Ten Productivity Apps for Finance Profesionals

Overflowing email boxes, avalanches of information to process, hordes of contacts to keep up with. It can be a struggle to stay on top of all your to-do’s in the fast paced world of modern finance. Fortunately, a range of innovative apps are available to help you raise your productivity to new heights. In this article we’ll cover 10 powerful apps that can help you do more in less time.

Boxer is an email client app that works with all major email providers, such as Gmail or Outlook. The app is designed to boost efficiency and save time with features like bulk edit, quick response, smart labels and integration with your mobile calendar. You can easily archive or delete emails with a simple swipe, send instant auto responses and add emails to a to-do list. Boxer allows you to "like" incoming messages so people know that you saw it. Boxer also connects with third-party applications like Evernote and Dropbox. 

Asana is a desktop and mobile-based task management and communication tool for collaborative teams. Within Asana conversations and tasks are centralized and transparent, allowing you to stay on top of whatever you and your teammates are working on in real time. The platform saves time that would otherwise be wasted in meetings, writing emails and tracking down information. 

Pocket is a gem of an app for people who suffer from crowded bookmarks or endless open browser tabs. Used by over 12 million people, the app allows you to save content to one place where it can be viewed anytime, even without an Internet connection. Content, such as articles or videos, can be saved to Pocket using a browser extension that works with Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer or from a wide range of apps such as Twitter (TWTR) and Flipboard. Pocket can be used on a smartphone, tablet or computer. Another bonus is that the content saved to Pocket is presented in a clean and minimalist layout that makes it pleasant to read or view.

With over 100 million users, Evernote is among the most popular apps in the world. The app stores digital notes that sync across desktop, tablet and mobile devices. Evernote is ideal for making to do’s and checklists. It also goes further by enabling you to save content from the web, create reminders and discuss work with others. Files such as office docs, PDFs and photos can be attached, and tags help you organize your notes, which are also searchable within the app. Evernote has recently released an app for the Apple, Inc. (AAPL) watch, with which you can verbally dictate notes and searches and also get reminders and notifications. (See also: Tips on How Financial Advisors Can Go Paperless)

With over 4 million users, Todoist one of the most popular task management and to-do list apps available. Todoist helps you manage and share your tasks and projects, whether from the desktop or on the go with a tablet or mobile device. Large tasks can be broken into smaller subtasks and projects can be shared via the app. Todoist helps you to focus on what is most important first using colored-coded priorities. The Todoist Karma feature allows you to track your productivity and visualize your productivity trends over time. You can also receive reminders via email, push notification or SMS. 

LastPass is an award-winning password manager that saves your passwords and gives you secure access from every computer and mobile device. Users need to remember only one password, their LastPass master password. The platform saves you from losing and forgetting passwords, generates strong passwords and saves you time from typing because passwords are autofilled when you visit sites. Credit cards and shopping profiles can also be saved within LastPass to allow you to check out faster. The password manager utilizes military-grade AES 256bit encryption and your master password is never shared with LastPass.

One of the least evolved areas of the smartphone is the contact list, often just a list of names and phone numbers. Humin is a contact management app that gathers data from your phone, email, Facebook and LinkedIn contacts and combines them in one central location. The app shows detailed information about your contacts like where you met and friends you have in common. Having added context to your contacts, Humin’s search feature allows you to look people up with things like "lives in Chicago" or "met last week" rather than names, which you may have forgotten. Humin can even proactively suggest useful information. For example when you arrive in a new city, the app can display local contacts you may want to get in touch with. Currently available for iOS only.

Stock Touch is an app that allows you to understand the stock market using the power of data visualization. Using a series of color-coded heat maps, you are able to get a unique sense of the pulse and direction of the market. Shades of green indicate stocks that are gaining in value, while shades of red indicate stocks that are losing in value. You can monitor both price and volume, and study historical information of a given stock. Stock Touch covers the top 900 stocks in the US market as well as the top 900 global stocks. Currently available for iOS only.

The iXpenseIt app helps you manage your expense tracking and monthly budgeting. With iXpenseIt you can record transactions on the go and easily store digital photo receipts. The app allows you to generate graphical reports that provide insight on where you spent your money and how you can save. For example you can view a visual indicator of your monthly budget vs. expenses or an overview of today's spending vs. daily spending average. Other useful features include mileage/kilometer tracking with a customizable reimbursement rate. Currently available for iOS only. 

StockTwits has grown to be one of the largest online investor communities in the world. The community is mostly focused on stocks but does cover other markets such as futures and forex. The StockTwits app allows you to see which stocks are socially trending and the conversations that are taking place about them in real time. You can monitor your portfolio all at once or search individual stock symbols to follow the latest news and discussion. (See also: 5 Best Apps For Active Traders)

Apps covering classic productivity items like to-do lists, note taking and email steadily continue to evolve, while new boundaries are being pushed in apps such as Humin with the use of rich context and even intelligent projections of what might be useful for you.