Call on smart phone for financial planning

Editor's note: This is a transcript of the audio file.

Smart phone apps are letting people do far more than keep track of their money. I'm Lucas Wysocki with your bankrate.com personal finance minute.

While you were on vacation, the stock market ticked away, your investments going up and down completely outside of your control.

That was the case until smart phone apps allowed users instant, mobile access to their portfolios and investments. Now you can manage your money through many of the apps available by banks, brokerages or a third party.

When you're weighing your options for which app to use, consider what you need access to. If you only use one account, the app from your bank may be fine, but if you have multiple accounts from different brokerages and need to move money on the fly, you may consider paying a premium for an app which allows you to manage all of your accounts in the same place.

For popular appeal, mint.com is the go-to app for day-to-day account tracking and money management. It lets you track all your bank accounts, credit cards, and spending so you can meet your financial goals. For more money management tips, go to Bankrate.com. I'm Lucas Wysocki.