all credit goes to nathan for clueing in dillon who clued in me [thank you, boys].
mint.com is my new financial best friend. one of my new year resolutions was to budget my money better. i didn't really have a plan in place, i just thought i would start and it would all work out. WRONG! i've totally sucked. and then i was informed about mint, the best free way to manage my money. and i still suck at it, BUT I'M GETTING BETTER!
why is it so cool, emily? well, let me explain. mint takes ALL of your accounts (credit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts, etc.) and automatically pulls together your information. so, for example: say you spend forty dollars on groceries at safeway with your bofa debit card and you spend twenty dollars at tj's with your amex. it will pull the info together and tell you what you're spending on groceries all together, from all of your accounts. same thing goes for a ton of categories (eating out, shopping, beauty, car, etc). think quicken but better looking, faster, smarter and more efficient. and you get to set your own budget! it has pretty little graphs, too. i love visuals.
my account information is updated daily and it automatically categorizes all my purchases, showing me how much i spend on gas, groceries, parking, rent, restaurants, etc. it even tells me when i have low balances, unwanted fees and charges, and upcoming bills. I LOVE THAT!
BUT EMILY, WHAT'S THE CATCH?! you're right. there IS a catch. "mint constantly searches through thousands of offers from hundreds of providers to find the best deals on everything from bank accounts to credit cards; cable, phone and internet plans; and more. mint’s suggestions are “unique to you” based on your individual spending patterns. for example, if you have $20,000 in a bank account that’s earning no interest, mint might recommend a high interest rate savings account from ING or HSBC. acting on that suggestion would give you an extra $900 in interest income over a year." THAT'S IT. you have to see their suggestions. i imagine that's how they make their money BECAUSE IT'S ALL FREE!
Monday, November 24, 2008
let's save some money. part three.
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4 comments:
I'm TOTALLY checking that out. Sounds awesome.
It has revolutionized our financial life. I love it and everything about it! It kicks Quicken's ass in a big way.
It's pretty much the coolest site ever. I can't beleive you haven't been doing this for years???
Yes it;s great, but also you have to be careful. Their suggestions are largely based on marketing (who is paying them to market their products). It may still be a good suggestion, but it's not exactly unbiased. FYI!
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