Ok! Before you judge me... I should clarify... I don't currently live a champagne lifestyle on a beer budget... but I am trying to recover from when I probably was... My debt to income ratio isn't awesome, but like everybody, I'm working on managing it. Read on for my take on some online financial tools I've been using.
In serious need to evaluate my spending on wants vs. needs I scoured the Internet for tools that would help me keep better track of my spending.
There are credit and loan calculators that'll tell you to input your Balance, Minimum Payment and Interest Rate and it'll tell you how much you'll pay in the by paying the minimum. Those are handy, but I needed something I could log into daily to look over my spending and evaluate the direction I'm headed.
If you need that kind of guidance, right now I'm a part of 2 websites: http://www.mint.com/ which I've been a member of since April-ish 2008 and just this past mid November I became a member at Quicken.intuit.com .
Best thing is, they are both FREE services!
My financial position is fairly average (for a single childless female). I have a steady job, I have credit debt and student loans. I don't have any kind of investments, car loans, or mortgages but both of these websites are great tools for me, and can be to you even if you do have a more complicated financial lifestyle.
Before you sign up! I will tell you that you should look into the services thoroughly and decide for yourself if you feel they are reputable companies because they BOTH ask for information that most outlets will tell you to never give up. These sites ask for log-in info to your banks online service. That is how all of your financial info is gathered up and displayed in one place.
I have had no problem as of yet with either company. Personally I feel my information is secure, but please look into it for yourself.
I really like using both services, and while it is probably not necessary to use two competing services because they ultimately are doing the same exact thing, there are little features from each that I like. I'll give you a couple examples.
What I like about Mint.com
- "Trend" reporting is better, I like the pie chart better, aesthetically and functionally. Overall, to me, Mint.com is more aesthetically pleasing.
- Comparison spending, you can compare your spending to others in your state, the United States, or choose from many large cities across the country. I like to compare my Fuel and Food spending habits especially.
- "Ways To Save" this will give you ideas and options on ways to get lower interest rates on debt, higher rates on savings and so on. This feature so far hasn't benefited me at all, but probably because of my debt amounts and credit score. So I look forward to seeing that feature become useful.
What I like about Quicken
- Text message alerts are very customizable and Quicken offers more options than Mint does. (Quicken is also on http://www.twitter.com/ although, to be fair I haven't searched for Mint.com there)(edit: Just found Mint on Twitter too)
- The front page shows "What's Left" until your next paycheck and your risk of having a low balance and overdraft. And there's a "view chart" option that forecasts into your next paycheck future to try to show you what you'll have left after your typical spending.
- Transactions section offers an "Upcoming Transactions" category, so you can schedule things you know are coming up and it can show you your potential balance after that transaction(s). It will load many of your recurring expenses automatically and input the average debit. It is customizable and quite enlightening.
I could go on an on about both services, and I'm going to use both for a while and if one outshines the other dramatically I may cut back to just one account.
One feature neither company offers, and is incredibly irritating... Cash Accounts. Neither offer a good way to track any cash that you spend. So if you take $60 out at the ATM and give $20 as a gift use $20 to buy a card and other miscellaneous and hold onto $20 for dinner and drinks later there is little to no way of tracking this cash. There are things you can do to distinguish how to spent it, by 'splitting' transactions with mint.com or with notes or tags... but it's a hassle to split the transaction and still have it incorporated with your bank rather than an 'envelope account'. Possibly a more valid argument is, let's say you owe your grandma money she lent you for car repairs (or whatever) Tracking balance owed to your grandma is impossible with these services, so you can't track the money that you paid back to her efficiently either. Pen and paper works, sure, but how can you get a full scope of your spending if you can't manually manage this account online??? RARG.
That's really my only complaint truthfully, I'll keep using the services whether or not they have that feature, but the one that does add it, wins!
(actually I found out about Quicken's online version through a Mint.com message board I was searching to find out if I could track cash through mint.com, on the message board users have been requesting this addition for about a year and obviously it hasn't happened. One user pointed out that with competition (Quicken and others ie: Rudder.com, Wesabe.com and Yodlee.com) now offering free services and choices it's a wonder there is no cash account option...)
Just found this link... so click it for a more comprehensive comparison of Mint and Quicken : http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081015-hands-on-mint-com-vs-quicken-online.html.
I realize this blog is incredibly long, and applaud you for getting to the end.
(I began working on this entry on 11/25/08 if that explains the length...)
