mint.com

Some friends of ours recently told us about this website and I wanted to share - because it's pretty cool. Cole and I had been using Microsoft Money (which we didn't like very well) and then switched Microsoft Excel to track each expense and keep an eye on our budget, but Excel can be so time consuming... After checking it out, we gave mint.com a try, and you should, too! It's FREE. Who doesn't like free?! And it imports all of your financial info into one place... Checking, savings, credit card, auto loan, student loan, mortgage, 401(k), 403(b), Roth IRA, etc. It's an excellent tool for having an overall picture of your net worth and allowing you to clearly focus on eliminating debt or increasing investments...



You don't have to share your SSN or other private information; they'll even alert you of suspicious transactions on your credit card, alert you when you're nearing your budgeted spending in a specific category. There are over one million users, and the site has received multiple awards... I could go on, but you'll have to see for yourself!

So.. why is it free? Because mint.com takes a snapshot of your finances and recommends {enter: advertisements} the 'best' products for you. For example, your current savings account may only earn .03% APY and mint.com might recommend an interest-bearing savings that can earn you 3% APY. Of course, to view these offers, you have to click on them - you can always ignore them if you're happy with whatever system you have going. :)

Hopefully you'll find mint.com to be as handy as we have!