EveryDollar Review Summary
- EveryDollar is a free, zero-based budgeting app that will feel especially familiar to Dave Ramsey followers
- EveryDollar give users a clean interface to input income, projected expenses, and track their spending
- EveryDollar works on multiple devices and across platforms, including web, iOS, Android
- Upgrade to Ramsey+ for added features, like account syncing, Baby Step tracker, and access to Financial Peace University online for $129.99 year after a free 14-day trial
EveryDollar Pros & Cons
EveryDollar is a simple budgeting app created by the Dave Ramsey team, but is it as good as they say? Here are a few pros and cons about the EveryDollar app:
PROS
- They offer a free version
- Web and mobile app for tracking on the go
- Suggested budget categories pre-loaded
- Follows Dave Ramsey’s approach to debt payoff (Debt Snowball)
- Ramsey+ upgraded version has access to Baby Steps app and FPU
CONS
- Free version does not sync back accounts
- Ramsey+ is $129,99 per year
- Does not track investments
EveryDollar Features: Simple Setup and Budgeting Tools
If you are looking for a multi-purpose fintech tool, EveryDollar isn’t it. Instead, it keeps a singular focus on budgeting. That focus pays off for users who are serious about getting to know exactly where their money is going. Plus, the different budget features in the app help you create a monthly budgeting plan and carry it out.
Here’s exactly how the budget features in EveryDollar work.
BUDGET
EveryDollar is a zero-based budgeting app. That means that you work with the tool to assign every dollar a job. To create your budget, start with the income you plan to earn for the month. Then, plan out your monthly expenses. As you move through the month, track your expenses to see your budget in action on the EveryDollar app.
PLANNED
EveryDollar has a tutorial that helps you work through your basic spending categories starting with eight of the most common ones. You can also customize your spending categories. After you set up categories for planned spending, you can also plan your savings. The EveryDollar app allows you to create different funds, such as an emergency fund or other sinking funds to save for specific occasions.
All of this is part of the planning process. Think of it as putting together your money game plan before the big day.
SPENT
Now for the actual spending! Remember, until you put in transactions, you aren’t tracking actual income or spending. Instead, you’re working with your plan.
As you add transactions throughout the month, EveryDollar calculates what you actually earn and what you actually spend. You do need to manually input these transactions. This is especially helpful in terms of making you aware of and accountable for your spending.
REMAINING
The final aspect of the EveryDollar app is its ability to share what is remaining. Because this is a zero-based budget app, the goal is to give every dollar a purpose–but it doesn’t have to be spent! Of course, you also have the ability to move money into your various Funds to help you reach your savings goals.
INSIGHTS (RAMSEY PLUS ONLY)
Are you looking for feedback on your budget? Then, let’s talk about Ramsey Plus. The EveryDollar app is an upgraded part of the Ramsey Plus membership. Once you upgrade, you will have access to the EveryDollar Insights tool. This tool offers comprehensive budgeting feedback by showing your spending totals, spending breakdown, monthly income, and income versus spent.
SPENDING TOTALS
If you’ve ever logged into your checking account and wondered where your money went, Insights has an answer. The pie chart captures a breakdown of your spending for the whole year divided into various categories.
SPENDING BREAKDOWN
The Spending Totals portion of Insights is great for a big picture perspective. But what if you want to really drill down into the specifics?
The Spending Breakdown section breaks up your spending month by month. This is an effective way to spot anomalies and to see if you can better plan for something the following year. We’re looking at you, summer vacation and holiday shopping.
MONTHLY INCOME
Does your income vary from month to month? If it does, budgeting can be extra challenging. Common advice is to plan for the least amount of income you earn in a year. But how do you figure that out?
With Insights in Ramsey Plus, you can quickly identify the months when you earned the most and the least. This Monthly Income section can help you build a better budget. Plus, you can see all the months where your hustle is really paying off.
INCOME VS SPENT
This portion of Insights allows you to focus on money that you’ve actually spent. The app distinguishes between money that is saved or put in sinking funds.
By looking at the Spent portion of the app, you can see if your spending plan aligns with reality. If it doesn’t, reviewing this data is a powerful way to adjust.
BABY STEPS APP (RAMSEY PLUS ONLY)
If you follow Dave Ramsey, you’re already familiar with the Dave Ramsey baby steps. What you might not realize is that they are now part of Ramsey Plus in app form! The Baby Steps app complements the EveryDollar Plus app. Baby Steps is designed to coach you through your goals, helping you pay down debt and increase your savings.
Here’s how the app walks you through the Dave Ramsey baby steps.
BABY STEP 1: $1,000 EMERGENCY FUND
The first baby step is all about making sure that you are prepared for emergencies. That’s why this step will chart your progress toward setting aside $1000 in an emergency fund.
BABY STEP 2: DEBT SNOWBALL
Once, you’ve built a basic emergency fund, it’s time to tackle your debt. Under the Dave Ramsey baby steps, you use the Debt Snowball method.
This portion of the Baby Steps app does the calculations and progress monitoring for you. That way, you can get to work tackling your smallest debt and then moving the excess to your next debt once it’s paid off.
BABY STEP 3: SAVE 3-6 MONTHS OF EXPENSES
After you’ve used the Debt Snowball method to get out of debt, you can start setting aside enough savings to cover your expenses for 3-6 months. This step can take some time, which is why the app is so helpful in terms of tracking your progress.
