Rocket Money Review [2023]: A Deep Dive

Rocket Money Review

TL:DR:

Rocket Money is a great tool, with a highly competitive feature set. It excels at reducing bill payments and overall spending (exactly what you want from a budgeting app). The free version is a great way to get started and if you want to dive in deeper you can add the premium version at any time.

Top Picks for:

Best Budgeting Apps

Rocket Money Pros and Cons

Rocket Money Free vs Premium:

Feature	Premium	Free
Concierge Services	Yes	No
Premium Chat	Yes	No
Unlimited Budgets	Yes	No
Custom Categories	Yes	No
Smart Savings Accounts	Yes	No
Realtime Balance Synching	Yes	No
Credit Reports	Yes	No

Feature Comparison:

Features	Rocket Money	YNAB	Simplifi	Monarch Money
Budgeting	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Expense Tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bill Splitting	Yes	No	No	No
Joint Bank Account	Yes	No	No	Yes
Credit Card Tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Investment Tracking	Yes	No	No	Yes
Custom Alerts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Net Worth Tracking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Financial Forecasting	No	No	Yes	No
Multi-Currency Support	No	No	Yes	No
Customer Support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Envelop-Based Budgeting	No	Yes	No	No
Spendable Income Calculation	No	No	Yes	No

Pricing:

Rocket Money offers two plans, a free version with a trimmed-down feature set, and a premium version. The premium version has a unique costing model. Here is a screenshot from their website and a link for reference:

While I was signing up I found it difficult to navigate to the free version. You have to click the "Choose Custom Amount" button below costing and use the sliding scale to select the Free version. If you choose the $3 or $4 version, you have to pay the entire year upfront.

Rocket Money Cost

Introduction: Rocket Money Review

Welcome to the future of personal finance! We’re diving deep into the world of Rocket Money, a groundbreaking financial platform that's garnering attention from every corner of the financial sector. In this review, we will highlight the best aspects of this innovative application.

First, let's understand what makes Rocket Money stand out in the crowded field of fintech. In essence, Rocket Money is an advanced money management app, designed to simplify your financial life while providing robust, detailed tools for budgeting, bill splitting, tracking credit card spending, and their most unique feature, eliminating your unused subscriptions.

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Understanding Rocket Money

Rocket Money centers around simplifying complex financial tasks and presenting them in a user-friendly manner. Designed to focus on seamless money management, Rocket Money targets a broad audience—couples looking for an easy way to manage shared expenses, freelancers aiming to track their income and spending, or millennials taking their first steps in the financial world.

At the heart of Rocket Money is a range of robust features and benefits designed to make your financial management efficient and stress-free. Be it the budgeting tools that help you set spending goals and track progress, the bill-splitting feature that eases the hassle of shared expenses, or the joint bank account management system for couples—Rocket Money has thoughtfully curated its offerings to fit the diverse needs of its users.

Exploring the User Experience and Interface

Rocket Money's dedication to its users shines through in its user interface, a clear testament to its commitment to make finance accessible and intuitive for everyone. At the core of this is the Rocket Money app, which greets you with a clean, well-organized interface, fostering an inviting environment for first-time users and experienced financial buffs alike.

The website design is minimalist yet vibrant, ensuring that navigating through various features is as simple as a breeze. The app's features, be it budgeting, bill splitting, or investment tracking, are neatly categorized, ensuring that you always find what you're looking for in a snap. The addition of user-friendly features, such as easy-to-understand graphs and charts, enables users to gain quick insights into their financial health.

Further amplifying the accessibility factor is Rocket Money's availability across multiple devices and platforms. Be it your smartphone, tablet, or desktop, the Rocket Money experience remains consistently smooth, granting you the flexibility to manage your finances on the go.

Services and Financial Products: A Comprehensive Array

The heart and soul of Rocket Money lies in the breadth and depth of its financial services and products. Beyond just being a budgeting tool, the platform has a holistic suite of offerings that cater to various financial needs.

At its core, Rocket Money offers robust budgeting and money management tools, helping you allocate your funds effectively, track spending, and steer clear of overspending pitfalls. This becomes an invaluable tool for freelancers and small businesses looking to keep a close eye on their cash flow.

Equally appealing is the bill splitting app, designed with couples and roommates in mind. This feature seamlessly divides shared expenses and eliminates the tedious back-and-forth usually associated with splitting bills.

If you’re looking to monitor your credit card expenses, Rocket Money’s credit card tracking app will be your best companion. It enables users to track all their card transactions in one place, making it simpler than ever to keep track of your credit card spending.

