For years I have been told that in order to gain wealth I need to take control my income and expenditures. This is easier said than done, who wants to keep every receipt from every transaction and then review it later. I never did. That is when I found out about Mint.com which has proven to be a Godsend for me. There may not be a better FREE tool out there that can aid in your money management and financial freedom more than Mint.com.
Mint.com is a one stop shop for me to see every financial transaction from all of my accounts in one place. I was able to link up all of my credit card accounts, my savings and checking accounts, my mortgage, my newly acquired student loans, and even my investment accounts such as my Sharebuilder IRA and trading account, my 401k, and my Health Savings Account. The net worth calculator is quick and a fantastic overview of my value as I pay down debt and invest and save more money. I also love the ability to quickly see the various trends of my finances. It is great to be able to see it all calculated in real time. The ability to see all transactions by account or for all accounts has allowed myself the ability fully understand my overall average financial situation at any one given time. The road to turning $100 into something greater is a long and slow dedicated process and using Mint.com has allowed me the joy of being able to see my financial progress as a whole both good and bad and really brought about my understanding of what I need to do to improve spending habits, savings goals, investment goals, frugality, and just simply take control of my money.
The Budget features of Mint.com are the real icing on the cake. Through the use of these budgets I have been able to keep track of my spending habits and allowing me to fully understand how spending decisions both big and small really affect my finances. You would be surprised how quickly the small expenses can really add up and set you over your budget. The visual standing of my monthly budget set up via spending categories with the use of an under or over budget chart has helped me to identify new ways to save money and reduce my cost of living. By default Mint.com creates a budget for you according to your spending habits however another added bonus is the ability to customize your own budgets in order to custom tailor them to best suit your needs and goals.
Regularly Mint.com is updating itself with new features and tools, including finding the best deals for you on various credit cards, savings, online brokers, and more. There really isn't any reason why anyone who doesn't have or can't afford a financial adviser shouldn't be using Mint.com. If you are worried about thoughts on security risks of allowing Mint.com to store all of your financial log on information you have a valid concern. I have been using Mint.com for months now and I absolutely love it. The website is verified secure and I feel personally that my own personal computer is more of a risk due to virus's and key logging than using the Mint.com website for my finances. I choose to pay for identity theft protection and beyond that if someone gains access to log into my financial websites they wouldn't be able to do much but see my transactions and perhaps transfer money to me. I practice the habit of monitoring all of my financial accounts regularly, verifying contact info such as email and any linked accounts that exist. Any change to any of my accounts sends me an email so even if I was to be comprised my regular checking of accounts and email notifications would quickly tip me off of the problem and allow me to take measures to secure the problem through changing my passwords immediately.
I highly recommend Mint.com to everyone.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment