Tracking investments, following your personal credit score, and even staying up-to-date with your own bank accounts and credit cards can be tough. Let’s face it: in this modern world most of us are thrown into financial seas with nothing more than water wings…forget a life-preserver or a raft! And we simply have to navigate as best we can, virtually learning to swim as we go. Many of us start with bad credit card deals, end up in serious debt, and spend years correcting our mistakes. If only we had known there was a better way! Others spend their lives bouncing between shaky investments and financial scams. But if you’re just an average Joe who can’t seem to make ends meet or keep a steady focus on finances, here are a few apps that could help you out.

1. Yahoo! Finance. The world of finance affects many aspects of our lives, whether people realize it or not. So this is a great app for anyone interested in current events at the very least. But for those who invest, this app provides not only financial news and analysis, but also features for tracking stocks and stock markets, researching different industries, comparing currency exchanges, and getting detailed statistics. In short, this is a window into the daily workings of the financial world that could just help you stay on top of the market.

2. E-Trade Mobile Pro. Not everyone has the mad skills to buy and sell like a broker, but thanks to E-Trade anyone can give it a try. In truth, more and more companies are using this platform to issue employee stock options and stock grants so that workers can buy and sell as they please once their options mature. ESPPs (employee stock purchase plans) may also go through this site. So having the ability to watch prices and put in a sell order from anywhere via mobile device could make a big difference in terms of capital gains.

3. Credit Sesame. Like the fabled magical phrase found to open any doorway, this app with open your eyes to your own credit score. Although you can order a credit report online annually for free, this app allows you to do a lot more than just check out your score once a year. You can actually get monthly updates, track the components that contribute to your score (debt, credit, loans, etc.), and even get advice on how to manage your finances to improve your credit score. You’d be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn’t benefit from this app.

4. Shoeboxed. If you’re one of those people who throws receipts in a box (if you save them at all) and then kicks yourself when tax time rolls around, this is one handy app you can’t afford to pass up. Snap a quick photo of your receipt the moment you get it and save the info to an excel file for easy access down the road.http://pocketfullofapps.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=45966&action=edit&message=1

5. Mint. Online banking is pretty awesome (according to CreditCardCompare.com.au and pretty much every other financial website). The only problem is that you have to track so many accounts. This app allows you to monitor them all in one place so you can keep them in order and easily determine which account to use when you pay for an airline ticket or other bigger-than-average spend.

Editor’s Note

Thanks to Evan Fischer for this guest post. He is a freelance writer and part-time student at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, California.