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The market for professional money managers isn't going away anytime soon, but as the mobile industry becomes more sophisticated, apps are starting to handle some of the heavy lifting.

PayPal (iOS, Android - Free)

If you're a frequent user of your PayPal account for online purchases or other transactions, this app helps you keep a close eye on things. It's designed as a digital wallet and can be used to buy goods from brick-and-mortar retailers who accept the service. That's a limited list, but the app will helpfully show you which ones close to you do so. It also lets you monitor your activity and transfer funds to friends. The learning curve on the user interface can be a bit steep, though.

Budgt (iOS - $1.99)

With its clean design and pie charts, Budgt lets you create your own categories and easily input your expenses, ultimately making it rather straightforward to track your spending. Road warriors will love the travel feature, which enables automatic currency conversions. It won't link to your bank accounts, but if you're largely focused on day-to-day budgeting, it's a terrific tool.

Spendee (iOS, Android - $1.99)

Hate balancing your budget but tired of wondering where your money went? Spendee's simple interface is less threatening than many financial apps but is still plenty useful. Rather than overwhelming users with categories, it groups expenses into larger buckets, such as entertainment, car, and family and personal, and lets you see where the bulk of your money is going through an easy-to-peruse summary page, which can help users change their habits.

MoneyWise (Android - Free to $6.99)

MoneyWise has no allegiances to a website or service, meaning it can be fully used offline - which can come in handy if you're in an area with so-so cellular reception. Create and edit multiple budgets, set up recurring expenses and export all of the data you collect into an HTML file, a spreadsheet or an email.

Dollarbird (iOS - $1.99)

Sometimes the best way to know where your money is going is through visualization. Dollarbird tracks your income and expenditures and shows your spending in certain areas (like medical, groceries and clothing) in a color-coded chart, quickly breaking down the data for you. Also, if you enter recurring expenses and income, it can estimate whether your monthly spending will exceed your budget, giving you the chance to cut back before going into the red.

Earmark (iOS Free)

Aching to take a trip to Europe next year? With Earmark, every time you forgo buying a latte, taking a taxi or going out to dinner, you can place the money you would have spent on those splurges into an account earmarked for that vacation. While some Earmark users actually transfer the money they would have spent on that taxi into their vacation savings account, most use it as a motivational tool. They simply record the amounts as a way of getting them to think more carefully about how much they could save toward bigger goals if they simply avoided little splurges each day. Users can earmark up to five goals at a time, and you're alerted when you've set aside enough money for each. So far, about 1,000 people are earmarking everything from power washers to PlayStations.

Sources: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101312753 & http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2013/12/11/best-financial-apps