BABY STEP 4: SAVE 15% FOR RETIREMENT
Baby Step 4 is all about being future focused. There’s no such thing as a retirement loan, so it’s important to get your retirement savings set up. If this is new to you, the Ramsey Plus membership offers plenty of financial education as well.
BABY STEP 5: COLLEGE FUND FOR THE KIDS
Ramsey’s Baby Steps help ensure that you are prepared for your own future before you focus on your children’s futures.
However, Ramsey Plus knows that many families worry about the cost of college. That’s why the fifth baby step will help you set these goals and monitor your progress toward them.
BABY STEP 6: PAY OFF THE HOUSE
Since most mortgages are relatively low interest compared to other types of debt and loans, paying off your home comes later in the Baby Steps. This part of the app can help you determine what your mortgage payoff will look like.
BABY STEP 7: BUILD WEALTH & GIVE
You paid your debts, established a sizable emergency fund, and started planning for your future and your family’s future. What’s next? The last Baby Step encourages users to grow their wealth and expand their charitable giving. The Baby Steps app allows you to plan and start building wealth.
LEARN (RAMSEY PLUS ONLY)
Rounding out the Ramsey Plus membership components is Learn. Everydollar Plus helps you budget and the Baby Steps apps allows you to gauge your progress. But what if you’re struggling to understand a financial concept? That’s where Learn comes in.
Learn offers access toFinancial Peace University, the in-depth online course teaching Dave Ramsey’s money principles. Here, you can take a deeper dive into the money principles that make up the heart of Ramsey Plus and Dave Ramsey’s teachings.
RAMSEY REFERRAL SERVICES (RAMSEY PLUS ONLY)
Whether you use the basic EveryDollar app or upgrade to the Ramsey Plus membership, you are likely to come across Ramsey Referral Services. These are financial services run by different professionals.
SmartVestor Pros are a pool of financial advisors and planners who apply to be part of the SmartVestor network. While it is free to use the SmartVestor search, the investing pros charge users (that’s you!) high fees.
The real estate and tax services are less fee-laden, but it’s important to do your due diligence. As with any type of investment or financial service, you want to make sure you truly understand the cost. Sometimes, navigating the fee breakdowns can be difficult, but it pays to be mindful of them.
Ramsey Plus Features ($129.99 Per Year)
So let’s recap! What does EveryDollar cost? The EveryDollar app is free to use. However, there’s an upgrade available for EveryDollar Plus, which is part of the Ramsey Plus membership.
While this isn’t specifically a Ramsey Plus review, many people have questions about the difference between the EveryDollar app and the upgrades. After a 14-day trial, Ramsey Plus costs $129.99 per year. That cost includes Everydollar Plus. Plus, it unlocks different educational supports through Learn allows you to track your progress with Baby Steps.
You also get to enjoy a variety of features. Let’s take a look!
AUTOMATIC TRANSACTION IMPORT
One of the easiest justifications for the upgraded EveryDollar cost is the fact that EveryDollar Plus syncs your accounts. You retain the ability to manually input and edit amounts within your budget. However, if you are looking for a budget app that does a lot of the heavy lifting for you, you get that with EveryDollar Plus.
ACCESS TO FINANCIAL PEACE UNIVERSITY
Fans of Dave Ramsey baby steps and his other teachings will likely be excited to hear that the Ramsey Plus membership unlocks access to Financial Peace through the Learn app.
It’s true that many people attend Financial Peace University in person in their community. However, what if you could have all of that information at your fingertips at any time? Now you can!
Get access to online courses and ask questions of different coaches to grow your financial literacy.
ONLINE COMMUNITY
Another aspect of the Ramsey Plus membership and the Learn app specifically is that you have access to an interactive online community. This is a great way to give and get feedback.
Feeling supported goes a long way as you work toward achieving your goals. That support now comes with you wherever you go thanks to this app!
Is EveryDollar Safe?
When people learn that there is no cost to EveryDollar, they tend to question the safety of the app. Fear not! Both EveryDollar and EveryDollar Plus are super safe.
Ramsey Solutions takes security seriously, which is why they start encrypting your data from the moment you sign up.
EveryDollar Alternatives
EveryDollar isn’t for everyone. It works well for people who follow the Dave Ramsey baby steps and those who want a zero-based budget.
But EveryDollar is limited to your income and your expenses. If you are looking to track investments or follow a different type of budget (or create your own!), you might consider some of these EveryDollar alternatives.
QUBE MONEY
Qube is the first cash envelope system to go digital. Qube Money is fairly new to the financial technology scene, and it’s already winning over legions of followers. The combination of a digital cash envelope system and budgeting-meets-banking app make Qube really appealing to people who want to better manage their money and do more of it using a single tool.
TryQube for free, or check out our fullQube Money reviewfor more details.
YNAB
YNAB is a budgeting fan favorite. It’s true that there is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to getting used to the YNAB method. However, the app is incredibly user friendly and offers so many engaging and informative tutorials.
Like EveryDollar Plus, it is also a paid app. YNAB will also help you monitor and interact with your spending throughout the month, offering prompts and reminders about your progress toward specific goals.
TryYNAB for free, or check out our fullYNAB reviewfor more details.
TILLER MONEY
Tiller Money is a spreadsheet lover’s dream come true. If you find yourself feeling too limited by EveryDollar, you want to check out Tiller Money. They offer dozens of templates so you can be sure to find a budgeting format that fits your lifestyle and your financial situation.
TryTiller for free, or check out our fullTiller Money review for more details.
