial goal

Wealthfront - best app for saving for your child’s future

• App cost: Free

• Minimum balance: $500

• Fees and commissions: 0.25% management fee

Many parents want to put something aside for their child’s future education (and 56% currently are). Putting aside the right amount, however, can be a challenge. Are you putting too much aside? Not enough? It’s hard to say.

Wealthfront offers a 529 college savings plan projector to estimate how much money you will need to cover part or all of your child’s college costs when they graduate high school. It can provide clarity that enables you to put aside your goal amount in preparation for your kid’s future.

The Wealthfront app is also great for retirement savings needs. Its features enable you to see how life changes, like growing your family or buying a home, will impact your retirement. It can provide help and advice so that you know exactly what you need to put aside for retirement — although it is a robo-advisor, meaning the decisions are computer, not human, driven.

Earnin - best app for saving for your next big splurge

• App cost: Free (payment optional through tips)

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

Most of us can agree that there are things we should do — like exercise, get eight hours of sleep, or make more meals at home — that we just can’t seem to bring ourselves to do regularly. Tip Yourself, a feature within the Earnin app, motivates you to start making healthy changes while saving at the same time.

With Tip Yourself, you can reward yourself by transferring money to your personal tip jar when you accomplish a goal. For example, you can tip yourself $1 every time you make a meal at home instead of going out to eat. That way, you can save up to enjoy your splurge, like a vacation, completely guilt-free.

Plus, Earnin has other features that can be really helpful as well. If you earn steady paychecks but need some money before payday, they offer up to $100 per day without any hidden fees or charges. Instead, they encourage you to tip what you can to keep the app up and running. 

Albert - best app for saving toward a home

• App cost: Free / $4/mo for Genius subscription

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

Deciding to buy a house can be an intimidating — and confusing — endeavor. What mortgage can you realistically afford? How much should you spend on your down payment? A little help and direction can go a long way for many people to create a realistic plan to buy a home.

Albert can do just that. One feature in the app allows you to message a financial advisor to get personalized advice. Ask them your most pressing questions about down payments, mortgages, and the best ways for you to save money.

Once you have some clarity, another feature, Albert Savings, makes saving your money easy. You can withdraw money from any account and put it in savings without transfer fees, or even make micro investments.

Money Box - best app for saving for multiple goals at once

• App cost: Free / $2.99 for ad-free version with unlimited goals

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

Most of the time, we’re all saving for multiple things simultaneously. For example, we might need money set aside for birthday gifts, holidays, or a new car. It can be challenging to stay motivated with so many goals and to keep track of exactly what we have saved for each expenditure.

Money Box can help you balance all of your financial goals. It allows you to keep track of multiple saving goals at once and provides features so you can organize your plans by the due date or alphabetically. It has goal statuses with percentages and color-coded bars so that you can see how close you are to reaching each one. And you can even add a picture to go with each goal, which could help you better visualize what you’re saving for to keep you motivated.

Digit - best for saving for a goal without having to, well, do anything

• App cost: $5/mo

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

One reason why people have trouble saving toward a goal? It can be time consuming. You need to check your accounts, figure out how much you can afford to put away for the month, make the transfers, and monitor your progress. Not everyone wants to do all that.

Digit’s goal is to cut that process down to virtually nothing. The app connects to your bank account and uses its algorithms to analyze your income and spending habits in order to calculate how much you can safely afford to save. You can set up a goal, say for a vacation, and Digit will automatically pull money out of your account to help you move toward your goal. 

Digit promises that there will be no overdrafts, plus you can pause your savings easily and transfer the money back into your checking account when you need. You can (and should) sign up for real-time notifications letting you know when the money is taken out of your account so there won’t be any surprises.

Qapital - best app for automatically investing your savings to reach your goal faster

• App cost: $3/mo, $6/mo, or $12/mo, depending on features

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

Qapital might just help you get to your goals quicker — because it can automatically invest the money you’re saving to give it a boost. You tell Qapital your timeline toward the goal and your risk tolerance, and it will make automatic investments for you. This is especially powerful for long-term goals, like college and home savings. And Qapital doesn’t charge any management fees for investing beyond its monthly subscription cost.

Qapital also has a wide variety of other features, including the option to save as a couple, automating your savings on payday, and automatically rounding up purchases to make micro contributions to your savings.

Twine - best app for saving for a goal together as a couple

• App cost: Free

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: 0.6% on investments

Finances are notoriously a sensitive topic for couples. One will often feel like they are the saver, while the other wants to enjoy what they have. Plus, deciding who pays for what can create some friction. Twine, a savings app from John Hancock Financial, is a simple way to help get couples on the same team and save together. 

With Twine, you can choose to save in a free joint account (with a 1.05% variable interest rate) or invest your savings to accrue some potential interest. You’re only charged a commission if you choose to invest, but the charge is low: 0.6% annually, which works out to 25 cents per month for every $500 invested.

You and the person with whom you are saving each creates your own account and links to your individual bank account. You can then choose a financial goal together and select a monthly deposit amount.

Chime - best app for saving up for an emergency

• App cost: Free

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: None

Ask almost any financial expert and they will recommend keeping anywhere from three to six months’ worth of expenses in savings in case of emergency. Most of us fall short of that, though: More than half of Americans could cover three months or less with their savings, and a full 25% have no emergency fund at all.

Chime is a mobile-only financial services app (it works almost exactly like a bank, although it’s not technically a bank) that has automatic savings features to make it easier to put money aside for an emergency. You can enroll in their direct deposit, and the Save When You Get Paid feature will automatically transfer 10% of every paycheck into your savings account. 

Plus, Chime’s automatic savings feature rounds up each purchase made on your Chime Visa debit card to deposit that amount into your savings account. These small transfers shouldn’t be too noticeable for you, but they can lead to significant savings over time.

Stash - best app for growing your investment portfolio while you save toward your goals

• App cost: $1, $3, or $9/mo, depending on features

• Minimum balance: $5

• Fees and commissions: None

Saving toward a goal and growing your investment portfolio don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Stash can help new and inexperienced investors start small in their investing goals while they save.

With Stash, you can save your money — and use that money toward investments at the same time. You don’t need to spend huge amounts either, since Stash lets you invest in fractional shares of thousands of stocks and ETFs.

Stash will also issue you a Stock-Back Card, which is a debit card that uses stock as a reward. Use the card, get more stock added to your account. This will help grow your accounts and portfolio as you save toward your goals.

Wealthsimple - best app for saving toward retirement

• App cost: Free

• Minimum balance: None

• Fees and commissions: 0.4 to 0.5% management fee

The earlier you start saving for retirement, the better. Wealthsimple is a retirement planning app with no account minimums and focuses on helping new investors start making smart investments for their future. The clean design includes graphs and charts to help you make sense of your retirement progress. 

Wealthsimple is also ideal for people who want to make more socially responsible investment choices that fit their values — something more and more people are now taking into consideration.