For the investors among us, the investment tracking feature allows users to monitor their portfolio's performance, making Rocket Money a one-stop-shop for all financial needs.

Rocket Money also provides users with a comprehensive view of various loan options, including a clear rundown of interest rates and repayment terms, aiding users in making informed decisions.

Security and Privacy Measures: Keeping Your Data Safe

In the digital age, security and privacy are paramount, and Rocket Money takes this to heart. The platform leverages industry-standard encryption technologies to ensure your financial data remains safe and secure.

A thorough review of Rocket Money's privacy policies reveals a clear commitment to user privacy. The platform maintains a transparent policy, outlining exactly how your data is used and stored, ensuring users are never in the dark about their data.

Furthermore, Rocket Money demonstrates strict adherence to industry regulations, including compliance with financial and data protection laws, ensuring you can manage your finances with the peace of mind you deserve.

Competitor Analysis: How Does Rocket Money Stack Up?

In order to understand the true value of any financial tool, it's crucial to analyze it in the context of its competition. Let's take a look at some key competitors and see how Rocket Money fares against them.

Monarch Money

Monarch Money is a financial tool that focuses on budgeting and expense tracking. The platform also includes features for investment tracking and net worth monitoring.

• Pros:

  • Detailed budgeting and expense tracking.

  • Investment monitoring and net worth tracking.

  • Collaborative budgeting for couples.

• Cons:

  • Lacks advanced features like bill splitting.

  • Learning curve for beginners can be steep.

Rocket Money provides similar budgeting and expense tracking capabilities, but it excels by offering additional features such as bill splitting and joint bank account management. Although both platforms offer investment tracking, Rocket Money's comprehensive suite of financial tools makes it a more holistic choice.

PocketSmith

PocketSmith is a comprehensive personal finance tool that offers budgeting, expense tracking, and financial forecasting.

• Pros:

  • Detailed financial forecasting capabilities.

  • Interactive budget calendar.

  • Multi-currency support.

• Cons:

  • Limited customer support.

  • Some features locked behind premium version.

While PocketSmith offers unique features like financial forecasting and multi-currency support, Rocket Money edges out with a superior customer support system and a suite of features available without a premium subscription.

Simplifi by Quicken

Simplifi is a user-friendly financial management tool with strong budgeting and expense tracking features.

• Pros:
  

  • User-friendly interface.

  • Customizable spending watchlists.

  • Robust budgeting and tracking features.

• Cons:
  

  • Limited investment tracking capabilities.

  • No bill splitting feature.

Rocket Money and Simplifi both boast user-friendly interfaces and robust budgeting tools. However, Rocket Money stands out by offering investment tracking and bill splitting features, making it a more comprehensive financial tool.

You Need a Budget (YNAB)

YNAB is a budget-focused tool with the goal of helping users get out of debt.

• Pros:

  • Strong focus on debt payoff.

  • Interactive reports and graphs for tracking.

  • Free educational resources.

• Cons:

  • Does not offer investment tracking.

  • Interface may be overwhelming for beginners.

Rocket Money shares YNAB's strong budgeting capabilities but expands its offerings to include investment tracking and bill splitting. This makes Rocket Money a more versatile tool, especially for users looking for a comprehensive financial management system.

Goodbudget

Goodbudget is a budgeting tool based on the envelope system, which aims to help users control their spending.

• Pros:
  

  • Envelope-based budgeting system.

  • Sync across multiple devices.

  • Offers a free version.

• Cons:
  

  • Limited features in the free version.

  • No investment or wealth tracking.

Compared to Goodbudget, Rocket Money offers a wider array of features including investment tracking and bill splitting. While Goodbudget's envelope system is unique, Rocket Money's comprehensive suite of tools provides a more holistic approach to personal finance management.

Oportun

Oportun provides affordable financial services to people with little or no credit history.

• Pros:
  

  • Focuses on users with limited credit history.

  • Provides affordable loans and credit cards.

  • Offers financial coaching.

• Cons:
  

  • Limited to loans and credit cards.

  • Not a comprehensive personal finance tool.

Oportun and Rocket Money cater to different aspects of the financial market. While Oportun focuses on providing loans and credit cards, Rocket Money offers a comprehensive suite of financial management tools, making it more versatile.

PocketGuard

PocketGuard is a personal finance app designed to prevent overspending.

• Pros:
  

  • Automatic expense categorization.

  • 'In My Pocket' feature for spendable income calculation.

  • Can link to almost all US banks.

• Cons:
  

  • Limited budgeting capabilities.

  • No investment tracking.

