Mint: A Refreshing New Way To Manage Your Money
Lately, I have been trying to keep up with my finances and create better spending habits. One of the first steps I took was to research and learn all that I could about money management, investments, and financial basics. Much of what I learned came from reading blogs such as The Simple Dollar, Get Rich Slowly, and Wise Bread. They are stocked full of information; from frugal money tips to retirement savings strategies to debt reduction methods. But it all starts with the basics: budgeting, budgeting, and more budgeting. We are all taught that keeping a simple budget is the key to financial freedom, but what we aren’t told is how to keep track of the so called “simple” budget.
In the past I have tried using money management programs, including the two most well known, Microsoft Money and Quicken. The user friendliness of these programs disappear as soon as you run them. Right from the start they are overcomplicated and bloated. For the average person to understand the workings of Money or Quicken they would need to spend more time reading the manuel then they already spend on their taxes each year. What would be the point of that? Remember, we are trying to discover the “simple” way to budgeting. A money management system shouldn’t take enormous amounts of effort to learn how it works. What we need is a breath of fresh air to manage our money. That’s were Mint comes in.
Mint is “the free, automatic, online way to manage your money,” as their front page states. I came across Mint by reading the afore mentioned blogs. When I discovered Mint it was still an invite only beta, but since it looked so promising, I signed up for an invite. The key to Mint is that it provides you with access to all finances in one easy to use interface. The only real work involved is creating your account. During account creation you login to your personal banks, credit cards, and other various money accounts through a completely secure interface. From there, the work for you is over. Now Mint takes over and begins to aggregate the various transactions from your accounts. Through this process, Mint is able to tell you how much you’re spending in different categories, how much you’re saving, and even how much you’re in debt. Checking your financial health is as easy as looking at the balances section of Mint. Did I mention this is all free?
This probably has you wondering how Mint can provide all these amazing services for free. Mint does this by turning around and providing you with another service. Under the “Ways to Save Money” tab in your account, Mint uses a patent-pending technology to analyze your spending. Then they recommend ways you can save money by displaying offers on savings accounts and credit cards with better interest rates, along with ways to lower monthly utility bills. They state that, if you sign up with a provider that they recommend, sometimes they will earn a fee from that company, but they always show the ones with the highest savings for you first. If you feel this is intrusive just don’t click on the “Ways to Save Money” tab and you will never see those ads. Personally, I don’t find them intrusive at all.
I was lucky enough to get an invite to the beta, so I have been using Mint for over a month now. From that short time, I know more about my spending habits than ever before. No longer do I have to record a transaction in my checkbook or some other complicated money management system; Mint does it all for me. Just a glance at my Mint account tells me if I’ve overspent on gas or groceries this month. If I had any credit cards to pay off each month, Mint would also remind me before the bill is due, so that I don’t end up with hefty late fees from the credit card companies. Click here to read what others have said about Mint.
The good news for you is that as of September 17th, Mint is open to the public. Yes, that means anyone can easily track their finances and obtain that “simple” budget we have all longed for. Head on over to Mint to find out more and sign up for an account.
