I've always wondered where most (hmm.. actually all) of the money from my paycheck vanishes. It looks like I'm getting paid, paying bills, debts, & loans - all virtually, expect for few times when I take some cash out to play poker and dine, I don't see much cash.
Do we ever get to see the money in real that we make in a month, like the old days? I remember my dad setting aside a monthly budget in all cash. Oh.. that smell of the new currency notes.. I simply love it. With most of the population catching up on plastic cards (as if that money on those cards were free), it might not be too late to see currencies world-wide in a museum. ;)
When coming to managing this hard earned money, there are very few softwares out there that does this job, not perfect though, but just enough to get by and give us a peek preview of what/where/how we play with our money. Quicken and Bank of America's (BOFA) Portfolio Management are the two that readily pop up on my mind. I have used Quicken before and I'm using BOFA regularly.
Recently, a new kid showed up in this block, named Mint. They call themselves the refreshing money management software. Well, I was fortunate enough to know about this startup thru' TechCrunch blog and I was one of the early beta testers. They won the TechCrunch40 $50,000 award.
They seemed to have nailed the application to give you the right personalization tool to manage and save money (for real!) for users who have no or limited computer knowledge, while excelling in giving a tool for computer geeks like me. I love their interface and their name (and their punch line - refreshing money management -- how true!). I don't want to give a lengthy lecture about what/how they do.. just skim thru' their website and you'll know what I'm taking about.
With identify theft hitting all year highs, most of us may not trust a third party software and give us our financial passwords (and thus our freedom) to them. But, hey, what's life without risk, I've given mine and its good to know that I'm doing more shopping recently, more than I thought of. I also came to know that I could save approximately $35 every month if I opt to make my own coffee instead of gobbling lot of Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks. Now I know where my money is vanishing!! :)
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5 comments:
Their Name, tagline and the UI... impressive...
It's ironic - I seem to be in the business of managing other people's money but I can't manage my own! I don't know where my money goes either.. but I think I can lay the blame for my perpetual state of pennilessness squarely at the feet of Starbucks and their Chai Tea latte! ;-) I'm pretty sure Londeners have generally been much poorer since Starbucks came to town.
I took a look at the Mint website, unfortunately they don't cater for us non-americans! oh well.. back to my excel budget spreadsheet then!
Alright dude, what is it going to take to make you regularly post :).
Well here's hoping that you dont have time to post because you are too busy having a life unlike me. :)
"I've always wondered where most (hmm.. actually all) of the money from my paycheck vanishes."
LOL. same thing here! :)
@ Aparna: Sorry, you couldn't use Mint. It should (and will) open up for non-americans soon. It is really a nicely built web application.
@ Living: Well, reading blogs takes up most of my time.. sigh! I'll try to write more..
@ Priya: Mint should give me answers soon about my money-vanishing-holes. Using that and saving is another matter.. ;)
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