When compared to PocketGuard, Rocket Money offers more comprehensive budgeting capabilities along with other features like investment tracking and bill splitting. While PocketGuard focuses on preventing overspending, Rocket Money offers a more well-rounded approach to managing finances.

When all's said and done, while each of these competitors has their unique strengths, Rocket Money, with its comprehensive suite of financial management tools, accessible interface, and excellent customer support, makes it a strong contender in the personal finance app market.

How to Sign Up for Rocket Money

Rocket Money Sign Up Page

Step 1: Basic Personal Details

Make sure you have an email address because that is the first thing they ask. As you can see from the screen shot above, Rocket Money is heavily focused on helping you manage and eliminate any unwanted subscriptions. While not the only feature they offer, it is a critical one that they hang their hat on.

Step 2: Determine Your Password

Determine your password, which is a pretty simple step. If you are wondering, what makes a good password, check out this article.

Step 3: Answer a Marketing Question

While I'm not a huge fan of this step, I understand it from their perspective. They want to understand where their leads are coming from and answering this question honestly will help them do that.

Rocket Money Choose Your Goals

Step 4: Your Goals

This is where you really begin to determine how Rocket Money will work for you. Defining your goals can be tricky and I'd suggest focusing on the most pressing financial needs you have. Meaning, if you believe you need to lower your bills, then select that option. If things change in the future (and they typically do change over time), you can always update this part of your profile.

Step 5: Linking Your Accounts

Now you are almost done. After you link your accounts Rocket Money will get to work evaluating your spending habits and helping you obtain your goals. Linking your accounts is very easy and done via Plaid using standard banking-level encryption. Make sure you have your bank user name and password handy during this part of the process.

Rocket Money Pricing and Membership

Step 6: Become a Member

In this step, you get to decide what feature set you want to start with and what you believe is a fair price. I provide more details on how to select pricing earlier in this article.

Setp 7: Get the App

You are almost done, enter your phone number and download the app (we are all pretty familiar with this process).

Rocket Money Premium: Is it Worth it?

Rocket Money Premium is worth the money for most people. The features you get with premium are great and if you pay the $3/month price it really makes it a no brainer. Below is a quick summary of the features you get with Rocket Money Premium.

Concierge Services Premium membership of Rocket Money offers automatic identification of your subscriptions, bills, and recurring payments with the added concierge service to cancel these for you. Additionally, the service aims to secure automatic fee refunds. This is the main selling point for Rocket Money and they take it to another level with Premium by having someone else take all the effort on your behalf.

Premium Chat Priority support and live chat facilities are provided to Premium members, giving access to seasoned customer advocates. Who doesn't want to skip the line?!?

Unlimited Budgets The Premium membership enables users to formulate an unlimited number of budgets. This feature is useful for managing various budgets such as personal, family, or business, separately. As you grow your family and career, having additional budgets becomes critical.

Custom Categories The app comes with default budgeting categories, but Premium users have the liberty to modify these by adding or deleting categories, providing them with the flexibility to create simple or detailed budgets. Budget anything! Budget everything!

Smart Savings Accounts Smart Savings, an exclusive feature, enables Premium users to transfer money from checking accounts to an FDIC-insured bank account for achieving savings goals. Options to set up automatic transfers, thresholds to prevent overdrafts, and easy withdrawals are available.

Realtime Balance Syncing Premium members benefit from live balance updates in the app, eliminating the need to wait for daily or weekly syncing.

Credit Reports Credit score and comprehensive credit report access is available for Premium members.

This is a great feature set and many of these you won't find with other budgeting and personal finance apps. I like this offering and the cost is pretty low for such a robust feature set.

Conclusion: A Comprehensive Solution for Your Financial Needs

In the evolving landscape of digital finance, Rocket Money has emerged as a versatile platform that caters to a broad spectrum of financial needs. Its all-encompassing suite of tools, ranging from budgeting to investment tracking, provides a solid foundation for individuals, couples, freelancers, and small businesses to manage their finances effectively.

The platform’s user-friendly interface, strong security protocols, and excellent customer support further enhance the Rocket Money experience, making it a reliable choice for both beginners and seasoned users. Although it faces stiff competition from other financial platforms, its unique blend of features and services helps it hold its ground and even stand out in several aspects.

Rocket Money might not be the perfect fit for everyone. Its services, like any other platform, come with their strengths and limitations. However, considering its versatile offerings and user-friendly approach, it's worth considering for anyone looking to streamline their financial management. Whether you're a couple managing finances together, a freelancer tracking your income and expenses, or someone simply trying to budget better, Rocket Money offers tools that can help you meet your financial goals.