A complete review of Finanzguru, the best finance management app in Germany.
Finanzguru – A background
Finanzguru is a free to use app launched by Dwins GmbH in the year 2016. The app is a cooperative partner of Deutsche Bank . The app rose to prominence after an appearance on famous German TV show, Die höhle der löwen. With over 500,000 users the app is one of the leading players in the fintech industry within Germany.
What is Finanzguru?
Finanzguru is a finance planner to organize and take control over your money. The app will help you track income and expenses, analyze them and determine your saving potential. On Finanzguru, you can also manage of all your bills and contracts. In summary, Finanzguru is an alternative to all your online banking needs, at one place!
So how is the app?
When it comes to Fintech apps, it is necessary to be very careful. You cannot provide access to your financial information to an app that cannot be trusted. On the other had, despite being safe, the app also needs to be of good quality. So how does Finanzguru rank over the two categories?
That is what we will be analyzing in this review! Let us take a look at the app, its functions, pros & cons in a detailed review!
Key Features
Finanzguru really thrives as a all-in-one finance management app. So let us take a closer look at the features that make the app so great!
a) Link your Bank Accounts to Finanzguru
Yes! Regardless of which bank you have an account with, you are able to link your bank account to the Finanzguru app. Whether it is a single bank account or multiple bank accounts, you will be able to link it with the app. Finanzguru securely covers this service for over 3000 banks!
b) Calculates your ‘Disposable Income’
Disposable income is the total personal income minus current income taxes. Based on your income and expenses, Finanzguru calculates your disposable income in real time. In addition to that, there is a feature that includes future contract payments/bills that are upcoming. So you get a detailed total of your disposable income to help you save money better.
This is one of the big reasons why I recommend Finanzguru. The efficiency of this app means that you will be able to save money better. You can simply click on the link below and download the app for FREE.
c) Stay ahead of your expenses
Yes, you heard that right! With Finanzguru, you will not only be able to keep track of your income & expenses in realtime, but also in the future. How is this possible?
Once you integrate your financial management with the app, it calculates your future account balances by deducting any upcoming contratual payments and bills. This helps you plan your expnediture well ahead, and as result keep control over your money.
Phone bills, Electricity bills, Netflix subscriptions etc., can all be tracked and integrated on the app. This is a super convenient feature.
In addition to that you will also be able to pay these biills on time by scheduling reminders for these payments!
Finanzguru FREE vs Finanzguru Plus – What is the difference?
In addition to the FREE Version, there is also a paid version of the Finanzguru app. This is the Finanzguru PLUS plan. The monthly fee for Finanzguru PLUS stands at 2.99 €. If you wish to get Finanzguru PLUS with a debit card, the fee is 3.99 € per month. This debit card can be linked to any bank account of your choice. You also get the flexibility to switch this linked bank account anytime.
With the basic FREE Version you will be able to link your app to multiple bank accounts, manage contracts & bills, and get financial analysis upto 3 months.
With the Finanzguru PLUS plan, you are able to get access to the Financial Analysis feature for an unlimited time. You also get added benifits. For instace, all expenses can be exported to an Excel spreadsheet via CSV. Also, you can get budget suggestions to increase your savings efficiency.
I personally observed is that the FREE plan is definitely good to get started with. On the other hand, the PLUS plan gives you much better services for a small price.
From my experience, I ended up saving more money per month, than what it would cost me to have the Finanzguru PLUS for an entire year!
Pros and Cons
I will make this section simple for you, before I go into detail. In summary, the pros totally outweigh the cons of this app.
It is important to understand that Finanzguru is not a banking app! You cannot carry out regular bank transactions through the app. However, it is exactly what it claims to be – a finance management app. The app is like a control room for a complex financial web in all our lives!
Let us now take a look at the Pros and Cons.
Pros
1. Ease of Accessibility
Signing up for the app is literally just one click away. All you need to do is click a button to download the app and you are all set to go. The app is compatible with mobile phones and tablets.
2. Multi-Banking
The following feature allows you to conect different bank accounts on a single platform. There are over 3000 banks that are available to link with the app. Keep track of multiple bank account balances at ease.
3. Managing Bills
This feature specifically gives users an added benifit – manage are your bills and subscriptions on the app.
Finanzguru collects the payment details from your data and recommends automatic payments if they realize savings potential. As a user, all you have to do is enter information about the end of the contract and the notice period and you will receive reminders at regular intervals (3 months, 2 months and 14 days) before the end of the notice periods.
You can then cancel contracts free of charge in just a few seconds. If you don’t feel like keeping your own budget book manually, you can get extensive account analyzes in the Finanzguru app. The app summarizes all expenses in categories. For example food, fuel, taxes & duties, etc.
4. Dashboards and Insights
In the financial analysis provided by Finanzguru, you will get detailed dashboards and charts to analyze all the financial data on the app. Insights that we accordingly get from these dashboards and graphs aree very useful in maximising savings potential!
5. Security
Financal information is of course classified and sensitive information. This is why we want to ensure that the information collected about us by the app is safe and secure. However we do not have to worry as Finanzguru takes the security aspect very seriously.
- User information is stored in encrypted German Servers
- The App is always protected from unauthorised third party access
- The data safe is encrypted using the AES encryption method, which is one of the most stable and secure methods in the world. Only you can open the safe with your password and see your personal bank details.
Cons
Finally moving onto the cons, there is not really much I would classify as obvious disadvantages. But there are two points that you should consider as a minor con.
1. Manually adding in the bills and contracts
This is a long and drawn out process. You have to manually enter the contract information that you would like to keep track on the app. However, it is not much of an inconvenience given the benefits.
2. Limited access to Financial Analysis with FREE plan
The FREE plan is a great option for students in Germany who would prefer to not spend monthly fees. But it only provides access to financial analysis features for 3 months. Although the fee is just 2.99 EUR per month, it could be a considerable spending for those on a stringent budget.
However, as we already discussed above, the savings that we end up making in just a month because of this app is much more than the annual fee one would incur for the app!
In Conclusion
As you can clearly see from the section above, pros of the app clearly outweigh the cons.
Finanzguru is a great app for anybody in Germany who is looking to get better control over their money. The app provides so many features that helps you manage your expenses easily. Overtime, you will definitely find yourself saving more money because of this app’s efficiency.
All of this is available for FREE, in a modern and user friendly app!
In my opinion, Finanzguru is a complete WIN-WIN package that benifits you in more ways than you can imagine right now.